Carla Mackenzie's five easy DIY Christmas gifts

Christmas is a time for coming together with family and friends, and for being thankful for all that we have in life. Another great thing about Christmas is that it is a time where we get lots of gifts from our loved ones, but gifts don’t come cheap. Having to buy people gifts for Christmas can be costly. 

So in order to save you some money this Festive Season, Carla has come up with a fantastic list of gifts ideas that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

Decorated mug

For those who love a cup of tea or coffee, a decorated mug can be a very good gift. All you need is a plain colour mug and oil-based sharpie markers. You can draw anything you like on the mug or you can even write a special message on the cup. Remember to be as creative as possible. Then bake the mug at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to set your design into the mug.

Personalised message jars

The great thing about message jars is that they are not costly and can be used as space savers as well. Depending on who the gift is for, you can fill the glass with goodies that your recipient will love. This can be food, spices, or even make-up goodies. For this gift, you just need an empty glass and stickers which you can stick on the glass and write a personal message on. To make the message jar look even more attractive, you can wrap it up in a nice bow.

Personalised photo frame

Photo frames are a great gift, but you can make them even more special with a personal message or design. So all you will need for this is a photo frame, scrabble tiles, and a glue gun. On the side of the frame, you can place the personal message made from the scrabble tiles i.e. ‘friends’ or ‘I love you’.

Custom made day planner

Paint stripes on the corners of the day planner with a mod podge glue. Be as creative as you want with the stripes. Then sprinkle glitter on the stripes that you have painted. Use different colour glitter to make it look even more creative. Not only does this make a great gift, but it is attractive.

Hand-painted pot

This gift is great for those who love doing some garden work. All you need is a plain pot, masking tape, and colourful paint. The first step you need to do is mask off some patterns you like on the pot. Then inside the pattern, paint with the colour that you like, remove the masking tape, draw another shape and fill the shape with a colour paint that you like. This makes a stunning pot. Feel free to even fill the pot with some garden goodies.