6 Easy DIY Gift Ideas For Every Maltese Person Who Is Broke AF
There’s nothing quite as beautiful as giving someone your time and love, you can totally do this by crafting a lovely handmade gift for the special people in your life.
Handmade gifts are a treat. Not only do they show effort and love, but they’re original and really show the receiver how much you care. Also, you won’t go broke AF this Christmas, which is pretty cool.
1. These super easy home made clay bowls
These handy babies can be used as jewellery or key holders. They also look cute and are easy to make, which is a giant plus for anyone who is lacking in DIY confidence.
Also, playing around with clay is super relaxing so it’s a total win-win situation.
Here’s what you’ll need
- acrylic paint
- fine paint brush
- white air-dry clay
- sharpie pen
- a small bowl
- rolling pin
- dental floss
- sandpaper
Here’s how you’ll do this
Take a handful of clay and roll it out on a cutting board. If you don’t have a rolling pin it’s totally fine, just use something equally roll-y like a bottle or something, whatever. Don’t roll it out too thinly, please.
You can get creative and add patters to this with a doily or some sort of stamp or leaves, go crazy girl.
Take the bowl which you’ll be using as a blueprint and place it on the clay. Cut around the edges. Put the excess clay aside and use the dental floss to gently lift the clay circle off the board.
Place the clay circle gently inside the bowl, please try not to mess up your pretty pattern with your stubby fingers.
The clay will take about a day or so to harden, leave it be and just chill out for the rest of your day, you deserve a break.
Remove the clay from the bowl when it’s dry. Smooth out any rough edges with the sandpaper you most probably got off your dad.
Seal your bowl with acrylic paint and let it dry for about 30 mins or so on each side. You can draw stuff on it or whatever, it will be super pretty either way cos you are super talented.
Congratulations, you’ve just made your very first clay bowl!
2. Some really tasty brownie mix in a jar
Who doesn’t like brownies? Monsters and horrible people that’s who. Brownies are a gift from the heavens and everyone goes insane over these gooey chocolate-y treats.
The plus side to this particular gift is that you most probably already have all the items you need in your pantry.
Here’s what you’ll need
- 1 quart mason jar
- 1 cup and 2 tablespoons Flour
- half a teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup different chocolate chips of your choice
- A small piece of cardboard
- string or yarn
Here’s how you’ll do this
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour them super carefully in your jar and tap it around to let all of it settle in.
You can use the bottom of a glass to press it down neatly.
Add the cocoa powder in the exact same manner, followed by the two sugars.
When that’s done you can add the chocolate chips to it too. Doesn’t it look pretty?
When everything’s inside your jar you can wipe it off and place the rim tightly. You can decorate the jar or whatever, you do you.
Take your cardboard, which you’ll be using as a tag for the jar. On it add the following instructions for the brownie receiver.
- Add:
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
Combine ingredients well. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes and dig in.
Tie the tag to your jar using the string.
Wow you’re really good at this. Proset.
3. A super cool personalised mug
If you’re going to deliver a homemade gift to a tea-lover in your life, a mug is a total fool proof. Also, mugs are so versatile it’s scary. You can use sharpies, acrylic paints and even nail polish to decorate them. Seriously. It’s like magic. This is a great way to go insane on mug decorations.
We suggest having a design in mind beforehand, but here’s our super easy dipped mug idea.
Here’s what you’ll need
- ceramic plain white mug from Tal-Lira
- ceramic paint or a sharpie, whatever
- Tape
Here’s how you’ll do this
Clean the mug properly, you’ll get instructions on the paint probably, so don’t sweat it.
Tape the mug all the way round where you want the paint to stop.
Paint the mug, it might need more than one coat but we’re sure that you’ll ace this like the champ you are. Remove the tape gently and let the mug air dry.
It might need like a really long time, just follow the directions you got with the paint.
You did it!
4. A BBQ rub for your food-loving friend
Everyone has that one friend who’s crazy over food. We’ve got just the perfect gift for them, it’s easy, it’s tasty and it smells fantastic.
You can use this mixture to rub it on meat, sprinkle it on stuff or season meats with it.
Here’s what you’ll need
- A glass jar
- 4 cups salt
- 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons ground mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons crushed bayleaves
- 2 tablespoons ground thyme
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chilli powder
Here’s how you’ll do this
Combine all of your ingredients and mix them well. Transfer them into the glass jar and decorate it in whichever way you feel like.
5. Cute teacup candles for your candle loving friend
We all have that one person in our lives who is super into candles and melts. This is a bit more elaborate to carry out craft-wise, but it’s super worth it.
They look adorable and your nanna will totally love them. Yes, they’re perfect for your nanna. Do it.
Here’s what you’ll need
- Old teacups, you can get these at almost any local charity shop for a steal.
- Beeswax or soy wax, old candle stubs are fine too.
- Wax wicks
- wooden skewers
- masking tape
- double boiler or bain-marie
Here’s how you’ll do this
Y’know how those wicks you got have tiny metal disks at the bottom? They need to be at the bottom of the cup. So the first thing you need to do is use two skewers to support the stringy end of your wick. Try to centre the wick inside the cup so that the string is pulled up straight.
Use some glue to fasten the disk to the cup if it’s too much hassle to keep it in place.
Add the wax to your double boiler on medium to high heat. Once it’s all liquidy and weird remove it from the heat and let it cool down a bit. You can add dye or scent to it if you feel like it.
Pour the liquid wax into the teacups. Allow about six hours for it to cool off completely.
Trim your wick and you’re totally done. Woah.
6. A matching set of slick coasters
Here’s another clay based gift. Sorry, we really enjoy messing up our hands with this stuff. It’s amazing. Anyway, these coasters are ideal for anyone who likes to keep tables pristine and free from glass marks.
Here’s what you need
- a rolling pin
- white air-dry clay
- acrylic paint
- sandpaper
- paintbrush
- a round shape to use as a guide
Here’s how you’ll do this
Roll out a chunk of clay on a chopping board of sorts. Cut out the excess clay using some sort of cutter for the shape. Leave the clay to dry out for around a day.
You can now draw a cool design on your coaster, there’s a bunch of shapes and patterns you can go about using, you’ve got this bro.