Top 10 for 2015: Last-minute DIY gifts

by Emily Seth, Reporter

Still don’t have a Christmas present? Need a gift that is fast and easy? Do it yourself! Here are 10 great ideas for the short time you have left before Christmas.

#10: Money Tree670px-Fold-Money-for-a-Money-Tree-Final

If you quite literally have no options left besides what’s in your pocket, look to this little Christmas tree of bills.

All you really need for this gift is money and a tutorial on how to fold. WikiHow explains how to fold the money in the clearest way I have seen yet.

#9: Vintage Book Travel Organizervbto_overview

If you know someone who travels a lot or loves vintage collectibles, this gift that I found on a website called Design Sponge might be just the thing for them.

You need a vintage book cover, black fabric, black elastic ribbon, a sewing machine, pins, a needle, a thin mat board, Elmer’s glue, fabric glue, a ruler, X-Acto knife, and black photo tape.

The website has a tutorial on how to make this organizer. Although this is a really cool gift, I wouldn’t attempt it unless you’ve done a lot of DIY projects.

#8: Felt Drawing Supplies HolderCrayonHolder11

I found this gift on Skip to My Lou, a crafting website hosted by Cindy, a mother with a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education. This gift is perfect for the art enthusiast who draws anytime, anywhere.

All you need for this simple craft-turned-gift is multiple colors of felt, a button, ribbon, a 3″ X 5″ 80 sheet memo pad, and drawing supplies for the inner pockets. Crayons work well with the dimensions from this tutorial.

#7: Macrame BraceletEasy-Macrame-Bracelet-Pattern

This simple little bracelet, if done right and in holiday colors, can be a beautiful little Christmas gift.

Depending on what specific type of macrame bracelet you’re making, different materials are required, but some common ones are leather strips, beads, nylon cord, and Chinese knotting cord. All of these are available at craft stores such as Michaels, AC Moore, and JoAnne’s.

Guide Patterns is a website that has instructions for 20 different styles of macrame, but you could always look at other tutorials on different websites.

#6: Snowman Light Bulb Ornamentsdiy-light-bulb-snowman-top-easy-christmas-interior-party-decor-design-project

Have any old light bulbs around your house? They don’t have to work: as long as they’re in one piece, they’re perfect for turning into snowmen!

All you need to make these simple ornaments is some white paint, a paintbrush, on old burnt out light bulb, some colored markers, fabric scraps, scissors, orange paper, and glue.

A few hours later, including paint drying, you have a cute little ornament to hang on your tree.

You can check out a tutorial on how to do them at HoliCoffee. Of course, you never have to follow the directions exactly. You could use some more fabric to give your mini Frosty a little felt hat.

#5: Chandelier Prism Necklace54eada1769b12_-_idea-notebook-prism-necklace-0112-dic9fj-xln

If you’ve ever been to a flea market or antique store, you’ll know that discarded chandelier prisms are rather inexpensive. You can easily turn one of these prisms into a beautiful necklace.

All you need is a prism, gold craft wire, pliers, a gold-plated chain, a gold S hook, and an optional velvet pouch if you feel like being fancy with presentation. You can also do the same thing in silver.

You don’t even have to go hunting for a prism: Michaels also sells them.

You can read how to make the necklace at Country Living.

#4: Snow Globe Cookie Jar54eada0d53c35_-_crafts-mason-jar-1214-xln

This is one gift that you probably shouldn’t consider unless you have some baking skills. Turn an extra airtight jar you have around your house into a festive winter wonderland with edible snowdrifts!

What you’ll need for this one is a fine-tipped brush, some white paint, a glass airtight jar, some homemade snowball cookies, a ribbon, a gift tag, and some little plastic wintry trinkets.

For the steps on how to make this, as well as a link to the cookie recipe, check out this tutorial at Country Living. They used a small plastic tree and a deer figurine for their trinkets, but you can always use something else.

You don’t even have t use snowball cookies. If you can’t bake or know that the receiver doesn’t like snowball cookies, you can always use powdered donut holes.

#3: Christmas Cookie Kitimages

My Girl Scout troop did this DIY present for our families a few years ago. All you really need is a Mason jar with a lid, a square of festive fabric, some ribbon, a hole punch, and a cookie recipe, preferably printed out on card stock. I personally like using an M&M cookie recipe, with festive red and green M&Ms.

  1. Clean out your Mason jar, even if it’s empty: the person receiving the gift will eventually be eating the contents.
  2. Wash your hands!
  3. Measure out the dry ingredients needed for your cookie recipe. DON’T ADD THE WET INGREDIENTS!
  4. In layers, pour the dry ingredients into the Mason jar. Of course, you can always just mix all of the ingredients together from the start: I just think the layered look adds adds some charm to the gift.
  5. Put the fabric over top of the jar before screwing on the lid.
  6. Hole punch the printed out recipe and thread it onto the ribbon.
  7. Tie the ribbon around the neck of the jar with a bow.

This gift is especially good for someone who likes baking, yet never seems to have the right ingredients for what they want to make.

#2: Homemade Hot Chocolate ReindeerPerfect+gift+idea!++This+step+by+step+tutorial+has+the+hot+chocolate+recipe+and+free+reindeer+printables

For that family member who loves chocolate (every family has at least one) try giving them this reindeer filled with a hot chocolate recipe.

For the hot chocolate mix, you’ll need 3 3.2 oz envelopes of non-fat dry milk (3 3/4 cups), 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, 1/4 cup of dark cocoa powder (if you don’t have any, you can use all regular cocoa), and 1 cup of granulated sugar. For the reindeer jar, you’ll need a mason jar with a lid, a template which is found at Two More Minutes showing you how to make the reindeer face, card stock, felt, foam, or scrapbook paper in black, white, and red, scissors, an 8″ scrap of burlap or fabric, a rubber band, raffia or ribbon, and tape.

#1: Shrinky Dink Necklace54eada10e4b91_-_crafts-shrinky-dink-necklace-1013-xln

Most of you have probably at least seen a Shrinky Dink before. For those of you who haven’t, a Shrinky Dink is a sheet of thin plastic you can draw on that, when heated, shrinks both itself and the drawing to a minuscule size. Someone had the great idea to use this stuff to make a beautiful pendant for a necklace.

All you really need is a sheet of Shrinky Dink plastic, a hole punch, a chain, and a jump ring. You can decorate the pendant how you wish and personalize it to your liking: the website I saw this on, Country living, used a tree-shaped hole punch to create their pendant.

I hope this list proves helpful in your last-minute gift making spree.