|

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket For Your Friend’s Birthday

Love this post? Share it! :)

One of my good friends was celebrating her 40th birthday and I wanted to give her something homemade and special, so I made her this DIY craft gift basket.

If you’re like me, you hate spending money on pointless, expensive gifts. I love the idea of making a crafting gift basket because she’s crafty.

I transformed this old, ugly (but potentially cute bucket) from the thrift store into a fun craft basket for my friend who turned 40 years old!

I stuffed it full of my favorite crafting supplies, then shipped it off to arrive before her birthday.

Your crafty friends and family will enjoy this crafting gift basket like this, too!

Keep reading to find out how to make it.

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Find an old craft from the thrift store, paint it, and stuff it full of your favorite DIY crafting supplies for your crafty friends and family! - Thrift Diving

 

BEFORE

So I hit up the thrift store (surprise, surprise) and found this cute, but a bit too dingy “vintage-y” bucket for $1.90. But it was perfect! I wanted something that would look fabulous with paint. And it was just the right size for all the crafting supplies that I wanted to stuff inside!

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Paint an old craft from the thrift store, then stuff it full of your favorite DIY crafting supplies for your crafty friends and family! - Thrift Diving

AFTER!

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Paint a bucket and write creative quotes around the bucket. Then stuff it full of your favorite DIY crafting supplies for your crafty friends and family! - Thrift Diving

I added a secret message at the bottom so she’d see it once all her goodies were gone! I love this!!

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Use Rub n Buff metallic paint an old basket and then stuff it full of your favorite DIY crafting supplies for your crafty friends and family! - Thrift Diving

I found some of my favorite crafting supplies to stuff it with:

You can also make some of these great DIY gift ideas you can make today for your gift basket.

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Buy these popular crafting supplies for your crafting gift basket. - Thrift Diving

 

Here’s the BEFORE and AFTER of the bucket, painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint, with hand-written “CREATIVITY” quotes for inspiration!

Related: What’s the Best Paint For Furniture?

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - BEFORE and AFTER of an old bucket that has been turned into a crafting gift basket for a friend. - Thrift Diving

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - See the list of crafting supplies to fill in your crafting gift basket. - Thrift Diving

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Paint a bucket with quotes about creativity and then stuff it full of craft supplies for a crafting gift basket idea.- Thrift Diving

How to Make a Crafting Gift Basket

I used Annie Sloan chalk paint Aubusson Blue, which I absolutely love because of the rich color. I painted a $5.00 thrift store kid’s desk in this Aubusson Blue and fell in love with it.

I also used Duck Egg for this DIY craft gift basket project, which is the same color I used for the ombre “Dumpster Desk” that I found next to a dumpster. These are two of my favorite colors and they look great together!!

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Paint an ugly metal basket from the thrift store to make a DIY crafting gift basket. - Thrift Diving

I have to point out brushes: USE QUALITY BRUSHES!! I tried using this scraggly-looking brush here on the left because it was smaller and I thought it would be helpful in this project. WRONG. The bristles were horrible and uneven. So I whipped out my Purdy paint brushes, although it was large. Those are the BEST!!! Highly recommended.

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Use quality paint brushes when using chalk paint, such as Purdy paint brushes. - Thrift Diving

So after painting the body, I had to do something about those black, worn handles. It was time for the Rub ‘n Buff . It’s great for adding some metallic color to accents (think: handles, knobs, anything to be highlighted). It goes on so smoothly with their finger, or with an old cloth, and you buff it out to a shine. Here, I used cut up pieces of baby receiving blankets (TIP: baby receiving blankets make GREAT crafting towels, not to mention homemade cloth baby wipes!)

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Use Rub n Buff metallic wax finish to change the look of tarnished metal handles. - Thrift Diving

I also used the Rub n Buff on the inside. Didn’t like the black….. Then I taped off the raised edges to rub those….

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Use Rub n Buff metallic wax finish to change the color of tarnished metal and for accents. - Thrift Diving

I also made sure to finish off the bottom of the bucket. Can you imagine the embarrassment if someone turns over a painted item and it’s crappy underneath?! Oh, the HORROR!

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Use Rub n Buff metallic wax finish to change the color of tarnished metal, accents, and for the bottom of the bucket. - Thrift Diving

The Rub n’ Buff turned out great, and I love how the boring black and dingy inside and handles are now sparkling!

And here’s something fun– when you’re giving a gift, add a secret message that the gift-ee may discover later! 🙂

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Find an old craft from the thrift store, paint it, and write a secret message on the bottom as a fun surprise. - Thrift Diving

 

I also made sure to wax it with a soft cloth (again, a baby receiving blanket! LOL). Can you tell the difference in the waxed area versus non-waxed?

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Find an old craft from the thrift store, paint it, and wax it for protection. - Thrift Diving

 

Best “Creativity” Quotes EVER

Did you notice the writing on the basket? I wanted this DIY crafting gift basket to be “CREATIVITY” themed, so I found some awesome quotes on creativity, and hand-wrote those with cool chalk ink markers. Those markers work on regular chalkboard paint as well as Annie Sloan chalk paint, which I didn’t realize until this project!

Here are the some of the best creativity quotes. You can even use these for making inexpensive DIY wall art, too!


 How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Creative quotes for creative gift ideas: "Creativity if a drug I can't get enough" ~ Cecil B. DeMille - Thrift Diving

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Creative quotes for creative gift ideas: "Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it." ~ Salvador Dali - Thrift Diving

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Creative quotes for creative gift ideas: "Creativity is contagious. Pass it on." ~ Albert Einstein - Thrift Diving

 

What To Stuff Inside Your DIY Craft Gift Basket

Here are some of the most popular craft supplies. Be creative and include what you want, but here are my favorites!

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Craft supplies to include in your DIY crafting gift basket. - Thrift Diving

1. I think I’ve said already how much I love Rub n’ Buff. ‘Nuff said, right? You should definitely include it in your diy craft gift basket.

2. Mod Podge  is the greatest invention since sliced bread! I mod podged a bookshelf using scrapbooking paper and it’s amazing how easy it was. Check out Mod Podge Rocks for a whole bunch of crafting ideas you can do with Mod Podge. I also include a brayer. If you’re going to give Mod Podge, be sure to include a brayer to smooth out the bubbles of what they’ll be gluing down.

3. I absolutely adore wood stamps and ink pads! I think they’re a lot of fun when making homemade greeting cards, and I’ve used them on some of my furniture make-overs, too.

4. Now THIS is something I would love to try: a stencil cutter! Who wouldn’t love to create their own stencils? There are even DIY versions of ways to make your own stencils at home, using Exacto knives and slide projector sheets. But I wanted to include this in my friend’s DIY craft gift basket. Be sure to pick up the blank stencil sheets.

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Use Rub n Buff for all your crafting needs. - Thrift Diving

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Make a craft gift basket and put plaster of paris and your favorite sample paint to make DIY chalk paint. - Thrift Diving

Some other things I included in the craft gift basket was a jar of plaster of paris, and pasted a decorate top (using scrapbooking paper glued on), and I attached a pretty, decorative paper cut-out recipe for how to make your own chalk paint.

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Make a craft gift basket and put plaster of paris into a clear jar, and include a bit of your favorite sample paint to make DIY chalk paint. - Thrift Diving

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the finished “DIY chalk paint” set after attaching the cute recipe! Oh, well…….(GIFT TIP: If your gift-ee lives locally, consider including in your DIY craft gift basket a quart, or sample, of your favorite paint, along with the pretty jar of plaster of paris. 

 

How to Make a DIY Craft Gift Basket - Paint a bucket and write creative quotes around the bucket. Then stuff it full of your favorite DIY crafting supplies for your crafty friends and family! - Thrift Diving

Other Craft Gift Basket Ideas and Things to Include:

  • Samples of your favorite paint
  • Wine
  • Babysitting “Crafting” coupons so your friend can have a few uninterrupted hours to be creative!
  • Your favorite crafting books!

So do you like the idea of making a DIY craft gift basket, too? Leave a comment below and inspire us with your ideas!

 

SIGNATURE

Download the 5 freebies!

Thrift Diving inspires women to decorate, improve, and maintain their home themselves...using paint, power tools, and thrift stores! Use these 5 printables, checklists, and ebooks to get started!

Now go check your email for those freebies! Powered by ConvertKit

Love this post? Share it! :)

Similar Posts

19 Comments

  1. LOVE it!! And how on earth did you write so neatly inside on the bottom??

  2. Love this!!! Great idea. I have trouble doing large areas using RubnBuff. Do you apply with a small brush or with a finger? I always used a finger and made such a mess. Loved the wrapping for your gift too. What a wonderful gift!!!

Leave a Reply to Upcycled Wood Wine Box | Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *