Handmade Present Ideas for Any Occasion


I am a big fan of creating handmade gifts. Making things is a fun and rewarding experience, but it also saves money and demonstrates something a little more than buying a gift (in my opinion). I love both making and receiving handmade gifts. Most of these ideas do not require a high level of skill to create and I will provide links to walk through tutorials to all of them.

Note: all the photos in this article belong to me, and the items in the photos were created by me. Please be respectful of this and do not repost without credit. Thank you!


1. Perler Art

Perler art is made with perler beads. These are little plastic beads you can buy on Amazon. You can probably also in some dollar stores and art stores, but I haven't been able to find them in my area. These beads are arranged into shapes and ironed together. The small ones are relatively quick and easy to make, while the large ones can be quite time consuming and challenging. Perler art is great for making cartoon, anime, and video game themed art as it gives a pixelated aesthetic. The cost for supplies to get started with perler bead art is around $30. All you need is a variety of colored beads, a peg board, and some tweezers.

You can use perler art in many different ways to create original gifts. Here are a couple ideas:

Keychains

You can make very small perler creations and then add a key ring on it to make a keychain. These are simple and great for beginners. Check out this Youtube tutorial on how to make cute animal keychains.


Fridge magnets

You can buy magnet sheets from your local dollar store (or online here) and glue them to the back of your perler creation to make unique fridge magnets.


"Paintings"

You can buy a canvas that your perler creation will fit on, paint a custom backdrop for it, then glue the perler to the canvas using superglue (I use Loctite). This makes for some cool wall art.



2. Framed Quotes

You can find old picture frames at thrift stores and yard sales for very cheap or free. If that isn't an option, Amazon has some add-on item frames that are reasonably priced as well. Choose a quote or saying that is meaningful and draw it out in a creative way on a piece of paper that will fit within your frame. This can be done in a many different ways. You need to choose a font for your quote - calligraphy style fonts are popular lately. This can be done with a calligraphy pen or markers, pencil, or paint depending on what style you are going for. If you have not practiced calligraphy, you can look up calligraphy alphabets on pinterest and copy them out in pencil before going over them. It could even be done digitally if you prefer.

For a minimalist look you can leave the background blank, or add a few symbols around the quote. You can also draw in pictures or create an abstract background. When you are finished pop it into your picture frame and you are done.

I like the idea of DIY framed quotes because it can fit with a wide range of artistic abilities. For myself I am not particularly skilled at painting or drawing so I tend to choose more abstract backgrounds. There are infinite different ways of doing this, but here is a Youtube tutorial on 3 different ways that even beginners can do.



3. Soap

There are a few different methods to making soap. One is the "melt and pour" method where you buy already made blocks of soap, melt them down and add your own colors/fragrance. Melt and pour is much easier and great for beginners.

The other methods which is what I will call "making soap from scratch" are called the hot process and cold process, which are much more tricky and have higher safety risks. I have always used the cold process for making soap, but the hot process is similar, it just involves more heat. If you feel comfortable handling chemicals, making soap from scratch can be a fun experience. If you have never made soap from scratch before you may want to take a soap making class, have someone experienced show you how to do it, try melt and pour instead, or do some research before you begin.

Important notes on making soap from scratch:
  • You should wear eye protection and gloves - lye is caustic
  • Any pots and other cookware that is used to make soap should never be used for food again - set it aside and keep it as your designated soap pot. 
  • Soap takes 4-6 weeks to harden/cure. If you want to make soap as a gift, you need to start early. You can't make soap one day and then hand it out the next. 
  • Always add lye to water, NEVER water to lye. This can result in a violent reaction due to heat generation. 


Supplies needed for cold process soap making:
  • Lye (sodium hydroxide) - you can buy this at a soap making store or online. 
  • Designated soap pot
  • Kitchen scale
  • Stick blender (you want a cheap one because it will only be for soap making)
  • Oils of your choice (more on this below)
  • Essential oils of your choice
  • Color or other additions to soap
  • Soup molds - You can order lots of fun shapes off Amazon. A couple of my favorites are flower molds and brick molds. (As an alternative you can line a baking dish with saran wrap to use as a mold but this can be messy and doesn't make as nice of shapes). 
To figure out how much oil you will need in a recipe, you need to use a soap calculator which will tell you the exact amounts of water, lye, each type of oil, and fragrance that you need for the recipe. You can weigh out all your ingredients on a kitchen scale. You can follow SoapQueen's guide to the cold process here. You can also check out this YouTube tutorial on cold process here.



4. Gemstone Jewellery 

There is a wide variety of options for making your own jewellery, but I've always been drawn to jewellery made with real gemstones. If the person you are making the gift for enjoys crystal healing, you can include a little note with the gift on what type of energy the gemstones bring with them. Making bracelets is more straightforward than making wire wrapped pendants, but they can both be a lot of fun to make.


Bracelets

I make most of my bracelets out of 6mm beads with gemstones like labradorite, moss agate, lapis lazuli, amethyst, rose quartz, and moonstone. I buy most of my gemstone beads from Amazon, specifically from the store 'Charming Beads' as their gemstone beads seem to be the best quality and most genuine for their price. Some sellers on Amazon sell very low quality or fake gemstone beads.

To make a simple bracelet you will need:


Here is a great tutorial on how to put a bracelet together.


Pendants

Pendants will take a bit more dedication and practice to get right, but not as much as you might think! There are many different ways to wire wrap, some being quite simple while others more complicated. When I first started looking into making pendants I saw two main options: silver work or wire wrapping. Silver work is beautiful but requires the use of a torch and some other specialized tools. I'd like to try it one day, but for now I will focus on wire wrapping. Wire wrapping requires some tools as well but they are common ones such as round nose pliers, a small clamp, and wire cutters.

I looked up some basic wire wrapping tutorials and nothing was really jumping out at me until I came across OxanaCrafts. This woman is a wizard. She wraps pendants in a way I had never seen before, and she creates wonderful, easy to follow tutorials on how to do it yourself. All my knowledge of wire wrapping comes from her.

The stones used for wire wrapping are called cabochons, and this is one thing I actually don't buy on the internet! In the town I live in we have shops that sell crystals, and they also sell cabochons for a reasonable price depending on the size and type of stone. I also buy my craft wire locally. OxanaCrafts uses bare deadsoft copper wire and oxidizes it with liver of sulfur which gives an amazing result. I have never tried this (but would like to!). I use silver plated and antique brass craft wire that is coated to prevent oxidation.

If you are interested in making some pendants like the photos above, I recommend you check out OxanaCrafts on YouTube and pick one of her tutorials to try out. This tutorial and this other tutorial are the main ones I have worked with.



5. Crocheted Anything 

I knit and crochet, but have always preferred crocheting. It is faster and (in my opinion) easier. There is no risk of dropping stitches as with knitting and it is much more simple to create things that are not flat and square. Simple things to start with for learning how to crochet are hats and scarves. My recommendation with crochet is to choose your yarn carefully. Do not buy the cheapest possible yarn so save money as it generally ends up as a mediocre product. Make sure the yarn is soft enough to wear - rub it on your face if necessary!

Things you need to get started with crocheting:

I learned how to crochet through a combination of Stitch & Bitch and BobWilson123 on YouTube. I like YouTube tutorials as you can follow along as you watch. The Stitch & Bitch book is great because it shows how to do different types of crochet stitches and describes how to read patterns. 

If you are already comfortable with crocheting you can try taking on some more challenging projects such as amigurumi (crocheted stuffed animals), gloves, slippers, or sweaters. 




Lastly I would like to mention that if you are not interested in trying any of the above handmade gifts yourself - I take commissions. If you would like to order any of the things pictured above or request a custom order please don't hesitate to email me.

Happy crafting!

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