Today and tomor­row are Inter­na­tion­al Buy Noth­ing Days. I thought it would be a good day to share with you my giant pile of crafty Christ­mas gift ideas, so instead of buy­ing, we’d be mak­ing! :D I’m obvi­ous­ly biased but, Make Some­thing Day is even bet­ter than Buy Noth­ing Day!

 

Home­made glit­ter for all your dec­o­rat­ing needs! How-to on Say Yes to Hobo­ken.

 

Bet­ter than the ordi­nary microwave wheat bags — a mon­ster wheat bag to relieve aches and stress AND to pro­vide com­ic relief! How about that? Instruc­tion on Desert Bus Crafter.

 

Aren’t these beau­ti­ful? Made from the glass peb­bles found at the dol­lar store. Love the wire work. Step-by-step instruc­tion here.

 

Sim­i­lar kind of glass-like pen­dant, but made with TP rolls! From Mega Crafty.

 

Squeeze n’ sniff pump­kin pie, stuffed with pump­kin pie spice! How Bril­liant! Pat­tern on Craft is Cool.

 

I love how it’s named — a cro­cheted hug! Reminds me of how hood­ies are called “bun­ny hugs” in Saskatchewan :D A clever design of a scarf sewn into a sweater by Plan­et June. 

 

Nev­er knew that this kind of shirts is called a Dol­man tee. But this will be a present for myself  :D How-to on Trash to Cou­ture.

 

Also from Plant June — shrink plas­tic rings!

 

The sweet­est felt flow­ers from Straw­ber­ry Chic, would make an awe­some brooch!

 

Cud­dly robots for the kids! Pat­tern and how-to on Ric Rac. 

 

Nail pol­ish + 1″ pin + ring blank = an awe­some ring! The mag­ic for­mu­la of craft! I love the infi­nite pos­si­bil­i­ties for the inside of the ring — like mak­ing a mini col­lage with found objects! Which makes it an excel­lent idea for a hol­i­day craft­ing get-togeth­er :D How-to on We Heart This.

 

And now, a good, sol­id, prac­ti­cal gift. For ear buds or coins! Instruc­tion on Dog Under My Desk.

 

And what about some hand-dyed yarn for the fel­low crafter? Maiya Knits intro­duces a rather unique way to per­ma­nent­ly dye wool using Kool Aid! Must try!

 

Now one thing I will buy is the work of oth­er artists / arti­sans. Michelle Made Me has some bril­liant pat­terns for sale (very afford­able!) for mak­ing orna­ments with the sim­plest every­day house­hold recy­cled mate­ri­als — like TP rolls! I love the intri­ca­cy of this this­tle orna­ment, espe­cial­ly know­ing that it’s made of  the hum­ble loo roll!

 

Also love the egg car­ton folk!

 

Hap­py crafting!