A homemade gift can go a long way with someone. Much further than an expensive gift. A homemade gift shows you took the time and energy to actually think about the gift and craft it for that person instead of going to the shelf in a store and picking something out.

With today being Christmas, I’ve been thinking a lot about the gifts I bought my relatives. All of it was bought the 23rd and all of it was made in China. As part of my New Years Resolutions, I want to start making more gifts this year. Not only Christmas, but birthday and anniversary gifts as well. Maybe even a few ‘thank you’ gifts for my clients.

Although a bit late for Christmas, here’s a roundup of a few DIY gift ideas that can be used year round (after the jump).

Garden Lanterns. If you have someone on your list who enjoys spending time outside at night in their garden or out on a patio (or would just enjoy a unique, handcrafted candle holder), then you should consider making tin can candle holders from Michelle Gervais on Fine Gardening. These punched-tin lanterns add a “folk-art touch” and seem to be pretty easy to make. Gervais uses designs that are “inspired by the plants and trees around [her] garden–casual and personal.” The materials needed are pretty common and inexpensive, most of which can be found at Wal-Mart, and costs around $10 altogether (usable for several lanterns). The steps seem simple and very easy to do. The only tedious part would be punching the holes in the can. Why not give it a try for those garden or outside lovers on your list?

[via Fine Gardening]

Green House Cleaning. Giving the gift of a homemade green house cleaning set seems like it would go over very well with most people. Natural Home Magazine has eight incredibly useful cleaning supplies you can make yourself which are all natural and organic–you could probably drink it, but we don’t recommend that. The article–which also covers what ingredients you can use, like baking soda, and why–has recipes for for an all-purpose cleaner and disinfectant, lemongrass dustcloths, a creamy non-abrasive cleaner, and pre-vacuum carpet cleaner. Put it all in neat containers you can find at at craft store like Hobby Lobby (don’t forget to make and print off neat labels for each container!), then arrange them nicely in a bucket–which can also be used to hold them indefinitely. This would be the perfect set to give as a house warming gift!

[via Natural Home]

“Pinch of Tea!” The folks over at Craft Leftovers have an excellent DIY item that tea lovers would love just as much as their tea! They call it “A Pinch of Tea.” It’s a small pouch of loosely woven muslin with a cotton drawstring. They provide an excellent pattern sheet telling you where to sew and where to cut. There’s instructions on how to use and care for the tea bags.

[via Craft Leftovers]

Crock Pot Candles. Sayward at Bonzai Aphrodite gives an excellent tutorial on creating candles using a crock pot. “All you need is some wax, some wicks + wick bases, and some candle-holders.” If you want an sort of scent or color, you’ll need the oils for that as well. In all, expect to spend about 8 hours per batch of candles you do (Sayward recommends atleast 6 hours for hardening). She also suggests a few places to find interesting candle holders–thrift stores and up-cycling old ones–so your gifts aren’t just oh-so-cliche (but, then again, is hand making candles in a crock pot for a gift really that cliche?).

[via Bonzai Aphrodite]

Lip Balm. Lip balm is something everyone needs to fight dry, chapped lips year round and for the good stuff (to me, that directly translates to “Burt’s Bees”) you’re looking at paying $4 a tube. Not Martha posted an excellent and in-depth tutorial on making lip balm including the different bases and essential oils you can use. To be cost effective, don’t plan on just making one tube of the stuff, make several and keep a few for yourself. ;)

[via Not Martha]

Lightbulb Terrariums. To me, a small terrarium within a light bulb would have to be one of the most inventive and creative gifts I would have ever gotten. Just the pictures of them are quite breath taking on many levels. Instructables has a tutorial on hollowing out a light bulb and creating your terrarium. They also have magnificent photos (like the photo featured here) of a light bulb terrarium they created.

[via Instructables]

That’s going to conclude my little tutorial on DIY gifts this time. I hope I spurred some gift ideas for my readers.

If you know of any DIY gifts, please post them in the comments!