Is it just me, or do other people think they can make pretty much anything they sell now a days? I hear myself saying an embarrassing number of times while in stores and shopping online, “Hell, I could make that…”. I should just fork out the money instead of trying to make it myself because of several reasons: 1. It costs more to buy the components to make said item. 2. It takes talent/ambition/knowledge to make certain products 3. Whatever I make will turn out looking like shit. You would think those reasons would be enough to dissuade me from making my Christmas presents again this year, but, of course, it hasn’t. I just don’t learn.
I’m going to post some photos of my presents this year and if you want to give feedback, I’d appreciate it (I know my Mom doesn’t read this and Hank’s already seen them, so Steph, feel free… hahaha… that’s a reference to my limited readers…).
So here’s my first project. In the glass frames is sections of a French franc my grandpa got in WWII as well as the mostly Italian coins and good conduct ribbons he got in Europe during his deployment. I made one of these for each of his grandkids and wrote some sappy little letter. This gift will either cause a riot because I have “unauthorized” items belonging to my grandfather and *gasp* have ripped up $5 in French money or will cause them all to sob uncontrolably. I guess I’m hoping for the latter, although, them throwing the gifts down and stomping on them is probably another option that I don’t really prefer. Here’s hoping for the uncontrolable sobs.
This is the necklace I made for my cuz. Another gift that could cause me ridicule since I have shamelessly mocked my “sister” for making jewelry for years now and here I am, making fucking jewelry. It’s a selfish gift, since I saw a necklace online that I fell in love with made of Labradorite (my fav gemstone)… well, hell, here’s a pic of it…
Theirs is MUCH prettier, (PRETEND) but I’m sure they had MUCH higher quality gemstones. Plus theirs cost $175 (plus shipping) and mine only cost about $25 each, so you get what you pay for, I guess. But anyway, I saw the necklace and thought, “Hey, I could freakin’ make that!” and began hunting down beads on ebay. Since I wanted the necklace for myself, I made a point to buy enough to make 2 necklaces so I could make one for my buddy-cuz and well, since there were beads left over, I guess I could just make one for myself, huh?
Here’s another pic… I’m actually kind of happy with it, even though it looks NOTHING like what I envisioned it to be.
Well, that’s all I have finished for now. I’ll post pics of my “jail-bait coasters” later on… and also I’ll post pics of the little culprit project that has sliced my hand open last week. (Defeated, I have temporarily postponed working on the project… at least until my hand heals. ;))
Please leave me your opinion. If you don’t, I’ll assume that you like it and YOU’LL get a home-made gift for Xmas. I’ve been thinking about crocheting sweaters out of Walmart bags… hmmm… 😉
12/9/2007 9:48:00 AM
Old Mom, New Day 