With Valentine’s Day just around the corner NOW is the time to start planning your DIY Valentine’s Day gifts for your special someone, the children in your life, and your BFF. Don’t give in to the temptation to throw money at the gift “problem”. Here are some romantic DIY valentine’s crafts to make using herbs, essential oils, and other natural ingredients, that will show your admiration and let your recipients enjoy their good health with gratitude. All while you stick to your financial goals for the year. You can do this.
I’ve made it easy for you by breaking down the homemade valentine’s gifts into what you can make in 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or 3 weeks. The gifts that will take you 3 weeks are gifts that need time to meld. It doesn’t mean 3 weeks of hands on time. Honest. Even the longer to make gifts can be made in less than 1 hour of hands on time. Don’t you love that! Oh, and no hot glue gun or glitter necessary so the whole family can participate in crafting.
Plus you have the satisfaction of making something beautiful with your own hands. But first some wisdom from C.S. Lewis to set you in the right frame of mind.
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
The whole concept of “love” is transcendent. That makes it elusive to define and to understand. We can surely understand what it is NOT. We’ve all experienced NOT being loved or feeling UN-loved. But understanding what love actually IS goes beyond us.
Do you remember the cartoon “Love Is” by Kim Grove Casli (It was a sketch of two mostly naked, vulnerable people, demonstrating kindness toward one another, and then underneath the sketch were words “Love is (blank)”? The comic was popular because it filled that conflict that we all have of trying to define what love is. As if somehow in defining it we could grasp its true meaning. And if we were actually able to grasp its meaning, it might come to us and reside within our hearts forever.
The Bible says that “God is love.” That His very nature is love. It suggests that by walking in love and kindness toward God and toward our fellow man, our brothers, our neighbours, even those who hate us, we can transcend the bad things we see in the world. This overcoming evil with good brings light into the dark places. This is the essence of the Gospel message, that God, who is love itself, came down in the form of the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), to forgive us for our evil deeds, our lies, our hatred, our desire for revenge toward those who have hurt us. And in this forgiveness comes the love that we have yearned for from the day we were conceived in our mother’s wombs.
“Love is Kind”
We can express love to each other through kindness. If I tell you, “I love you.” You’d say to me, “Yeah, sure you do. You don’t even know me.” But if I am kind toward you, you will begin to believe it. If I do kind things for you, day in and day out, you’ll either believe I love you or you’ll believe I “owe it to you”.
So here’s the first truth. No one is owed kindness. Every act of kindness is a gift. It’s not an exchange. It’s not that I make you dinner so you do the dishes. If that’s the way your household runs, that’s good. But it isn’t necessarily kindness.
Why am I saying this? Because too often the kindness in our lives and too often the love is ignored. If we understood the truth that we are not entitled to kindness or love, we’d be happier when we actually received it. Gratitude makes us happy.
Every day is a gift. Every kindness is a gift. When we give kindness we are giving a precious gift.
A second truth about kindness
We can’t give when we are empty. But we can actually fill up our own “love bucket” through gratitude. Then, when our own love bucket is full, we have the kindness to give.
So before we go any further and I give you the recipes for these DIY kindness gifts, I’d love it if you scrolled down to the comments and told me how full your love bucket is on a scale of 1 to 5. With 5 being all the way full and 1 is pretty close to empty. And then I’d love it if you told me just 1 thing you are grateful for right now.
I’ll wait right here for you….
Great now that you are back, here are 25 valentine’s day ideas for very easy DIY gifts that express Kindness and Love. As you are making up the recipes, be sure to save a few for yourself, too. Fill up your love bucket and at least 2 other people’s love buckets with these recipes.
To make these recipes you’ll need ingredients you might already have in the kitchen, some herbs or spices, and optionally some essential oils. What you won’t need is the kitschy cliché craft items you usually find in homemade gifts. You won’t need paper straws, rose-colored glasses, mod podge, heart magnets, pom-poms, markers or a sharpie, so close your craft cupboards and save yourself that trip to Michaels. Mason jars will give you containers to package these valentine’s day crafts in. Fabric scraps can help you decorate the packaging, but are optional. So if you are ready to make a beautiful mess, let’s get started.
15 DIY Valentines Gifts that can be made in 15 minutes or less
These gifts are easy to make using materials and ingredients you might already have in your home. Many of these gifts can be put together in 5 minutes or less, making them perfect for hostess gifts, office gifts, and BFF “Thinking of You” gifts. Let the crafting begin!
Healthy Hot Chocolate Recipe That’s Thoroughly Gourmet
Healthy hot chocolate to chase away the winter chills
Stop Buying Chai Tea and Make It Instead Using Warming Spices and Rich Tea
This is my favorite chai tea recipe. Warming, digestive, soothing, and comforting, homemade masala chai is nothing like the coffee shop drink. It’s worth making your own Masala Chai from scratch, both for flavor and for its therapeutic benefit. I love chai tea. I drink it often during the day. I love the warm, full bodied,
A Recipe for Herbal Love Truffles
Barely sweet carminative, adaptogenic, and antioxidant truffles for your health and wellness.
DIY Woven Heart Ornaments to Decorate Your Tree for a Hygge Christmas
Scandinavian woven heart ornaments are a Christmas tradition in our home. Made from glossy paper, magazine pages, catalog pages, or even wall paper scraps they are a good craft to teach recycling to children, explore creativity, and spend quality family time together. This is a frugal DIY Christmas craft that can be used as a
DIY Beard Kit
The Easiest DIY Beard Care Kit That Will Help Dad Look His Best Make these 4 easy DIY recipes and put together a beard care kit for Dad. You can make them all in a short hour and have them ready to gift for Father’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries or just because he’s the DAD! This
DIY Pine Forest Lotion Bar Recipe
This Pine Forest Lotion Bar recipe helps with dry winter skin, chapped hands, flaky elbows and knees. You can make them herbally richer by infusing the EVO with pine, fir, cedar, or spruce needles before you make this lotion bar. But if you are in a hurry or you need a last minute gift, just
DIY Solid Sugar Scrub Cubes That Are Fit for a Queen
Sugar scrub cubes are exfoliating and moisturizing in a convenient to use solid cube. While regular scrubs can be messy, and can become hard and unusable over time, these easy to make solid sugar scrub cubes maintain their shape and effectiveness over time. And you can DIY a batch in under 20 minutes. My favorite
Handmade Loofah Soap for Gifts and More
A simple loofah soap for exfoliation and skin care. Great for gifts, or for using year-round.
DIY Orange Scrub That’s Perfect for Gifts
A sweet scented, and fun to make, exfoliating sugar scrub with sweet orange and orange zest.
DIY Coffee Scrub for Smoother Skin
This DIY coffee scrub is rich in minerals, exfoliating and helps to smooth cellulite, soothe varicose veins, and brighten and tighten aging skin. Make it in just 5 minutes. Coffee scrubs are a folk remedy for varicose veins, cellulite, and age spots. Coffee is rich in antioxidants while the caffeine in coffee tightens capillaries, and
Bath Salts with Dead Sea Salt
Dead Sea Salts Bath Salts Formulated for Romance Make Dead Sea Salts Bath Salts Soak revive the stresses and tension of the day with a soak in the tub. These herbs are relaxing. The magnesium in the Dead Sea Salts is easily absorbed and will relieve minor aches and pains. Light a candle. Turn out the
Salt Scrub Recipe Inspired by the Holy Land for Skin that Glows
A specially formulated Dead Sea Salt scrub recipe for glowing and happy skin.
Custom Bath Salts Recipe
A soothing bath salt blend.
Foot Massage Lotion Bar
Invigorating and Moisturizing Peppermint Foot Massage Lotion Bar Winter dryness can exacerbate dry skin. A kind touch for brutally sore, cracked feet can be all the kindness a person needs. This lotion bar for those sore feet will invigorate, refresh, and help with fungal issues. This is perfect to followup after a 20 minutes soak
Lotion Bars for an Herbal Massage
Lotion Bars for an Herbal Massage – Herbal Massage Melts Lotion bars are useful for winter moisturizing. They are heavier than lotion. They are generally solid at room temperature if you live in the temperate world. Massage Melts are lotion bars packaged in 1 serving size, that are just right for a full back massage.
12 DIY Valentine gifts that can be made in under 1 hour
These gifts take just a little more time than the last group of DIY Valentines Day gifts, but most can be completed in an hour of hands on time. But they are lovely and complex gifts that you’ll be proud to share.
Tea Bag Shortbread Cookies for the Tea Lovers on your List
A cute take on the traditional shortbread cookie.
Zoom Balls the Herbal Way to Increase Energy
Zoom Balls, a recipe that utilizes adaptogen herbs to help the body adapt to stressful situations and restore its vital energy. Stress has a payday Have you noticed how our culture glorifies stress? People even encourage the release of stress hormones in their bodies by watching scary movies, jumping out of airplanes or off cliffs,
DIY Teacup Candles for Hygge Home Ambiance and Beautiful Gifts
Teacup candles create an instant hygge home atmosphere. They create an instant light, fragrance, and family associations the minute they are lit, creating cozy, comfort and a feeling of warmth and safety. Lighting beeswax candles is one of the fastest ways to bring a feeling of peace, harmony, and belonging. Beeswax teacup candles are as
Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh Salve for your DiY Apothecary
This myrrh salve is a great option for including in a wellness basket, gift giving, or just to make you feel special. With the healing benefits of myrrh and frankincense, as well as goldenseal, this salve is great to add to your medicine chest, or collection of healing salves. Make a powerful skin healing salve
5 DIY Gifts for Dad That You Can Make Fast
Here are some gifts you can make fast even if it’s already Father’s Day. Did Fathers Day sneak up on you this year? Did you forget Dad’s birthday? Try one of these DIY gifts for dad that you can make – fast! You don’t have to spend a lot of money to tell your dad
DIY Lavender Eye Pillow for Headache Relief
You can make this DIY lavender eye pillow for headache relief in 30 minutes or less, using study cotton fabric scraps. That’s almost instant relief. Give it as a gift, keep one for yourself. It’s microwavable and freezer proof for fast relief of tension headaches and some migraine headaches. Here’s a quick gift you can
DIY Flaxseed Neck Heating Pad for Soothing Muscles
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Turn Your Socks into Flocks with this Hand Stitched Tutorial
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How to make Nourishing and Moisturizing Rose Lip Balm
A simple and moisturizing rose lipbalm that is great for winter use.
How To Make Wax Melts At Home
Wax melts for your electric or candle powered wax burner.
Soothing Oatmeal & Lavender Bath Bombs for Dry, Irritated, Itchy Skin
Oatmeal and Lavender bath bombs soothe dry itchy skin, reduce inflammation, and reduce irritation. Use these for insect bites, poison ivy, rashes, and other minor skin irritation that makes it hard to relax. Grab the recipe. Summertime heat, mosquitoes, chiggers, and other irritations can make your skin itch. It can drive you crazy, keep you
Luxuriate and Relax with De-stressing DIY Bath Bombs
Simple and luxurious bath bombs you can make at home.
5 More DIY Valentine’s gifts to make over the next 3 weeks
These next gifts take a little more time to age before they will be ready for gift giving, but the hands on time is less than 15 minutes. Start them now to gift for your next special occasion.
Easy Espresso Coffee Soap for Gardener’s That Takes an Afternoon
A refreshing coffee soap for gardeners, and those who work with their hands.
DIY Vanilla Extract Made with Just 2 Ingredients
Vanilla enhances the flavor of chocolate, improves the appetite and was traditionally used as an aphrodisiac. This recipe uses 1 vanilla bean per fluid ounce of bourbon or vodka.
DiY Chocolate Extract for Christmas Baking and Gifting
Chocolate extract is a deeply flavourful extract that can be used in the place of vanilla extract in chocolate desserts. It adds a special touch to chocolate chip cookies, pastries, and even whipped cream and frosting.
It takes only a few hands-on minutes to make and then a month to steep.
Limoncello recipe using Meyer Lemons
Make Limoncello from Meyer Lemons Limoncello is a slightly bitter, refreshing aperitif. Traditionally served icy cold, before meals to stimulate digestive juices, the bitter principle in limoncello is stimulating and carminative. Have a glass before a heavy meal, or serve it up with dessert. Your liver will thank you. You can make limoncello at home
How to Make Preserved Lemons at Home with Just 3 Ingredients
Lacto-fermented, salt preserved lemons add a bright flavor to meals, like hummus, chicken, fish, and rice dishes.
Give the Gift of Your Time with More DIY Gift Inspiration
- Save money!
- Avoid the malls!
- Forget the hours of online browsing!
- Exit the Matrix
You can craft the perfect gift for each person on your list in less time than it takes to stand in line at Costco or find a parking spot in the Mall lot. And you’ll be learning important herbal remedy making skills while you craft.
Grab the DIY Herbal Gifts Bundle now and get the instructions to craft 57 thoughtful herbal gifts for year round gifting, using basic ingredients like organic soap base, olive oil, herbs, and wax. There are gifts for everyone on your list and for every special occasion. Cut yourself loose from the matrix and craft meaningful and healthful gifts yourself. You’ll save money and create a lasting legacy of self reliance and simple living skills. Plus your loved ones will benefit from the priceless gift of your time.
I think that I am pretty close to a 5. I am making Thumprint Cookies with the discard from the sourdough starter that my daughter and I started last week. I am thankful for my baking skills and my desire to make our home a place filled with Love, Peace, Hope and Joy. Thank you for this article and all of the amazing resources!
i love your emails and everything that you share! honestly, I think your life is a dream that I would love to step into every once in awhile! I love my life too, it is very different from yours, but full of value and the things that are dear to me. my love bucket is at a 3. making some of these suggestions will boost that!! I’m so thankful for you and your huge heart and kindness to all of us who follow and read your words! Thank you!!!
Thank you for your kind words, Kristie. This made my day!
Kindness goes a long way , especially with children who see so little of it in these times. I’m so grateful for God’s peace – being able to rest in Him and trust His guidance and watch Him work things out through His power – so liberating from worry and anxiety.
Thanks again for your generosity in all you share with us, Chris.
Thanks so much for these ideas! And for the reminder to tangibly show love to our family.