The holidays are so much fun! you get to spend time with friends and family, eat cookies, and stress about buying the perfect gifts for everyone if your life. To help ease your stress, here are 5 DIY gifts to help you cross off a few people on your list.
- Significant Other – Personalized Glass Spotify Song Cover
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Supplies:
Brushes
Modge Podge
White Paint Pen (you can pick any color but I think whote looks the best)
Picture frame
Directions:
1. Choose your song: pick a song that is important to you and your significant other
2. Take a screenshot of the Song cover: you’ll have to resize the image before you print to make sure it fits the size of your frame.
3. Print it out
4. Take the glass out of the frame.
5. Place it behind your glass and trace the play button, sing title, and length of the song with your paint pen
6. Modge Podge over your paint pen work
7. Print out a photo of you and your significant other and put it in place of the song’s photo with Modge Podge.
8. Enjoy your customized Spotify Song Cover :)
- Coffee Addicted Bestie – Animal Coffee Cozy from Good Housekeeping
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Supplies:
Craft scissors
Tacky glue or glue gun
Felt
Paper coffee cup
Directions:
1. Print out a template: You can find a template for a fox cozy here! But if you want to hange it up to fit any animal you can totally do so!
2. Cut out each of the individual pieces out of felt.
3. Pin the cutout pattern pieces to the felt. The fox’s head and body are orange; its tail, face and ears are white; and its eyes and nose are black.
4. Carefully cut all of the pattern pieces out of the felt, then remove the pins and paper template
5. Secure all of the separate layers with tacky glue. Tip: Use a toothpick for the really tiny pieces.
6. Once your fox is assembled, wrap the body portion around your cup and glue all the way around the edge for a tight fit.
7. Glue the fox’s head to its body at a slight tilt. Let your cozy dry before you use it.
- Animal Lover – Personalized Animal Ornaments from BarkPost
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Supplies:
Chenille bump stems (They’re just fancy pipe cleaners)
Scissors
Tape runner or glue stick
Glue gun
Mini dollhouse bottlebrush trees (optional)
Mini dollhouse candy canes (optional)
Directions:
1. Using a double-sided tape or a glue stick, attach a photo of your pup onto construction paper or other thick piece of paper so it’s nice and sturdy. Cut out your pup’s head.
2. Cut your chenille stem in half.
3. Take 1/2 of your chenille stem and bend it in half.
4. To make the arms, take the other 1/2 of your chenille stem and wrap it around the top of the folded stem. Wrap it a few times until the arms are as long as you’d like them to be.
5. Using a glue gun, attach your pup’s head to the chenille stem body you’ve just made.
6. Use your glue gun to customize your pup with some candy canes, trees or any other accessories you can think of!
7. Take a moment to admire your handy work and smile. Isn’t it adorable?
8. To finish it off, cut a piece of yarn or ribbon about 6 inches long and, using your glue gun, attach it to the back of your ornament so you can hang it from a tree.
- Foodie Friend – Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies from The Cooking Actress
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Ingredients:
1 cup (or 2 sticks or 16 tbsp. or 8 oz.) unsalted butter, browned
1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea sat + more for sprinkling
3/4 cup broken pretzels + more for top
1 and 1/2 cups caramel bits (I used Kraft caramel bits) + more for top
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips + more for top
Directions:
1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
2. To brown the butter: In a (preferably light colored) saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, whisking as it melts, foams, bubbles, and eventually little brown bits form and it turns amber. Immediately pour into a large, heatproof, bowl, and use a spatula to scrape all the little brown bits into the bowl.
3. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the vanilla and sugars into the butter for a couple minutes, until it lightens a bit.
4. Beat in eggs for about 30 seconds.
5. Add the baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, and about a third of the flour. Mix slowly, add another third of flour, mix, and add the last of the flour until just combined.
6. Stir in the pretzels, caramel bits, and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
7. Scoop out very large balls of dough (at least 1/4 cup, but could be bigger, up to 1/2 cup size) and place on a prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of space in between (you will need to do multiple batches.) Add more broken pretzel pieces, caramel bits, and chocolate chips to the tops of the dough balls to preference. Sprinkle with sea salt.
8. Bake for 13 minutes (this will vary, though, according to the size of your cookies), until golden around the edges. Remove and allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Serve warm! Store leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They will also keep, frozen, in a ziploc freezer bag for up to 3 months.
- Sporty Friend – Homemade Scrunchies from Martha Stewart
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Supplies:
Tape measure
Fabric
Fabric scissor
Pins
Elastic (1/4″)
Safety pin
Needle / thread
Directions:
1. Cut fabric into a 3-1/2-by-22-inch strip.
2. Fold fabric lengthwise so it’s inside out and pin along the center.
3. Sew a straight line across the edge and remove pins once you’re done.
4. Pull the strip right side out. Attach the safety pin at one end and weave the pin through the inside of the tube and pull it out on the opposite end.
5. Cut elastic nine inches and attach the pin to one end.
6. Thread the elastic through the tube.
7. Remove the pin and tie the elastic into a knot.
8. Fold in the edges to create an even seam and tuck one opening over the other. Pin to hold the fabric in place and sew straight across to join the two sides.
9. Your scrunchie is now ready for any game your friend may have!