Inexpensive Upcycled Holiday Gift Idea

Are you working with a tight budget this holiday season, and looking to make inexpensive personalized gifts? I have a suggestion for you!

It involves scoping out your nearest thrift store for simple vases and a few craft supplies.

I started with these 3 vases, which cost me a total of $7 for all of them. I will use the white vessel as my example for this post, since I transformed the other 2 into gifts that I will actually give, and I don't want to spoil the surprise in case the gift receivers read the blog. :)


Since I didn't care for the color of the red and coral vase, I primed and spray-painted them a different color. Here they are with a coat of primer:

But with my white container, I left it alone. As is, it was the perfect blank canvas:

For $3.99 a piece, I invested in several Sharpie oil paint markers. You can get a wide range of tip sizes, and the one I'm working with here is an extra fine point since I wanted to be able to draw a lot of little details.
I started drawing a swirling design all over the vase.......
And once I was finished, I sealed it with this very handy spray glaze, which I found at Michael's for $6.99.

Finished:

This one, I'm keeping, but I've finished the other two vases and will be gifting them. Yesterday I hit up Goodwill and came home with three more vases and I plan to transform them as well.


If you're not artistically inclined, it's even easy to do a very simple mod design on a vase or plate. And because you can buy paint markers with bigger tips, you can also go for a much bigger design, like a vine with big leaves or the zig-zag one below:
So there you have it. Are you giving any personalized DIY presents this holiday season??