Almost my entire life, I have taken the time to make handmade gifts. When I was a child, it was a lot of fun for me to draw pictures for my family and come up with other gift ideas. As I got older, I started making other crafts. My family graciously accepted my crude gifts.
Now that I am older, I still do a lot of handmade gifts. I remember getting very overwhelmed a few years ago with the number of gifts I was having to make from scratch for Christmas.
I had a renewed fervor for handmade gifts when my oldest son told me that homemade gifts were the best! I have a few inexpensive gift ideas you can put together for someone you love.
I Am Thankful When…Notebook
We all want to feel like others are thankful for what we do for them. This is something that I put together this year for some of my friends. They really enjoyed sitting down and reading the things they do that I feel thankful for.
I used a small notebook and wrote one thing I was thankful for on a page. You could use notecards or something that is more decorative than this to put it together.
It was a simple project, but took a little bit of time. I kept the notebook next to my bed so that when something would come to mind, I would write it down. This allowed me to get very specific. Of course, I sat down and knocked out several pages at a time in order to get it done in this century.
My Prayers For You
There are a few people in my life that I pray for on a regular basis. I have always kept a prayer journal to talk to God about a whole host of things. With this idea, I put together a journal of prayers for a specific person.
It can seem overwhelming to try and fill up an entire prayer journal. The thing to keep in mind is that you do not have to write on every single page. If you were to give a journal that was a ¼ of the way full, it would be meaningful to the person.
This is another one of those projects that will take a little time. You likely won’t be able to sit down and get it done in a day. That will really depend on what you decide to put in it.
Some ideas for the prayer journal can include:
- Short prayers for the person
- Scriptures that God brings to mind
- Encouraging words
- Praises of answered prayers
- Sketches that convey an idea
- Pictures from magazines
- Devotional thoughts
Don’t worry if you can’t fill it up all the way, or even halfway. Taking the time to work on it at all will be meaningful to someone else
Scrapbook Page or Picture Collage
I stink at scrapbooking. My goal for a few years was to put together one page for each of my kids and put it in a baby book. It is a huge commitment to scrapbook for major events, so this worked for me.
Another simple thing that I have done is to create a single scrapbook page and frame it. I’ve done many picture collages for Austin using pics of the boys. I would dress them up in a theme and try to pose them.
Rolled Paper Initial Gift Idea
A few years ago, I was looking for as many paper crafts that I could find. This one turned out really well and I did one for my friends and one for Austin.
To do this craft, you will need:
- Card stock
- Paper
- Hot glue
- Frame
Start by cutting the piece of paper to the size that will fit inside of the frame. Then you will draw the initial or design you want to make. Use a pencil to draw the letter.
You will need to cut the card stock in 1/4-1/2 in strips. Use the strips to make the letter. Run a thin strip of hot glue on the card stock itself and hold it in place on the section of the letter you are working with. Once it is cool enough, move to the next section.
After you have the initial done, you can do the swirly parts. I didn’t map this part out ahead of time, but you can if it will make it easier.
You will need to take the strips of paper and wrap the paper around a pencil to get the swirl effect. Cut the pieces as small as need be to fit in between the letter form and around it. Get as creative as you like.
This craft has held up for a few years and I have had no problems with it coming apart at this point.
These cheap gift ideas are very meaningful. It takes time to put these items together, but I have found that diy gifts are well worth it.
Do you have any meaningful gift ideas? Let us know about them in the comments. I would love to hear your ideas.
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