So many people love celebrating Valentines day, but just as many people hate buying into the commercialism of it; what is so romantic about a card bought from a shop and a cuddle toy printed with kisses? If you'd really like to show your other half how much you love them this year, if you want to save money but still give them something heartfelt, then this is the guide for you. 

Cupcakes

Literally put your heart into your baking by making these adorable cupcakes! It's a simple method but it takes a fair bit of time; just bake up a sheet-tin cake dyed pink or red, depending on what colour you want your heart to be, then when it has cooked and cooled, take a small heart shaped cutter and create your centers. You then need to whip up a batch of your favourite cupcake recipe; line a muffin tin with cupcake cases, and place a baked heart in the centre of each; you then fill the remaining space around them with cupcake batter, so that the baked heart stays standing upright. This should mean when your cupcakes are done they will have a perfect heart shape when cut in half! (Or bitten into!).

Chocolates

Making your own chocolates couldn't be easier! And best of all, they look incredible with very little effort; all you need is to find a silicon mould in the shape you want your chocolates to be. You can then find chocolate recipes all over the internet, but i can be as simple as melting your favourite chocolate bar in the microwave then placing a nut in the centre when they are half set, or if you want filled chocolates, paint the melted chocolate around the edges of the mould, leave it to set, add your filling (raspberry cream is good for valentines!) then add more melted chocolate to seal the filling in. You can present these if paper boxes with pretty tissue, or hand wrap them in a little baking paper, then some decorative paper.


Nail Polish

Finally if you celebrate valentines with your friends instead, this tutorial is easy and looks like an expensive nail polish! Get a few cheap bottle of clear nail polish, and purchase some of your favourite glitters; heart shaped works really well, but you can do this tutorial with pink fine glitter. Add the glitter to the clear polish until you have the density of glitter you want. It's as simple as that! 

It's one of the top ideas for new start up businesses, and it's the best way of sourcing unique jewellery at a fraction of the price you find in high street stores, so if you want to make your own jewellery, where is the best place to look? Good news is most independent jewellery making suppliers source the same charms as high street stores, meaning you can most likely find the bits and pieces to reproduce any jewellery you find on the high street if you have a good look around on the web. One of the top sources is eBay, where Chinese manufacturers sell their charms in bulk. A good tip is to contact these sellers if you are looking for something in particular as most will do commissioned designs if you fancy yourself as a jewellery designer; or if you are looking to become a business you can negotiate a great wholesale price. Don't forget to purchase some grip seal bags to store your jewellery findings safely!

(Image from Savage Attic)
Another great idea, if you are looking to make jewellery unlike any other, is to source some salvaged lots of broken and odd vintage jewellery. Etsy seller Savage Attic has that covered; they regularly update their listing with a lot of great finds, and save you the effort of trawling through antiques shops. 

If you're looking to make personalised jewellery you can purchase a stamping kit; think of it as a much quicker way of writing a personal message on your jewellery than engraving. You can use this kit of silver clay or any other sort of modelling clay to create jewellery made from interesting and unique materials. 

Finally my favourite idea for jewellery making is to source some adorable Kawaii charms. These doughnuts are from Evez Beadz and would make a great charm bracelet or bag charm. People are very tempted by cute things, so making incredibly sweet jewellery is a great market to be in. You can also find chocolates, marshmallows, strawberries and lollypops on Etsy, so search for Kawaii for some inspiration. 

So, we're in a recession and we have a tight hold of our money and an unwillingness to let go of it, so how do we still spoil the people we love in the season of giving, excess and extravagance? The key is to replacing cost with hard work and making our own homemade gifts to give away. It takes a little longer, but the satisfaction of giving away a present that will really be appreciated for the thought that went into making it.
Best of all you can batch produce one craft and you have the control to make everyone their own favourite colour in what you have made, and add any extra personalization. When all wrapped up with lovely hand printed wrapping paper, it'll make your Christmases if anything, more special.

1. Homemade Lipgloss

This lovely delicate tutorial from Torie Jayne is for how to make strawberry sparkle lip gloss, the perfect gift for Christmas day to glam up your party look. The colour is added to this mix with lipstick shavings, so you can make it any colour you can find to flatter your friends. Try adding different scents and colours of glitter for some really unique make-up you can't find on the high street.

2. Painted Tote Bags

Are you a dab hand with a paint brush? Then you can create this present from Amusing no problem. Even if you're not great at sewing nothing can be much easier to make than a tote bag. Just grab some fabric paint, you can purchase festive glitter paints and metallics from dylon now, and get creative. Anything from a simple graphic in the centre to a work of art can look good, and canvas fabric is super easy to paint on to.

3.Handmade Vintage Bookmarks

For the bookworm in your life look to The Vintage Lemon for a beautiful tutorial on how to make a bookmark that will last and always look lovely. Help them throw away the crumpled piece of paper they have been using, and save the corners of the classic book from being folded, you can churn out an impressive amount of these during a night in by the fire, so they're a great simple gift to keep in for any unexpected visitors.

4. DIY Coasters

Ok, this tutorial was designed for wedding favours but surely coasters are a great gift idea when drinks are one of the biggest parts of christmas, i'm not just talking about tipples, who could say no to these coasters made from your favourite fabric, wrapped up in a hamper with a beautiful hot chocolate mug and some handmade biscuits? You can find the How-to at Bayside Bride.

5. Cup Cozies

Keep your mittens warm but your hands protected from the burns of toastie hot drinks with these woolen cup cozies, they're a great accessory for the winter and would make a great accompaniment to the increasingly popular ceramic take away cups. Add charms or pom-pom trimming for a really festive look. The tutorial is from Simply Notable.

With the huge range of toys and games on the market, it’s likely you’re always hearing ‘Mum can I have…’ or ‘Dad will you buy me…’ and it’s about time we showed our children exactly how much fun you can have with cheap accessories such as coloured tissue paper. There are hundreds of things you can make and do with tissue paper and it needn’t cost you a fortune!

Help your kids learn how to be creative and use their imaginations by creating a tissue paper mosaic or picture. Get a large piece of sugar paper and drawn an outline (say a house or a car) and then using glue stick help your little ones glue one screwed up balls of tissue paper in various colours. Eventually as you fill in all the gaps you’ll have a 3D work of art that your kids can be very proud of!

Another great activity with coloured tissue is making sock snakes! To make a sock snake all you need to do is stuff an old (clean) sock with tissue paper and stick on little cut out circles to make eyes and a fork-shaped piece of paper for a tongue. The crunchy feel of the sock snake is a great sensory toy even for tiny babies and you can have fun with your older kids making them!

Creativity is an important trait which is actually declining as computer games and DVDs become more and more popular. Get creative with your kids today using cheap coloured tissue paper!