How about giving homemade art as a Christmas gift?

Would you like to give a truly special gift this Christmas ? How about a little art under the tree?

If you don't feel financially equipped to handle the traditional art market and haven't yet fully explored the new online sales channels where you can acquire a wide selection of artworks at affordable prices, perhaps even with your own creations ? You can't do that?

Well, even if you are not Picasso , there are some ideas on how you make artistic or handcrafted objects yourself that you can use to bring real joy to other people.

You can even encourage your children to paint pictures that fall somewhere between art and design. However, you shouldn't be one of those parents who shy away from their children's creativity in any way. Ideally, you should provide your children with a unifying theme so that they can create works that truly impress an adult.

For example, Aunt Julia: she recently discovered her passion for paper cutting and already has some extraordinary paper cutouts hanging in her living room. You could encourage your children to explore this craft and, for example, create a series of paper cutouts that could then be framed and decorate Aunt Julia's kitchen.

Depending on your kitchen's decor, you can choose colored paper and matching frames, and your children can create, for example, some paper cutouts of the most important spices and probably have a lot of fun with this novel activity. Or your children could try their hand at animal painting, using only shades ranging from pink to burgundy – that would make a wonderful little gallery of pictures for godmother Stefanie's rose-colored bathroom.

Adults are (unfortunately) usually far beyond the realm of uninhibited and free artistic expression. In other words, they only dare to give art as a gift once an art expert has assured them that the watercolor/photo print/stained glass work is truly artistically valuable and therefore exquisite enough to be given as a present.

So many people would be delighted by lovingly and tastefully handmade items! It doesn't matter whether they are considered art or simply pleasing to the eye because they have a particularly beautiful design or are made from a particularly beautiful material.

And that's exactly how you, as an adult, can get out of the "I-don't-dare-to-make-art" inhibition – almost with a mental trick:

They don't create art – nor do they claim to – but simply create something beautiful themselves that perfectly matches the recipient's preferences and will therefore surely please them, leaving it up to them to perhaps even call the gift art.

The “art” can certainly lie in the beauty of the material, in the calming effect that simple and beautiful design unfolds through repetition, or in the idea of ​​having help with the creation of an unusual piece of craftsmanship.

For example, you could get some unique and beautiful wool and knit a unique scarf with a single flower as a pattern, the stem of which is embroidered on afterwards with a hint of leaves.

Anyone can do it with sufficiently thick needles. You could try your hand at calligraphy and give your best friend a whole new cooking experience by creating special stickers for her beautiful spice jars.

In a big city, you can try making almost anything for a gift that the recipient might like and that you enjoy, and create a small work of art at the same time , such as a hand-spun glass bead. Even in smaller towns, there are usually some artists who you could ask if you could experiment with their materials under their guidance.

As long as you avoid the kitschy, artificial door wreaths and the like, and prefer valuable materials and simple shapes, you will most likely end up with something tasteful.

With this in mind, we wish you a wonderful, peaceful and above all creative Advent season!

You might also be interested in the following articles and websites on this topic:

• Unforgettable homemade gifts: creative ideas for artistic souls
• Modern art made easy (a guide)
• “Art from everyday objects” – an interview with bestselling author Judith Milberg
• Your own artwork made from a mixture of mementos and a little watercolor (a guide)