When she noticed wire basket lights popping up on several sites ’round the web, Sharon at Keen Inspirations had a revelation; she could use a hanging plant basket and a solar path light to create a cordless version for outdoor use.   Imagine a row of them hanging along your front porch, or a few of them hanging from trees in your yard.  To make a more intricate design,  you could add beads or other embellishments to the baskets.  Oh, the possibilities!  [how to make an outdoor solar basket light]

Project estimate:

• Wire basket planter, $1
• Solar path light, $1 and up
• Tape, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total:  $2 and up

The post Make an Outdoor Solar Basket Light appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

If you’ve ever visited the blog of Aunt Peaches, you know that she’s got a the-funkier-the-better aesthetic to her creations.  It’s no surprise, then, that her variation on Heather’s now-infamous Mardi Gras bead chandelier is full of disco-inspired panache.  Since her ceilings are too low for a traditional chandy to hang without knocking heads, she devised a way to mount the design closer to the ceiling while still maintaining all of the drama.  It even makes a nifty starburst design on the ceiling when she flips on the light!  [how to make a funky Mardi Gras bead chandelier]

Project estimate:

• Hanging wire basket, $1
• About 40 strands Mardi Gras beads, $8
• Wire, on hand or $1 and up

Total:   $9 and up

The post Another Take on the Mardi Gras Bead Chandelier appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

The dollar store hanging basket light fixture strikes again! I made this on the same day I made the beaded chandelier, but this project went in a totally different direction. I used jute string to wrap a dollar store basket and make a rustic lampshade. The aha moment occurred when I saw the Bimini Pendant Lamp for $398 at Anthropologie. I had jute on hand, I had a dollar store hanging basket in almost exactly the shape of the Bimini lamp, so I hunkered down and tried it, having no previous experience with basket-weaving or hemp/jute tying.

Project Estimate:

• Hanging basket, $1
• Jute twine, $1
• Embellishments (like buttons), on hand
• Crochet hook (helpful!), on hand
• Hot glue and glue gun, optional

Total: $2

Here’s the inspiration lamp. It looks like they used thicker strands of jute, so if you are patient, you could twist or crochet some jute together to make it more substantial before you start wrapping your basket.

Here’s what a dollar store hanging basket looks like when you reposition the chains to the bottom of the basket and hang it upside-down. Pretty good silhouette, eh?

To Make:

1. Wrap jute around base. I macramed (badly), but it would be a lot simpler, and neater looking if you crocheted around the wire. I couldn’t find my crochet hook, so I did it by hand. If you want to simply wrap it, I suggest wrapping a small ball of jute first, and then working with that, as it will be easier to pass around and around your wire frame. You probably want to secure it with a little hot glue just to keep it from sliding around on the wire.

Here’s a closer view of the bad macrame and the wrapping action.

2. Tie jute to one of the side spokes, and then begin to weave in and out of all the spokes. On the “under” spokes, I wrapped the jute around the spokes to keep the jute right up against the wire. You could also save yourself some heartache by just wrapping the jute around the outside of the basket. Again, you’ll probably want to use some hot glue to anchor the jute and keep it from slipping. It might even work if you just put hot glue on the outside of the spokes and let it dry. It might provide a little grip for the string.

I kinda like the look of the wrapping, though, so I’m not sorry I did it my way.

Jute-Wrapping Tip: Cut lengths of jute (about 8-10 feet long) to work with, because it’s too cumbersome to work with the entire ball of thread at once. I wanted to go rustic, so I just attached the ends together with a simple knot and let the knots show wherever they happened to.

3. If you are unable or unwilling to make the weaving work on the top part where the spokes get narrower, improvise. I did a looping thing (kinda like crochet with really long stitches). I wanted to vary the wrap style a bit at the top just for visual interest.

4. Macrame, crochet, or wrap around any other exposed wire.

5. Embellish, if desired. Since I was just playing when I made this, I added buttons in white and pink. I threaded light gauge wire through the button holes and twisted the buttons onto the jute.

Alternate Idea: This method would also work if you just wanted to dress up your hanging basket and use it for a, well, hanging basket. Check out what Ali did at Found it in the “Ali” — a Better Homes & Gardens-inspired basket.

p.s. I really enjoyed getting your honest feedback on the Copper Kitchen Wreath, so feel free to weigh in with your thoughts about this!

The post Make a Jute-Wrapped Lampshade appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

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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