A Handmade Gift Perfect For Friends

The trend of giving handmade gifts is not only limited to special occasions these days. In fact, it is becoming a common practice to people who would just want to give another person something special because that person truly matters to him or her.

If you are one of those who would want to give somebody, say a friend, something special because he or she helped you in any way possible, now is the time to consider what type of handmade gift you can give him or her. If you don’t have much of an artistic knack, the simplest thing that you can come up with is an elastic friendship bracelet as a "thank you." These are bangles or "wristlets" that are used as a piece of fashion accessory but in this case, these can be worn by your friend to symbolize the friendship that you both have.

The good thing about this is that it will not only help you save money by buying cheap materials for the bracelet but can also serve as a bonding activity for both of you. Aside from that, the process of making the bracelet itself is fun and easy. While doing the items, you and your friend can squeeze out your creative juices and each other to explore different possibilities of the craft.

Getting started

Before doing this activity, the first thing that you need to do is to ask your friend if he or she has time to do this activity with you. If she or he agrees, then make sure that your friend will be a part of the entire process such as choosing the materials, the designs, as well as the dominant colors to be used. The following are step-by-step process of making a handmade friendship bracelet:

1. Get the supplies needed. The first step in making the friendship bracelet is to buy the supplies needed which include sets of colorful beads of your or your friend's choice, elastic nylon string, a pair of scissors, glue gun, pieces of glue stick, tape measure or ruler, and a round nose pliers if you choose to add locks and other metal items in the bracelet. You can find old stuff in your house or buy these in the crafts store nearby.

2. Designate tasks. Once you have all the materials that you need, designate your tasks. You can ask your friend to segregate pieces of beads according to his or her preference. Or to make the process faster, you can segregate bead pieces by yourself. Next is to come up with a bracelet design and draw in on a piece of paper. Here, you can ask your friend to come up with his or her design and incorporate it with yours.

3. Start with the process. After which, get the elastic nylon. Using a tape measure or a ruler cut the string according to your desired length with a pair of scissor. Then, gather the beads that your have segregated and selected earlier and start stringing the beads into the elastic string. After that, knot the two ends of the string after you threaded the beads in it. Make sure to tie the final knot twice so it will not loosen up. Cut the excess nylon string using a scissor. To make sure that the ends would not loosen up, you can put glue on the knots and flatten it with round nose pliers.

Now, you have just finished a special handmade gift that you can give to your friend as a "thank you" gift and as a remembrance as well.