Homemade Holiday Gifts for All

By: Philip Sanzone

There are many great inexpensive ways to create wonderful gifts. (Credit: diynatural.com)

There are a lot of inexpensive ways to make great heartfelt gifts for a loved one.

One cute idea is a homemade candle. First, you’re going to need wax, some wick, a container, fragrance, and a dye color of your choice. You will also need a pot for melting the wax.

Be careful with what type of wax and wick you chose since some wick types don’t melt certain kinds of wax. It’s far easier to use wax flakes since they melt faster and are easily controlled. After you are done melting the wax, place the wick inside the appropriate container of your choice.

You can even use old candle containers to save money. Before pouring it, add dye and fragrance if you wish. The fragrance will make it pleasantly aromatic and the dye will make it colorful. Finally, pour the wax and after it’s used up, use sticks of skewers to hold the wick in place.

Another DIY gift is handcrafted perfume. It is made using a 5 or 10 ml. roller bottle, desired essential oils, and almond oil (used as a base). It is up to you if you want to use a dropper or pipette, and dried flowers like edible rose petals or lavender.

There are three layers to creating a fragrance: top notes, middle notes, and base notes.

Top notes consist of grapefruit, lemon, lime, peppermint, and many others.

It’s usually what one will first get a whiff of, which also dissipates fast.

Middle notes are pretty much the perfume and usually consist of cinnamon, clove, ylang, rosemary, and jasmine.

Now, for the base note. It is strong and aromatic so it does have a lot going on with it. The contents of the base can be patchouli, vanilla, and sandalwood. Once you have everything, take off the ball on top of the roller bottle.

Then put in your hand-picked essential oils, going from the top notes to the base notes. The amount you put of each is up to you and is all preference, but 10 or less drops is a good start. It is better to add more later on if you decided to add to it than overdo it early in the process.

Once you have decided on your amount, mix it by swirling the glass and combining all the oils.

Finally, add your dilute substance. It can be coconut or sweet almond oil. These are just to hold the other oils without adding anymore fragrance to give the perfume a balanced body. If you want to decorate the inside as well, you can put dried flowers.

Lastly, you can fill the container to the top. And that’s how you make a cute and great perfume gift from the heart at a low cost!

For the next gift you will need a printer, semi-gloss paper, easycast clear epoxy, a wide mouth mason jar lid, a plastic cup, a stirring stick, some adhesive, and a lighter. Crop and size the picture or design that you want to be around 3.5 inches square.

Place the lid on the picture to outline and then cut a perfect circle that will fit nice into the lid. After cutting, add adhesive to the photo and place it inside the lid.

Next, mix the resin based on the directions specified on the package, and once it is ready, prepare to pour it. A 8 oz. box of resin can make about 7 coasters.

Lastly, pour the resin on top of the lid. Once it’s fully poured, take a lighter to the bubbles to burn them off and do this as quickly as possible.

These are three fun and easy crafted gifts that will take some time, but are great for any occasion.

Source: thesprucecrafts.com