HERE's a personal tip for that personal touch this Christmas.

A made-by-my-very-own-hand present for someone special.

 This way you can at least count on a 'Just what I wanted!' when the wrapping tears off.

Having said that, think of it as a super limited edition gift.

Stop by iFourum - the i is for individual, as in iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iBankrupt - at Ngee Ann City (no guesses, level four) the art, craft, hobby zone.

Did I hear you just groan at the words 'art' and 'craft'?

Oh Philistine! Oh ye unfaithful! (Christmas is perfect for quoting the Bible.)

We've come an almighty long way since the days of spraying glitter on pine cones and standing a candle on sticky tape in its centre.

There are eight stores in iFourum and twice as many workshops to put your hands to more creative work than shoving a fistful of roasted chestnuts up a turkey.

There are three workshops this Friday and another three next Friday.

It'll take but an hour and a half and costs $20 per session, and you'll never have to buy another present again, just the stuff to make personalised gifts for life.

Classes are small, 20 seats each.

However, you can always go to the shops that are not conducting classes those Fridays and they'll be happy to help you make something that would make your mother go, 'My son, the Picasso!'

There is parchment craft, the art of intricate paper patterns, turning lampshades into works of art, manga drawing, breathing anime life into your fave comic book characters onto teeshirts or caps or shoes or bags.

Why cling to Spider-Man when you can create Mosquito-Man and take it to great new dimensions? iFourum, uO (er, you original?)

Tne New Paper's Good Buy Girl and one of this year's New Faces, Kwan Li Jia, visited Art Friend, Creative Hands and L'Escalier to let our fingers do the talking (when it comes to gifting).

INEXPENSIVE

The good news is - it is inexpensive, and it is easy.

Yes, anybody and everybody can produce something imaginative.

Hasn't someone ever told you, 'I can't imagine that you did this.'

At Art Friend an 18ml/50ml bottle of Pelikan paint ($2.70/$4.10, 30 colours) can transform a plain white tee into a Miro-lookalike you can wear.

Buy tees and canvas shoes and bags and caps for $5 from heartlander markets.

Creative Hands taught us to fashion polymer clay into delicious pinwheels and op art beads and mosaic-y flowers that can virtually be stuck on any smooth surface.

Which you then bake but no microwave please! $4.70 a block, six-pack $18 (40 colours).

Last stop L'Escalier where 'furoshiki' is the art of gift wrapping Japanese-mode.

The ecologically-sound idea uses natural fabric, a fold here, a knot there and voila! recyclable carrier bags of style.

From $18 to $98.