Top-rated gift ideas: Arts & Crafts

PaintMark Premium Paint Pens

These permanent paint markers work on any surface, allowing you to effortlessly write on ceramics, wood, canvas, stone, glass, and more! The paint is oil-based and resists fading, smearing, physical wear, and water.

This pack includes 15 vibrant colors: Black, Blue, Brown, Dark Green, Light Blue, Orange, Red, White, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Metallic Blue, Metallic Green, Metallic Pink, and Metallic Violet.

Rating:  5/5 Stars from 79 customer reviews.

$12.99

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Color Technik Glitter Gel Pens

This gift set includes 30 vibrant glitter and neon glitter colors. This best-selling set was created to meet demand for more colors of these popular pens on Amazon.com.

Add a sparkle to adult and children's coloring books, arts and crafts, scrapbooks, school projects, invitations, greeting cards, and much more!

Rating:  4.8/5 Stars from 1,349 customer reviews

$12.95

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Portable Light Box

This ultra-thin, portable light box is ideal for tracing, stenciling, 2D animation, calligraphy, embossing, scrapbooking, tattoo transferring, sketching, drawing, and more!

Only 5mm thick, it is lightweight enough for those who find their inspiration on the go. The light it emits is perfectly even and dimmable to your preference.

Rating:  4.8/5 Stars from 563 customer reviews.

$22.97

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Leather Sketchbook

This beautiful genuine leather sketchbook/journal includes 200 sheets of handmade, cream-colored, acid-free paper. The blank pages also work great for writing, making this a great gift for either an artist or a writer.  It even includes its own gift box!

Rating: 4.8/5 Stars from 118 customer reviews.

$75.97

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Buddha Board

This board only requires water to draw on it! Designs drawn on the board will fade as it dries, making it perfect for practicing brush strokes, experimenting with designs, and embracing the impermanent nature of the universe!

• Buddha Board "canvas" (12" high x 9" wide x 1/4" thick)
• Sturdy waterproof stand, complete with a roomy reservoir for water & separate grooves for holding both the board & brush
• Premium bamboo paintbrush with thick, ultra-soft bristles
• Environmentally friendly/Use only water
• Ages: Five and up

Rating:  4.7/5 Stars from 567 customer reviews

$34.95

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Adult Coloring Book Kit

Indulge your inner child with this coloring book kit made for adults! Relieve stress and color your way to inner calm by bringing these intricate designs to life.

This set includes 12 colored pencils, a sharpener, a supply pouch for all your small items and a fantastic coloring book with daily inspirational quotes to spark imagination! The included carrying case allows you bring it along to waiting rooms, airplanes, and anywhere else you may go.

Rating:  4.9/5 Stars from 30 customer reviews

$16.99

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Quill Feather Pen

This hand-crafted quill comes with two bottles of ink and 6 different nibs, all packaged inside of a beautiful gift box. This is a great gift for anyone who wants to try their hand at calligraphy, or for anyone who wonders what it's like to write a letter or do your homework in the Harry Potter universe!

Rating: 4.7/5 Stars from 100 customer reviews

$32.99

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Self-Adhesive Rhinestone Multipack

This pack of rhinestones includes 1080 pieces of 3 mm, 840 pieces of 4 mm, 720 pieces of 5 mm, 660 pieces of 6 mm., 3300 pieces total!

With over 20 different colors and endless possibilities, this is an excellent gift for almost any creative person in your life. These are great for face and body decorations, DIY cards, costumes, fingernail accents, crafts, and more! The adhesive is strong enough for fabric, wood, and glass.

Rating: 4.8/5 Stars from 94 customer reviews

$13.97

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Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting DVD Collection

With an upbeat attitude, soothing voice, and the occasional visit from a random squirrel, Bob Ross is now your private landscape painting tutor! This complete DVD collection instructs you how to paint happy little trees, rocks, skylines, rivers, and more! Most importantly, he will bolster your confidence by reminding you that while painting, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.  This is a must-have for any painter.

Rating: 4.7/5 Stars from 421 customer reviews

$59.55

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US Art Supply Painting Set

Give the gift of artistic exploration with this all-inclusive painting kit!  The box itself folds up to become an easel, giving you a built-in work space to use the watercolors, oil paints and acrylic paints it contains.

• US Art Supply® 95-Piece Wood Box Easel Painting Set - 12-tubes of Oil Colors, 12 Oil Pastels, Plastic Palette Knife, 3 Assorted Oil Painting Brushes, 2-ea 8"x10" Canvas Panels
• 12-tubes of Acrylic Colors, 12 Artist Pastels, 3 Assorted Acrylic Painting Brushes, Palette Knife, Hb Pencil
• 12-tubes of Watercolor Paints, 12 Watercolor Pencil Pastels, 3 Assorted Watercolor Brushes, 9"x12" Watercolor Paper Pad
• 9"x12" Sketch Paper Pad, Plastic Palette with 6 Wells, Plastic Knife, 2B Pencil, Pencil Sharpener, Pencil Eraser
• Box Easel with 3 Drawers, Easel Size: 10 3/4" Wide x 14 3/4" Deep x 6" High, Adjusts up to 26" High, Holds canvas up to 23 5/8"

Rating:  4.9/5 Stars from 30 customer reviews

$59.96

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This Tucson teen is creating handmade greeting cards for the holiday season

Pablo Durazo has been interested in art since he was in kindergarten.

Now several years later, the Nosotros Academy ninth grader is selling handmade holiday cards to earn money to buy gifts for his grandparents and give back to his school. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to the school’s beautification project and garden.

Though he hasn’t picked out any gifts for his grandparents yet, 15-year-old Pablo says the money will go toward “whatever they want.”

Some of Pablo’s cards involve many steps and are created with several origami-like folds glued to card stock. Some cards are topped with a thin bow on top. Others show off Pablo’s own drawings.

The art supplies were donated by volunteer Anne Lowe, who also taught Pablo how to make the cards.

“I have to admit, though, I show him once how to do this and he takes right off,” Lowe says. “His brain picks it right up. We’ve talked a lot about muscle memory — once you’ve done it four or five times, he can talk to you without thinking about it.”

“The thing Pablo taught me is that he does not like to rush,” counselor Saul Ostroff says. “When he does something, he wants to do the best job possible. In this society, we’re so used to rushing. I’ve just learned to slow down and be more mindful about what I do. And I attribute that to Pablo’s work with Ms. Lowe.

“It’s neat when you can learn those things from your students.”

So far, Pablo has sold about 100 cards. And creating the cards has helped him in school, he says.

“They keep me active and doing something,” he says.

Pablo says he has learning disabilities that make reading and math difficult.

“They made a lot of things harder for me (in school),” he says, adding that he used to ditch class and not listen to teachers.

Since enrolling at Nosotros Academy at the end of September, Pablo’s grades and attendance are up.

Ostroff says the project has helped Pablo with math, as they’ve integrated things like figuring out percentages and the pricing of the cards. Ostroff says Pablo also handles all emails from potential customers, helping him build communication skills.

“It just seems like one positive thing helps with another — almost one spiral upward,” Ostroff says.

Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are all represented in Pablo’s holiday cards.

“It started with Dia de los Muertos,” Pablo says. “A book I was reading had different types of cultures. That inspired me to (include all holidays).”

“One holiday led to another,” Ostroff says.

His greeting-card business has since been dubbed Unity Cards, a name given by exceptional education coordinator Pam Smith.

“I just saw the cards he had made for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and Christmas and I just thought ‘Unity’ was a good theme,” Smith says. “It’s just a good theme to have for cards.”

Pablo now brings his cards with him wherever he goes — even selling some to Ostroff’s barber and on a recent trip to California.

Possible plans for the future include creating cards for other holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, and working with local businesses to potentially carry them. Ostroff says Lowe is also skilled in calligraphy, which could add another element to future cards.

Pablo, who says his favorite things to draw are skulls and roses, was also asked by assistant principal Jesus Perez if he wanted to create a mural of a rose in the school’s garden. That’ll probably happen when the holiday season comes to a close, Ostroff says.

As for a career after he finishes school, Pablo hopes to design his own brand of clothing and shoes.

“He’s amazing — I’m so proud of him,” Smith says. “He takes a lot of initiative.”