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  • Welcome to TPK! This is your first of 2 free articles. For unlimited access to tutorials and articles, join TPK Premium for less than the cost of a latte.

    8 Creative Handmade Gift Ideas

    May 8, 2018

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    Gifts, Tutorials, Watercolor

    This Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, try giving a handmade gift! You’ll enjoy making it, and your recipient will appreciate the effort and affection that went into its creation. This article will give you eight gift ideas that serve to inspire!

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    Herbal Watercolor Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are coming up, and no one loves handmade gifts more than moms and dads. In this post, you’ll find eight handmade gift ideas that are artistic, thoughtful, and will be cherished for years to come! All of the suggestions below are wonderful to give to any loved one, parent or not.

    1. Set of Floral Watercolor Cards

    Anyone can use a greeting card, and hand-painted greeting cards are the best! Try making a set of cards from the floral watercolor tutorial, and gift the set — plus some envelopes, if you’d like — to someone who appreciates flowers.

    Watercolor Flowers Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I recommend making your floral masterpieces on blank watercolor cards!

    2. Calligraphy Ampersand

    I’ve seen so many cool TPK reader-created variations of the calligraphy ampersand concept ever since I posted the tutorial two years ago! Instead of ampersands, some artists have used treble clefs for music-loving friends. Others have used a loved one’s first initial or a significant number. The idea remains the same, though: fill in a certain shape with words that mean something to you and your loved one.

    Calligraphy Ampersand Art Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    You can frame the ampersand art and give it to your loved one for an impressive, personalized gift.

    3. Watercolor Map

    If you’ve got a fair amount of time to set aside, a watercolor map is a fantastic handmade gift! Include a few areas that are significant to you and a loved one, and maybe write a little bit of text about why those areas are important.

    How to Create an Illustrated Watercolor Map | The Postman's Knock
    Once you create your watercolor map, read How to Frame Artwork on the Cheap to learn how to frame the map in a professional-looking way.

    4. Rubber Stamps

    Strictly speaking, rubber stamps aren’t a handmade gift (the way that I make them, anyway). However, they’re too cool not to include on this list! You can learn how to use your original design to make a custom rubber stamp in this tutorial.

    How to Make a Custom Rubber Stamp | The Postman's Knock
    Rubber stamps are a fun and unique gift! You might include an ink pad in your gift presentation as well.

    5. Herbal Watercolor

    On Mother’s Day 2015, I gave my mother a set of handmade herbal watercolor paintings. She absolutely loved them, and they still enjoy prominent display in her home. I’m not going to lie and say that paintings like these don’t take a fair time investment to make, but the creation process is approachable — especially if you have a light box! You can find out how to make your own herbal watercolor paintings in this tutorial.

    Herbal Watercolor Tutorial + a Free Printable | The Postman's Knock
    I went to the local thrift store to find these fun mismatched frames!

    6. Handmade Stationery Set

    If your gift recipient enjoys sending notes, make them a handmade and personalized stationery set! You can fold the envelopes out of interesting paper, like a vintage art magazine (which is what I used below). Cut weighty light-colored paper — like 32# laserjet paper — to fit in the envelopes. Then, if you want to, you can include some postage stamps and/or a wax seal.

    Handmade Stationery Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    You can include whatever you want in your handmade stationery set! Paper and envelopes are a must, while sealing wax, rubber stamps, and postage stamps make for fun bonuses.

    7. Watercolor Cactus

    This is another piece that looks awesome when it’s framed! Don’t be intimidated by the watercolor cactus tutorial if you’re new to watercolors: it’s quite beginner-friendly.

    Watercolor Cactus + Quote Artwork Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Feel free to change the message on the cactus to reflect your personal style!

    8. Galaxy Effect Watercolor Art

    The Galaxy Effect Watercolor Art is imaginative and magical — the perfect handmade gift for someone who appreciates some whimsy! It utilizes rubbing alcohol and Q-tips to make eye-catching bursts of color.

    Galaxy Effect Watercolor Art Tutorial {Guest Post by Gaby Friedman} | The Postman's Knock
    Try personalizing this artwork with a cityscape that’s inspired by your own town!

    If some of these gift suggestions seem intimidating to you, take heart. If your family/loved ones are anything like mine, the skill used to create a handmade gift matters much less than the fact that you put your time, energy, and affection into making it. I encourage you to give one of these projects a try, and be proud when you give it! If you’d like to share the results of your effort, I’d love to see. You can tag me on Instagram (@thepostmansknock), or, if you prefer to share privately, email me at [email protected].

    Thanks very, very much for reading TPK! I appreciate that you’re here, and I hope that you gained some inspiration from this list.

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock

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About the author

Hi, I’m Lindsey Bugbee, the illustrator, calligrapher, and author behind The Postman’s Knock (TPK). Since 2012, the TPK Blog has been a vibrant creative space filled with tutorials and lessons on modern calligraphy, hand lettering, and illustration. After publishing The Calligraphy Book, I wanted to elevate the quality of content even further—so I launched TPK Premium. You can join here to receive access to some of the internet’s best creative inspiration and project tutorials.

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Previous post: How to Make a Custom Rubber Stamp
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44 responses

  1. Bernice Avatar
    Bernice
    July 16, 2018

    Purchased three worksheet sets, and love them all (Amy, Janet and Kaitlin). So great how you spoil us with your freebies. Such an inspirational website! Thank you so much!

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  2. Karin Avatar
    Karin
    June 29, 2018

    You generosity continues to amaze me! These are wonderful gifts and I only hope I can do these justice. I plan to keep these ideas as ongoing projects, so I will have them done and ready to give! Thank you!

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My seven-year-old and I have officially entered th My seven-year-old and I have officially entered the @edward.gorey.house envelope art contest! 🎃 My design leans a bit more macabre, while my son’s is, well, gory. (Venus flytraps are apparently no joke.) Visit the TPK Blog to see my process — I love to start with a Procreate draft and take it from there. 

This is a great little contest, and, while it runs through December, it’s *especially* fun to work on this time of year. 👻 My kid and I both thoroughly enjoyed making our masterpieces! If you find yourself with some time in the next couple of months, make your own envelope ... there will be more than one winner! 🥇

#edwardgorey #envelopeart #mailart #kidsart #halloweenart #halloweenmail #envelope #snailmail #snailmailrevolution
Just added a new lesson to the Beginner’s Modern Just added a new lesson to the Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course! ✍️ In Lesson 3, you’ll find over three hours of instruction to get you extremely comfortable using the straight calligraphy pen. If you want to learn pointed pen calligraphy, *join us*! TPK Premium members have the exclusive and incredible opportunity to take this detailed course for $5/month. Link in bio for details!

#calligraphy #moderncalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #learncalligraphy #calligraphytips
Beautiful autumn leaves outside 🍂 inspire beaut Beautiful autumn leaves outside 🍂 inspire beautiful leaves inside ✨. You can find a tutorial over how to make this stunning bookmark in “The Calligraphy Book”. (Confession time: I don’t actually use this bookmark as a bookmark. It ended up being too pretty to be hiding inside a book! 🙈 Instead, I display it on my bulletin board.)

#bookmark #decoratedbookmark #autumnleaves #pointedpen #finetec #colirofinetec #metallicwatercolor
Which is your favorite? 👻 🍬 ✋ 🎃 Good Which is your favorite? 👻 🍬 ✋ 🎃 

Good news: whichever one you like best, you can learn how to create it in “Spellbound Strokes”, TPK’s Halloween 2025 worksheet set! The worksheet is available on the TPK site as of an hour ago. In it, you’ll learn how to create these fabulous Halloween-themed motifs ... and get plenty of calligraphy practice under your belt in the process. ✍️

For the worksheet link, see my stories today (10/9), or shoot me a DM. Happy Halloween, and enjoy!

#halloweencalligraphy #pointedpenpractice #pointedpen #dippen #halloweenart #macbeth
This is just as relaxing to watch as it is to wri This is just as relaxing to watch as it is to write. 🧘‍♀️ DM me for a link to a (free!) worksheet that teaches you how to write this loopy, modern quote. ✍️

#moderncalligraphy #learncalligraphy #calligraphy #handwritten #writingcalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #calligraphyvideo #tseliotquote
🎃 Halloween, TPK-style. ✍️ You can find ins 🎃 Halloween, TPK-style. ✍️ You can find instructions for making all of these project (and more!) on the TPK Blog and in TPK’s Halloween-themed worksheets. 🔗 Link in bio, then search for “Halloween” or just browse the Blog and Catalog!

#halloweencalligraphy #halloweenart #calligraphyprojects #halloweencraft #eleganthalloween
🤭 We’re ridiculous. Here’s the story: every 🤭 We’re ridiculous. Here’s the story: every month, @greenleafblue and I host a live creative coffee chat over Zoom for TPK Premium and G&B Patreon members — and we always include a giveaway. This time, we switched it up and picked the winner with a trivia question we made up on the fly. You can see how that went here!

✨ Watch the full chat on the TPK Blog (link in bio → “Blog”).

✨ Join us for the next coffee chat on October 17th by signing up for TPK Premium! I’m thrilled to announce that @sdionbakerdesign will be our special guest. (Her Patreon members can join, too!) And yes, there will be a giveaway. 🎁

👯‍♀️ Fun fact: Jess and I met as roommates studying art history in Paris + Florence way before The Postman’s Knock or Greenleaf & Blueberry existed. Over the years, we’ve nicknamed ourselves Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, Lucy and Ethel… you get the idea. That familiarity definitely comes through in our chats.

#artistchat #artists #artsupplies #zoomchat #creativity #thepostmansknock #greenleafandblueberry
After eight years (and plenty of smudges), my chal After eight years (and plenty of smudges), my chalkboard finally got a makeover! This time, sketching out the design was so much easier thanks to my iPad + Procreate. Once the draft felt right, I used a grid method to bring it to life on the chalkboard. 🖊️✨ Curious how it all came together and find instructions for making your own chalkboard quote art? Check out the TPK Blog to see the process! (Link in bio, then navigate to the “Blog” tab.)

#chalkboard #chalkart #austenquote #janeausten #hyggequote #hyggeart #homeart #artforhome #artprocess #chalk
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