Handmade Holiday Gifts

MARBLED RING DISH
Keep odds and ends in check with a cheerful bowl made from oven-bake clay. The key is mixing white, gray and black with their favorite hues.
Supplies:
-white, black, and colored oven bake clay (a few ounces of colored clay and the 1.75 pound white clay will make you several dishes!)
-X-Acto knife or plastic clay knife
-small bowl or baking ramekin that is oven safe
-gold liquid gilding and small paintbrush
-rolling pin or large round jar
-large can or jar to trace around
-glaze to seal dish (optional)

1. Roll each color of clay that you want to use into a snake about 5" long. I usually make two larger rolls of white, a medium roll of grey, a small roll of any color I am using, and then an extra small roll of black. I don't have exact clay measurements for you (and most people don't have a scale to weigh exact ounces of clay anyways) so just use the photo as a guide. You basically want enough total clay to roll out a 6" circle, but don't worry about getting exact amount of one color or another, even if you use the same recipe every time, each dish will look different.

2. Combine the smaller rolls into one big roll and twist together.

3. Roll the large twist into a snake about twice the original length to combine the colors. Twist the ends opposite ways after every few motions to give the colors more of a candy cane look. Once it's twice the length, fold the snake in half and twist the two ends together, as pictured above. Repeat the rolling, folding, twisting, and rolling again process 2-3 times.

4. Smoosh all the clay into a ball. You want to see most of your colors on the surface of the ball, so pull the ball in half and re-smoosh together if you don't.

5. Use a rolling pin or glass jar to roll out your marbled ball. I like to use a glass jar so I can see what is happening as I roll harder or softer over certain colors. The colors should blend together and create a marbled pattern as you roll over it. Try rolling different directions, from the edge, from the center, etc. to push the clay from different angles. Roll to 1/4" thick.

6. Use a round item about 6" wide as a template and cut out your dish circle with an X-Acto or clay knife.

7. Place your circle gently into a oven-safe bowl or ramekin that is a little smaller than your circle so it will sag a little in the center and give you more of a dish shape. Bake the bowl according to the temperature on the clay package (mine was 15 minutes at 275°F). Remove the bowl from the oven and allow the clay to cool before turning the larger bowl upside down and tapping lightly until the clay dish falls out.

8. Once the clay is completely cool, use a small brush to paint the rim of the dish and allow the paint to dry. Seal the dish with a glaze if you desire. The glaze won't make the item food safe or totally waterproof, but it will give you a glossy finish if that's what you're into :)

From: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/






OMBRE TOTE BAG
A canvas bag comes in handy for just about everything. Dip-dyed in a bright color, this carry-all holds all of the daily essentials.

I poured the liquid dye into an old (clean) bucket of hot water until it looked like a good color. Then dumped some salt in and stirred with a metal spoon.
Do this project outside, or in a completely covered work surface, because the power of this dye is not playing around. Wear gloves, too, unless you want to look like Dexter's Kill Room. Decide how far you want the color to extend, then lower the bag into the dye. It's probably easier if you get the entire bag wet with clean water first.

I hung the bag on a clamp so I wouldn't have to hang out in the steamy garage while it marinated.

Every few minutes, move the clamp up 1-2 inches, so that each section spends a little longer in the dye bath.

I left the bottom few inches in the longest so it would be noticeably darker. Then remove the bag from the dye, and allow ample time for it to drip-dry.

Once you're sure it won't leave a trail of dye through your house, rinse it with cold water until the water runs clear. I wanted my handles to be a little pink, so I allowed the water to rinse over them. If you don't want dye on your handles, just make sure to rinse the bag from the top down.
Then machine-wash in warm water with detergent, and air or machine dry.

From: http://www.hisugarplumsblog.com/





EMBROIDERED HANDKERCHIEFS
Give a personalized gift by stitching cheeky sayings on plain cotton squares. Not sure what to write? Keep it simple and add a colorful monogram.





JEWELRY BOX
A wooden trinket holder gets revamped with a coat of golden paint — but feel free to be as creative as you'd like, depending on her style.

What you’ll need:

Sculpey Clay in various colors
Gold Metallic Sharpie
Acrylic roller for rolling out the clay
A wooden bracelet. Check out THIS Etsy shop for a whole mess of wooden bracelet options
Hot glue gun
Small wooden bead. I used this geometric shaped one.
ALSO!! You’ll need concentric circle cookie cutters

Roll out the clay into long snake shapes then join them together
Twist the clay

After twisting, fold the clay..
Then twist a bit more

Use the roller to flatten the clay to about 1/4″ thick. You’ll see the marbled pattern come through

Cut a circle from the marbled clay that closely matches the outer diameter of the bangle bracelet you are using
Next – cut one circle from the marbled clay that closely matches the inner diameter of the bracelet you are using

Finally cut one last circle from white clay that is the same diameter as the circle cut in Step 7 above
You should have three circles now! One circle that matches the outer diameter of the bracelet and two that match the inner diameter of the bracelet. Bake these off according to the package instructions (usually about 15 – 20 minutes at 200 degrees for every 1/4″ thickness)

Use the metallic marker to draw a gold edge around the largest clay circle
Insert the white clay circle into the bottom of the bracelet and use a glue gun around the edge to secure it in place. This is the bottom of your container.

Now, use the hot glue gun to adhere the smaller marbled circle to the bottom of the larger marbled circle. This will create your lid.
Glue the wooden bead to the top of the lid.

From: http://damasklove.com/





PAINTED GLASSWARE
Use acrylic paint (but seal it afterwards) to recreate these confetti-dipped glasses.





FUN TOTE
This bag is made from none other than a T-shirt, pulling off a rather impressive disguise.
To make this DIY shopper from and old t-shirt or from a tank top you’ll need:

fabric scissors
matching thread
sewing machine (or hand-sew it if you’re confident )
t-shirt (better if 100% thick cotton, no elastomer fibers) or tank top (in this case, jump to step 3).
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1. Work wrong way round. Cut off the sleeves, cutting out also the sewed part.
2. Cut out the neck part, I recommend cutting a U shape regardless of the type of neck the t-shirt has.

3. Machine sew or hand sew the bottom part with a straight line, closing the bag. Cut off any exceeding textile and turn right way up.

From: http://www.one-o.it/





RAINBOW CANDLES
Go for a bold mix or a more subtle combo (like ombre stripes in graduated shades) to make these customizable candles. Bonus: They come together with crayons that are surely hiding in every drawer of your house.

INGREDIENTS
Old crayons
Glass votives (I used small juice glasses)
Wax
• Wicks

Dixie cups (or any paper cup)

Popsicle sticks (for stirring)
Additional Tools:
Microwave
X-acto knife

INSTRUCTIONS
The first step is to peel the paper off your crayons. You can either use an x-acto knife or soak the crayons in water for easy peeling.

Next, fill a dixie cup with wax and microwave for 1 minute. Give it a stir and microwave again in 30-second intervals until wax is completely melted. Pour a thin layer of wax into the bottom of each votive and place the candlewick in the center. Let harden.

Using one crayon per color, fill a dixie cup with wax and top with a broken up crayon. Microwave for 2 minutes and then in 30 second intervals until completely liquefied. Let cool for 30 seconds or so and pour colored wax into the votive. Let the first layer dry for 20-30 minutes.

Repeat this process and continue to pour layers of colored wax into each votive, making sure to let them dry between each layer.
From: https://www.evermine.com