Just Might DIY

Gift giving is hard, y’all. And sometimes, the person we love and want to celebrate wants or needs one of the most uncreative presents: money. 

My parents never blinked an eye when I asked for money in lieu of something more specific in the past, but my mom always lamented that she wanted to have some things for me to unwrap under the Christmas tree. 

Ultimately, the gift should be about the receiver, not the giver, but she has a point. Unwrapping a beautifully wrapped present is much more fun (for both) than opening an envelope with money tucked into a card.

This year, when it was my turn to gift someone cash, I had that same “but I want them to have something to unwrap” feeling. So I merged both and came up with (what I think is) a creative solution to gifting cold hard cash: a landscape scene with origami money.

The person I was gifting to loves the beach, and I had a few of our ocean resin test pieces lying around. I knew I wanted to turn money into fish and have them “swimming” in the ocean, but I wasn’t sure if that was even possible. A quick Google search indicated that origami money fish is, in fact, a thing. 

I gathered up the bills and followed a tutorial step-by-step until I had a school of money fish sitting on my counter. Because I was crunched for time and didn’t want to put tape ON the money, I used paper clips and some string and regular ole scotch tape to secure the strings on the back to complete the look:

So the next time you face giving someone money and want it to be a little more, think of something they love, grab a cheap frame and photograph (or small art piece if you’re the arty type), and go to town! 

Money can be folded into any number of shapes, from animals to mountains, trees, planes, clothes, hearts, flowers, cameras and more! Just Google “origami money” and you’ll find tutorials for it all. 

Happy DIYing!