DIY Gifts-Easy, Inexpensive and Personal

DIY gifts are a great idea, especially when you have someone that is hard to buy for!

Today, I have three DIY gifts for you to make in the comfort of your own home that are easy and inexpensive!

I’ll start with the easiest one first.

1. DIY Gifts – Decorative Books

• Supplies

  • Hardback books

  • Chalk paint

  • Liquid Leaf paint

  • medium paint brush

  • small paint brush

  • tarp, painters cloth or newspaper

Steps

• • First, paint the entire book cover with chalk paint, including the front, back, and spine using the medium size paint brush.  Choose a color that you know will look great with the recipient’s.  Two coats may be necessary depending on the color you use.

  • Next, use the small paint brush to paint a design on the spine using Liquid Leaf paint.  See below for design ideas….

And there you go!  A pretty set of decorative books for the home!

When wrapping, stack them all together and tie with a piece of twine so that they look like a pretty set.

2. DIY Gifts- Decorative Rosary/Cross Necklace 

• Supplies

  • 2 different sizes of wooden beads (I found the ones below at Hobby Lobby….)

They come 8 to a bag so I bought 4 bags to give my main string 32 beads. ( If you are making an actual rosary you will need way more than that)

Notice that these are smaller than the 1″ beads above.  I bought 1 pack of these because I only needed 3. (again, if you are making a rosary, you will need a different amount)

• •  small wooden cross

  • twine

  • Liquid Leaf paint (I used gold)

  • chalk paint ( I used Country Gray by Annie Sloan)

  • 2 small paint brushes

  • super glue

  • drill with small drill bit

Steps First, paint all of the wooden beads with chalk paint.  I did this by holding each bead between my thumb and pointer finger of my left hand and painting one at a time.  This sounds time consuming but it really wasn’t because I used a paint brush the same width as the larger beads.    Second, string the beads together on twine,  starting with the larger ones.  After loading all 32 of them onto the twine, I tied a double knot at the top of the necklace, leaving 1/4″ of wiggle room in the strand to attach the cross at the bottom.  Just passed the double knot, I cut the twine down as close to the knot as I could so that there wasn’t any excess twine leftover.  Next, attach the 3 smaller beads and the cross to the bottom of the strand.  I tied another double knot in the leftover space I just mentioned with a second piece of twine.  This knot was in the very center of the beads (16 on each side) at the bottom of the strand.  After tying the double knot, I slipped on the first of 3 smaller beads and secured it in place with another double knot.  I continued this step until all 3 beads were attached to the same piece of twine with double knots securing them in place on each side. After that, make the cross. I simply glued 2 of these small wooden crosses together with the super glue to make 1 thick cross…    Next, paint the cross with the same chalk paint and drill a small hole in the top center. Then, thread the remaining twine from the strand of 3 smaller beads, through the hole in the cross and tie it off with a double knot.  (see previous photo) Last, apply the Liquid Leaf!  Any brush will do as long as the bristles are somewhat thick, short, and hard.   To apply the gold leaf, I dabbed my brush in the paint slightly and then patted the drips into the lid a few times so that my brush was almost completely dry but still had a touch of paint on it.  Then, I quickly and lightly grazed over each bead.  I obviously didn’t want the beads to be completely covered in gold but to look like they had been rubbed slightly with gold.  I used the same approach for the cross too.

I LOVE the way this turned out and I’m already thinking about some other color schemes I can use for my next one!

3. DIY Gifts- Jewelry Holder 

• Supplies

  • old window pane

  • chicken wire

  • wire cutters

  • staple gun and staples

  • 2 small wood screws

  • picture hanging wire

  • 2 picture hanging hooks

  • drill

• Steps

  • First, remove all glass panes

  • Measure and cut chicken wire.  Due to the window size, I had to cut the chicken wire into 2 strips.  The chicken wire comes rolled up so I had to flatten it out first and then cut it with wire cutters.

  • Next, after I had my 2 strips measured and cut, I stapled the chicken wire to the back of the frame using a staple gun…

• • After that, I went back around the edges of the frame and clipped any excess wire hanging over the frame.

  • Then, I installed the hanging hardware to insure that it would hang on the wall safely.  For this step I used picture hanging wire and 2 picture hanging hooks

If you can’t find an old window, Hobby Lobby sells pre-made weathered window panes that are about half the size of the window I used…

DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE!!!  Use a 40% off coupon from the website or wait until it goes on sale for 50% off.

You could also use any wooden picture frame and follow these exact same steps to achieve the same look!    

Well that’s it for today.  I hope I’ve helped spark an idea for saving money and/or finishing your shopping!

Check your list twice and make sure there is no one you forgot!!