So, we all know that Christmas is about much much more than giving gifts. So much more. However, if your love language is ‘giving gifts’ (like mine is) it’s a special time to shower love on those special people in your life. I am ALL about DIY gifts, especially those that cost as little as possible to make. I hope that if you are on a tight budget this Christmas some of the below ideas will be helpful and fun! Enjoy!
1. {For the baby in your life} If you are anything like me, you have to use your fingers and toes to count the number of friends and family in your life that are pregnant right now. I have one word for you: onesie. Being a mom myself, I can’t tell you how many onesies you go through with babies. So it is great to have some that are fun, colorful and hand-made by a friend to add a little something extra. I have another word for you: (well two) fabric paint. Amazing stuff. Pick some up at any craft store (or order online in the UK on amazon.uk) and go to town! I recently picked up a pack of 3 onsesis for £2.50!
Print out a silhouette of any object you like. I have included a little template here (with some I made and others I found on google images). Print it out and then use an exacto knife to cut out the image and then tap the ‘stencil’ onto the onesie. Paint over the stencil and after giving it a minute to dry, pull it up.
I packaged them up in an egg carton (because I chose a farm theme). It was free and turned out great.
Could he be any cuter?!! This is my nephew Levi modeling his rooster onesie! :)
2. {‘For the ‘butcher, baker and candlestick maker’ in your life} Ok, really just for the baker. Super easy little gift below. Pick up an inexpensive oven mitt (this one was only £1!).
Sew on a little heart and some buttons and tada! It’s something special. Tie it up fancy with a nice cookbook (tip: charity shops are GREAT places to find fun/hardly used cookbooks) and your set!
3. {‘For the hard to shop for’ in your life} Sometimes there is that one person that you really want to find something special for, but can’t quite put your finger on what to get them. Find something personal that you know they will love, print it out and frame it up! I simply love finding random old frames at charity shops and markets. You can create something pretty special for nearly 1/10th of what you would pay to have it done in a framing shop. Rip open the backing, recover the matting, possibly paint the frame a brighter fun color, add in your personal printed piece and your done! I hope to share more on this process in a later post. You can also find frames at Ikea or even the pound shop (equivalent to the dollar store) and come out with some pretty inexpensive, but personal gifts.
I bought this frame at the pound shop, used a piece of blue paper and then wrapped it around the mat (hope to show more details soon) then printed off this lovely little image from {the graphics fairy} and added a bible verse. It makes for a perfect gift!
I searched for some vintage postcard images online and printed off some that reflected the ‘home’ state of several good friends. I then cut them out and framed them with a pack of .50p clip frames from the charity shop down the street! Pretty great.
Here is another great example from a wonderful blog called: Metal and Mud. She used the same image I used previously, but printed it on yellow paper and framed it for a piece to hang over her bed. All she paid for was the frames! Great gifts huh?
She also had the absolutely genius idea to frame some fun fabric scraps and then use the frame as a dry erase board! Talk about a fun and unique gift! And super easy and inexpensive too.
I hope to include some more fun, random and inexpensive gift ideas next week if I can get around to it!
the graduate wife 