Love the look of a fancy wall sconce, but don’t think you have the decor budget to get one?  Think again! This lovely faux DIY wall sconce can be used to hold seasonal silk branches or with a built in shelf, a night light with battery operated candles.  Or any other lightweight items you can fit into it!

Project estimate:

• Foam core board, on hand or $1
• Poster board, on hand or $1
• Rope or cord, on hand or $1 and up
• Battery operated tea lights, on hand or $1
• Tissue paper, on hand
• Rhinestones, on hand or $1 and up
• Tape, on hand
• Hot glue, on hand
• White glue, on hand
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  Free and up!

Decide the size you want to make. I made this one 7″ wide and 21″ long. Measure and cut your foam board. I use a metal metre stick and cut against it, just scoring the foam board. I then bend the board at the cut and finish cutting it from behind the board.

Decide how deep you want it. I used an extra piece of poster board and pinned it on each side to determine this. Mine is 12″ deep.

Measure and cut a piece of poster board to the correct size. After cutting my piece of poster board 12″ wide and 21″ deep, I folded it in half and pinched one end to mark it. From that mark, I used my ruler and measured to the point of the 12″ top. Repeat this step and cut along the pencil lines.

Pin the poster board into the foam board enough so that you can tape the two together with the transparent tape. Once they are together, run a piece of packing tape down the side to hold it in place.

Repeat Step 4 on the other side. When you get to the point at the bottom, use a small piece of tape to hold it together and give it a back.

Using the packing tape, go around the cone from the top to the bottom. You can do this neatly, but I wanted more texture so I was pretty sloppy.

Now for the fun! Glue the rope in any pattern you like. The jewels are optional.

Wad the tissue into tight balls and straighten them out. Tear them into 4″x 4″ pieces. Add 1 part water to 5 parts white glue and mix it together. Sparingly dab the glue mixture onto the sconce in a small area and put on a piece of tissue paper. Starting in the middle of the tissue paper, take the brush and tap the tissue down. Continue doing this until the entire decoration is covered. You don’t have to do the entire back, but make sure the tissue laps over the sides. If you have a tear in the tissue paper, don’t worry, you’ll be putting two coats of the tissue paper on the sconce.

After the first coat has dried, apply a second coat. Let dry completely before painting. I let mine dry shoved over the kitchen faucet since it was wet on all sides.

Wad some newspaper and put it in the point of the sconce. This does two things: 1. Helps the point stay pointed and 2. If it is dropped on the point it won’t break.

Paint your sconce.  I used silver acrylic paint then antiqued it with black acrylic paint.

If you are going to use the sconce as a night light, you’ll need to build a little shelf so you can see the light of the battery operated candles. Measure and cut a half circle out of foam board that will fit about 4″ into the sconce. Glue two braces on to the bottom of it then glue the backs of the braces and carefully place it inside of the sconce.

To hang the sconce I literally used a push pin, it is that lightweight.

The post Tutoral: Faux Wall Sconce appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Bringing natural elements into your home decor not only gives it distinctive charm, it’s also easy on the budget since you can gather the materials yourself at little or no cost.  You can give your walls a beachy feel on the cheap by using a few pieces of driftwood and some string to make a pretty photo display!  Erlend at Morning Creativity broke out the power drill and gave some wave-worn branches a purpose with this project that is as easy as it is frugal.   I would make a nice piece for a dorm room or a rental home, since it allows you to hang multiple photos without having to tack each one into the wall.  [how to make a driftwood photo display]

Project estimate:

• Driftwood, free
• Drill, on hand
• String, on hand or $1
• Clothespins, on hand or $1
• Photos, on hand

Total:  Free and up

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On a recent trip to Dollar Tree I found a roll of black shelf liner.  I knew there had to be something I could do with it in my Halloween crafting, so I grabbed it.  It wasn’t until weeks later that I came up with an idea:  bat wall stickers!  The key to this project is using repositionable spray adhesive.  Unlike permanent spray adhesive, the repositionable kind is  more like the glue on a Post-It note.   You can use it on your walls without damaging the paint!

Project estimate:

• Shelf liner, $1
• Bat template, free
• Craft knife or utility knife, on hand
• Repositionable spray adhesive, on hand or about $5 and up

Total:  $1 and up

I found a bat shape to use as a template by doing a Google image search for “bat shape outline,” which I printed to the size I wanted and cut out.

Lay the template on the shelf liner.  Using a sharp craft knife or utility knife, cut around the edges of the template.

Repeat until you have the desired number of bat shapes.  (You can get a whole bunch of them out of a single roll of shelf liner!)

Working on top of some newspaper to protect your work surface, spray the bats with repositionable adhesive.  Wait about a minute, then apply them to the wall.  When the season is over, they should peel right off without any harm!

The post Make Bat Wall Stickers appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Project estimate:

• Toilet paper tubes, free
• Balsa wood, about $1.50
• Glue, on hand
• Spray paint, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  $1.50 and up

The post Make Faux Wrought Iron Wall Art appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

my Rothko-inspired painting

the artist

Mark Rothko was a 20th Century painter who was most well known for his “multiform” paintings: large vertical paintings with large blocks of saturated color. A few months ago, I got the abstract expressionist stamps at the post office (highbrow, I know!), and I couldn’t use them on bills because they were too cool! Instead, I have the stamps hanging on a bulletin board where I can enjoy them. There’s a Rothko painting (Orange and Yellow, 1956) included on the sheet of stamps and it’s so inspiring, I wanted a slightly larger reminder of the painting. As we all know, I DIY for a living, so I decided to make my own homage to Rothko’s painting.

USPS' Abstract Expressionist Stamps

If you want to be very true to Rothko’s intentions with his painting, you will get a very large canvas! I just used what I had on hand, which was a 10×20″ piece of wood. You can also use a dollar store canvas, or paint a mural directly onto a wall (wouldn’t that be awesome?)

The inspiration painting, "Orange and Yellow" by Mark Rothko

The inspiration painting is part of a collection in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY.

Project Materials:

• Canvas or piece of wood, $1
• Acrylic paints in 3 colors, on hand
• Flat-surfaced palette of some sort (glass is great – use a pane from a dollar store frame), on hand
• Paintbrush and brayer, on hand

Total: $1

Making my version of the painting is fairly straightforward.

1. Paint canvas with undercoat of your background color. I used orange. Allow it to dry.

2. With brayer, apply second color. You will want to spread the paint out on your smooth surface (the glass) to get the best coverage on your brayer. If you don’t have a brayer or a flat surface, just make it work with whatever you have! A paintbrush and paper plate is also fine! Or, try using a flat instrument (like a pastry scraper or a flat piece of cardboard with a sharply cut edge) as a squeegee to drag paint across the canvas neatly and evenly.

Apply color to top third of painting, leaving a border around the top and sides.

3. Wash the brayer and apply third color in the same way, but to the bottom tw0-thirds of canvas.

4. If you use a piece of wood like I did, hammer two small nails into the back, near the top, and tie a cord from one nail to the other to make a convenient way to hang.

I didn’t refer to Rothko’s work when I created my own, but there are obviously some major differences in the way his looks and the way mine looks! You can’t touch the master with acrylic craft paints and 20 minutes of painting. His was made on a very large canvas with oil paints, and he was a genius. I still enjoy my little painting, which is now hanging in our spare bedroom.

I hope you enjoy making your own Rothko-inspired painting too! Here are a few other Rothkos to inspire you:

Love the shades of blue and maroon-burgundy.

Bold reds

Bright color – high contrast

A more elaborate color placement

The post Make a DIY Mark Rothko-Inspired Painting appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

And the great Halloween decorating ideas just keep on coming! This adorable framed crow project was created by Rachel at Made With Love and Glue. It’s a quick and easy craft that has so much impact! You only need a few items and a few minutes to make it, so what are you waiting for? [how to make a halloween framed crow] [via – thanks Kari!]

Project Estimate:

• Black styrofoam crow, $1
• Frame, $1
• Scrapbooking paper, on hand

Total: $2

Sidenote: Rachel used one crow to make this, but what if you sawed the crow in half lengthwise with a serrated knife to make two pictures out of one crow? Just a thought – sorry if it grosses anyone out!

p.s. I found this framed pumpkin project that is awesome, too! It’s at eighteen25

The post Make a Framed Crow appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

If you’re an avid frame shopper, you know that frames are expensive, and the shadowbox-style frames are usually twice as expensive. That’s why Kara at Craftastical caught my eye with her DIY shadowbox made of dollar store frames in the CSI Project Dollar Store challenge. I love that the dollar store has an entire aisle devoted to frames – it has to be one of the best deals you can consistently find there! And using three frames to make your own shadowbox for $3? That’s genius. [how to make a shadowbox]

Project Estimate:

• Picture frames, 3 or more, $3
• Wood glue, on hand
• Wood filler, on hand
• Spray paint, on hand or $1
• Scrapbook paper, on hand
• Something to frame, on hand

Total: $3 and up

The post Create a Shadowbox from Regular Frames appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I wanted to say “make a doggie frame” but this frame is sooo much more, and the principle of making this project can be used for any kind of display you want. Blue Artichoke Interiors posted a tutorial on how to use two dollar store frames to make a unique display item. In this case, a photo of a beloved doggie is in the smaller, center frame, and the space between the frames is covered in burlap and dog bones. You can match the objects to whatever photo you are displaying, like the seashells surrounding this beach photo at Decor Chick. [how to make a display frame]

Project Estimate:

• 2 frames: one larger, one smaller (make sure you have space for decorative items when smaller frame is laid over larger frame), $2
• Burlap material or brown kraft paper, on hand or $1
• Duct tape, on hand
• Hot glue and glue sticks, on hand
• Picture, on hand
• Objects to glue onto frame, on hand or $1 and up

Total: $2 and up

The post Make a Double-Display Frame appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Make a Pottery Barn-Inspired Tiled Mirror for $11:

One of the best ways to get the look for less from the dollar store is to combine small components into a larger piece that makes a single statement. You usually can’t find large pieces at the dollar store, but you can find small things and put them together! This designer-inspired mirror is a prime example of taking a few small items and making them look much more expensive once they are put together.

Mia at Cottage Love‘s PB-Inspired Tiled Mirror was one of my top 10 picks for awesome dollar store crafting at the recent CSI Project dollar store challenge. I know I keep talking about my top 10 list, but there are some really great ideas there!

Like the tile-surrounded mirror I featured earlier this week, this piece took small dollar store components and combined them to make a larger piece that can actually make a design statement. Kids, this is one of the best ways to get a designer look out of *ahem* cheap ingredients. This project looks so much more expensive than it was! [how to make a pottery barn inspired mirror from dollar store stuff] <–this tutorial has been removed. See below for the new instructions.

Tiled Mirror Tutorial:

The old link doesn’t work any more, but since this project has gotten so popular, I figured out a way to make this project with pre-framed dollar store mirrors and duct tape! No tools needed. Check out that tutorial here: [how to make a PB-Inspired Tile Mirror for $10]

Original Project Estimate:

• 9 mirror tiles, $1 each
• Bamboo skewers, $1 and up
• An old frame, on hand or $5 and up (look at IKEA or thrift shops if you don’t have one)
• Foam core board, $1
• Paint, $1 or on hand
• Glue (I would use e6000), on hand

Total: $11 and up

To Make: The original project (that isn’t online anymore) used a poster frame that the crafter had on hand. She then used nine mirrored tiles she got at the dollar store, and glued them onto the backing of the frame. She filled in the areas between the mirror tiles with bamboo skewers and then painted them black.

I have figured out an even easier way to make this, that anyone can do!

Go see my super easy tutorial:

I also found another tutorial for a framed tile mirror by The Lettered Cottage: [how to make a PB-inspired Tiled Mirror]

The post Make a PB-Inspired Tiled Mirror appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

There were so many great projects in the CSI Project dollar store challenge. Here’s one of the projects I chose as a top 10 winner: a tiled mirror made by Kelsey at Tattered and Inked. She used printed tiles from the dollar store and framed them around a mirror. I love this project because she took small dollar store components and combined them to make a piece with big impact. I love it when people have a vision and are able to carry it out. [how to make a dollar store tiled mirror]

Kelsey’s photos show the mirror outside, and I think this would be an outstanding patio mirror, but it would also look great inside, too. I just love this concept!

Project Estimate:

• 12 patterned tiles, $12
• Square mirror tile, $1
• Foam core or scrap plywood or MDF, $1 and up
• Fabric, on hand
• e6000 glue, on hand

Total: $14 and up

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