If you haven’t noticed yet, I like shiny things.  The quickest way to up the glam factor on an inexpensive item is to make it shine with paint or with bling.  I decided to transform my office supplies quickly and inexpensively by using bling on a roll, a mesh that has rhinestone like “stones” on it.  The mesh makes for a quick and inexpensive way to “bling” ordinary items.

Project estimate:

• Stapler, on hand
• Tape Dispenser, on hand
• Bling on a Roll, $2.00 and up
• Glue, on hand

Total: $2.00 and up

Step one:  Cut a strip of bling on a roll to fit one side of the stapler.

Step two:  Put glue (I used E-6000) on the side of the stapler and adhere the bling.

Step three:  Repeat until all sides are covered.  You can fill gaps by cutting individuals facets off the mesh and gluing them on.

If your glue is taking too long to dry or the bling is slipping, use a dot of hot glue to hold the bling mesh in place while the glue dries.

I think my desk supplies look so much more chic now!  Why not start the new year with a bling and a bang?  It would be fun to make a few of these to slip on co-workers desks over the holidays, so they can start the new year with some sparkle and a smile.  Next on my bling list:  my pencil holder!

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Aki at Mined Strawberry is one of our favorite dollar store jewelry designers.  This time she’s whipped up some bling for your locks!  By cleverly making a clear base to hold them in place, she managed to add entire clusters of rhinestones to the ends of bobby pins, resulting in some seriously cute hair accessories.  They would make great stocking stuffers for the fashion-minded ladies on your holiday gift giving list this year!  [how to make gem cluster hair pins]

Project estimate:

• Bobby pins, on hand or $1
• Rhinestones, on hand or $1 and up
• Acrylic photo frame, $1
• Felt, on hand or $1
• Spray paint (optional), on hand or $1 and up
• Glue, on hand

Total: $1 and up

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It seems like every seasonal change comes with its own themed table scatter. Sparkly gems, sequins or felt in seasonal shapes appear in dollar stores everywhere.  Looking beyond their intended purpose, Aki from A Nest for All Seasons transformed some leaf gems into stunning jewelry with just the right amount of shine. [how to make table scatter jewelry]

Project estimate:

• Table scatter, $1
• Dremel or rotary file, on hand
• Drill and 3/32″ bit, on hand
• Jump rings, on hand
• Chains, on hand
• Pliers, on hand

Total: $1 and up

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My favorite thing about crafting with dollar items is that you can start with something basic and turn it into something with a lot more “wow” factor.  I found some plain craft wood boxes (complete with a magnetic closure!) at my Dollar Tree and purchased several.  Boxes are a great basic crafting item to have in your stash!

I’ve been having fun crafting with a new product called “Bling on a Roll”.  It’s a mesh that is covered in glittering fake “diamonds”.  It comes in several different widths and colors.  While I like rhinestones, I just don’t have the patience to glue each and every one to a project, so I don’t use them.  I fell in love with this product because I can just cut the mesh to fit the area I want and glue it on quickly.   I used two packs of bling on a roll to turn my plain box into a glittering jewelry or gift box.

Find the Bling on a Roll at our favorite online craft store: Consumer Crafts!

Project estimate:

• Wood Box, $1
• Bling on a Roll, $1.97 and up
• Mini Spindles, $0.77
• Paint – on hand
• Mod Podge or glue  – on hand

Total:  About $4 and up

How to make your blinged out box:

Step one:  Paint the box and 4 spindles.

Step two:  Cut your bling on a roll so that it fits the cover of the box.  Paint Mod Podge onto the cover of the box and press the bling onto it.

Step three:  Paint Mod Podge on the edges of the lid.  I used a single strand of bling on a roll so I had to wrap it around four times.

Step four:  Glue the spindles onto the the base of the box to make legs.

Your blinged out box is complete and ready to be filled!  It would hold a gift card perfectly, or you could fill it with chocolate to give as a Valentine’s gift.  My three year old daughter let out an audible gasp when I told her that I’d made a jewelry box for her.  She immediately filled it with wood craft stars.  Later she emptied it so she could fill it with rolly pollies she had collected from the yard.  At least those bugs get to hang out in a posh looking box!

Consumer Crafts is having a Back to Basics sale until Feb 4th, so you can stock up on all their cool basics — stuff like those big paper mache letters, Mod Podge, and more. Their prices are fantastic already, and you get a discount the more you spend, so check them out:

I wrote this post as part of the Blueprint Social Influencer Network. The opinions in this post are my own.

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Happy last day of 2012!  (Can you believe it’s over already?!)  If you’re feeling festive today, here’s a great little project for you!  Victoria from Handmade Charlotte used some sequins to adorn these tiny disco ball decorations.  They would look fabulous as table scatter on a buffet table, or you could add ribbons or strings for hanging.  Either way, it’ll be hard not to catch Disco Fever!  (Careful, it’s highly contagious!)  [how to make mini disco balls]

Project estimate:

• Foam balls, $1
• Sequins, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

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Tacks have become a popular dollar store craft supply this fall! Here’s another great way to use tacks: as an embellishment for wall art, like reader Mom2Ian did over at Ghetto Idealist. She created this wall art by taking some line art, coloring it, adding some decorative cut paper, and then finishing off with metallic thumbtacks. The patterned paper and tacks add a lot of texture and style to this simple art project. You can use this technique to add some metallic shine to just about any wall art — use tacks on art you already have, or create something new! [how to make tack embellished wall art]

Project Estimate:

• Paper, on hand
• Tacks, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand
• Frame, on hand or $1

Total: FREE and up

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Okay, altered pumpkins are so hot this year! So many crafters are changing their dollar store pumpkins from blah to blah-maaaazing! (Haha, that didn’t really work, but let’s just pretend it did, okay?) Beckie at Infarrantly Creative transformed a plain foam dollar store pumpkin into a pretty centerpiece by spraying with glitter spray paint, hollowing out a hole for a candle, and adding a coordinating ribbon. Does it get any easier than that? She also has a cool trick for making a placecard holder, but I’ll let you click over and find out what it is. [how to make a glittered pumpkin candle holder]

Project Estimate:

• Pumpkin, $1
• Glitter paint, on hand or about $4
• Candle, on hand
• Ribbon, on hand or $1

Total: $1 and up

Looking for more pumpkin crafts?

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I love seeing how people re-interpret projects from around blogland and add their own twist.  In the case of this wonderfully blingy sunburst mirror, the key difference is a complete change of materials!  All the way over in Malaysia, PC of MeiJo’s Joy was inspired by a PVC pipe sunburst mirror made by Alicia at Thrifty and Chic.  [see the original version]  Cutting PVC pipe is a messy affair, so PC decided to try the same effect using recycled, mess-free materials.  Then as a finishing touch, she decked the entire thing in sequins, leaving an end result that certainly doesn’t look like it’s a $1 project!  [how to make a recycled bubble sunburst mirror][via Mich L. in L.A.]

Project estimate:

• Lid, on hand
• Cardboard, on hand
• Mirror, $1
• Screw-in hook, on hand or about $0.25
• Hot glue, on hand
• Sequins, on hand or $1

Total:  $1 and up

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Suzy from Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom came across this idea in a magazine from 1970.  Don’t you love it when crafts come back around?  This idea has so many possibilities that it’s mind boggling, and popsicle sticks are just about the most inexpensive thing I can think of to make a bangle!  I love Suzy’s incredible painted designs and her addition of blingy embellishments, and even if you don’t feel confident enough in your painting skills to attempt such intricate patterns there are a bunch of other ways you can spiff them up as well!  [how to make popsicle stick bracelets]

Project estimate:

• Popsicle sticks, on hand or $1
• Water, on hand
• Drinking glass, on hand
• Paint, on hand
• Embellishments, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  Free and up

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Chandeliers are in the air! The day of the dollar store chandelier is nigh, and the creative frugal masses have risen and said “We want chandeliers, and we want them CHEAP!” When dollar store crafters want to make something, they find a way to do it inexpensively. Around the same time I had my dollar store hanging-basket-into-chandelier epiphany, Megan at Brassy Apple used some of the dollar store hanging baskets to form a pretty chandelier for her daughter’s room. Yes, it’s true! Great minds were thinking alike. Megan’s chandelier is nothing short of fabulous — she combined several hanging baskets to form one big chandelier, used the chain link in the baskets as an element of her design, and even used mardi gras beads. And no, neither of us knew the other person was working on this project. I estimate there are a dozen or so other intrepid cheapsters out there discovering this technique as I type. We are so creative! [find out how to make a blingy chandelier here]

I was at a certain big-box craft store the other day, and I noticed they sell packages of faux chandelier crystals in the vase-filling stuff department (you know, where the glass marbles and seashells are). The package had about 40 crystals for $6, so that’s a great inexpensive alternative if you want to add bling to a chandelier but you don’t have any crystals on hand. Sometimes the dollar store has the same acrylic crystals, but I haven’t seen them around lately.

Project Estimate:

• 4 hanging baskets, $4
• Mardi gras beads, $1
• Faux crystals, on hand or $1 and up
• 19 gauge wire, on hand or $1
• Spray paint, $1 and up (you’ll need to spend $3+ for a fashion color like this pink)
• Hot glue gun, on hand

Total: $5 and up

p.s. please comment with your links if you have made a cheapster chandelier, too!

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