Share Your Creative Gifts: Skillshare’s DIY Holiday Gift Guide

You know it. We know it. You’re already gifted—and there’s no better time to take your artistic abilities to the next level. Learn something new or perfect an old skill as you create personal pieces you’ll be proud to give to friends and loved ones this holiday season. Whatever your medium or aesthetic, we’ve got a class for you. After all, creativity is priceless.

The Mindful Minimalist

Into the holidays, but not the festive part? Okay, it’s not like you’re gritting your teeth through tidings of joy, but maybe you’re hoping to give or get gifts that speak to your refined sensibilities. A little less glitzy and sentimental, a little more tasteful and personal. Check out the classes below to help you make gifts that don’t scream HOLIDAYS but do show how much you care.

Paint Charming Watercolor Christmas Cards

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to evolve your style, Olga Bonitas—“the Watercolor Girl”—teaches you to paint everything from naturalistic Christmas trees to idyllic snowy scenes. Settle in, get cozy, and work on your brushstrokes in White Winter: Create Charming Christmas Cards with Watercolor.

Master Still Life Realness

Find the stillness you crave as you create a gift for someone you love with the help of this meditative class, Still Lifes are Cool! Contemporary & Traditional Art in Acryla Gouache with Dylan Mierzwinski. Bonus: download Dylan’s paint-by-numbers still life for an easy DIY over the holidays. 

Design a Custom Matchbox

Sometimes the smallest gifts spark the biggest conversations. In this case, a striking (pun intended) box of matches, designed by hand. Gift this to the person in your life who hosts the most epic dinner parties (or pair it with a set of candles!). Follow along in Matchbox Label Techniques: Illustration, Vintage Design & Print Textures with Di Ujdi.

Paint Winter Snowscape Polaroids 

We know, Polaroid film can be pretty expensive these days, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take some cues from the format to create your own personal twist. Check out Gouache Polaroids: Paint Winter Snowscapes from Peggy Dean to create mini paintings that are perfect for small wall spaces, shelves, or anywhere that needs subtle seasonal charm.

Create Custom Envelopes

Is there anything more elegant than a handmade envelope? Instantly elevate all your gift and card giving with these beautifully simple and clean hand-folded envelopes, which show that you really care and have a strong attention to detail. Once you’ve made one, you’ll never go back to store-bought. Ido Agassi is ready to walk you through the process, in Envelope With A Twist!

Fold Origami Ornaments

Question: Are you a multicolored christmas tree lights person, or do you prefer a more subtle warm white? Does the concept of an ugly Christmas sweater party make you want to take a nap? If you went for warm white and the nap, give your loved ones the gift of minimalist geometric origami paper ornaments that’ll transform any tree into an easy-on-the-eyes conversation piece. Get to folding in Create Geometric Origami Paper Ornaments for Holiday, Party & Home Decor from Evgeniya & Dominic Righini-Brand.

Crochet Handmade Dishcloths

Dishcloths! Useful, visible, and strangely personal. These crocheted versions are the kind of gift no one asks for but everyone ends up using nonstop. Make a set in colors or styles that suit each recipient. Learn the basics in Handmade Holiday: A Beginner's Guide to Crocheting Your First Dishcloth with Khara Plicanic.

Document Your Escape Through Travel Journaling

The holidays aren’t for everyone, and if you’ve got someone in your life who’d prefer to get out of town every December, why not get them this class? Using Italy as an example, Fatih Mıstaçoğlu teaches how to journal your way through any trip with Everyone Can Draw Holiday - Travel Journaling in Italy, Bari.

Develop a Minimalist Style in Procreate

Once you know how to use it, Procreate can become a budding or professional artist’s best friend. Mastering Minimalist Illustration in Procreate: Uncover Your Artistic Voice and Signature Style with Sandra Staub is ideal to up your familiarity with the program. Sandra teaches how to develop a signature minimalist style, and then develop it into something you’d be proud to showcase in multiple settings. Additionally, it’ll help you cement a workflow that’ll allow you to recreate and iterate upon your favorite images—making great gifts with a personal touch for your friends and family.

Create Painted Paper Collages

Level up your collage game by working with painted paper to create minimalist, artful compositions in Minimalist Art: Collaging With Painted Paper from Jennifer Daily. Prepare to have your perception of what a collage can be completely changed. Use your new skill to make giftable art pieces like notebook covers, cards, prints, and more.

Hyped for the Holidays

You don’t need us to say it, but we will anyway: you love this time of year. You’re already in the holiday spirit because you never were not in the holiday spirit. It is now socially acceptable to listen to Wham’s “Last Christmas” on repeat 24-7, and you know what that means…it’s time to start spreading good cheer through the creation of warm, vibrant gifts that’ll help even the biggest Scrooges in your life get into the magic of the season.

Draw Christmas Cuties

What better way to get yourself in a festive mood than learning to draw big-headed “Christmas cuties.” Perfect for cards or standalone pieces, these characters come together with just a few basic shapes. Cute snowman! Cute Santa! Cute candy cane! If you can draw a circle, you’re almost there, and Yasmina Creates will show you how in You Can Draw Christmas Cuties! Step by Step Cute Characters.

Create Complex To Confident Christmas Characters

Watercolor illustrator Amarilys Henderson is one of our top teachers for a reason. In this clear, easy-to-learn class, Complex to Confident: Christmas Characters to Enhance Your Repertoire, you'll level up your illustrated Christmas characters for any decorating needs. Whether you’re trying to paint a person (extremely hard) or an animal (slightly less hard), you’ll be impressing yourself and your gift recipients before you know it.

Discover Realistic Watercolors For Every Occasion

There’s no shortage of interesting watercolor classes on our platform, but very few take the approach of artist Sophia Neumeister, who uses the medium to create hyperreal watercolors that turn paint and paper into something unbelievable. Learn her approach in Shiny Surfaces in Watercolor and Colored Pencil: Paint a Puffer Jacket and create works of art so good they deserve to be framed.

Paint One-Of-A-Kind Christmas Ornaments

Let’s face it, we’ve all, at some point, been subjected to some pretty unappealing Christmas ornaments. Now, whether you’re a beginner or an expert, you can solve that aesthetic conundrum by creating unique ceramic ornaments featuring textured winter berries that you can make with not much more than a piping bag and a palette knife. Get started with Paint a One-of-a-Kind Christmas Ornament in Textured Acrylic from Amie Murray

Make Festive Watercolor Ornaments

Combine two great skills into one festive gift in Transforming your Watercolor Paintings into Holiday Ornaments with Yu-Yin Lin. Get comfortable painting cozy winter scenes and then transferring them onto ornament-sized materials using whatever you’ve already got at home, resulting in easy to make holiday surprises.

Give The Gift Of A Gift Topper

Elevate every present with a gift topper done in a festive Scandinavian folk art style. Take the class Watercolor Holidays: Create Beautiful Gift Toppers with Irina Trzaskos to practice producing our four different holiday templates, or branch off on your own and create a wonderfully specific and personal take on the holidays that’ll stand out under even the most crowded tree.

Explore Naturally Dyed Fabric

Technically this one isn’t holiday related, but we know you, and we know that your affinity for bright colors knows no bounds. Use the techniques in Natural Dyeing: Bundle Dye Fabric with Vibrant Natural Colors with Casey Gallagher Newman to create your very own vibrant fabric in holiday-focused green and red. Or go rogue and create your own patterns and color combos and then stitch them into a blanket, make them into dishtowels, handkerchiefs, or appealing pops of decorative color to accent your family’s home.

Share a Smile with Grumpy Cats In Santa Hats

Experiment with water and ink to create blobby black and white grumpy cats with expressive faces, then take your drawings and add bright-colored santa hats in Procreate and you’ve got a quirky, festive art piece that stands out. Pen and Ink: Paint Grumpy Cats in Santa Hats with Catherine Jennifer truly is the cat's meow.

Draw a Jolly Mid-Century Illustration

Hop on Procreate and go vintage with Mid-Century Illustration Fun: Make it Jolly! Draw whimsical winter scenes, which you can pair with teacher Jutta Schneider's Jitterbug font and unique color palettes to create retro holiday cards. 

Add Festive Flourishes with Hand Painted Candles

If you’ve got any plain block candles around your house, you’re ready to join Vinitha Mammen for Make It Merry: Create Hand-Painted Holiday Candles with Acrylic Markers. Using run-of-the-mill freestanding household candles and acrylic markers you can quickly create holiday-themed candles for anyone who loves the season but wants the gifts they give and get to feel a bit more personal.

THE AWW YOU SHOULDN’T HAVER

You’re an expert gift-giver. You see your loved ones for who they are and often are able to give them something they didn’t even know they wanted. It’s your time to shine: You’re perceptive, crafty, insightful, and know that making a gift for someone gives it the personal touch that makes it worth keeping for a lifetime. 

Craft Timeless Terrazzo

Terrazzo has long been a design staple, but it’s currently experiencing a huge upswing in interest because you can customize it to play against any color palette. While the Terrazzo pattern may work virtually anywhere, Terrazzo Making for DIY Home Decor Projects with Claire Iglesias class will teach you how to make custom candle holders in the pattern, using acrylic resin, resulting in a gift that offers beauty and utility in one package.

Make a One Line Drawing

A one-line drawing—creating an image without lifting your pen—is soothing, stylish, and incredibly versatile. Use it to experiment with a new technique and make elegant cards or prints. Altea Alessandroni shows you how with One-Line Drawing: Cultivate Calm & Creativity with On-Trend Illustrations.

Master Digital Watercolors

Use Procreate to take standard paint-and-paper watercolor techniques to the next level with a class that teaches you how to apply those watercolor skills to a digital version of the medium. By the end of Procreate Watercolor Masterclass: Learn Digital Watercolor Painting on Your iPad from Nathan Brown, you’ll have learned plenty of techniques in Procreate that’ll expand your reach as an artist.

Sculpt Marbled Earrings

Everyone loves earrings. Okay, not everyone—but people who can wear earrings usually love earrings, and there are probably a lot of them in your life. How to Make Easy Marbled Earrings Using Polymer Clay and Resin with I The Crafter will inspire you to try your hand at the basics without over-complicating things. All you need is one color of polymer clay and one additive so you can create your own highly personalized, undeniably beautiful set for any loved one with pierced ears.

Create a Sushi Catnip Toy

Believe it or not, your cat will enjoy this gift as much as you enjoyed making it. During the holidays, our pets need love too, so why not show your affection and understanding with this simple sewing project that’ll help you make cute sushi catnip toys that’ll delight every cat (and probably every human, too). Get started with DIY Sushi Catnip Toy: 8 Minute Easy Sewing Craft by Amy Plante.

Perfect Punch Needle Art Pieces

Learning to create with yarn can feel daunting sometimes, but Adventures with Yarn: Modern Punch Needle for Beginners with Floor Giebels is a solid way in. Once you’ve got it down, you will be creating ready to hang embroidered art pieces that’ll work as unique holiday gifts this holiday season, or really any other time of the year.  

Draw Your Favorite Recipe

Recipes don’t just teach us how to make certain dishes, they’re also an important source of history and tradition, tweaked, iterated upon, and passed down over generations. Immortalize your favorite recipes through Foodie Illustration: Drawing Your Favorite Holiday Recipe from Christine Nishiyama. Learn how to use Procreate and Photoshop to turn text-based recipes into fun illustrated narrative experiences. Pair your favorite holiday cookie plate with an illustrated recipe that teaches your loved ones how to make the cookies themselves and you’ve got a perfect gift for the season.

Crochet Amigurumis 

Turn their favorite animal into a tiny crochet buddy made by you! The beginner-friendly Amigurumis Crochet Masterclass: From Total Beginner to Expert by Emilie Bolduc is the perfect excuse to trade time at the mall for time on the couch with your crochet hook. Toss a keychain on the top to turn yours into a sweet purse charm—Labubu who?

Get Back to Nature Journaling

No matter where you live—in the desert, in a city, on the side of a mountain, the edge of an ocean, or any other environment that exists—you can find something for you in Nature Journaling Virtual Adventure: Drawing Desert Plants and Landscapes. Marley Peifer will teach you how to quickly and beautifully draw and write an evocative nature journal. Fill a sketchbook to give as a gift, or inspire a family member to appreciate the natural world in a new way.

Give the Gift of Creativity

Not sure what to give the creative person in your life this holiday season? Cover all your bases with a Skillshare gift card, available in three-, six-, and 12-month membership options. There’s nothing better than watching your friends and family go down a creative rabbit hole, pick up a skill that could change their lives, or level up the art they’re already making. ’Tis the season for creative gift giving.

Written By

Alison Kendrick

Alison is a digital strategist and content creator who edits copy by day and rolls dice by night.

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