Last Updated on November 21, 2025

If you’re on the handmade Christmas kick this year, you’re not alone. So am I!

I’m choosing presence over presents this year and bringing back the 90s Christmas I loved as a kid – simple, crafty, low pressure, and full of small moments that feel meaningful.

If you want to gift thoughtfully, and without breaking the bank, these DIY Christmas presents are for you. There’s something for everyone on this list – whether you prefer easy or complex DIYs.

I’ve included all kinds of DIYs – beauty, cooking, fashion, and practical gifts alike. Best of all? Many of these tutorials are zero waste (or close to it).

what are good homemade Christmas gifts?

Good homemade Christmas gifts include consumable items, like homemade nut butters, vanilla extract, or jams. But not all homemade gifts are edible – you can also make items like bath bombs, candles, body scrubs, beeswax wraps, and so much more.

If you’re extra crafty, you could even make wooden gifts (like shelving or tablet holders), ceramic items (like mugs or jewelry), or knitted/crocheted pieces (like blankets, scarves or hats).

It all depends on your level of skill, time at your disposal, and ingredients/materials you have access to.

what are good inexpensive Christmas gifts?

Some good inexpensive Christmas gifts are DIY cornstarch ornaments, handmade body or lip scrub, seasoned salt blends, and homemade treats (like these chocolate chip cookies or vegan sugar cookies).

And never forget to hit up your local thrift store – you can find so many great items that would make affordable gift baskets!

Wrapping DIY Christmas gifts also doesn’t have to be expensive. Reusing gift bags and ribbons from last year, upcycling packaging paper, or even repurposing a scarf for furoshiki wrap are all low-waste and affordable!

RELATED: Gift Wrapping: How to Keep It Easy, Eco and Chic

how can I make a last minute gift?

You can make a last minute gift by getting crafty using the materials you have on hand!

For example, if you have a cardboard box, why not try making an upcycled cardboard dollhouse, vehicle, or pirate ship for a child? For adults, a DIY storage container or a shoe rack works.

One of my fav last minute gifts is scented bath salts in an upcycled glass jar – just a little Epsom salt and essential oil blends will do the trick!

Here’s my list of DIY Christmas gifts – something for everyone and every skill level.

1. Bath salts
2. DIY makeup like mascara/eyeliner, or lip to cheek
3. Bath bombs
4. Lip scrub
5. Lip balm
6. Face mask
7. Body lotion
8. Natural perfume
9. Dry shampoo
10. Shampoo bar
11. Body soap
12. Deodorant
13. Rose water toner
14. Hand-poured coconut/soy/beeswax candles
15. Simmer pot in a jar
16. Cookie, brownie, soup mix or hot cocoa mix in a jar
17. Handmade seasoning blends
18. Vanilla extract
19. Vegan caramels or plant-based butter wrapped in compostable parchment paper
20. Herb or citrus infused olive oil
21. Peanut butter + jam
22. Beeswax wraps
23. Apple or pumpkin butter
24. Sourdough or no-knead artisan bread
25. Finished embroidery hoops
26. Embroidered pillows, tote bags, clothes or cloth napkins
27. Sewn cotton rounds
28. Knitted scarf, hat, gloves, sweater, or blanket
29. Hand warmers
30. Quilt blanet, quilted coat or quilted wallet
31. Tie dyed secondhand silk scarves, clothing or sheets
32. Hand painted or drawn artwork
33. Air dry clay paint palette
34. DIY wooden frame for paintings or print photos
35. Handmade ceramics (mugs, chawan, chasen holder, vase, spoon rest, etc.)
36. Woodworked items (birdhouse, shelving, bookcase, wall guitar mount)
37. Carving wooden bowls by hand
38. Natural branch coasters
39. Plant propagations in one of these DIY planters
40. Seed balls using native seeds
41. Handwoven baskets or bowls
42. Macrame produce bag
43. Macrame plant hanger
44. Fabric paper mache bowls
45. Upcycled paper earring jewelry
46. Clay earrings
47. Handmade plush toys
48. Felt ‘food’ toys
49. Wooden toys (like vehicles, blocks, or dollhouses)
50. Knit or crocheted baby clothes

What do you think of these DIY Christmas presents? Let me know in the comments!

I’ve been working a bit slower these last couple of days because of my injured hand (which you can read about here), but I have managed to make some decent progress in the bedroom and foyer. I got all of the walls primed with at least one coat of primer, and I got a second coat on most of them before I ran out of primer last night.

I was amazed at what a difference a couple of coats of primer made. Just seeing the walls around my finished walk-in closet go from this mess…

…to this clean slate, ready for trim and wallpaper was so exciting to me. This feels like I’ve crossed the first big hurdle.

And once I saw those stripes disappear, and I saw the walls all white, I started to get really excited about my plans for these walls.

I took some time to plan out my wainscoting project. I decided a while back to go with simple picture frame molding rather than the more laborious judges paneling, but I still needed to map out how may rectangles I want on these walls. The last thing I want is to wind up with the walls looking busy with a lot of little rectangles, but I was also running into the problem of having so many walls that are various widths.

My instinct is to make all of the rectangles as close in size as possible. But the other day, as Matt and I were watching a TV show, I paused the show because the wainscoting in a house grabbed my attention. Rather than having rectangles that were all close to an equal size. They just had one big rectangle on most of the walls. On the really long walls, they were separated into two or maybe three rectangles. But it was clear that whoever installed that wainscoting had no intention of even trying to make the rectangles on any of the walls look the same width. They simply followed the width of the walls, and it looked fantastic!

So that’s what I’ve decided to do on most of the walls, regardless of the size. On the walls flanking the walk-in closet, I’ll do one rectangle on each side.

Same goes for the rest of the walls in the foyer. (You can see where I ran out of primer and didn’t get a second coat on.) So these walls…

…will look like this, with one rectangle of picture frame molding per wall.

This is the area that I was the most concerned about because that door is definitely not centered on that wall. There’s nothing I can do about that, though, so I have to live with it.

So I’ll just continue the on with the one rectangle per wall plan, even though that leaves me with one really narrow rectangle to the left of the bedroom doors. I think it’ll look great once it’s all finished.

The bedroom walls are a little bit more challenging because I have some pretty wide areas in here. I wasn’t sure whether to keep those to the one rectangle per wall rule or divide those up. (I still need to do some priming with a brush. I only did the parts I could prime with a roller yesterday.)

Since most of this will be behind the bed, I decided to go with one rectangle on this wall as well.

And on this wall, I have yet another off-center door to work around.

But again, because I don’t want things getting too busy, so I’m going to keep these to one rectangle as well.

But the other two walls are where I got conflicted. I think that long span of wall to the right of the bathroom door is way too long for one rectangle.

In order to make the rectangles on that wall look somewhat similar, I think I might have to break that long wall up into three rectangles. That’s also the wall that will be the most visible since I don’t have any plans to put furniture against that wall. All of the other walls in the bedroom will have furniture and/or draperies in front of them.

UPDATE: Someone suggested I try two rectangles to the right of the door, and I think I like this better.

And finally, there’s this last wall. This is the one I’m still not sure about. (And that’s where I ran out of primer.)

I tried it two ways. Here’s what it woud look like with three rectangles…

And here’s what it would look like with two rectangles…

The two rectangles would make them more the size of the one on the wall to the right, and the three rectangles would make them more the size of the ones on the wall to the left (unless I go with two rectangles on the wall on the left). I’m not going to get hung up on this decision, though, because this wall will have furniture against it. But I do want it to look nice and look like I put some thought into it. My initial instinct is to go with two. That way, I don’t take a chance on it looking too busy, and I also don’t take a chance on having those outlets in the way of where the trim needs to go.

So things are moving forward, and there is progress. It’s slow progress because of my injured hand, but at least it’s progress! And I’m so glad to finally have those stripes gone! With clean, white walls, I can really envision my wainscoting and wallpaper plan for these areas, and I’m getting really excited to see these walls finished.

More About Our Master Bedroom

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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.

I still don’t have any exciting progress to share with you on the bedroom suite. I bought all of the trim for the walls (crown molding, chair rail, baseboards, and molding for the picture frame wainscoting), so I hope to get started on that today and have some progress to share with you Monday. I had hoped to have that started already, but the door installation and drywall repair took longer than I had anticipated.

So in the meantime, I’ve been thinking (again) about how I want to finish out the exterior door area on the bedroom. And once again, I went to ChatGPT to help me out.

Last time, I had some pretty good success with using ChatGPT. That was long before the door was even installed, and after giving it some very detailed prompts, it ended up creating this picture for me.

That helped me confirm that I did want a door there, and that I could work with it and make it pretty and presentable. But there were so many things wrong with it. There’s no way we could have such a huge stepdown from the door to the landing like that. And I don’t want concrete steps, either. I want the steps on this door to match the look of the front porch with stained cedar boards and white risers on the steps.

So now that we have the door installed (but still not painted), I went back to ChatGPT and uploaded this photo. This photo was taken this morning after the tree was trimmed, and you can see that I did lose the camouflage that those branches were giving to this door. So now, the door is very visible.

I gave very detailed instructions about the steps, and they turned out pretty good. But what the heck is that pergola? I mean, that’s a DIY special if I’ve ever seen one!

I tried to get it to make a smaller, understated pergola that fit the space better, but it was determined to keep that one huge board running parallel with the door. I mean, that’s the craziest pergola I’ve ever seen.

But then I decided to try shutters. I’m not sure what I think about shutters on an exterior door, but it would make the door blend in more with the windows on the exterior of the house that are white with blue shutters. And I do plan to keep this door white so that it blends in with the windows.

I don’t know why it kept degrading my original picture with each new edit, but it did. So you really have to use your imagination here. And it also degraded the look of the steps, which is weird. But I went with it, and had it keep the shutters and add some landscaping around the steps so that I could get an idea of what the finished area might look like with shutters and landscaping.

I actually like it! I might even like the shutters better than I liked the pergola idea. But you can let me know what you think. Is it weird to put shutters on an exterior door? I know it’s not unheard of because I went to Pinterest and saw plenty of examples, but none were quite like my door. They were generally on houses that were much grander than mine, or they were a completely different style than mine.

But I think I like the idea. Since I’m keeping the door white so that it blends in with the white windows on the house, I think it might be nice to add the shutters as well to keep it consistent with the white windows that have dark blue shutters. But tell me what you think about shutters on an exterior door. Is it weird? Or do you think it would look nice and keep the door consistent with the windows?

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.

A custom closet desk that completely transformed the way I work from home.

When we moved into our house years ago, there was only one room that would work as a home office space for me: the third bedroom. And while I wanted my own space for work, I also really wanted to have a guest bedroom, in hopes of friends and family visiting often. Not to mention, the guest bedroom was really dark, only getting sun in the early morning for like an hour.

So, we made that third bedroom a guest bedroom and I used our dining room table as a desk for all of my computer work for close to 3 years. At the time we had a very large dining room table, so it mostly worked okay. But when we had people over, I’d have to clear off my piles of stuff that had accumulated, etc.

Eventually having no real / dedicated office space became pretty annoying and maybe even frustrating at times. So when we had skylights installed in the guest bedroom, I started to see that spare bedroom differently. With so much natural light (truly one of my favorite qualities in a home), it didn’t matter that it was just a closet in our spare bedroom. I was happy to give it a try and carve out a space just for me.

So, we removed the old shelving that I put up a while back, from the original closet makeover. Since, as it turns out, we don’t have guests come to visit all that regularly. I loved the old shelving, but the need for my own workspace won out, in the end. And built out a DIY closet desk for me in the guest bedroom. 

I wanted something similar to what we have in another room. So, just like the built-in DIY bookshelves that are in the detached office, it’s white oak ply and Jeff made it from scratch. I helped a little toward the end. 

We talked through the design and came up with something that would give me some concealed storage, but would still be pretty and add to the room as a whole. I wanted it to look like a cross between a piece of furniture and a built-in. And keeping with some of my desk organization ideas from the past, I included a few aspects of my minimalist desk DIY in this new build. Like the open shelving for books.

Another priority was hiding the waterline on the back closet wall, that was intended for a washer and dryer. 

When we bought the house, we decided to leave the waterline where it was, rather than remove it, in case we ever wanted to reconfigure our laundry setup. Or perhaps the next person who buys our house, would want the laundry room in the house. Who knows.

We currently have our washer and dryer setup in the garage. So we could keep every square inch of interior space for everything else. In a small house, you have to weigh those kinds of things out.

Evolution of the guest bedroom closet

This third bedroom looked pretty different when we bought the house. For starters, the closet was actually two separate spaces, with no doors. Neither one of the closet niches seemed large enough on their own to be functional for us. So when we replaced the old flooring with hardwood, we also had the closets demoed to become one larger closet, rather than two tiny ones.

Above is what it looked like with the two tiny closets. And then it became this (below)…

And then eventually this… 

I loved the white shelves – it made the whole room feel bigger and just nicer in general. But eventually, we accumulated too much stuff to keep it looking nice. No storage in the house remember.

And that’s right around the time that I realized I needed a more dedicated office space, so we pivoted again and made it functional for my needs. And now, it looks like this…

The closet desk

As I mentioned before, the process was very similar to the diy bookshelves. Everything was made, dry fitted in the space, and then taken back outside for staining / sealing, and then brought back in and installed.

We worked on it a little bit at a time… Jeff built the cabinet bases and we got those in first.

Then came the matching wood top. This was the only way we could ensure that everything would properly, since there’s a lip / indent on each side of the wall, like a closet would typically have.

DIY bulletin board

I made a simple bulletin board from a big piece of thick cork, that I covered in linen fabric, leftover from my DIY round headboard.

And then I made a wood frame for it with some scrap wood and hung it on the wall. 

Floating shelf

I also wanted some vertical storage, so we did a thick floating shelf that spans the entire length of the closet. Works great for the felt baskets I already had, for storing craft supplies and other things I want to be able to get to easily, but don’t need everyday.

We used (and really like) brackets from Shelfology (you can find these kinds of floating shelf brackets many other places as well though). 

And that’s it for my closet desk / mini office space. We may no longer have a traditional guest bedroom closet, but we did gain a very functional space for my work in the process. And I’m so happy with how it turned out. 

Have you ever converted a closet space in a bedroom to something else entirely? I’d love to hear about it, if so.

The one project I did during my 11-day break was finishing the chandelier for the closet. I absolutely love how it turned out, but I so wish that each of you could see it in person. I have a very hard time capturing the amazingness in a photo because it kind of blends in with the background in photos, no matter what angle I use to take the picture. But in person, it doesn’t blend in like that. But photos are my only option, so let’s get to it.

If you’ve missed any previous posts about this project, you can find all of the posts here: DIY closet flower chandelier — All Posts

If you’re anything like me, the idea of scoring a treasure at a thrift store is pure magic. Big Thrift Energy by Virginia Chamlee captures that exact thrill of the hunt, making it impossible not to dive into the world of thrifting. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie, Chamlee’s insights are a game changer.

What I love most about this book is how Chamlee doesn’t just teach you how to find hidden gems—she shows you how to give them new life. From reupholstering vintage chairs to transforming old fabrics into something beautiful, Big Thrift Energy is packed with upcycling ideas that will make you see every second-hand item as a potential DIY masterpiece.

If you’ve ever walked into a thrift store and felt overwhelmed, Virginia’s tips will make you feel like a pro. Her friendly, down-to-earth style makes this book easy to follow, no matter your experience level. Plus, it’s not just about shopping for cool stuff—it’s about embracing the art of making something old feel brand new again.

As a fan of all things recycled and upcycled, this book is right up my alley. Whether you’re looking to decorate your home, find unique clothing, or simply get inspired for your next crafting project, Big Thrift Energy is an absolute must-read. You might even find yourself flipping thrifted items for profit, which is a win-win!

Get your copy of Big Thrift Energy here: Big Thrift Energy on Amazon and let the thrifting adventures begin!

Happy crafting,

Shellie

Y’all, I was beginning to think that I would never get this project finished, but the walk-in closet island is finally done. This was a pretty big build, which is one reason it took so long. It has a cabinet section with two doors, and then a total of ten drawers. But most of that building process went fairly well, with little to no surprises or setbacks along the way. What didn’t go so well was the painting.

I chose to use Behr paint instead of Sherwin Williams, and that caused a huge problem because the finish, even after several days, was still slightly tacky. And with the paint color being so dark, any time I touched it or brushed up against it, it left light smudges that couldn’t be wiped away. So I tried to clear coat it, but the weather didn’t cooperate, and the clear coat was streaky and clouded.

But yesterday, we finally had a good day for spraying outside. So I sanded down the door fronts and doors and basically started over. Everything dried well, and while the humidity was still pretty high and the finish isn’t as perfect as I’d like it to be, I’m calling this finished.

Oh, and one more surprise — I repainted the top. Now the whole thing is solid blue. Here’s how it turned out…

I read so many of your suggestions for things to put on the end of the island. I looked at lots of baskets, but I don’t really need any more basket storage. I looked at bars for hanging things like scarves, but I don’t wear scarves. (Although, after looking at so many pretty ones lately, I think I need to start! ) But then someone mentioned a gold cursive letter “K”. I loved that idea, but I didn’t like the idea of gold leaf or anything like that being applied directly to the island. So instead, I looked at wood cutout letters that I could gold leaf.

I didn’t find a cursive letter “K” that I liked, but I did find an “L” that I really liked. I actually made the purchase on Amazon, and then I realized I already had an “L” that I could use. It’s been in our pantry since I finished it.

So I grabbed that one from the pantry, gold leafed it, and hung it on the end of the island. I love it!

And I also think it’s a little humorous. It reminds me of the television show “Laverne & Shirley” because Laverne always wore shirts monogrammed with the letter “L”. So while my clothes aren’t monogrammed with an “L”, my whole closet is now monogrammed with a very similar “L”.

After repainting and clear coating the drawers and doors, I had to go back and redo the gold leaf pen detail on the one section that I had already done, and then add the gold detail on the other three sections. I used a Krylon 18kt. Gold Leaf pen for that, and each section took about five minutes.

The side facing the hanging clothes side of the room has two sections of drawers.

I haven’t had time to vacuum out the dust from drilling the holes for the drawer pulls yet, but the top drawer is a little bit shallower than the other two. The top drawers on this side are about six inches deep.

And the other four are about nine inches deep.

The other side has a cabinet, and I literally just remembered that I still need to add a shelf inside, so I guess it’s not completely finished. Ugh.

And then the other section on this side has four drawers.

The first three drawers are about five inches deep, and the bottom drawer is nine inches deep.

You can find all of the posts about this closet island build here, from beginning to end.

More About My Walk-In Closet/Laundry Room

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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.

Expert woodworker Peter Vivian has been a maker for as long as he can remember. Building upon early success in a model-making competition at school, Vivian trained as a technical illustrator and spent the next two and a half decades in graphic design and commercial photography. Yet throughout that time, he yearned to have his own woodworking business, which he eventually launched and ran for 10 years before transitioning to teaching, helping students master the myriad skills he had attained across his career in the form of a university product design course.

Among his hundreds of projects, Vivian counts cartoons that have been presented to King Charles, pieces displayed at the Royal Albert Hall, and regular features in Woodworker magazine and associated exhibitions. He has even built his own ash-framed, aluminum-clad car, using tools be built himself, in a workshop that, perhaps unsurprisingly, he also built himself!

The Wall-E project was a request from a friend, after seeing a Doctor Who Dalek model and radio-controlled K-9 that Vivian and a colleague made at the university. Despite having access to all manner of tools at home and work, Vivian ended up fabricating 80% of the Wall-E project with a cheap razor saw and a homemade mitre box. Blueprints for a Lego version helped inform proportions, with details garnered from movie stills. The body is a simple plywood box, connected to the head via an articulated, extendable neck, which enables posing. The eyes are formed from polyurethane foam and wrapped in thin strips of black walnut with lathe-turned irises and pupils. The arms, with their accurate inlaid chevrons, pivot as well, with rotating hands and fingers that really grip.

Photography by Peter Vivian

Vivian saved the tracks until the end, expecting them to be the most difficult aspect of the project, but they ended up coming together fairly easily. The rollers were turned on the lathe, with tracks formed from strips of black walnut glued to flexible ply and wrapped around the rollers. A colleague laser-engraved the front panel with the Wall-E font, and all that was left were a few coats of Danish oil to literally finish the project.

Upon seeing Wall-E, another friend suggested that the Iron Giant might make a similarly charming candidate for the obsoletely fabulous treatment, but that’s another story for another issue!

This article appeared in Make: Vol. 90. Subscribe for more maker projects and articles!

This is a great and simple recipe for making something that can help you calm the f down. Many people spray this type of spray onto their pillow or under their pillow so that the scent gently helps them relax into slumber. 

3 oz distilled water
1 ounce witch hazel
10 drops lavender essential oil
3 drops roman chamomile or chamomile essential oil

Directions: 

Mix witch hazel and essential oils, then add water. Put mix in a 4 ounce glass bottle, put the cap on, shake, and use to spray whenever you want to experience a relaxing aroma. 

Get the Green Living Ideas book in softcover or PDF for as low as $2.99!

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About the Author

Scott Cooney Scott Cooney is a serial eco-entrepreneur including being the solo founder of Pono Home, HomeEfficiency.com, and CleanTechnica; author of two books; former sustainability consultant with clients including Johnson & Johnson, Eastman Chemical, Wal-Mart, and Duke Energy; former Adjunct teaching the first course in sustainable business in the MBA program at UH Manoa; lover of local, healthy food and especially vegan nachos.
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