Host a Tween Spa Party

by Felicity, craftymodern.com

My daughter is 10 (she declares herself a tween) and asked to have a sleepover and to make it a spa party. She received a book recently with lots of recipes for fun homemade masks and treatments and wanted to try them out and I wanted to keep it relatively inexpensive. This was a small party for four girls (I wouldn’t have much larger). First thing we did was come up with a schedule of activities to keep things going and of course a name for the spa (Chateau Ooh La La). Next it was off to the Dollar Store and the fabric store, then home to print out a few items off the computer.

At the Dollar Store we bought the following:

• Plastic champagne flutes (3 packs of two for sparkly grape cocktails), $3.00
• Blue plastic tubs (for foot soaks and to put all their spa goodies in), $4.00
• 6 packs of spa flops, toe separators (came all in one pack), $6.00
• Cotton balls, $1.00
• 3 glass apothecary jars (for decor and use and going to re-purpose for Halloween), $3.00
• Stretchy headbands – two packs of 5 (to keep the girl’s hair back while doing face masks), $2.00
• 5 packs of battery-powered tea light candles (to add ambiance to the party without fire hazard; the girls loved these!!), $5.00
• 3 white plastic table cloths, $1.00
• Assorted polka dot paper plates and napkins in pink and blue (to match the spa drawstring bags I made), $3.00
• 2 packs of small plastic bowls (each pack had 4 bowls; for the banana face mask and the sugar scrub), $2.00
• 2 packs of white wash cloths (4 in each pack; for face masks etc.), $2.00
• 4 bottles of mini lotion for gift bags, $4.00
• 4 nail clippers with files for gift bags, $4.00

Total at Dollar Store:  $40.00

We spent $20.00 at discount fabric store on tulle and ribbon for sparkly entrance to spa, plus one yard of blue polka dot cotton and 4 yards of blue ribbon to make cloth drawstring gift bags.

How We Set Up 

We made an “entry way” to the spa with the sparkly tulle and hung the fabric from the free fabric roll tube we had received from the fabric store (one of the girls declared that the entryway made her feel like they were VIPs).

I made and printed out Chateau Ooh La La signs and labels for the apothecary jars. We used the plastic cloths to cover the tables and then extra spa flops, battery candles, and the apothecary jars (filled with cotton balls, q-tips, and Kleenex) to decorate the spa table. A smaller card table was used separately for the snacks and “cocktails.”

We made the banana face mask and sugar scrubs in advance and had them in the fridge waiting to be used (they were put in the small plastic lidded containers we bought from the Dollar Store, just the right size). I made the cloth polka-dot spa bags (actually used a sheet of paper as the pattern started as 8 1/2″ by 11″ squares)  and you can click here for my drawstring bag tutorial.  We filled the drawstring bags with the spa flops, lotion, toe separators, wash cloths, and nail clippers. Each girl received a blue tub with a filled drawstring bag inside it. We also sprinkled the bathroom counter with battery candles and placed a Chateau Ooh La La sign on the bathroom mirror.

The Party

Guests arrived at 4:00 pm on a Saturday. The girls ate snacks and chatted (got silly) for about an hour and then we began spa activities. Each girl was served a grape juice and sparkling water cocktail as part of their experience.  They did homemade face masks (banana and honey) and homemade hand sugar scrubs (plain white sugar and vegetable oil), foot soaks, and there were cucumber slices to place on their eyes.

They finished by doing each others nails (they had all brought their own polish to the party). After dinner we made frozen yogurt smoothies, had chocolate covered strawberries, and the girls watched movies.

Then they jumped around and danced for HOURS. For breakfast we served home baked muffins (blueberry and cinnamon) and fresh fruit. The party ended at 10:00 am on Sunday and was declared a success.

Note:  One thing I would have bought for next time is hand mirrors for each of the girls (these can be bought at the Dollar Store). And the girls say that having teen magazines is essential (e.g., Tiger Beat).

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Jewelry that serves an additional function is something I’ve always appreciated.  (Hence my love of lockets and the like.)  Our ever-so-crafty Malaysian pal PC from MeiJo’s Joy brings us a new twist on jewelry with storage space; her zipper cuff bracelet opens up to reveal enough space for some spare change, a folded-up note, or other small items.  It’s perfect for wearing with outfits lacking pocket space!  I’ve been seeing zipper accessories everywhere lately, so this idea is also the perfect addition to a back-to-school wardrobe.  [how to make a zip-up cuff bracelet]

Project estimate:

• Zipper, on hand or $1 and up
• Ribbon, on hand
• Embroidery floss, on hand
• Snaps, on hand or $1
• Beads, on hand

Total:  Free and up

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Last fall, I was hoping to make a Lady Gaga costume dollar store style to share with you, but I ran out of time. Thankfully, the smart cookies over at the Bowdabra Blog created an awesome Lady Gaga-inspired hair bow with $2 in supplies from the dollar store. The tutorial is great, and the final product looks amazing! Do you think I’m too old to rock one of these bows to the grocery store? Don’t answer that! If you think you’re too old to rock the hair bow like Gaga, maybe make one for your little girl (grade school through teen, I would guess!) or save it for your Gaga Halloween costume. [how to make a lady gaga hair bow]

Here’s the inspiration photo. One of Lady Gaga’s more tame looks! You can find the hair headbands in the dress-up aisle of the dollar store toy section. You can also get higher-quality hair at a beauty supply store (like Sally’s).

Project Estimate:

• 2 toy dress-up hair headbands, $2
• Rubber bands, on hand
• Wire, on hand
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks, on hand

Total: $2 and up

The Bowdabra tool was used to make the bow, and it looks like it would make the project super easy.

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Covering school books is a back-to-school tradition. Whether your school requires it or not, it’s a fun activity to do in preparation for the new school year. Over at Make and Takes, I posted a tutorial for making book covers out of recycled chip bags and patterned duct tape. I love the pop art element of reusing commercial packaging, plus the earth-friendly aspect of reusing packaging that would otherwise go in the trash. Plus, I just wanted to use my fun patterned tape for something! Because the original food packaging is so cool-looking, it would be great to use clear packing tape for this project, too. Or, go the old traditional route of using recycled paper bags to cover books. [how to make recycled packaging book covers]

Project Estimate:

• Recycled packaging, such as a potato chip bag (I needed two to cover my medium-sized book), on hand
• Duct tape in one or more fun colors (or packing tape), on hand
• Book to cover, on hand

Total: FREE

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What do you do when you have spare upholstery samples, a couple of hours to kill, and no sewing machine? You hand-sew a backpack out of upholstery samples, that’s what you do! I could have finished this in fifteen minutes with a sewing machine, but there was no sewing machine.* The good news? If you are afraid of sewing machines, you can make this backpack in about an hour and a half. Or, you can have your kids (mid-grade school and up) hand-sew them as a fun summer project.

I made this backpack last week while attending the Summit of Awesome (which, let me assure you, was AWESOME. I highly recommend you put it on your calendars for 2011). They had an all-hours craft table stocked with supplies, which could have entertained me for the entire week. I found a sample of this indoor-outdoor upholstery, which came in two pieces which were the same width, but one piece was about six inches shorter than the other one. The difference in size suggested “backpack” to me, and since I was at the conference sans my little toddler shadows, I thought they’d appreciate it if mommy made something for them. Yes, I craft all the time. No, I never craft for my kids (rarely, anyway). It’s a sad fact.

If you don’t have upholstery samples, use two dish towels or placemats. Or scrap fabric will also work. I padded the backpack straps with a felted sweater (because that’s what they had at the craft table), but you can use scraps of batting or no padding at all. I just like padded backpack straps. I used strips of pleather to make the fasteners for the buttons. You can cannibalize an old purse or a dollar store pleather purse for these if you need to.

*It’s a good thing I hand-sewed this, though, because if I used a sewing machine it wouldn’t have been done in 15 minutes because I would have complicated the construction by adding a lining, extra pockets, and other things. I kinda like how this turned out – elegant in its simplicity. And a great sewing project for kids.

Project Estimate:

• Set of upholstery samples, on hand
• A bit of scrap fabric or more upholstery samples, on hand
• Scraps of felted sweater or batting, on hand
• Scraps of sturdy, non-fraying material like pleather, leather, wool felt, on hand
• Four buttons, on hand
• Needle and thread or other sewing stuff
• (optional) Pinking shears

Total: FREE and up

To Make:

The upholstery samples come pre-pinked so they won’t unravel, which is another great reason to use them. If you are using scrap fabric, use pinking shears to finish the edges, or zig-zag around them with your sewing machine.

If you’re cutting your own pieces, you want to

Cut these pieces:

• one about 12×18″
• and another about 12×12″
• two pieces of fabric for the padded straps, about 6×12″
• four pleather straps about 5″ long and one inch wide
• two pieces of batting/felted sweater for strap padding, about 2×10″

note: increase strap length for an adult backpack

I’m giving you instructions for hand-sewing. If I made this on a sewing machine, I would change some of the steps, like sandwiching two pleather straps in between the upholstery pieces, at the bottom (they’ll be sticking up toward the good side of the fabric, in between the 2 pieces).

1. Place upholstery samples good sides together and sew around the edge with a running stitch (or a straight stitch on a sewing machine). There will be about 6″ of fabric sticking off the top. This is gonna be your backpack flap.

2. Turn good side out. Poke out corners.

3. Make straps by taking the 6×12″ piece of fabric, laying the 2×10″ piece of batting in the center, and folding the fabric over the batting (you’re basically folding the fabric in thirds, but putting batting inside first). If your fabric isn’t pinked, you’ll want to fold the unfinished edges under as well. Pin. Put one of the pleather straps inside one of the edges of the straps, sticking out from the bottom about 4″. Pin and sew the whole strap up, making sure the pleather strap is securely attached to the padding.

Alternately: Skip the padding, and just cut two strips of pleather about 16″ long and 2 inches wide, and use those for straps.

4. Sew top of strap to top of backpack by folding the strap over, and then sewing securely through the width of the strap. I used a backstitch for extra reinforcement.

5. Sew buttons to bottom back of the backpack, roughly corresponding to the placement of the straps.

6. Cut a slit the size of your button in the bottom of the pleather strap. (You can cut an additional slit above the first slit, if you want to make the straps slightly adjustable. Just leave plenty of space between the two slits to give the strap adequate structural integrity!)

7. Sew two pleather straps to the flap. Make sure they’re securely attached to the flap.

8. Sew buttons to the front of the backpack, roughly corresponding to the placement of the pleather straps on the flap.

That’s it! Hope this will keep your natives entertained for a few hours this summer!

Here I am making the backpack! Woo!

I stole this photo from the Summit of Awesome Flickr pool but I can’t figure out who I stole it from! Sorry person!

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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!

The post Make a Blingy Chandelier appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Dear Heather,

[inspiration room: green with blue, yellow, green decor from PBTeen]

Some simple, inexpensive projects for decorating your side of the room would be:

• No-Sew Bandanna Pillow Covers: buy bandannas in colors you like and tie two of them together at the corners over a throw pillow – quick and easy (and easy to change whenever you want). Or here are instructions for a no-sew pillow roll.
• Scrapbook Paper Mosaic Wall Decor: get scrapbook paper, tape it on the wall
• Take-out Box Lamp: you need a string of twinkle lights and three plastic takeout boxes

I just know you readers will have lots of good ideas! Feel free to add your ideas and links to projects and inspiration in the comments!

The post Reader Question: Gender-Neutral Bedroom Decor appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Here’s a simple and fun idea for making a custom monogram plaque that you can customize in infinite ways to go with your personal taste and decor. Rhoda at Southern Hospitality made these, inspired by a project she saw at Joys of Home (a blog that often has great dollar store decor ideas, by the way!). Choose your favorite scrapbook paper, paint color, and initial, and get creating. You can find wooden initials and plaques at the dollar store, or check the unfinished wood section of your local craft store for a wider selection. Oh, and this will probably only take fifteen minutes or less, and no special skills are needed. Wouldn’t it be a fun slumber party activity, or a great gift for a housewarming? [click here for Monogram Plaque Project] [inspired by] [via]

Project Estimate:

• Wooden plaque, $1
• Wooden letter, $1
• Scrapbook paper, on hand or $.50
• Paint (spray or acrylic), on hand
• Sandpaper, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total: $2 and up

The post Make a Quick Monogram Plaque appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I have always been in love with cocktail umbrellas (haven’t you?), and I recently found some at the dollar store! I snatched up a couple packages and decided it was time to make another dollar store lamp. This turned out so cute! It looks great even when it’s not lit up. I would love to try making a pendant lamp version as well, but I need to find a cheap pendant lamp kit first (I know they have them at IKEA, but I don’t get over there as much as I get to the dollar store!) I posted my tutorial for making the lamp over at Ohdeedoh. [how to make a cocktail umbrella lamp]

Supplies needed:

• Styrofoam disc, 6 for $1 ($.17)
• 2+ packages of cocktail umbrellas, $2 and up
• Small vase or glass, on hand or $1
• Battery-operated tealight or other light source, 2 for $1
• Knife, on hand

Total: $2.67

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Thanks again to Amy, who has done a whole series of guest posts for us! She truly does rock! This would be a fun personalized gift for a tween or teen in your life… have you already started your Holiday crafting? – Heather

This is Amy from Mod Podge Rocks, and I recently decided that I needed a mirror after looking around Mod Podge Command Central and realizing that I didn’t have one (at least besides the bathroom).  A fashionable craft diva never wants to leave the house with toothpaste on her face or her hair askew, so I headed by the dollar store and picked up this mirror:

Imagine how delighted I was . . . a mirror just for me!  I’m a brunette though, and the mirror was blonde, so I had to change it.  Plus lavender doesn’t go with my decor.  I realized when contemplating the re-do that this size would be perfect for a kid’s room.  Considering that I am a child at heart, it worked for me.  If you’ve seen me here before, you know that I’m a big stash user, and this project is no exception.  It cost me just $1 to make.

Project Estimate:

• “Diva” mirror, $1
• Scrapbook paper – 1 sheet, on hand
• Sparkle Mod Podge, on hand
• Scalloped circle punch, on hand
• Turquoise acrylic craft paint, on hand
• Buttons – 12 coordinating, on hand
• Craft glue, on hand
• Paint brush, on hand
• Sandpaper, on hand
• Scissors, on hand
• Tools to remove hardware, on hand

Total cost: $1 and up

Time Needed: 2.5 hours

To Make:

• Remove all hardware and the mirror from your frame.  Start sanding – you don’t need to rough it up too much, just enough so that the paint will stick.  Yes, since you asked, it did make me sad to sand the word “Diva.”

• Paint your frame.  Depending on the color, you may need several coats.  Paint, allow to dry, flip over and repeat.  It took me three coats for full coverage.  Allow to dry completely.

• While your frame is drying, grab your sheet of scrapbook paper.  It’s time to get creative!  I cut out shapes with my scissors, and then I punched some shapes out with my craft punch.
• TIP: Get a piece of double-sided scrapbook paper.  You get twice the designs and they are almost always coordinating.

• Begin placing shapes.  This is serious business!  Okay, not really.  Lay everything out until you are happy with the design.

• Once your shapes are laid out, begin Mod Podging them down.  Glue each piece separately and smooth with fingers.  This is nice because you won’t get wrinkles if you smooth thoroughly because the pieces are so small.  I overlapped some pieces too – have fun with it!  Allow to dry for 15 – 20 minutes.

• Now you are ready to go Mod Podge nuts-o.  Cover the entire frame with Mod Podge, front and back.  Give it two coats.  I opted for the sparkly finish to retain some of the original “diva-ness” of the piece.

• To complete your frame, add some craft buttons with craft glue.  Raid your stash for brads, ribbons, stickers or anything else that might compliment your wonderful project.  Don’t be afraid to glue it down.

Let the frame dry for 24 hours before replacing the mirror piece and all of the hardware.   I don’t know about you, but I think it would be really fun to do a wide variety of these in different shapes to spice up a wall.  I could do a whole wall of these for $10.  I’m bursting with ideas, and I hope you are too.

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