Last Minute low-budget DIY Christmas Presents

Posted bySarahPosted inArt, DIY Christmas PresentsTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you´re anything like me, you´ll wonder how fast Christmas is upon us every year anew, too;)

As a rule, I try to make as many selfmade presents as I possibly can, ´cause I myself like these kind of presents the most 🙂

So I´ve come up with some last minute DIY Christmas Present ideas one of which I´d like to share with you here, and maybe that will save your Christmas as well.

My idea is probably more suitable for female friends – although one never knows;)

Chandelier Earrings made from Origami

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Origami earrings

These sweet little earrings you can easily craft yourself: all you need is a little bit of patience and practice 🙂

1. Watch some Youtube videos concerning the art of Origami – most really are easy and fun to follow, but be careful to chose videos that take only 5 till 10 minutes to watch, if you are a novice;)
2. Practice the form you´ve chosen with a large sheet of paper first, that´ll make it easier for you. If you think, you´ve mastered it, cut now tiny squares with approx. the length of 3.5 cm of your coloured paper and fold it into form.
3. When you´re happy with the results, apply 2 or 3 thin layers of clear acryllic laquer on your Origami, (be careful to let it dry each time before you put on the next layer!).
4. Buy some earrings, jumprings and small pliers, if you haven´t already got some.
5. Pierce tiny holes in your Origami forms and attach the earrings – this might need some practice, so: Keep calm and don´t lose your head! 🙂

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Origami Horses

 

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Origami Cranes

 

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Origami flowers

If you have any further questions or suggestions, please contact me!:)

Published by Sarah

Artist & Illustrator

29 thoughts on “Last Minute low-budget DIY Christmas Presents”

  4. Hey Miss G – and recently we mentioned you being a featured guest blogger for my art challenge… and after reading this post, which I am so glad I cam here from the sheep, I think i want to feature this post and combine it with a paper arts theme. Cool?
    so thinking it will be the 29th for my art digest #3….
    and just curious – have you made these earrings since then?

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    Reply

    1. Oh, that would be more than cool!!! 😄 Thank you again Y! 😄
      Funny that you ask if I’ve made these earrings since then, because I actually need to do them again when one of my friends tells me she’s lost one 😉 So I keep in practice 😉 But I’m also trying making some earring pendants from clay now and will let you know when they are finished. I’m actually quite excited about how they ‘ll look after the glazing and how much they’ll weigh… they shouldn’t be too heavy though as I tried to make them as thin as possible.

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      1. well looking forward to the outcome. I had a few older students (7th grade) who could make anything with polymer clay – and I think one girl did make very small pig earrings…

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  5. I love these, Miss G – and I think I would actually wear them if I made some. I have had students make some hanging mobiles with origami and they come out so nice, so thanks for the idea…

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    1. Thank you so much! I’m sure the mobiles look great and that your students will enjoy making the earrings. My mom has several pairs and loves to wear them as they add a bit of color. And since they’re coated 4 to 5 times with acrylic varnish rain isn’t a problem either ( at least not if it’s not a downpour 😉). The only thing is that they’re quite easy to loose if you don’t put a tiny stopper behind the hoop as they are so light that you don’t notice it has gone until it’s too late.

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      1. thanks for the tip on keeping a stopper on there.
        and how fun to make origami at such with such small squares.
        I usually have students start with a dog or fish – they seem to be the top two easy ones that kids can master. Crane, on the other hand, has bropught TEARS too many times.
        Wr used to read the “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” book and so I thought making cranes would be a perfect activity – but much too tough for beginners learning folds and getting the directions down.
        so the fish and dog were win-win for confidence and I could send home a sheet on paper cranes.

        But hanging on the mobile – birds look best.

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      2. It’s of course much more difficult to do with tiny squares and I started with really big ones to get the hang of it and sized down afterwards. The Horse I imagine would be manageable too for beginners. There are so many great videos on YouTube! The Sadako story was a great idea though but my students wouldn’t manage it either I think. Funny though, sometimes the boys are much more patient than the girls, maybe I’ll let them try next time instead of pottery 😉

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      3. Hi Miss G – well I think most students over here would prefer pottery.
        It seems like a few years ago there were origami kits everywhere – and even this year I saw some desktop calendars with the origami every day….
        we had a couple of them back in like 2007 – but my boys only liked making a few.
        Then there was a show called “white collar” and in 2010 – the main character (a cute criminal guy helping the FBI) used to use origami to leave notes or drop clues.
        My boys thought that was cool and so we made some then –
        anyhow- I am not even sure I have ever seen the horse…. going to look right now…

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      4. Haha! Love how your boys wanted to do Origami after watching it in a tv show! So it’s proof that watching tv can in fact be educative sometimes 😉 I always knew that (but then I was a kid who always loved watching animal documentaries 😉).

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      5. I used to be the type that thought all TV was NON-educative …
        those that called it the boob tube or passive entertainment swayed me.
        but I have come to find there is rich content – documentaries and some shows that really teach and also give an experience. I have only been watching TV for less than ten years – I was very anti it before – not in a bad way – but never my thing.

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      6. Glad you found your way round 😄 There’s a lot of course that’s not worth watching but luckily we can consult a program and choose 😉 I don’t watch it a lot since there are so many things that need to be done instead, but when I do I make sure it’s something worth the non-effort 😉

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      1. True. Thank you. No, I have given mine away. I was wondering what brand acrylic lacquer you use? I just used a light clear varnish on mine. (BTW – I bought some origami for my son for xmas, so might make some again).

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      2. First I used normal nail varnish but the smell wasn’t so nice so I bought a waterbased acrylic laquer in a hobbyshop from a German brand called Pelikan. It’s really good but I have to apply three layers for firmness. Hope you had a lovely Christmas and did some Origami with your son 😄 Wish you a wonderful week! Sarah xxx

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