Skip to content
Design
Handmade DIY Gift Ideas That Won’t Make You Lose Your Mind
Let me start by saying – I know. It’s December 13th. You’re probably tired of hearing about gifts, especially if you have your life together. You probably even finished shopping for gifts weeks ago, and maybe you even have them wrapped already. If that’s the case, I am SINCERELY proud of you and even… I aspire to be like you. But this week, I woke up every day with the rapidly impending doom of St. Nick’s deadline in the back of my mind, reminded that I’m a *horrible* procrastinator. Yes, this does happen every year, and while I don’t love the feeling of procrastination guilt, it’s only once I reach this headspace that I whip out my Pinterest boards and suddenly feel more creative motivation in a week than I’ve felt the entire year. THIS…this is my opportunity to further overflow my craft bins with more random supplies.
Some of these ideas I’ve made myself, some I’m planning to make this year, some I’m not sure if I’ll ever make because one can only do so many DIYs – but it’s nice to imagine that I will. For the most part, these ideas aren’t too complicated and don’t require too much $$$ in materials (which to me sometimes defeats the purpose). May I present to you the DIY gift ideas that I love, some of which I will absolutely be scrambling to pull together this weekend:
Don’t Sleep On Easy-Bake-Clay
This is my personal favorite tool to have on hand in case of last-minute gifts. There is truly so much that you can make out of a little bit of Sculpey, your hands, and some imagination (or a quick Pinterest peruse). Here are some of my favorite ideas…
Clay Candlestick or Tea Light Holders
I made these for friends and family a few years ago. My mom used them in her Thanksgiving table setting this year and made a comment about how she would be very happy to receive more of them. Coming right up:)
Some tips – get your clay really soft, roll it out, and assemble your candlestick holders as if you were taping together pieces of paper. Or go pinch pot style. Use a taper candle or tea light as a guide to make sure it’s the right size. Once baked + dry, I used acrylic paint to add color, stripes, patterns, etc., and finished it off with a coat of clear glossy spray paint to seal it. I’ve also seen people use clear nail polish! If you want to add a little bit of texture, you can mix baking soda into your paint to give it a cool look, too (this also helps prevent being able to see the paint streaks if you’re doing thinner layers).
Trinket Dishes
In a similar vein, you could also use this to make little tiny trinket dishes. These are so cute and incredibly easy – get creative with your shapes! If you don’t like the organic look, you can use a paintbrush and some water to smooth out any deformities/fingerprints once you have your shape down. Don’t overthink the baking part – just follow the recommendation on the packaging. It’s hard to mess it up. Also, if you’re feeling particularly inspired to create from scratch, you can always make some salt dough with flour, salt, and water.
Fridge Magnets
This would make a really cute housewarming gift. Same process as above, then you just hot glue or superglue some of these small magnets on the back.
I love how this person did these letters. I believe the person who created these started offering them on Etsy after going viral on TikTok, so if you don’t feel like making them yourself you should definitely bookmark her shop!
Match Box / Matchstick Holder
Make a little matchstick holder (or box!) and attach some matchbook paper to the side or bottom. They make these multipacks of adhesive striking paper that come in all different sizes.
Dishwasher Marker
I loved this clean/dirty dishwasher magnet that we shared on our shop page this year, and I had the idea of hand-making one of these with clay and paint.
A quick Pinterest search told me I’m not the first person to think of this – there’s a ton of cute ones on Etsy, too.
Bonus Clay Ideas
What do you get when you combine creative framing, Sculpey, and another reason to buy a pack of magnets?? These adorable fridge frames. A few more rapid-fire ideas you could make with clay: Mancala board + clay beads, coasters, ornaments, mini domino set, ring stand, keychain, incense holder, picture holder, stash-box, tic tac toe board, bud vase, magnet bud vase to put on your fridge, soap tray… so many things!
Stamps!
Hand-Carved Library Stamp
I went to a birthday party this summer, and a friend of a friend had handmade this for the birthday girl – I IMMEDIATELY wrote it down in my notes app because it’s too good. If you have a big reader in your life, I’m sure they would be so honored to receive this. It definitely takes a little more time to do and requires some investment in supplies, but it’s incredibly thoughtful and something they would have forever. I think this would also be such a cute gift for a young budding reader 🙂 If you love this idea but don’t feel like making it yourself, this Etsy shop offers really cute designs.
To DIY it, you’ll need rubber blocks, a pencil, and a carving tool (or just snag this kit). I have this one from Speedball, and it’s really easy to figure out – it comes with a few different-sized nibs so you can get a little more granular. Here’s a little tutorial:
You can draw your design directly on the stamp and then carve, but remember, if you have words, they’ll need to be in reverse. This one would be super cute to gift along with an inkpad and your favorite book.
Similarly, I love the idea of carving a little return label stamp for letters – this would be adorable to give to some newlyweds:)
Stamped Tea Towels
A classic! Once you have your stamp carving tools, why not make some little stamped tea towels? Check your local thrift store for used linens. All they really need is a good soak in some OxiClean and they’ll be good as new 🙂 You can use fabric block printing ink for this (but I would recommend using a roller).
You can also find some decently priced plain tea towels online – I was only able to find multipacks, but if you’re wanting to batch make gifts for a few people, it comes out to just a couple bucks per towel. Also, you don’t need a full stamp carving kit to do this – don’t forget about potato stamping! This would be really fun to do with kids. Or just use any normal stamps you have laying around.
Custom Batch Cocktail Bottle
Okay, this does not fall into the stamp category (but technically you could use stamps for this). Shoutout to my friend Sophie who I got this idea from (her creation for our friend, Madeline, seen above!), which has become a personal favorite of mine to gift because it can be pulled together in less than an hour (more time if you want to get fancy with it). I like to save my wine bottles to bank for this – give it a good wash, soak it in some warm water to get the label off, and then craft up a big batch of your gift recipient’s favorite cocktail. Maybe put a seasonal twist on it! You could also use these bottles (that I buy at IKEA but I’m sure you could find almost anywhere) or just gift it in a mason jar.
I keep a batch of sticker paper on hand (which has randomly been so useful to have) and draw a fun label for the bottle. You can also print on sticker paper, which is what Sophie did here – use Canva to create a design (either from scratch, or they have hundreds of templates) and print it onto the sticker paper. Tie some cute ribbon around it and boom! This would be a really cute hostess gift, and if you want to layer onto it, gift it with a fun set of vintage cocktail glasses 🙂
Frames… So Many Frames…
Handpainted Frames & Mats
I’m not sure about your local Goodwill, but mine is literally overflowing in the art and frame aisle. I feel like I pick one frame up and they all come violently crashing down on me (I dropped a huge one on my foot the other week, woo). The internet has definitely been getting really creative in the framing department and I feel like I’m seeing more and more whimsical art/framing/photo display ideas. Personally there is no gift I love more than something pretty that I can display in my space somehow and these handpainted frames are so fun.
Get creative with your matting! If the frame comes with an old mat, you could paint that too – either another pattern, or the same color as your frame for a monochromatic look… or try wrapping it in fabric:
Now for ideas of what to put in said frames???
Mal’s Silhouettes
Some of you might remember this small detail in Mal’s Living Room makeover, and I want to revisit it because it’s so sweet. She made these mini silhouette photos of her and her roommate and also made a quick video about how she did it:
My mom has silhouettes of my siblings and I that we got done when we were kids – I remember an artist came to an event at my elementary school and cut our faces out of paper on the spot. Like, no tracing, no computer, no outline – just her eyes and a pair of scissors. It was so cool and I still think about her insane talent every time I pick up a pair of scissors. This would be a super cute gift to someone with kids, of their kids, and would make a really little cute ornament too.
Vintage Postcards
Okay, we’re slightly slipping out of DIY territory here, but just wanted to throw this in. Mal also did this in her dining room! If someone has a place that’s super special to them, like their hometown, somewhere they studied abroad, maybe where they got engaged, it would be really sweet to find a vintage postcard from that place on ebay/Etsy and frame it for them 🙂 and if you really want to spice it up, you could always draw, paint, stamp or collage on top of it.
Justice For Perler Beads (AKA Fuse Beads)
Okay, these might not be for everyone. I’m a sucker for anything nostalgic, and I love the opportunity to play with pattern and color here. These were my favorite as a kid and they’ve really been back on my mind ever since I received the cutest perler bead themed puzzle a couple of birthdays ago. I could see how perhaps some people may not be able to move past the fact that these gifts inherently look like they were made at summer camp (to me that makes it even better), and that’s okay. But seriously, when was the last time you played with these… they’re a really really good time, I promise 🙂
Perler Bead Coasters
This example isn’t necessarily meant to be a coaster, but I had to share it because the pattern is so fun. Caitlin Bentley is the creator of these and she shares a ton of super cute designs on her Instagram.
Look how cute these Marimekko-inspired ones are – there are literally TONS of patterns on Pinterest that you can reference if you need ideas.
Fridge Magnet Frames
Ok, I guess we’re really sticking to a theme of fridge decor and framing. But look how cute these are – you could go bigger scale for classic picture size, or I love the idea of making mini Instax Polaroid frames. This would be a fun and easy one for kids to make too! You can snag a starter kit here (again, the magnets here).
Felt-able Ideas
Okay, now felt crafts have been around – but if you’re one foot in craft-tok you know that felt has had somewhat of a renaissance this holiday season. Maybe it’s just Gen Z discovering it for the first time, but regardless I’ve been overwhelmed with felt ideas this past month.
Felt Ornaments
This is definitely slightly more advanced (just because it takes a little practice to get your stitches clean, I learned the hard way), but SO worth the effort. The easiest and most popular option here is to make some fun little ornaments – this is the TikTok I saw that really convinced me to get all the supplies for this.
The supplies my friends and I used: small round beads, longer skinny beads, felt, embroidery thread, beading needles, embroidery needs, thread (I would recommend getting these materials in much smaller/more normal quantities at your local craft store). You’d also need some sort of filling like polyfill, but I just used felt scraps and… paper towels, haha. Here’s another video that shows the process a little more clearly. The order of operations here is: cut your shapes, add your beads or any felt layers, then stitch 90% of the way, add your filling, and ta-da. This blanket-stitch tutorial was also helpful.
Look how cute this ornament frame is – I made one of these last week for my boyfriend but we don’t need to see it here because it was my first attempt and my craftsmanship had a *disturbing* amount of room for improvement. I’ve gathered a ton of ideas for these so I’m very excited to practice and make more over Christmas time.
Felt Crowns
Now a moment to brag about how talented my BFF (Tess) is, who made me the most adorable birthday crown this past year that I will cherish forever.
I’ve seen lots of creators make these for their kids and it would be such a cute yearly tradition. (Also, hand-sewing is not your vibe, you could totally just hot glue this.
Felt Photo Album Cover
I love the idea of putting together a mini photo album but making an adorable felt cover for it – this would make such a special gift and feels so thoughtful. You can of course get photos printed at Walgreens etc., but this printer is probably one of my most used devices at home and makes last minute photo printing so easy and is more affordable in the long run (also just worth the convenience).
To do this, I would just cut a large piece of felt to the size of your book (or piece a few scraps together), do any stitching or felt collaging on it, and then just hot glue it to the outside of the album.
This example is quilted so not exactly the same as a felted book but I love it as inspiration. The creator of these, Emma, is one of my favorite creators to follow on TikTok and is the most talented, whimsical artist. Her and her partner are full time artists and sell custom photo books and banners on Etsy made of all vintage fabrics.
If you’ve already dialed in your gifting, I hope that these can give you ideas for the rest of the year – these would all make great housewarming, birthday, or just-because gifts year round. So bookmark this for later if you’re feeling inspired… I am always hunting for more ideas so I would love to hear any other ideas or go-tos that you have. Thank you for reading and cheers to my fellow procrastinators 🙂
Opening Image Credits: Kaitlin Green
SHOPSHOP THE POST
Magnolia
BRASS DISHWASHER MARKER
$20
I loved this! Thank you for so many beautiful diys 🙂
This post is so awesome! I cannot wait to make gifts next week with my girls- so many perfect ideas here. Thank you!
Well now I need a crafting day…