DIY gifts: manufacturing ideas and step-by-step instructions

Since childhood, we all love to receive gifts, and if before various things and souvenirs were a curiosity, now it can be very difficult to surprise someone, because shop windows literally explode from the abundance of various goods that differ not only in appearance but also in functionality.

Real and genuine emotions can cause only a surprise made with special love and awe. But what if not a handmade gift could come as such a surprise? Let us consider in more detail the various ideas for making gifts and get acquainted with step-by-step instructions and process features.

There are many diverse ideas for making original, unusual, beautiful and stylish souvenirs, which will be a wonderful gift or a wonderful addition to it. For example, as a souvenir to a dear person, you can make it yourself a beautiful frame for the photo. All that is needed is a wooden base, and then it’s a fantasy: you can decorate it with small pebbles, beads, beads, using decoupage technique, and even using ordinary buttons.

A creative option to replace a banal bouquet of flowers can be topiary, in the manufacture of which there is nothing complicated. Topiary is a ball on a straight or curved long support, located in a small pot.

For those who have been fond of creativity for a long time, there is nothing complicated in inventing and making cool interesting gifts. You can even be puzzled and make a souvenir that will symbolize the nature of a particular holiday. For instance, a surprise for the New Year may contain fir branches and have a tangerine smell, and on a birthday, it may reflect the character of the birthday person with the appearance and filling.

A great gift idea for some individual holidays will be polymer clay craft in the manufacture of which you can take into account all the important nuances. For example, you can make a beautiful vase in the form of a female figure, the parameters of which will correspond to the parameters of the figure of a beautiful girl for whom this gift is being prepared.

When there is no time to create a large unusual gift, and you really want to please a person, you can choose an easier option for making a suitable surprise. It will be no worse than others, but will be much simpler to execute.

A small quick surprise can be made even from improvised materials. It could be a beautiful basket of soap, satin ribbons and sewing needles.

Armed with permanent markers or paints and white utensils, you can create a very creative a couple of tea or even a whole set. But you should know that after drawing the dishes, it will be necessary to burn the dishes in the oven, so that subsequently the inscriptions are not washed off with water, but fixed under the influence of high temperatures.

Homemade gift will be appreciated not only by adults, but also by children. For example, little girls will definitely like mini figures or small pendants made of salt dough. Especially such a gift will be dear to the heart of the child if it is made together with parents.

Undoubtedly, everyone is pleased to receive a handmade gift, but it will be good if it becomes useful and really necessary. After all, it often happens that various things, souvenirs and other options for gifts simply gather dust in a box on the top shelf of the cabinet, because they have absolutely no functionality, but only take up space.

The necessary gifts are good not only because they will benefit this person, but also because every time he turns to this or that given thing, he will remember with warmth and gratitude the one who made such a wonderful gift with his own hand.

It is worth considering many other factors in the manufacture of useful and necessary gifts for everyday life.

• For manufacturing, quality materials must be used that can last a long time, and do not deteriorate in the first weeks of operation.
• In addition, the materials must be hypoallergenic, so you should ask the recipient of the gift in advance for any allergic reactions to the selected product or material.
• If this is a piece of clothing or any thing that will be constantly in sight, attracting attention, it must be neat and very neat. Otherwise, the person to whom the gift was intended will simply be embarrassed to use it in public.
• A gift made of hard materials should have a smooth surface and well-smoothed corners, since various irregularities can easily be scratched or damaged by other personal items.
• Do not try to make any intimate personal things with your own hands, since not everyone is able to appreciate this kind of surprises.
• Well, of course, it is worth remembering that no matter how original, functional and useful your gift may be, you still need to take care of suitable packaging for it. It can be a package, box or simple wrapping paper, the main thing is that the composition as a whole looks stylish, elegant and organic.

A great option for a homemade gift material is leather, which is best natural. From the skin you can make many pleasant things and very useful things.

At first glance, the belt manufacturing process may seem very simple, but do not rush to rejoice. Definitely, everyone will have an incredible time to make such a gift made by themselves, but in order to make a really high-quality thing, you will have to tinker.

To do this, you will need special tools for cutting the skin, a hole punch, a ruler and a device that will help shape the edges of the product.

You will need to carefully perform all the measurements, after which they will need to be transferred to paper or immediately to the skin, having drawn an approximate shape of the future belt. After this, it is necessary to cut out the part, arrange the edges properly, fasten the buckle and make several holes at an equal distance and at the same level. If desired, the belt can be painted and the edges treated with a special tool that creates a sealing effect. Such a gift will not only last a long time, but will also pleasantly surprise the person to whom it is addressed.

Perhaps no modern person can do without notebooks, notebooks and diaries, so a homemade gift of such a plan can be a real find. But the process of its manufacture is not at all simple, however, if you follow certain rules and detailed instructions, you can easily cope with the task.

First you need to make paper blanks. It can be either ordinary white sheets or printed pages with beautiful drawings and a stylish ruler.

Then, the stitched blocks must be glued together using reliable glue for paper and the most common fabric flaps. On top of these paper blocks you will need to stick the basis of the future cover, made of thick cardboard. While these parts are glued, you can begin to manufacture the cover.

To do this, from thick leather you need to cut a large rectangle of suitable size, as well as two small ones that will serve as connecting parts. The sheets of the cardboard backing are completely glued to the large leather rectangle from the outside. The inside of the cardboard parts is glued with the remaining small parts. If necessary, the edges of the cover can be flashed.It is worth noting that immediately after bonding the cover details, the future diary will need to be closed and pressed with something heavy so that it acquires the desired shape and appearance.

Covers for documents made of genuine leather are very popular. Such an item can become a worthy gift, especially if you make it yourself. In addition, it is quite simple in execution and does not need to use any complex techniques.

Next, you need to decide for which document you will produce the cover, and consider its dimensions. Everything is simple if it is a passport, student card or record book, since such documents have a single norm of parameters, and you can make a cover for them using the example of your personal passport or record book.

After everything becomes clear with the dimensions, it will be necessary to prepare the material by marking it. On the sides you need to make a couple of indents, they will subsequently be folded and form special pockets in which you fill the edges of the usual passport cover.

When making such a gift, you don’t need to glue anything, you just need to carefully sew the edges on a special sewing tool or using special needles. Threads should also be used strong, with a high degree of wear resistance.

Everyone nowadays has a smartphone, tablet or laptop, or even all at once. Therefore, handmade covers for gadgets can be a wonderful gift option. As with documents, you need to know the size of the phone and other electronic assistants, but, unlike the first case, just remember the brand and model, and all other details can be found on the Internet.

The manufacturing principle of the simplest cases does not have anything complicated, since they are a kind of bags with fasteners and ties. It is necessary to cut out rectangles of suitable size from the skin and stitch it on three sides, leaving the fourth free so that the phone can be folded into the resulting handbag.

It is worth noting that for the reliability of such cases, you can add soft foam or hard cardboard insertsto help protect your phone from a fall or other shock.

Gifts from metals, although they look very unusual and original, but still they are quite difficult to manufacture. Not every girl will be able to cope with this kind of process, and some features of manufacturing will be possible only for men.

The simplest metal craftsmanship will be the manufacture of various items and souvenirs from bending metal wire. For example, you can make an original stand for the phone, stand for hot dishes, decor for a photo frame, a beautiful keychain or just an unusual figurine.

For those who know how to handle a soldering iron and have other special attributes for working with metals, there are many other options for making beautiful gifts.

They look very cool cup holdersmade in the form of a sitting, running or dancing man. The originality of this idea is that such a stand not only has arms and legs, it also displays even the smallest details in the form of laces on boots or fingers on hands.

Perhaps romantic gifts deserve special attention, because everyone wants to please their soul mate with something special, original, created only for a loved one. Therefore, many seek to create gifts of this kind with their own hands, taking into account all the preferences and wishes of their soulmate. A romantic surprise can be presented not only for some big, significant holiday, but also in the process of courtship, on a date, or even for no reason. It is not so difficult to make a beautiful cute gift; there are many examples and options for both girls and men. The main thing is to carefully study the step-by-step instructions.

In addition, it is worth noting some of the nuances regarding romantic gifts.

• In surprises for girls, there should always be flowers that she especially likes.
• In gifts for both girls and men, soft and warm pastel colors should prevail. Such colors have a beneficial effect on the emotional background and cause emotion.
• Even the smallest gift made with a soul can please a loved one. Therefore, do not be wise, inventing something super-original.
• There should not be a reason for a romantic gift, but it is better to present such a surprise in a suitable setting.

Let us consider in more detail the options for romantic gifts and the features of their manufacture.

All girls love flowers. Despite the fact that taste preferences regarding species differ, it is generally very difficult to find a representative of the beautiful half of humanity who would not like flowers. In addition, it is flowers that are a purely female gift, since it is not customary to give them to a man.

You can make a wonderful surprise out of flowers by combining them with large strawberries. Such a composition can be combined into a bouquet or placed in a shallow gift box.

Figurines in the form of animals, hearts and other cute objects from flowers look original. The basis for such a composition should also be a floristic sponge that absorbs moisture and nourishes it with flowers. Without water, they will die very quickly and the composition will be damaged.

Besides, the flowers do not have to be alive, because some may find this gift trivial. You can surprise your beloved girl by forging a metal rose with her own hands and making a beautiful bright bouquet of paper flowers and toys. These types of gifts do not have an expiration date, so they will delight their appearance for a long time to come.

Romantic gifts from napkins will become a very unusual idea and, at first glance, it is very difficult to come up with something original made of such material. But do not despair, because napkins do not need to be used in a single version, they can always be combined with other objects.

For example, they can be used as a beautiful wrapper for the main gift. To do this, you need to choose the type of napkins, outwardly resembling wrapping paper, and beautiful satin ribbons.

In addition, you can do the necessary functional thing using napkins and make a beautiful box for little things for a girl or a guy, decorated using decoupage technique. The peculiarity of this technique is that To apply the image to the surface of various objects, paint, glue, napkins and glossy varnish are used.

And, of course, we must not forget about the simplest options: you can always make beautiful paper flowers from napkins or make an unusual table setting for a romantic dinner.

Typically, various ribbons are used for gift wrapping or as a decorative element, but few people think that ribbons can be used as the main decoration of a gift or even as a surprise.

For example, tapes can be used to wrap bottles in a special way, creating a female and male outfit on them. Such techniques are often used at weddings.

From ribbons, you can make small, but pleasant surprises in the form of roses. You need to start making such a rose by folding one edge into a tube, which you need to fix with glue. Next, the remaining piece of tape will be wrapped around this tube, and fixed with glue. The tape will need to be turned in the opposite direction from itself - so the petals will look voluminous and more natural.

It would be nice to complement and decorate the wooden basket with ribbons, which can be used for any holiday. The main thing is to choose the right shade of ribbons. For a romantic event, pink, white and red shades are suitable. Bright colors will be ideal for spring holidays, and burgundy and green for a Christmas surprise.

Beads are a truly unique material that can be used to make absolutely any gifts, including romantic ones. For example, from beads you can make a cute figure in the form of an animal, which will be ideal for a girl, or in the form of an airplane or a car, which is perfect for a man.

An openwork necklace made of beads will look very spectacular on an elegant female neck, and what a delight your lady will come when she finds out that it is made with your hands - there is no way to describe it in words!

A bead brooch will look beautiful and unusual. It can have any shape and size. A brooch can be made in the form of a flower, an animal or even an inscription - it all depends on the imagination. In addition, in the manufacture of brooches, you can use not only beads, but also various large beads, decorative stones.

An original gift for a man can be a beautiful decorative tie made of beads. And although the addressee of the gift is unlikely to use it in his everyday outfit, he can still complement them with some kind of original holiday image.

It would seem that this can be done as a gift to your soulmate from the most common threads? You will be surprised how many original ideas exist for making gifts from this material!

The most popular of them is the heart, for the manufacture of which, in addition to threads, you will also need a wooden base and small nails. The essence of this gift is that nails are driven into a wooden base, forming a heart shape. They need to be hammered incompletely, between the hat and the base should remain about one and a half centimeters. Further around the nails, diagonally wound the threads from one nail to another. Threads can be wound in a chaotic manner. At the end, a beautiful application is formed.

You can make a three-dimensional figure out of threads using glue, balloons or a conical base. To do this, it is better to choose woolen or simply dense threads that will be dipped in glue and attached to the base. Thus, you can get a beautiful volumetric heart, ball or Christmas tree.

Foamiran is a kind of foamy material that is often used to make decorative souvenirs and gifts. It is very pleasant to the touch and has a variety of shades, which makes it truly universal. In addition, it has a very light weight and is very malleable in work.

The most common version of items for homemade gifts from this material is flowers. You can make anything of them. For example, complement the hair band by combining flowers with lace, beads and ribbons. Any girl will be delighted with such a gift. Using the same principle, you can make decorative hair clips, small brooches, earrings or rings, and other accessories.

Perhaps we all recently saw decorative bears made of small foamiran flowers on the windows of souvenir and flower shops of decorative bears. Such figures can be made independently, in the form of not only bears, but also other animals. In addition, from this material you can make beautiful floral bouquets and unusual compositions from artificial berries and fruits.

A few years ago, various gifts, in the manufacture of which food products are involved, gained immense popularity. These are bouquets, and baskets, and other varieties of different sizes and shapes. Such a gift will not only be a beautiful reminder of the holiday and the giver, but also delight the whole family of the recipient of the gift with goodies.

However, there are many important aspects that must be considered when making edible surprises.

• First of all, you need to make sure that all products are fresh and have a good shelf life, allowing you to store a gift for some time.
• When working with open products, such as sausages or cheese, all sanitary standards must be observed. The manufacturing process must be carried out strictly in disposable gloves and in a special cap on the head to protect the product from hair.
• In addition, it is strictly forbidden to start making an edible gift if you suffer from any diseases that can be transmitted through the air or by touching food.

A gift made from sweets does not have to be complicated. It can also be beautifully arranged sets of sweets, honey, nuts in the glaze, syrups and cookies. In addition, you can make a sweet gift by wrapping each item in a beautiful paper with an original signature. For example, on a bar of chocolate you can safely write "a remedy for sadness," because we all know how chocolate cheers up.

But if you want to really surprise a person for whom the gift is intended, you can also think about creating a whole craft from sweets. For example, make a beautiful box decorated with paper flowers and sweets.

For this we need:

• corrugated paper;
• glue gun;
• scissors;
• box;
• candy;
• beautiful packing tapes;
• beads or rhinestones for decoration.

At the first stage, it will be necessary to glue the perimeter of the box with corrugated paper and trim it with sweets. To do this, it is best to choose small chocolates or oblong-shaped sweets. They are glued vertically, fairly close to each other, forming a kind of "fence". Thus, you need to trim all the outer side parts of the box. Most successfully, such a composition looks on boxes of round and oval shape.

Next, go to the decor of the cover, which also needs to be glued with beautiful paper. On the lid there will be beautiful flowers, the petals of which are made of corrugated paper, and in the middle between them is a candy of a round shape or in the form of a dome.Two or three colors of a small size will be enough for the decor of the cover, and decorative small details will help to complement the composition.

You will see a master class on making candy boxes in the next video.

A very original idea, suitable for a gift to a man, is to make bouquet compositions from sausages and cheeses. Let us consider in more detail which products are more suitable for such a gift, how it can be supplemented, and how to fix everything in a bouquet.

The main part of the bouquet will be smoked hunting sausages, which have a thin, oblong shape and different sizes. Small ones can be left in their original form, and long sausages will have to be cut into several parts, the main thing is that they all be equal.

As for the cheese, it is best to choose a smoked product with a small round shape. All details should be strung on wooden skewers and assembled in a bouquet, and to make the composition look more bright and unusual, you can supplement it with feathers of green onions, cherry tomatoes, small pieces of fresh baguette and alcoholic drinks.

In the center of the bouquet you can place a can or a bottle of good beer, cognac or other drink, which would be preferable for the recipient of the gift.

See below for an overview of DIY gift options.