THERE'S STILL TIME TO MAKE A THING FOR CHRISTMAS. Sorry about that outburst! I'm just so excited. :)

The thing I love about DIY gifts is that you can really tailor them to the person you are making them for. If you are giving them something to eat and they don't like nuts, you can remove the nuts from the recipe. If you are making them a soap, you can use their favorite scent. If you are sewing or embroidering something, you can include images and thoughts that really mean something.

Another great thing about DIY gifts is that they can be elaborate and take you a while to create or they can be simpler and quicker. Both can mean a whole lot. It just matters that you made them and you did it with love in your heart. Ugh, I'm getting cheesy now. Sorry! Anyways, I love to scour Pinterest for DIY Gift ideas and I offer the fruits of my labor to you as an inspiration for your gift giving. It's December 10th, you still have lots of time to make (or buy-- my gift guide is coming out on Friday) something for those special people.

Follow Daphne Medina's board Holidays 2014: DIY Gifts on Pinterest.

Special Bonus: I tried some of the Pinterest things I pinned to see how easy the were to do for the average to slightly impatient, marginally clumsy DIY/craft enthusiast. Will this be the first installment of Daphne Rates Pinterest Ideas?-- If it is I need a better name for it! (EDIT: What about The Pinterest Challenge: Try It or Buy It

The Ratings Explained:

Time: how long will it take to make?
Cost: how much do the materials cost?
Difficulty: how skilled do you need to be to make it? Is it likely to be a Pinterest fail?
Uniqueness: is it unusual, one of a kind, special, or is it readily available elsewhere?
Personalization: how much can you personalize it to suit a particular individual?
Christmas Morning Reaction: will someone be over the moon or unenthused to receive this on Christmas?
Try It or Buy It: is it worth making or should you pass?

DIY Spa Package

Lavender Bath Salts

This DIY was just about as simple as they come. Four ingredients- epsom salt, sea salt, food coloring, and essential oil. I added a little bit of dried lavender because I'm fancy. Mix that up, store in a pretty jar, drop some into your bath. Also, it's pretty versatile depending on the essential oil you pick out. And you can use up all those little perfume samples. It might be nice to pair this and some of the other DIYs on this page in a Spa Package. oOOOooooOOOOOoooo. Tutorial here.

Homemade Bath Bombs

This is a homemade version of those LUSH bath bombs you can get. I was so excited to try this out, but am not the most impressed with the results. First, citric acid is a monster to find and a little bit expensive. I ended up not because able to find it (though you can buy it on amazon) and used Cream of Tartar (tartaric acid) instead. Second, it definitely fizzed (yay!), but not like a LUSH one (maybe its the tartaric acid). And I really love the LUSH colors and fragrances. Tutorial here.

Coffee Body Scrub

I can't tell you if it gets rid of cellulite, but it smells great and is very invigorating in the shower. Overall it looks kind of gross, but is easy to make, and would be nice as part of the DIY Spa Set I mentioned above. Tutorial here.

Hot Chocolate Blocks

It looked so yummy that I had to try, but I think it is pretty much a fudge recipe with sticks inserted. I great tasting fudge recipe, but a fudge recipe nevertheless. But I guess hot chocolate is chocolate, milk and sugar, and it does make a great cup of hot chocolate, so I guess that's ok. I tried to get clever and used candy canes and plastic spoons, but I think that the sticks would be better. The spoons look a little cheap, while the candy canes get sticky. Tutorial here.

Handmade Ornaments

There's a variety of ornaments out there on Pinterest to suit every type of crafter. I made a few different types for my Advent Calendar. Some from my own brain (the cross-stitch); some inspired by others (cornstarch dough, cinnamon dough, and glitter animals); some were a mix (the felt ornaments). All are adorable, relatively straight-forward, and varyingly time-consuming. Definitely still possible to make in time for Christmas morning.

Embroidered Pillow

So this pillow is just an example (quite a large example) of one of the many embroidered or quilted thingamabobs I've made over my crafting years. This type of thing is nice because it can really be very meaningful. For example I made this for my mother and tied in her love of nature with small embroidered cats to represent her cats who had passed away. To make an elaborate one like this it does take time. Last year, it did take me a couple of weeks maybe more, but I was definitely rushing it. The caveat is that I've made quite a few of these and I know what I'm doing (strange, but true!), so if you want to make this before Christmas, you might want to go with a less elaborate, or smaller pillow. Here's one idea that's very pictorial and another that's based on words to get you started on this. I would still budget a week to be on the safe side. Tip: Ikea has great and inexpensive pillow forms! (Also I might do a full on tutorial on this type of thing down the line. Stay tuned.)