Creative Gifts
Sun, November 27, 2011 at 11:27PM 
Art materials and creative gift ideas for creative + imaginative people!
For sketch artists or doodlers, a Rapidograph technical pen set and a few inks. Check out my experiences at Rapidograph & India Ink.
A set of calligraphy pens, a few bottles of india or fountian pen ink, calligraphy paper.
My top gift idea for kids 6-13: a box of Prismacolor Colored Pencils (36 or 48) and a beautiful blank journal.
- Good Mail Day
by Jennie Hinchcliff
- Creative Illustration Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists by Katherine Dunn
- Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists by Sonheim
- 4 A.M. Breakthrough: Unconventional Writing Exercises by Kiteley
- 1,000 Artist Journal Pages by Dawn DeVries Sokol
- Kaleidoscope: Ideas & Projects to Spark Your Creativity by Simanaitis
Water soluble crayons or pencils, for drawing and blending with water; my favs are Caran d'Ache Neocolors.
For drawing and doodling, Strathmore Drawing Pads come in tons of cool sizes. For drawing or watercolor, Strathmore 300 Series Watercolor Pads (wire or tape bound).
My daughters and I adore Sakura GellyRoll Markers for doodling and coloring in mandalas, the saturated color and sturdy tip of Sakura Pigma Brush Markers, and the color array and permanence of Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens (brush nib or fine tip)
although kids (mine, for example) are likely to be rough on the more delicate brush tips.
Anyone who draws, doodles or journals would love a Moleskine Journal. I like the 5x8" size in lined, sketch or watercolor and the A4 size is fabulous.
A good quality set of watercolors is a wonderful gift for any age. Boxed watercolors often come with a brush, or add a #6 or #8 pointed round. Pelikan Opaque Watercolors are lovely.
FIMO Soft Polymer Clay is great for making beads, balls, comfort stones, fabric stamps, etc.
The ideas in Kids + Cameras will help determine whether a kid is ready for a camera. My 9 yr old loves her Sony Cybershot DSC-W150. Ideas and links for researching cameras at Camera Talk.
Creative kids like to get lost in the world of fiction. See Top Picks: Books for Kids 0-12.
Love these high quality, incredibly detailed coloring books; ideas at Top Picks: Colored Pencils + Drawing Paper and Top Picks: Detailed Coloring Books.
Handmade Gifts + Wrapping + Links
A never ending list of Handmade Gift Ideas at Handmade Homeschool
Larissa Monologues posted Creative & Unique Gift Ideas
Use butcher block paper or brown postal paper to wrap holiday gifts + birthday gifts; kids can help by stamping patterns with or rubber stamps. Just add a raffia bow.
Make Word Charms to embellish ribbons and raffia on gifts. Kids can make personalized art tags or word charms for their grandparents, teachers and friends.
Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!
Reader Comments (2)
This is a great list of gift ideas. Thanks for putting it together and sharing it with us.
Thanks for all your beautiful posts and photographs and words of encouragement to your readers. I check you out every day, reading and rereading your posts and gazing in awe at what you produce. I show my husband and two teenage children as well. Even my 15-year-old son, who is not easily impressed, is stunned into silence by the things you create. Thank you again.
peace be with you, Gail
Great ideas, great blog -- as always. But pretty please bring back a larger darker font. The current design is just too hard for 60+ eyes.