Pinterest DIYs thrive during the holiday season. Whether it be crafts, recipes or gifts, there is always a project worth making. Plus, who isn’t a fan of giving cute, budget-friendly holiday gifts? Unfortunately, some of us are not artistically inclined enough to invest our time, effort and money into a craft that could go horribly wrong. I decided to make three DIY Christmas-themed crafts found on Pinterest. I found all my supplies at the Kmart I passed while driving home and made do with what (little) they had. Brace yourself – it’s about to get ugly.
DIY Christmas Tree Napkin
This complex napkin folding job looked simple with the step by step photos showing me how to properly make a Christmas tree out of a dinner napkin. I couldn’t find the decorative tree accents, so my napkin was the bare bristles of a pine tree. Also, Kmart didn’t have dinner napkins in stock, so I settled for a kitchen towel. The towel was also a rectangle and needed to be cut. The tree didn’t turn out terribly bad but it was hard to keep its shape without holding or pinching it down.
DIY Candy Cane Wreath
This project was a challenge because all I had for reference was the photo above – no instructions. Initially, I purchased glue and a package of candy canes. I had a snowflake tree ornament, so I didn’t need to purchase one for the center of the wreath. Kmart did not have any ribbon or string that I could find so as you can see in the far-left picture, I decided to just hold it. The glue did not adhere to the candy canes, so I opted for masking tape that I found in my dorm. I ended up not buying enough candy canes and I could only make six of the eight candy cane hearts. My snowflake was too large and made the wreath look even weirder. Needless to say, this was a total failure, and the candy canes are now hanging on my Christmas tree in non-wreath form.
Sharpie Mug
This holiday gift idea seemed affordable and easy enough as the picture screamed, “NO ARTISTIC SKILLS NEEDED.” Unfortunately, I was unable to find the perfect mug with a heart-shaped handle. I was also unable to find a plain white mug, so I purchased a black one instead. I ended up buying a silver metallic marker instead of a gold one so that the black mug and silver went together. The instructions told me to use a sticker for the heart, but I couldn’t find those at Kmart, so I used an index card and taped it on with the same masking tape from the candy cane DIY. If I had the right supplies, I feel like this could have gone much more smoothly. The mug didn’t necessarily turn out bad, but it also wasn’t spot on with the photo. To make the marker stay on the mug and survive washing, it must be baked in the oven and hand-washed so maybe it wouldn’t make the best gift.
Overall, these DIYs weren’t terribly hard. I feel like the projects could have turned out much better if I had the proper supplies. Some Pinterest DIYs don’t include supplies lists or instructions so do some research before you choose your projects and purchase the supplies. They could be impossible to perfect or extremely expensive! Have you had any remarkable Pinterest fails? Let us know in the comments!