Handmade Christmas

With a lovely three-week break from school, and a LONG list of people I wanted to give a Christmas present to, I decided that this year i would handmake a gift for everyone so I could save money, because after all, I am a starving college student!

I wish someone would have warned me.

Handmaking things can be extremely EXPENSIVE! Money expensive and time expensive! I quickly realized this which meant that not ALL my gifts were handmade. But of the gifts I made, there were some good ones and some fiascos. The Fiasco was the gift intended for Mr. Montana's mom. Oh boy. I envisioned buying a huge frame, printing a million pictures of her and her five kiddos, and making some adorable pinterst-inspired creation for her to hang on her wall. And at first I had success. I found a massive frame at the Goodwill store in SD for $4.60. Thats right. A moster frame (as in almost 3 feet wide) for under five bucks. But it was this hideodorous (I'm not sure if that word is used by the general public, in fact i may or may not have created it, but it is pronounced Hitty-odor-us) blue color. Yikes. Not a problem, I thought, I'll just paint it! And so its demise began....

You know when you see something lying around your room for weeks, months even, and the one day you go to use it you can't find it anywhere? That is what happened for my pinterest-inspiration. I swear evertime I am on that site I find some adorable idea for decorating frames and arranging pictures. But of course, when i went looking for inspiration as to what color I should paint the frame, I could not find anything. Anywhere. Ugh.

Then I tried to remove the glass, but instead of having nice little swing clasps that you move out of the way to change the picture, there was a piece of cardboard stapled to the frame holding the glass in. And people, I'm not talking little secretary staples. I am talking huge, thick, industrial staple-gun staples that required tools from my dads work bench to remove. In the process i broke the glass. Awesome. Five bucks down the drain. So I ditched the handmade idea and got her a gift card for a pedicure.

But besides that fiasco and the other store bought items I was forced to surrender to, there were a few gems. The first being the lace skirt i made for my sister.

Isn't she darling?

It was a hit. My older sister was a little miffed that she didn't get one! I decided to make them available to the public. I have it listed on my etsy shop. I will make it  to fit your waist perfectly!

The second semi-success was the headbands I made for Mr. Montana's sister. I say semi because I already had one of them made.

I have had these in my shop for a few months now, but they are now officially on sale! $4.96 a piece! I can make it for you in any color you'd like! 

I think I have had my share of crafting over break. I'm looking forward to spending time with Mr. Montana and my famdamily before heading back off to SD. 

How was your Christmas? Handmade successes? Failures? I'd love to hear about them!

And if you are looking for some DIY inspiration, check out Sweet-Verbena. I found her just last night and literally read every. single. post. She's amazing.