Do or DIY : Chistmas Edition

~ Sorry for anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, this could also serve as a general gift guide ~

As December speeds through again and it feels like Christmas is like next week, the stress over getting thoughtful and loving gifts gets worse and worse and if you, like me, don't have bags of cash lying round and have lots of people to get gifts for, DIY is like the shining light in a sea of capitalist woes. 

I have a couple of mini DIY's, some that might not be really practical for gifts and I'm going to put some trusted DIY resources at the end of the post, but these are more ideas than actual DIY's

1. ~ Portraits ~

If you're talented in the area of portraiture, or even better if you're not, a portrait can be the best kind of gift because its completely personal to the gift receiver. I actually got the idea from my friend on the train who is painting a family portrait for her mother. I'm thinking of making them for my friends in university, with a portrait of them and things that remind them of me.

They don't have to be perfect hyper realistic copies, abstract is always favored in my opinion, as long as it personal that's all that matters.

Some inspo

 

     

All photo's from Pintrest apart from Maya's adorable friend portraits, bottom left

Hell, even a photo of you and the gift giver can be the best present ever if you put in the love.

2 ~ Shrines ~

I would suggest giving these to someone with a sense of humor, or with a deep love/obsession with something, and will appreciate you crafting it. They can come in any shape or size, from wall hangings to matchbox shrines (which are too adorable) and anything can be the focus as long as the gift giver will enjoy it. The best kinds are ones you can share together, I might make one of me and my friend at Reading drunkenly complaining that 'Alex Turner had left us out in the cold and Jakey Bugg would have let us sleep in his Winnebago' 

inspiration

Images from The Pulp Zine and Craftster

Images from The Pulp Zine and Art-e-zine

Not-exactly-top-tip from Rosie these weird box window frames you can find in ikea are great for making shrine/scenes.

3 ~ Personalized T-shirts ~

These are great, I love DIY-ing  t shirts and making stencils and it's not that difficult to do, here's my kinda informative DIY that leads to a much better Rookie article. First thing you'll need is a t-shirt, I buy wholesale unisex white t-shirts but charity shop/thrift t-shirts are just as good, just remember to give them a wash first. 

This can be a stencil of someone's favourite band, t.v. show, celebrities face, logo or something humorous or personal to the both of you. If you don't want to bother with the hassle of stenciling you can always get the image transfer paper that you print off and iron onto the t-shirt, I've done that a few times when I didn't want to make a detailed stencil of Benedict Cumberbatch's face. 

I'm not giving any inspiration this time because I'm sure you've seen a t-shirt before.

I might do an updated version of this list later in the month, but for now I need to start thinking about my Christmas gift list and get DIY-ing myself. 

Reference list

Rookie DIYs

Super Helpful Rookie Gift Guides 

Visions of NYC DIY's 

(You may have to scroll back a bit but they're totally worth it)

Dietblond's DIY videos

(Her 12 days of DIY are incredibly amazing)

xxx

Rosie 

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OR.... You can visit my etsy shop and buy some amazing gifts for your cherished ones this winter time.

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Worth a shot