What better way to show a loved one you care than by taking the time and care to create a handmade gift? Whether you consider yourself a professional maker or a crafting novice, here are 8 ideas for DIY Valentine’s Day gifts your loved one will surely cherish.
Heart-Shaped Clay Ring Plate
This DIY gift can be made quickly and even personalized with your loved one’s initials or a heartfelt message. Simple shape modeling clay into a heart-shaped plate, add a decorative edge, etch the saying of your choice in the bottom with a sculpting tool, and bake as directed.
Custom Printed Market Tote
Make a custom printed market tote that your loved one can use for anything from the farmer’s market to the bookstore. Simply use your computer to design custom imagery, print on iron-on transfer paper, cut out around the imagery, and iron it onto a canvas tote bag.
Paper Bouquet
The perfect craft for kids and adults is to begin making your paper bouquet by cutting flower petals and centers from bright pastel and white paper. Use hot glue or a glue stick to glue the petals together in the shape of flowers, glue the centers at the top, and glue green paper straws to the back of each flower stem. Finally, tape a piece of brown craft paper into the shape of a cone, tie a rickrack bow around the cone, and add a paper tag with a personalized message.
Heart Coasters
Another easy but inspiring gift, add a touch of nature to your loved one’s home with a wooden heart coaster. Simply take a small wood slice and use a heart-shaped stencil to paint the shape directly onto the wood in the color of your choosing. Then, fill the heart with the personal message of your choice.
Custom Puzzle
Gift your loved one a heart-shaped puzzle with a customized design of your choice. Begin by choosing a digital image, resizing it to at least 6″ W x 5″H, and printing it onto matte photo paper. Put the jigsaw pieces together, lay them atop your photo, trace around the puzzle’s perimeter with a puzzle, and cut out the resulting heart shape, repeating this process with the puzzle and photo face down as well. Finally, cut out each jigsaw shape from the photo with scissors and use a glue stick to secure each piece of the photo to its corresponding puzzle piece.
Homemade Candles
This simple tutorial will allow you to gift your loved ones their very own candles with personalized scents. The process broadly involves prepping your container, measuring the wax, melting the wax, adding fragrance, attaching the wick, pouring the wax, and letting the candles sit for the wax to harden. You could add a few drops of red dye to turn the wax pink for Valentine’s Day.
Bobbles Beanies
For makers who enjoy the art of crochet, this customized pattern will allow you to create a heartwarming beanie decked out with a Valentine’s Day-inspired pattern.
Vintage Button Rings
Transform a vintage bauble into a new accessory by turning old buttons into rings. Begin with an adjustable brass “ring blank” and, if your button has a shank on the back, cut it off with wire-cutting pliers and sand the back with a rotary tool. Finally, apply a thin layer of metal-bonding glue to the back of the button, adhere it to the top of the ring blank, and allow it to dry for 24 hours.
