The lazy person's humorous guide to last-minute DIY Christmas gifts

You've done it again: procrastinated until the last minute to shop for Christmas.

And thanks to supply chain issues and product shortages, it may be harder than in previous years to make the dash to save Christmas.

Never fear! Even if you can't bake, sew, can, cook, saw, sand, paint, knit or draw, even if you've never heard of Martha Stewart, you can manage to make the following crafty projects with stuff you have lying around your home or office.

Imagine the delight when you surprise your loved ones with unique handmade gifts like a Post-it Note Christmas wreath, a pencil mug bouquet or a junk drawer advent calendar.

Be prepared to simper modestly while saying, "Why, yes, actually, I did make it myself."

Let's get started.

A very coffee Christmas

If your office is still deserted, you may find that it can serve as your own Santa's workshop for Christmas gift construction and materials.

There are probably plenty of abandoned coffee mugs lying about that haven't been touched in almost two years. Find one that has the least mold, fill it up with pens you find on your desk or in the office storeroom and tie a ribbon around it. Boom! Merry Christmas!

If you want to go for that extra handcrafted touch, opt for a mug full of pencils. (Be sure to point out to your lucky recipient that you individually sharpened each pencil — by hand.)

Put a wreath on it

You may have seen some Post-it Notes in the office storeroom. Grab a bunch, especially if they come in green or red. Just stick them in a roughly circular shape on practically any surface, add a Post-it bow and you've just created a rustic and festive Christmas wreath.

Make it an advent

If you've got a cardboard box, some duct tape, a utility knife and a Sharpie, you're practically halfway home to creating your own custom advent calendar.

Just start cutting little doors in the cardboard, number them with the days of the month, and tape little gifts on the back of the cardboard flaps.

Where do you get those gifts? Just go Marie Kondo on your junk drawers at home.

Paper clips, safety pins, Canadian coins, zipper pulls, lip balms, wine corks, re-gifted gift cards and those packets of spare buttons that come with new clothing can be joined together for an advent calendar far more personal than a store-bought collection of, say, miniature bottles of booze.

Garlands and ornaments

While you're gathering up materials for your advent calendar, be on the lookout for items for our next project. Here you'll create a Christmas garland by tying together your collection of unused tech charging cables in a long, lustrous strand. You can use it as a swag to adorn a mantelpiece or hang over a doorway.

Or better yet, decorate a miniature Christmas tree picked up on a last-minute sale. If you're like us, you have a bunch of outdated cellphones and nonfunctional remote controls that you never bothered to throw away. For that extra special bijoux touch, these can be upcycled as high-tech Christmas tree ornaments.

A December to remember

All you have to do is find some ribbons to stun your loved one as they wake on Christmas morning and see a car in the driveway with a big bow stuck on the roof.

Their joy may wane a bit when they realize it's the same car they've been driving for the past eight years. That's when you tell them that the ribbon symbolizes your real gift: Taking the car to get washed — just as soon as it warms up a bit.

Art of the mobile

Finally, it's probably been months since you've had to wear any clothes fancy enough to need hanging up. Let's repurpose those clothes hangers gathering dust in the closet into an artsy mobile.

Combine a hanger with some string, tape, paper clips, twist ties and maybe a pencil or a chopstick or two. Dangle an array of old face masks and spare latex gloves. You've just made a Calder-worthy artistic statement about humanity hanging in a pandemic limbo.

Happy holidays and happy crafting!