Get in touch with your creative side this Christmas with our top 10 DIY Christmas gift ideas. To give you some gift giving inspiration for the festive season, we’ve collected 10 of our favourite DIY projects that you can do try at home. Create something unique and thoughtful for your loved ones this year.

1. Polymer Clay Jewellery

Make your own beads with colourful polymer clay and thread them into a bracelet or necklace. This is a fun personalised gift for friends or family members who express themselves through jewellery. We love the different pattern and colour combinations you can create with polymer clay, as well as the endless variety of shapes!

Tools and Materials:

• Polymer clay
• Thread
• Hand drill clay tool or tooth pick (for creating thread holes)

2. Painted Jar Filled with Goodies

Recycle your jars and give them new life with ceramic paint (or buy some empty mason jars from your local shopping centre). Personalise the jars with patterns, colours, words or pictures and fill them with a selection of treats or other small items. If you’re stuck for ideas, fill your jar with chocolates, sweets, gingerbread, home made body scrub or a candle. You could also bundle together some art supplies in your jar, such as paint brushes or pencils, by tying them together with a ribbon for the creative souls in your life.

Tools and Materials:

• Ceramic paint
• Paint brush
• Jar
• Ribbon

3. Calligraphy Art

Image credit: Artsy Messy

Send a thoughtful or funny message this Christmas with a calligraphy artwork. All you need is a frame, paper, calligraphy brush/pen and ink to create a personalised and trendy artwork for friends or family members. Plus, it gives you the perfect opportunity to practice and refine your calligraphy skills.

Tools and Materials:

• Calligraphy pen or brush
• Calligraphy ink
• Paper
• Frame

4. Decorated Ceramics

Make some eye-catching ceramics by painting your own designs onto homeware or ornaments. Decorate mugs, teacups, vases, plates or bowls with your own patterns and designs. You could also create personalised indoor plant pots and fill them with a cutting from your own garden to give someone a special gift that you made and grew yourself.

Tools and Materials:

• Ceramic paint
• Mug, teacup, vase, plate, bowl or a plant pot
• Paint brush

5. Gold Leaf Notebooks

Image credit: Whitney Johnson, Eat Sleep Cuddle

We love this DIY gold leaf notebook idea from Whitney Johnson. For this project, Whitney uses scrapbook paper for the book jacket and printer paper for the pages inside. To hold it all together, she uses PVA glue and finishes it off with beautiful gold leafing to give it a ‘dipped’ look. This is a fantastic gift for friends who like to journal, draw or jot down notes.

Tools and Materials:

• Scrapbooking paper
• Standard printer paper
• PVA glue
• Gold leaf

6. Mini Canvas

Create a thoughtful decorative piece for your friend’s work desk, side table or bookcase with a mini canvas and easel. If you’ve got a knack for hand lettering, write a funny or motivational message to light up your loved one’s desk or home.

Tools and Materials:

• Miniature canvas and easel
• Acrylic or oil paint
• Paint brush
• Pencil (for planning your artwork or design on the canvas)

7. Polymer Clay Props

Have some fun with polymer clay this Christmas season and create unique presents in the process. Make customised play props for children’s games by using polymer clay to create miniature versions of food, houses, trees, animals and other objects. This idea can also be applied to adults by making quirky desk ornaments, paperweights or pen holders.

Tools and Materials:

• Polymer clay

8. Block Puzzle or Ornaments

Image credit: Nicolas Huk

Create your own block puzzle by cutting wood cubes and painting them with shapes or a picture. We would recommend using acrylic paint and covering it with a coat of laquer to help prevent wear. Don’t forget to create a different puzzle on each side of the cubes to get the most out of this gift idea.

Tools and Materials:

• Acrylic paint or glitter paint
• Stencil knife (if stencilling your pattern)
• Paper/card (if stencilling your pattern)
• Laquer
• Wood
• Saw
• Sandpaper

9. Pillow Box Full of Sweets

Image credit: Shari's Berries

Use coloured card or paper to create a pillow box full of goodies. You can fill these pillow boxes with sweets, chocolate or money as a small, affordable gift.

Tools and Materials:

• Pencil
• Paper or car
• Ruler
• Stencil knife

10. DIY Coloured Jenga

Image credit: Pam Garrision

Can Jenga be even more fun than it already is? The answer is yes. We love this DIY coloured Jenga set by Pam Garrison. Take a standard Jenga set, or cut your own from wood, and paint them with your loved one’s favourite colours. This makes an exciting DIY Christmas gift that will bring your friends or family hours of fun.

Tools and Materials:

• Acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Laquer
• Wood
• Saw
• Sandpaper

Avoid the Christmas shopping crowds and create meaningful presents this year with these 10 DIY Christmas gift ideas. If you’re making gifts using Mont Marte supplies, we’d love to see them! Don’t forget to tag @montmarteart or #montmarteart so we can see what you’ve created.