Sunday, December 5, 2010

20 more days...

With the holidays coming up (frighteningly soon), I figured I'd start this blog off with a couple of DIY gift ideas. Perhaps they will spark a little light within to help your poor, overworked Christmas Gift driven Mind figure out what to get for that oh-so-especially-difficult-to-buy-for someone:

A couple of ideas that I plan(ned) on doing:
1) Sugar scrubs

-- So easy to make, and so simple a gift. All you need is sugar (brown or white), and cold pressed oil (Think olive, peanut, sunflower, etc). Mix in enough oil to dampen the sugar. From there, have fun! Add in food coloring (you only need a few drops) or essential oils if you like. Try some spices you have around the home, like cinnamon or nutmeg. A cheap, easy, creative gift, and it's great for the body!
**Do be careful; for those who are prone to acne or have highly sensitive skin, this may not be a good gift idea.**
Here's a link to the Strawberry Scrub pictured above that I am definitely going to use:

2) Handmade jewelry

-- Another crazy simple, but awesome idea if you think outside the box. The only things you'll need are earring hooks (or posts, up to you), whatever you find lying around the house to make earrings out of, and glue. I have seen/thought of earrings made out of:
-Scrabble pieces--How about cuff links with this one, too?
-Keys
-Old Records
-Old leather
-Old gift/Credit cards
-Discarded 80's jewelry
-Pumpkin Seeds
-Macaroni
-Cuff Links
-Feathers
-Animal Teeth (Better yet--Got a younger family member losing teeth? Be their tooth fairy. ;)
-And my favorite... Old Floppy disk parts (as pictured above)!
**To personalize it even more, recycle an old Altoids Tin, find some scrap material to cover it in, then buy a piece of felt for the inside, and voila. Sweet looking case, kickass earrings. You can thank me later (unless you saw this idea on 18 other craft sites before reading mine...)

3) Serving Tray

--A slightly more ambitious project, but a perfect gift for those who love to entertain, or maybe just appreciate the art of display. The tray table pictured above was made out of a former cupboard door, and the handles were then moved to a more functional position for the tray.

I've also seen a tray made out of a wooden picture frame (On Wendy Russell's show, "She's Crafty!") with a glass top.

Here's a link from ApartmentTherapy that shows you how to do one of your own: CLICK ME!

And if you're still at a loss (and running low on cash), why don't you try a little inspiration? Go to Michael's (or any other similarly crafty store), and walk around the aisles; the wood pieces being my favorite. This aisle for me is like a blank canvas. Think a keepsake box, a personalized picture frame... what about a charging station for the guy/gal with the high tech gadgets strewn about?

And don't forget about the old standby's... If you're good (or feeling adventurous) with a needle (knitting, crocheting or sewing), why not go for a scarf or hat? Or maybe a change pouch? The possibilities are endless (obviously)! Now if only I could listen to myself and get to work on these easy DIY gifts...

~Pusher. Of. Pens.~

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