5 Easy DIY Gift Ideas You Can Make Today!

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I really love thinking of DIY gift ideas (I’m full of ideas!), so it’s kind of strange that I rarely give gifts.

Until recently.

A gift has to come from the heart and not just something that a day on the calendar dictates my behavior (call me a rebel, huh?).

So I thought about 5 easy DIY gifts that I can make for my loved ones (think: holidays, birthdays, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day….or “just-because-you’re-awesome!” days……)   🙂

 

 

#1 DIY Gift Ideas: Glue Fabric onto a DIY Gift Basket

Hard to believe that this DIY gift basket was painted and then Mod Podged with a piece of cut fabric!

AFTER

 

Because this is how it looked when I picked it up from the thrift store! I actually kinda liked the color, but it was a little beat up and uninspiring. Thrift stores are EXCELLENT places for finding cheap little buckets to paint, personalize, and make gift baskets with!

Remember this DIY craft gift basket that I made for a friend’s 40th birthday? Yep, it came from the thrift store! Look for metal buckets that are sturdy and can hold enough goodies.

BEFORE

How to Make a DIY Gift Basket:

I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey for the outside, and Annie Sloan Scandinavian Pink for the inside area.

 

 

I had this gorgeous fabric with motifs that were so beautiful. I cut them out and glued the fabric to the painted basket. Orange and pink flowers would be perfect! So I snipped two patterns out, slathered Mod Podge decoupage glue on the back, and then stuck it in place.

TIP: You don’t need to Mod Podge over the fabric after it’s in place. I didn’t like the plastic-y feel of the material, so I chose to leave it un-sealed on the top.

I also used one of the leaf patterns, too, so that the sides wouldn’t be plain.

 

 

#2 DIY Gift Ideas: DIY Face & Body Scrubs

I wanted to fill the thrift store bucket with homemade scrubs. I’ve never made them before, so I just went a’ searching here….and there….and honestly, I don’t even think I used any particular recipe! LOL. I ended up just throwing together what I could find.

 

 

FACE – BODY – MOUTH – HEART…..Some of the most important parts of the body accounted for…..Love this!

 

 

How I Made It DIY Face and Body Scrub

I bought several of these $1.49 bottles. They were the perfect size to fit in the thrift store bucket!

 

 

To make the DIY body scrub, I used:

• 1/2 cup Epsom salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• few drops of Aura Cacia Grapefruit Essential Oil

I just used enough of each to make it not be too-too runny. It wasn’t rocket science 🙂

To make the DIY face scrub (you can use it on your hands, too), I used:

For the face scrub (which you can also use for your hands–feels super soft!), I combined:

• 1 cup organic sugar
• 3-4 Tbs of coconut oil
• few drops of the Grapefruit Essential Oil (you can also use Vanilla Essential Oil).

Would have been nice with vanilla, but I couldn’t find any.

After the scrubs were made, I used my Fiskars squeeze punch and cut circular stickers for the top with sticker paper.

Voila! They’re almost too pretty to use. Almost 🙂

 

Tied with red bows with wire for some Valentine’s Day color.

 

Sweet Treats For Your Mouth

Who doesn’t love candy??! I don’t know about you, but I have a major sweet tooth. Candy is a great filler for these types of little jars. Package them up very pretty, and people almost forget it’s “just” candy 🙂

(And don’t you totally want to eat that cracked one??)

 

#3 DIY Gift Ideas: The LOVE Jar

So here’s a great idea:

1. Go to the paint store and get a bunch of colorful paint chips in shades of red and pink.

2. Use heart-shaped Fiskars squeeze punches like this:

…and cutting out a bunch of hearts from the stack of paint chips

3. Glue two hearts together back to back so you can’t see the back of the heart-shaped paint chips.

4. Then write inspirational love quotes on them! I found inspirational love quotes online (here are some on Pinterest).

5. While you’re pampering yourself and munching on candy, you can pull some out and read them 🙂 What better way to put to good use all those Pinterest quotes we pin but never read again? Now ya can 🙂 Preferably with our feet soaking and a glass of wine in our hand.

 

#4 Gift Ideas: DIY Foot Scrubber Made from a Sanding Block!

This is an idea I came up with years ago. You know those hand-held sanders from the home improvement store? Well, I actually use them for exfoliating my feet! Hey, maybe you have perfect feet, but my feet need some help in cold weather! 😉

Soak your feet about 20 mins in a bucket of hot water. Then put this DIY sanding block exfoliator to your feet (medium grit), you won’t believe how smooth and silky they feel (and how grossed out you’ll be at all the gunk that rubs off!)

 

How To Make It (You can also watch my video: How to Make a DIY Foot Scrubber)

• Go to the home improvement store and buy a hand sander for about $5.00.
• Find pretty paint chips in reds and pinks.
• Trim off the part that has the paint names.
• Glue them together so if you flip over the paint chip, you don’t see the white backside.
• Cut a shape with the heart-shaped punch.
• Use rubbers stamps to spell out “Feet.”

Wra…

…You should have something that looks like this, red bows tied and all. The thing that’s awesome is that these ideas–you can use them anytime: birthday’s, baby showers, teacher appreciate gifts…..

Whoever receives this gift is one lucky loved one :). I’m totally going to make one for myself!

 

#5 DIY Gifts: The Family LOVE Jar 

Here are some ideas on how and when to give and use this kind of gift:

1. At Valentine’s Day –   The idea is that you the members of your family spontaneously leave love notes for each other in the Family Love Jar. Each person is assigned a color (I’m pink, hubby is red, and the kids are white), and whenever you want to tell your family you love them, appreciate them, then you leave a love note for them in the Family Love Jar. At any time, someone can reach into the jar and read the love notes that their family left for them!

2. At Thanksgiving – Have everyone place what they’re thankful for on a slip of paper and put into the Family Thankful Jar. At dinner, have everyone reach in and read one of the slips of paper aloud to the group.

3. At Christmas – Or whichever holiday you celebrate, have every person write down what the holidays mean for them. Everyone will pick a slip and read it aloud.

4. At New Year’s – Have everyone at your New Year’s Party put one New Year’s resolution or goal in the New Year’s Resolution Jar. Before it strikes midnight, have everyone reach in to pick someone else’s goal and read it aloud. 🙂

 

How I Made an Etched Valentine’s Day Bowl :

• A fishbowl from the thrift store – $0.69.
• heart-shaped punch
• Pink, red, and white cardstock
• Silhouette vinyl
• Tape

Flat surfaces are best (easier!), but if want, you can try rounded surfaces. Because mine were round, the etching cream bled through.

 

 

First I wrote what I wanted it to say, with an erasable chalk pen. I measured it so I would know how big to make the Silhouette vinyl letters get. Here I am at about 5″ wide. I also measured how high I wanted each word.

 

 

Then I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the words:

“Valentine’s Day is every day”

Adhering it was pretty tough– keeping it straight, and making sure there wouldn’t be any bleeding through because of the curve of the glass. (If you have questions about the step-by-step process of cutting vinyl and using the transfer paper to place it on the glass, leave your question below.) I also applied green Frog Tape to help keep the etching glass chemical solution off of the areas I don’t want to get the solution.

 

Next, I applied the etching creme. It’s brown when it comes out, but it doesn’t stain that color. Make sure you have a super-tight seal, otherwise the creme will bleed into the letters like mine did. Get the tape as flat as possible for best results.

 

 

After 15 minutes I washed the etching creme off. This is what I was left with! Now filled with love notes to my hubby and kids! (Yeah, the etching wasn’t perfect because of the curved surface, but I still think it looks cool! My first etching project! I think I am addicted now!

 

 

Or even using it with a candle, I loved the effect! That’s another great project/gift idea!

 

 

Another look at all the projects:

I hope I left you with some great ideas for homemade gift ideas, not just for Valentine’s Day, but for any occasion where you want to get crafty and be a rebel and not buy into consumerism 🙂

Do you have any cool DIY homemade gift ideas? Please let a comment and let me know what your favorite gift ideas are!

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