This post is part of my DIY Supply Purge Project. I realized that I was slowly being buried alive in DIY supplies that made me squeal but were never put to use. To fix that problem, I’ve made it my mission to use up all of my supplies before I buy any new ones—and to share some fun DIYs with you guys along the way.

Remember a year or so ago when I made that Halloween wreath with all of the googly eyes? Well that project sparked my daughter to proclaim that we should never buy another wreath again. Instead, the only thing worthy of our front door would be something made by me.

Can you feel the pressure? The girl is very opinionated and would have no problem scrunching her freckled nose and shaking her head to let me know my effort is sub par. Still, I bravely marched onward (or upward into my supply pit and then downward to the island in our kitchen where I toiled away with the weight of her pickiness sitting on my shoulders). Luckily, she loved it.

Hello. My name is Jen and I’m a craft supply hoarder. I do not discriminate. Fabric, yarn, beads, wire, stamps, paints, stencils. If you are a craft supply and you are cute, I probably feel a deep desire to add you to my hoard. I probably won’t do anything with you, but I have an overwhelming need to have you in my possession.

This isn’t exactly working for me. I’ve reached a point where I’m so overwhelmed with all of the stuff that I have that the idea of finding anything in particular makes me burst into a maniacal laugh. I just want to pat myself on the head like a good little pet and say “Ain’t she sweet? She thinks she can actually figure out what to do with this stuff!” The overload has also left me completely uninspired. Although, I guess maybe a better term would be over inspired. Each time my eye catches a different supply I want to do something else. I get so excited that I could almost burst and then I do nothing.

A part of me just wanted to get rid of stuff. Throw it out, give it away, whatever I could do to get it out of my sight as quickly as possible. But the cheap and eco-friendly parts of me just can’t bear to get rid of it. I don’t even want to think of the money I spent accumulating all of this stuff. Instead, I’ve decided to challenge myself.

OK, so life got in the way of this series a little bit, but I wanted to give you guys at least one more quick and easy DIY gift idea that you can learn and put together in an afternoon.

I love bows. They’re so cute and girly and perfect for little munchkins who don’t have quite enough hair to let their femininity shine. My impossibly adorable niece Camila is kind of a hair clip queen. She has had a head full of hair since she was born and I get a kick out of seeing her in all of her assorted hair clips.

Having two girls of my own and knowing how quickly and often we lose our hair clips, I decided to make her a bunch in a variety of colors for Christmas. The problem? The best bow I could do is the kind that works for my Converse.

So I decided to head to YouTube to learn to how to make a fancier bow.

When budgets are tight, handmade gifts can be just the thing to save you during the holiday season. They’re thoughtful, highly personal and cheap. Yes, you need to put in a little time investment. But as long as you don’t overreach (one of my go-to moves), you can make it work.

Since I’m such a big fan of anything DIY, I decided to start a little mini-series on simple ways to learn new crafts and make gifts for the holidays. Today I’m going to start with my favorite DIY go-to: Pinterest.

I’m not going to lie to you. A lot of times when I’m looking to learn a new crafting skill I specifically look for tutorials made for kids—especially if I’m trying to learn something quickly. It sounds a little silly, but I figure they’ll be the least complicated and will teach me the basics quickly before I’m ready to get crazy.

For my first project, I decided I wanted to learn how to weave. I’ve been seeing gorgeous woven wall hangings all over Instagram and it gave me the itch. I thought it could be a cute gift idea, so I took to Pinterest and found a few tutorials that seemed perfect (that’s another trick when learning a new skill: I always look at more than one tutorial in case one site states one part more simply or another has clearer photos of the process).

I love a good flower crown. My friend Jackie and I got together over the summer (when festival fashion was on fire) and decided that we must make some. And… well, we didn’t. But better late than never, right?

Since it’s somehow November already, I decided to skip the traditional summery colors and go for deeper fall tones. These beauties would be perfect for Thanksgiving—or even for taking holiday pictures.