Peeps are a traditional Easter candy in my family — we must have them every year, or it isn’t really Easter. I am always excited to see them at my local dollar store when I start shopping for Easter basket supplies and goodies. This year I picked up a few boxes of Peeps so we could get creative with them — I put the boxes on our table and we started brainstorming what fun things we could make with them! Our top project: a Peeps Terrarium Easter Dessert.

I have seen so many other Peeps crafts, like these Peep Brothers tell us:

I’m excited that they didn’t mention our project in their list — maybe we came up with a new way to use Peeps!

Peeps Terrarium Easter Dessert Recipe

Project Materials:

• Peeps Bunnies, $1
• Clear plastic tumblers, $1
• Pudding cups, $1
• Chocolate sandwich cookies, $1
• Flaked coconut, $1
• Green food coloring, on hand or $1
• Assorted Easter candies (eggs, carrot), $1 each

Total: $7 for 8 terrariums

Save money by using things you already have on hand, like pudding, coconut, food coloring. You can bring the cost down to about 50 cents per serving if you use what you already have on hand.

How to make Peeps Terrariums:

1. Spoon half of a pudding cup (or about 1/4 cup) of chocolate pudding into a clear plastic tumbler.

2. Crumble up chocolate sandwich cookies until they resemble dirt. Spoon on top of chocolate pudding to resemble dirt.

3. Tint flaked coconut with a few drops of green food coloring. Stir until all the coconut is colored. Spread on top of cookie crumb layer.

4. Insert a Peeps bunny, a carrot candy, and a few easter egg candies to embellish your terrarium.

Alternately, create your desserts inside mason jars:

We made mason jar Peeps terrariums too, and they were super cute. If you are transporting these desserts to a party, the jar is a great way to go because you can seal it up and keep it fresh and safe while you travel. Plus, you can reuse the jar after you’re done with dessert! This will add about $1 to each serving.

To find out more about your Peepsonality, visit Peeps online, or become a fan of Peeps on Facebook!

*This post was sponsored by Peeps, but project and opinions are my own!*

The post Tutorial: Peeps Terrarium Easter Dessert appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Summer has been crafting up a storm over at Dollar Store Mom, and she is a master at creating cute decorations for no money. She used some stash yarn to create this cute Easter bunny silhouette decoration! Use this same technique to do woodland animal silhouettes, or maybe your monogram. Find out how easy this project is: [easter bunny yarn art]

Materials:

• Card stock, on hand
• Yarn, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total: FREE

She used the bunny in the center of an Easter wreath! Cute!

The post Make a Yarn Art Bunny Silhouette appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

After what was the most brutal winter in memory, I am so totally ready for green grass and flowers! So when the folks at Dollar General started putting the spring-y merchandise on the shelf I swooped down on it, hunting for a good way to add a little bit of seasonal color to my decor. I found some mesh ribbon that reminded me of burlap, and one thing led to another… And I ended up making a fabulous wreath!

Project estimate:

• Wreath form, on hand or $1 and up
• Burlap, on hand or $1 and up
• Mesh ribbon, $1.50/roll ($4.50 for 3 colors)
• String, on hand
• Felt bunny stake, $1
• Hot glue, on hand

Total: $5.50 and up

The selection at Dollar General for spring and Easter was full of so much adorable stuff that my cute meter was almost on overload. It was hard not to buy one of everything!

What I did end up with was a selection of mesh ribbon and a felt bunny stake. The mesh ribbon reminded me a bit of burlap, which I already had a stash of at home, so by the time I'd reached the checkout line I'd decided that incorporating the burlap into my project was a must.

Start by cutting the burlap into long strips about 3 inches wide and wrap them around a wreath form (I used a foam wreath form) and secure the ends of the strips with hot glue. I found that I needed two layers of burlap to cover the wreath form enough that the foam didn't show through. Don't worry too much about any stray, fringe-y bits that stick out – you can go back and trim them later, and the ones on the first layer won't be visible under the second layer anyway!

I happened to have some green burlap on hand as well, so I used that for my second layer. Of course, you can also use plain burlap for both layers if you don't have any colored burlap on hand. Or if you're feeling extra crafty, you could use fabric dye to make the burlap any color you like! The green burlap that I used came with a finished edge so I din't need to trim any stray threads; if you have any ragged bits of burlap sticking out, give them a quick trim before moving on.

I embellished the wreath with flowers made from the mesh ribbon. To make a flower, weave a piece of string along one edge of the mesh ribbon; pull the string tight to gather the ribbon. The amount of ribbon you need will vary depending on how full you want the finished flower to be; I used about 6 feet of ribbon to make each of mine.

Once you have finished gathering one edge of the ribbon, make a spiral with the gathered edge, stitching it into place as you go to hold the spiral together. Tie off the string and trim away any excess. Repeat until you have the desired number of flowers.

Hot glue your flowers to the wreath. Cut the wooden stake off of the felt bunny and glue it to the wreath as well. Then hang and enjoy your handiwork!

The post Make a Mesh Flower Spring Wreath with Dollar General appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Yesterday I showed you the Peeps Terrarium we came up with during our Peeps-inspired crafternoon. Here’s another quick and super simple idea for edible crafting with Peeps: Peeps Pops featuring Peeps Bunnies in Grass on a stick. Say that five times fast!

Project Materials:

• Peeps, $1
• Popsicle sticks or pop sticks, $1 and up
• Shredded coconut, $1 or on hand
• Green food coloring, $1 or on hand
• White chocolate melts or white chocolate chips, about $2 and up

Total: $3 and up

Supplies: You can find Peeps (seasonally) at the dollar store, as well as shredded coconut and food coloring. You can use popsicle sticks or bamboo skewers from the dollar store, or splash out on pop sticks for about $2 a pack (I got mine at Target). The white chocolate chips or melts can be found at a grocery or craft store.

It takes less than five minutes from start to finish to make a bunch of these cute little critters. It’s so quick, in fact, we created a little video to show you just how easy it is to make a Peeps Pop:

How to Make Easter Grass Peeps Pops:

1. Begin by melting white chocolate melts in a bowl in the microwave, according to package directions. Generally, don’t microwave for more than 30 seconds at a time without stirring.

2. Tint coconut green with a few drops of food coloring. Stir until coconut is uniformly tinted.

3. Dip Peep in the melted white chocolate, then dip in the coconut.

4. Insert a stick in the bottom of the Peep and allow the chocolate to harden.

All done!

The post Tutorial: Easter Grass Peeps Pops appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Materials needed:

• Jelly beans, $1 and up
• 6 oz clear, empty water bottle, on hand
• Pipe cleaners, on hand or $1
• Scrap paper, on hand
• 1 large pom pom and 2 small pom poms, on hand or $1
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1
• Permanent markers, on hand
• Cupcake wrappers, on hand or $1
• Hot glue gun, on hand
• Double-sided tape, on hand or $1

Total cost: $1 and up

How to Make a Recycled Bottle Bunny:

Step 1:   Fill dry empty water bottle with jelly beans.

Step 2: Take cupcake wrappers and cut down the side. Cut the circle out from the bottom of the wrapper. Wrap around the top of the water bottle. Cut off excess wrapper and fasten back together with double sided tape or glue.

Step 3: Bend pipe cleaners into the shape of bunny ears. Lay the bent pipe cleaners on scrap paper and cut paper in the shape of the ears to create a backing. Glue pipe cleaners to the construction paper.

Step 4: Tuck large pom pom and pipe cleaner bunny ears into bottle opening at the top.

Step 5: Using hot glue gun (or glue dots or tacky glue), glue googly eyes and small pom pom nose to the front of the bottle and draw on mouth and whiskers. Glue small pom pom onto the back as a tail.

Step 6: Cut small “mittens” or arms from construction paper and glue onto sides of the water bottle.

The post Recycled Plastic Bottle Craft: Easter Bunny Bottle appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.