Christmas on a Budget!

Dear Fellow College Students,

Do you love your friends and family, and want to get them something special for this holiday season? Yes! However, this can be a difficult task when you're surviving off of Ramen Noodles and rain water!

I'm here to tell you that it is NOT as hard as it may seem to make some super awesome handmade gifts to your loved ones! You'd be amazed at what a little bit of hot glue, paint, and ribbon can do you for you! (Plus, it's a great stress reliever while studying for finals!) Here's a few projects that I've done:

Photo board for my desk here in the Call Center! 

Door decorations! 

Yes, I crafted this sweet bowl at Orange Leaf. :)

Smart shopping is a MUST! If you decide to make some of your Christmas presents, make an effort to never pay full price for your items and/or overall purchases! I mostly shop at Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart for my supplies, and it's pretty easy to find in-store deals and coupons to use! I print most of my photos from Walgreens, and if you get on their email list, they send out deals for prints pretty regularly as well. :)

Also, Pinterest has some great ideas for holiday gift giving. Some of them are very complex, but truly you can find PLENTY of simple, great crafts to give to your friends and family this holiday season.

Next...PICTURE FRAMES! 







Picture frames are really easy to decorate, whether you prefer to use your artistic abilities and paint them, or use ribbon to accentuate them. For painting, it's best to buy the wooden frames, so that you can use any color you want. If you're going to use ribbon, there are some cheap $1-$2 frames at Wal-Mart that have a simple black plastic kind of trim, and it's easy to cover that using your choice of ribbon and hot glue! Both of these examples use ribbon. I've painted wooden ones before, but I couldn't find any examples!

And you can always think of your own gift ideas to do with things you find at the store! 

Key holder; Dorm decoration; Supplies: Small Command hooks, ribbon, hot glue, paint, small letters (found at Hobby Lobby), and a small piece of wood (Also from Hobby Lobby). 

In all seriousness, that key holder is the most elaborate thing I'm showing you, but it really didn't take a lifetime to make. I probably just started a movie, sat down got to work, and finished it by the time the credits rolled!

This, on the other hand, took a lifetime to complete:

Ok, so it's not a gift idea. I made this bulletin board while I was an education major, and hand-chalked all of the characters and put it all together. But it turned out pretty good!

So, I hope this gives you some good ideas for the holiday season! Please leave comments if you have any questions or comments you'd like to add to this blog. :) Happy Crafting!