Friday, January 2, 2015

3 DIY Gift Ideas

It would have been nice to get this post up before Christmas, but what if the recipients of these gifts mysteriously found their way to my blog?  That just wouldn't do.  Now that the gifts have been given, the giver would like to share some gift ideas with you.  These gifts are certainly not limited to Christmas, and could be used for a variety of special occasions.

Gift from a child: Painted Canvas
Seriously, you cannot find a gift much easier or more unique than this.  I picked up some 4x4 inch Artist's Loft canvases on sale at Michael's during the Black Friday Week sales.  My son made his first paintings on these which were given to grandparents and great-grandparents.  Each canvas cost about $2.50.  The trick was getting him to put the brush on the canvas and not in his mouth!

DIY Tea Tray
Remember the old buffet we picked up at the Habitat Restore and transformed into an entertainment unit?  I still have the two doors that we removed from it and I used one of the doors to make a tea tray gift set.  It is a straightforward and fun project.  First, we removed all the hardware and filled in any scrapes, holes, as well as the holes left from the door handle removal.  Next up, we sanded everything down.  Repeat.  We had to do this a few times as the holes from where the hinges had been were fairly deep.  Once this was all done we primed the door.  Then the door, soon to be tray, was painted in St. Boniface (love this colour!) by Para Paints.  Finally, the handles were added (purchased on clearance at Home Depot for $3.00 each).
UPDATE: I forgot to add one very important note - after we painted the tray we also coated it in Verathane.  This is key to prevent stuff from sticking to it (especially in humidity) and to protect the surface.


I included both photos because in the first picture the lighting makes the tray look almost blue - but the second picture is truer to the actual colour (St. Boniface) which is a beautiful, dark grey.
This just looks like a totally relaxing afternoon in bed or lounging on the couch to me.  I gave the tray with 3 boxes of tea (Peppermint Tea from Higgins & Burke, and two variety boxes of Twinings Tea), two vintage teacups and saucers (the second teacup is not shown in the picture), and the current issues of Better Homes and Gardens, Canadian Living, and InStyle.

In case you are wondering - I do have a project planned for that second leftover door.  Once it is complete I will share.

The Santa SixPack
I call this gift the Santa SixPack, but truly this is a gift that can be altered to match any occasion.  It is also a gift that you can make for next to nothing, or for quite a bit depending on which elements you choose to include.  I picked six of my all time favourite cookie recipes and put the dry ingredients into Mason jars (several of which I topped with the green vintage lids) and then grouped them together in baskets.  I printed the recipes and glued them onto red cardstock.  Also included in the baskets were a cookie scoop and a "Cookies for Santa" spatula, both of which I purchased at Target.  The thing I love about this gift is that it is very versatile - you could give the recipes and the Mason jars full of ingredients on their own, or you could add many extras such as spatulas, cookie scoops, measuring cups, even cookie sheets.  In case your wondering, yes, there is a jar of peanut butter in one of the baskets (for Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies).  The recipient of this gift was very happy to get it and has been baking and eating them with her children over the past week.  Of course, it also made me want to bake some cookies...which I did.
Cookie scoop, Cookies for Santa spatula from Target.  Basket from Bulk Barn.

Basket from Real Canadian Superstore

Ribbon from Costco, cardstock from Michael's




No comments:

Post a Comment