Tag: creativity

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Easy Homemade Gift Ideas

edible homemade gift

Getting a homemade gift can be a lot more special than something that has been bought. You know that the person who gave it to you has definitely put some time, thought and effort into it. And even a shop bought present can be personalised with the addition of a DIY touch, like giving a handmade bookmark with a book. I think that during the pandemic we’ve all come to appreciate things like this a bit more than before!

Of course making your own gifts can get out of hand. I remember watching Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas one year hoping for inspiration… unfortunately making the Christmas baubles involved going on a glass blowing course and quite a few of the other ideas were just as expensive!

So I’ve compiled a list of some easy and rather more financially accessible homemade gift ideas for you to try your hand at. You might still need to do a little bit of shopping for supplies, but overall it should work out cheaper. And there’s a range of skill levels to choose from so you should definitely find something you can impress with even if you’re a novice at this 😁

Just click on any heading below to go to the instructions for that homemade gift.

Container Candles

These are much easier to make than ordinary candles. The wax is designed to be poured into a container so all you need to do is melt it and add a wick. You can use different types of containers to suit the recipient. Try cute floral teacups, empty jars and tins or even a mug. You can scent or colour the candles if you like, but they’re fine plain too if you want to keep it as simple as possible.

One thing to bear in mind… Don’t melt the wax in a pan that you’re going to use again for cooking. Use an old one (your own or from a charity shop/car boot sale) or buy a cheap new one that you can use exclusively for making candles.

Leather journal

I received something similar from a friend a while back and I love it. These instructions are very easy to follow and the result looks really professional. If you don’t want to use leather you could use faux leather or suede, or even thick felt. You could make it even more special by personalising the cover in some way, such as embroidering an initial, painting/drawing a design on it or, if you’re lucky enough to own a pyrography kit or Cricut machine, you could use it to do something particularly fancy 🤩.

Edible homemade gifts

This blog post has a whole lot of different ideas for edible gift ideas which you can make at home, as well as all sorts of ways to present them beautifully. Edible gifts are great, as everyone loves a treat and as they’ll get eaten up you can keep giving them over and over!

homemade cupcakes gift
Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

Beaded bookmark

These beaded bookmarks are incredibly simple to make and make a great accompaniment when you’re giving a book or book voucher as a gift. The type of cord and beads you use can make the bookmark look very different. Plastic beads and bright colours are great for kids or use more sophisticated glass beads for adults.

Just make sure the cord you choose fits easily through the hole in each bead. When I made these I knotted the cord at the end instead of using a crimp. This means they’re even easier to make and you don’t need any special tools. Here’s are a couple I made and kept for myself…

beaded bookmarks
beaded bookmark

Bath bombs (and more)

Who doesn’t love bath bombs? They can be quite pricey when bought, but it’s relatively easy to make your own and you can choose your own fragrances, colours and other bits and pieces to add for decorative effect! You don’t need bath bomb moulds as a lot of instructions suggest. You can use any plastic moulds or silicone cupcake cases.

Depending on what size you make them you can put them in a large jar, a bag, a basket or a box to make a gorgeous gift.

Other bath products can also make lovely homemade gifts. I love these Tub Teas and you can buy heat sealable or drawstring tea bags to use very cheaply on eBay. Or how about these homemade bath salts? They look so pretty in the little bottles she’s used, but you could could use any jar or container with a secure lid to present them in.

If you’re on a roll, you could even make a range of different homemade bath products and present them in a gift hamper or basket for the ultimate pampering gift!

Painted terracotta pots

This has loads of ideas for different ways to paint plain terracotta pots. While I do love a terracotta pot, adding some spiffy painting does elevate them to a whole new level, without costing much at all. Add succulents, herbs or any other plants for an inexpensive gift that looks great!

Homemade gift hampers

If you want to give a thoughtful personalised gift but don’t have much in the way of crafty skills or you’re in a bit of a rush, gift hampers are a quick and easy homemade gift idea. They can be made up from favourite foods, pampering bath and body products, stationery or just about anything. If the person it’s for has a specific hobby or interest you could make up a hamper themed around that, e.g. reading, movies, knitting, etc.

A similar idea is to create gift kits, like these ‘Everything in a jar‘ ideas.

Tile coasters

These tile coasters are really easy to make with tiles that you can pick up cheaply but they look amazing once decorated with designer scrapbook papers. Tie them together with a pretty ribbon and you’ve got a gorgeous home made gift to give.

I hope these have given you some good ideas for making your own homemade gifts. If you give any of them a go, tag me on social media so I can see your creations!

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Creative Inspiration: A book review

The Joy of Watercolor - Emma Block

Everyone needs a bit of creative inspiration now and then, and I’m no different. I think it’s important to keep learning and stay creative, and books are my favourite way of doing this. Fiction teaches me more about other people by putting me in someone else’s shoes for a while. And non-fiction teaches me more about myself and hopefully helps me to be better at art, in my greeting card business and with life in general.

The Joy of Watercolor by Emma Block

This week I’m reviewing Emma Block’s book, The Joy of Watercolor: 40 Happy Lessons for Painting the World Around You. I’ve been a fan of her work for a while, and have dabbled a bit with watercolours, so decided to treat myself at the beginning of lockdown. I bought it on Amazon and if you click the picture to the right you’ll be taken there to buy the book if you fancy a copy of your own. (The links are affiliate links, so if you do buy I will get a small commission, but it won’t cost you anything extra.)

What I love about Emma’s painting is that she manages to make everything look so fresh and modern. A lot of watercolour paintings are a bit wishy washy and, while still beautiful, all seem to end up looking the same.

What creative inspiration is in the book?

Emma Block starts the book with an introduction and short history of watercolours and how she got started with them. She then goes into a bit of depth regarding the materials you need or can use, including paints, brushes, paper and more. There is also a section on colour theory and some exercises to practise mixing colours and using different techniques.

In terms of creative inspiration, the bulk of the book is made up of the 40 projects she walks you through. Projects are divided up into sections: Flowers, Fruit, Plants, Objects, etc. There is also a section on Painting on Location. The projects are also labelled as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, so there’s a range of difficulty levels to suit anyone. Within each project she lets you know what tools or materials you’ll need and the colours she used. She then talks you through the steps of recreating the paintings, with her own drawings and paintings to demonstrate.

The first project I worked on was the Blue Hydrangeas (I love love LOVE hydrangeas). It’s a Beginner project. I think I made the mistake of overdoing it, so mine doesn’t have the same simple appeal as her one. I’m not massively proud of it, as it’s a bit blurry and doesn’t have much contrast, but it was a good lesson to learn! And hopefully I’ll get better with practice. It was also fun to do something different from the cartoon portraits I usually spend my time drawing 😁.

Creative Inspiration: Blue Hydrangea

Would I recommend it?

Yes, I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in watercolour painting. It’s just as lovely to page through and look at Emma’s paintings as it is to work on the projects yourself. Not sure why the American spelling of ‘watercolor’ is used as Emma Block is British and works and teaches classes in London, but this obviously doesn’t affect the book itself or the gorgeous pictures in it.

The book would also make a terrific gift for someone else who is a bit arty. Whether they’re just looking for creative inspiration or want to have a go at watercolour painting themselves, I’m sure they’d love it.

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Homemade edible gifts

homemade cupcakes gift

Left it a bit late to buy a gift? Not quite sure what to get? Homemade edible gifts are a terrific solution as you can whip them up yourself really quickly. And everyone has to eat, right? At the most you might need to make a quick trip to the supermarket and spend a few minutes to an hour actually making the edibles, so within a couple of hours you’ve got yourself a fabulous present to give that is much more personal than anything you could’ve bought elsewhere anyway 😃

How much effort you put into making your edible gifts is completely up to you. If you’re in a bit of a rush then you can just assemble a variety of bought treats in a basket or hamper. If you have some time to spare but not much budget then making something from scratch will usually work out cheaper. Or you can go for something in-between.

Ideas for homemade edible gifts

Whether you’re making them yourself, or just assembling a selection of yummy things you’ve bought in a shop, there are so many things you can choose from:

  • Biscuits – sweet or savoury
  • Chocolate or sweets – homemade or bought
  • Toffee or fudge
  • Macarons, cake pops, cupcakes or muffins
  • A whole cake!
  • Tray bakes or bars
  • Ingredients e.g. to make a cake or biscuits – these look great layered in a jar
  • Coffee, tea or hot chocolate – it’s generally best to go posh with these
  • Jams or chutneys
  • Themed seasonings for keen cooks e.g. for Indian food, or a range of different fancy salts or peppers
  • Dried, candied or fresh fruit

If you’re looking for edible gift recipes and more ideas then take a look at Pinterest – there are loads of ideas on there.

homemade biscuits
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

Presentation ideas for your homemade gifts

  • Hampers and ‘bouquets’ – for anything and everything
  • Mason jars – for baking mixes, biscuits, sweets, etc
  • Boxes – for tray bakes, cupcakes, muffins and whole cakes
  • Tins – for biscuits, cupcakes, tray bakes or whole cakes, depending on the shape and size
  • Gift bags – best for packaged foods (make your own gift bags)

These are just some ideas but you can be as creative as you like – it’s a great way to get rid of containers that are too nice to throw away but that you don’t really want anymore 😁

Homemade edible gift in box
Photo by Jennifer Schmidt on Unsplash

Making it personal

A handmade edible gift is already more personal than something bought in a shop, but by putting some extra thought into it you can make it even more so. If you have friends who are vegan, coeliacs, on low carb diets or are just known for being coffee freaks or chocoholics you can show how well you know them by creating a gift that really suits them. It’s so easy to Google recipes for all sorts of preferences, allergies and fetishes!
You can also personalise the way you present your gift, for example by making a cute label for the jar or tin, or decorating the cake you’ve baked with their name in icing.

Why homemade edible gifts are the BEST

There are so many reasons why a homemade edible gift is so fabulous to give…

  • Shows how thoughtful you are and that you really know the person it’s for
  • Can be whipped up in a very short space of time
  • Generally costs less than an equivalent bought elsewhere
  • Gets eaten up so you can keep giving the same terrific gift over and over again
  • If for some reason they’re not too keen on it they can get friends or family to finish it off without you ever knowing… it’s much harder to pass on other types of unwanted gifts 😆
  • And they don’t have to find space for it if they don’t want to – they can just eat it all up straight away!

I know I love getting homemade gifts, especially if I can eat them… and I don’t think I’m that unusual. Give it a go. And if you post your awesome homemade edibles on social media, please tag me – I’d love to see!

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Gift wrapping ideas for Father's Day

fathers day gift wrapping shirt gift bag

So you’ve got the Father’s Day card and gift, but you need a way to present them nicely to your Dad… I love to wrap presents up in interesting, fun or just plain gorgeous ways. So I’ve been doing my research to find some clever gift wrapping ideas for Father’s Day. And I’m sharing them with you, you lucky duck!

I should also mention that I’m not a massive fan of buying big rolls of wrapping paper. It just seems so wasteful. I can be a bit tight sometimes but also, you know, the environment! So I love the idea of reusing old wrapping paper, gift bags and other bits I have lying around the house.

DIY gift bags

diy gift bag
Brown paper gift bag

Gift bags are so easy if you have something awkwardly shaped or a few bits and pieces to put together. And they can be reused by your Dad next time he gives a gift so he’ll be grateful for that too 😄

You can easily make your own gift bags from old (or new) wrapping paper, brown paper or even newspaper. And you can also make them exactly the right size. (Am I the only person who can never find a bag that’s not too wide or too tall for the present I’ve bought?!)

This tutorial shows you how to make a DIY gift bag (the examples are for Christmas but obviously apply to Father’s Day too. However I think the tartan is great for Dads at any time of year!) Here’s one I made on the left. I just used an ordinary hole punch, so you don’t need a rectangular punch as suggested.

fathers day gift wrapping bottle
My effort

Bottle wrapping ideas

If you’ve chosen a boozy gift for your Dad then this YouTube video on how to wrap a bottle might come in handy.
I must admit I didn’t like that you could still see what the bottle was inside, so I added a paper ‘cap’ to the top of the bottle to cover it. I used black tissue paper, brown paper for the cap and that same teal ribbon. Next time I’ll also use double sided tape instead of sellotape as I think it will look neater. My effort is on the right…

Clever decorative touches for your wrapping

A gift wrapped in plain white or brown paper or newspaper can be made to look extra special with a few clever decorative touches. I saw an idea on iStock where a gift was tied up with a tape measure bow which I thought was a terrific idea for a Dad who’s a DIY enthusiast.

You can also stick interesting bits and pieces straight onto the wrapping paper.

Here’s a tutorial for an origami shirt that you can fold yourself. I made mine from an A5 piece of plain white printer paper. I used some ribbon for the tie (yes, it’s that same teal ribbon again…) Of course, you could add a bow tie, pockets or buttons instead if you wanted to. Stick it onto a card, a wrapped present or a gift bag like I’ve done and it makes it that much cuter. You could also fold money or a printed Amazon voucher to make these types of paper gifts look more interesting!

More ideas

DIY Gift Wrapping Idea for Musicians by Curious Doodles
DIY Gift Wrapping Idea for Musicians by Curious Doodles

Here are some other gift wrapping ideas I found…

I hope you’ve found this helpful. My Dad tends to get the same types of gifts over and over (booze, chocolates, etc). He doesn’t really need anything else. So by putting in a bit of extra effort with the presentation, he knows I’ve still put some thought into it. That’s got to earn me some brownie points, right? 😁

If you try any of these gift wrapping ideas, or something new inspired by them, please share on social media and tag me. I’d really love to see how your efforts come out!

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My custom cartoon portrait process

Custom cartoon portrait process

I’ve been doing a lot of custom cartoon portrait orders for cards and prints over the last few years. People just seem to love seeing themselves and others in cartoon form! Read on to find out how I go about creating my stick figure portraits step by step…

First steps

When I get an order for a cartoon portrait card or print the first thing I do is get in touch with the customer to ask them to send photos and find out if they have any preferences regarding outfits, etc. If the photos show anyone both with and without glasses or a beard then I’ll double check which version they want. (I did once get two photos of someone’s Dad for a personalised birthday card which both showed him with a beard, and I was only when I sent the first proof that she told me he no longer had a beard… in a tone that seemed surprised I didn’t know this…)

Once I have the photos and other information I need to get started I open up my sketchbook and get started.

Layout of each custom cartoon portrait

I begin by very roughly sketching stick figures on the page in the positions and poses I want them in. This is helpful for getting proportions right in even one person portraits but is especially important when I’m doing larger family portraits for making sure they’re balanced. Check out this example from a family cartoon portrait I worked on recently:

Custom cartoon portrait layout
This sketch shows roughly where each family member will be in relation to each other.

I sometimes send this to the customer to check they’re happy with the layout, but usually only if there are at least four people in a family portrait.

Filling in the detail

The next step is to start working on each person’s head, working from the photos. This is the most important bit to get right in order for the customer to recognise the real people from the cartoon versions.

Custom cartoon portrait heads sketch
Here I used pencil to draw the detail of each person’s head and try to capture their likeness

Once happy with that I’ll move on to the bodies and add in any props or pets. You can faintly see how I draw the bodies and clothes around the original stick figure sketches.

pencil sketch of family
This example shows the pencil sketch once finished

I try to make sure I’m completely happy with this step before I move on, as it’s much easier to draw with pencil than to edit digitally later on. When I’m content that I’ve captured each person’s likeness I’ll use my Tombow brush pens* to go over the pencil in black ink. If necessary I’ll use my Derwent Graphik line maker pens* for any very fine details before rubbing out the pencil marks.

Inked sketch
This shows the inked version in my sketchpad – ready to scan in

Digitising the sketch

The drawing is now ready to scan in. I use the ‘Text’ setting in black and white to get the sharpest outlines I can. I leave the image rasterised rather than converting it to a line drawing as otherwise some of the detail can be lost and it also looks less hand drawn.

Custom cartoon portrait scanned
Here’s what the digital image looked like once it was scanned in

At this point I leave my pens and pencils behind and do all the rest of the editing digitally. I sharpen up the contrast and remove any marks that have come through on the scan but shouldn’t be there. I also fix any slips or mistakes I may have made in the inking stage.

Time to add colour! All the colour is digitally added, to make it easier to make any colour changes if the customer asks for them. I send a first proof to the customer to get their feedback once I’m happy with the digital image and colours .

cartoon portrait sketch first proof
Here’s the first proof I sent to the customer with colour added

Final edits

A lot of the time the customer accepts the first proof. However it also often happens that they ask for colour changes or realise that the photo they sent showed an older hairstyle, facial hair or glasses.

In the example above I’d been given instructions for outfits of two of the family members but omitted to check what the others should wear and did my own thing. This was foolish of me… In this case the customer felt that the two figures in orange and blue were too casual looking in relation to the rest. As a result I needed to digitally redraw these two outfits. (She also asked for a few colour changes but these are very easily done.) I’m now trying to ask more questions and get as much detail as possible before starting. This is much easier than having to edit digitally later, and I’m hopefully getting better at remembering to do this!

The finished product – how this custom cartoon portrait turned out

Once I’d made these edits and send a second proof the customer was very happy with her family portrait. I’ll always keep going until the customer is completely satisfied with what I’ve created! Here’s the finished product:

The final cartoon family portrait as sent to the customer

She also asked me to sign the portrait as she said I should get credit for my artwork, which I thought was really lovely of her! I’ve also done quite a few other cartoon portraits for her, so despite my mistake she remained a very loyal customer 🙂

So that’s my process! I love doing custom cartoon portraits. They result in me having a lot more interaction with my customers than I do with ready to ship orders that are just printed and posted off. Some really terrific customers come back again and again and I’m always so pleased to hear from them when they ask for another custom cartoon portrait for a new occasion.

Take a look at the range in my shop to see examples of all the different custom cartoon portrait cards and prints that I offer.

* These are affiliate links, which means that if you click on them and buy I will get a tiny commission on that product – it doesn’t cost you anything though! And I only add affiliate links to products I actually like and use (of course).