Don’t throw that milk container away! Recycle it into a Halloween Treat Bucket, perfect to take along with you when you go trick-or-treating. Kids will have fun making this recycled Halloween container, and taking it along on night to collect their candy haul.

Recycled Halloween Treat Bucket Materials:

• 1 recycled milk container, washed well
• 2 sheets of orange paper (construction, card stock, or scrapbooking)
• 1 sheet of black felt or craft foam
• 2 green chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
• markers
• glue dots
• scissors
• hole-punch
• pencil

Instructions:

1. Fold a piece of paper in half and draw pumpkin stem in the top area of the paper. To draw it, make a round or oval shape, then draw a few lines going down from the side edges and the middle.

2. Draw the round part of the pumpkin around the stem, and add a few wrinkle lines coming down from the stem. Draw 3 more pumpkins the same way on your remaining orange paper. Note: make two of the pumpkins shorter, to better fit on the handle sides of the jug.

3. Cut out each pumpkin around the outline.

4. With a washable marker, draw a line around the lid area of the milk jug, and down around the front of the jug. Cut around this line with a pair of sharp-pointed scissors, leaving the handle intact. (See photo.)

5. Attach the four pumpkins to the sides of the milk container with glue dots.

6. Make a hole in one of the front pumpkins with the hole-punch.

7. Thread a chenille stem through the hole. Twist the stem to secure it to the pumpkin, and then twist it around the pencil to make the curly pumpkin vine tendrils.

8. Do the same with the other front pumpkin so it also has a chenille vine.

9. With felt or craft foam, cut pumpkin eyes, noses, and mouths to decorate your pumpkins as jack-o’-lanterns. Attach the facial features with glue dots. Alternately, draw faces on the pumpkins before you attach them to the container.

Additional Recycled Halloween Bucket Tips:

Different Decorations: Instead of jack-o’-lanterns, cut out different shapes to adorn your treat bucket. How about black cats or ghostly shapes?

For Younger Tots: Give your toddler or pre-schooler a half sheet of paper and let them draw or color. Cut scribbles into a pumpkin shape.

Personalize: Use foam letter stickers to put your child’s name on the container and keep everyone’s treat bucket straight!

The post Recycled Halloween Candy Pail appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Take these elephant and dinosaur toys from the dollar store and use them to make some fun photo holders to display on your desk, shelf or playroom. Add a dash of whimsy to any room. You’ll be surprised at the way these clever photo holders are constructed, so check out how easy it is to make this dinosaur photo frame craft!

Hi there! Katie here today from Punk Projects! I love using inexpensive items in my crafting. If it involves upcycling, I’m all for it! I took a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some inspiration for today’s post and I found these awesome plastic toys.

Supplies Needed:

Project estimate:

• Toy animals, $1
• Flat magnets, on hand or $1
• Super glue, on hand or $1
• Craft knife or box cutter, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

1. Decide on your animals. I loved the brontosaurus, and the elephant is for a friend.

2. Use a craft knife to cut through the animal. Most plastic animals have a seam where they were put together, cut on that seam and it will be easier. Just don’t cut yourself.

3. Once you have your animal cut in half, trace around him onto a magnet.

4. Cut out 2 magnets for each animal.

5. Go around the cut edge of your animal with super glue and glue your magnet to it.

6. Let it dry completely.

Once your magnets have been glued on and dried, slide a photo in between the animal piece and stand him back up! I love these little dinosaur photo frames!

What do you think? Would you make a dinosaur photo frame craft for yourself, or for a friend?

Pin the Dinosaur Photo Frame Craft:

I’m Katie, a lover of anything artsy. I doodle on everything I can get my hands on, however my favorite projects are scrapbooking, restyled/upcycled crafts and sewing. I write my blog, Punk Projects, where I post tutorials, inspiration and other fun things as well as designing custom shoes in my etsy shop.

You can also find me here on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

The post Tutorial: Toy Animal Photo Holders appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

This quick, easy project doesn’t just have to be for Valentine’s Day.  You could easily use different stamps to create custom decorative candles for your home, for parties, or for gifts.  I made several winter themed candles as gifts for my neighbors for Christmas, and they loved them!  So pull out your inks and stamps, and let’s decorate some candles!

Project estimate:

• Candles, on hand or $1 and up
• Stamps and ink, on hand
• Tissue paper, on hand
• Hair dryer or heat embossing tool, on hand

Total:  Free or $1 and up

It’s a good idea to do a few practice runs with old candles or dollar store candles.  I often find bags of new to barely used candles at thrift stores, and they are great for practicing this technique.  The candle I used in this project was purchased at Dollar Tree, and while it is a battery operated votive candle, it has a wax coating on the outside, so it works for this project.

To make your own stamped Valentine’s Day Candle:

Step one:  Cut a piece of tissue paper to fit around your candle.

Step two:  Stamp the tissue paper.  First, I covered my paper with a text stamp that has the definition of love. Then I stamped the heart image over the text.

Step three:  Wrap the stamped tissue paper around the candle.

Step four:  Heat the tissue paper with a heat embossing tool or a hair dryer.  As the wax melts, the tissue paper will seem to disappear into the candle, leaving only the image.  Be careful to keep moving your heat tool so you don’t burn the tissue paper or create uneven dimples in your candle.

If you want to, you can further embellish your candle with ribbon, string, rhinestones, etc.  I’m decorating a few candles with blue and green damask stamps to match my living room.  Which stamps are you going to reach for?  Have fun creating!

The post Tutorial: Stamped Valentine’s Day Candle appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Are you looking for the perfect printable card to top off that perfect gift? I have a fabulous FREE PRINTABLE card for you. Just in time for holiday gift wrapping, I have collaborated with Cathe Holden of Inspired Barn to give YOU a gift! Please print out these adorable folk art-inspired printable cards and use them for all your holiday occasions (and beyond). And don’t forget to download the coordinating printable for the 2018 Printable Tea Towel Calendar!

About this collaboration:

In 2010, talented graphic designer Cathe Holden and I teamed up to create a printable tea towel calendar. She designed the printables, and I made the calendar and wrote the instructions, and then we provided the free printables to you! This year, we have a new design available — our all-new 2018 printable tea towel calendar, as well as this sweet card, that you can download, print, and make yourself for a special handmade touch.

Download the Printable Card Templates:

Download the files below to print out your own cards. Each printable will make two cards (just cut the printed sheet in half, then fold the cards to make them complete). They will fit in an A2 envelope.

To download, just click on the image to be taken to the file on Google Drive, where you can download it.

Red and Blue Printable Card Template

Blue Printable Card Template

Green & Blue Printable Card Template

Card-Making Tips:

You really can just print this, cut it, fold it and go, but if you are looking to make your printed cards look nicer, I recommend a few products to get a top-of-the-line look. I used these products to make the cards you see in the photos in this post, and they are some of my favorite products that I can’t do without (disclosure: these are Amazon affiliate links):

1. HP Inkjet Brochure Paper

If you are using an inkjet printer, I hands-down recommend this HP brochure paper for gorgeous printing. It is smooth, heavy paper that can be printed on both sides, and it makes the ink shine. It’s great for paper projects like this one, or for printing anything that you want to make look extra pretty.

I should also disclose that I work with HP, and have received this product for free, but they did not ask me to promote it here. I just really love it and I highly recommend it.

2. Trimming and Scoring Board

If you make cards or paper crafts often, you should treat yourself to a Trimming and Scoring Board – it is a paper trimmer with a built-in board that has grooves in it so you can gently add a crease wherever you want to fold the paper. It also comes with a bone folder (which you use to make the score in the paper) that you can also use to make a clean, crisp fold.  The paper trimmer is so handy for creating perfectly measured and cut lines — no more wiggly scissor lines!

Thank you for joining me at Dollar Store Crafts! I truly value everyone who is part of my community, and I would love to hear your feedback about this project or the site.

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Happy holidays! Are you already wrapping gifts? If you need some pretty gift tags, Leethal.net has provided some free printable gift tags featuring pretty watercolor images. Head on over to her site to grab the free printable files: [click here for free printable gift tags]

Looking for more free printables? Here are some you might enjoy:

• Free Printable Herb Jar Labels
• Free Printable Christmas Favor Box

The post Free Printable Watercolor Gift Tags appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Project Materials:

• 3 skeins of embroidery floss, on hand or about $1
• Size 12 (US) crochet hook, on hand or about $1
• Chain or thread to string, on hand
• (optional) Jump rings and hardware, if you are using a chain, on hand

Total: FREE and upIf you are a beginning crocheter, I recommend making a couple granny squares with regular yarn and hooks just to get the hang of it. After you make a few, you will memorize the pattern, and it will be the perfect thing to crochet on auto-pilot (and a great way to use up your small leftover balls of yarn.

Crocheting with embroidery floss is a little bit challenging. One, it’s small, so it’s a bit harder to work with, and to get a comfortable hand position and work flow. The good news is that it doesn’t take too long to adjust to the reduced scale. Two, the six strands of floss aren’t twisted together like yarn, so the individual strands can get caught in your work a lot more. You can combat this by slightly twisting the floss with your index finger and thumb as you go. You can also pull out the offending stitches as you go and redo them, or pull the loops through your work to hide them.

Hook: My crochet hook was a steel hook, size 12 US (.70mm/size 5 UK). A hook a couple sizes larger would probably be fine!

Pattern:I just used a classic granny square pattern. I don’t need to re-write it for you! If you want to learn how to crochet a granny square, here is an excellent visual tutorial at The Purl Bee: [how to crochet a granny square]

Homemade Simple Gifts

I have always been a huge fan of handmade gifts. As a crafter, it’s only natural, right? I am lucky to be part of a family that also appreciates handmade gifts and makes it a practice to exchange gifts that aren’t store-bought. I know, I’m so spoiled!

While not all handmade gifts exchanged in our family are smash hits, they are all appreciated and they somehow seem more meaningful than something purchased in the $10 or less aisle of a big box store.

The best handmade gifts I’ve given or received have been: duct tape wallets (for the guys), hand-roasted coffee (yum!), quilts, and special items decorated by my three boys (always a win for the mommies, right?).

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There are a million ways to make a wreath, and one of our favorites methods uses a pool noodle as an inexpensive wreath form.  Dollar Tree has started getting spring and summer seasonal items in stock, so it’s the perfect time to stock up on noodles for all of your wreath making needs!  This wreath won’t warp or melt when using hot glue.

Project estimate:

• Pool noodle, $1
• Wire hanger, on hand
• Packing tape, on hand or $1

Total:  $1 and up

Straighten the coat hanger except for the top. With pliers, bend it together to form a hook. Bend the other end to form a small U shape.  Measure the pool noodle to the end of the hanger and cut it.

Bend the pool noodle to form a circle. IT WILL NOT MEET at the ends. Hook the U part of the hanger to the hook.

Cut several small pieces of the left over pool noodle and add them to the wreath. The last piece will be in the shape of a V.

Take the packing tape and wrap it completely around the wreath. This will keep the smaller pieces together and keep the pool noodle from melting when you apply hot glue.

The post Tutorial: Pool Noodle Wreath Form appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Give your shoes a temporary kitty makeover! Heather used electrical tape to make adorable cat faces on the toes of a pair of plain flats to dress them up. This is a great way to add a little bit of fun to your outfit, while still leaving your favorite flats wearable for other occasions. When you’re done, simply peel off the tape and the shoes go back to their original state.

Project estimate:

• Shoes, on hand or $1 and up
• Electrical tape, on hand or $1

Total:  $1 and up

Apply strips of tape to cover the toes of the shoes. Cut little slits in the edge of tape to make it go on more smoothly over the curved surface.

Cut and apply two triangles for the ears.

Cut facial features out of colored tape and add them to the shoes.

Don’t forget to add pupils to the eyes!

Once the faces are complete, just add feet!

The post Tutorial: Kitty Face Shoes appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Create a simple and elegant magnetic organizer from a dollar store cookie sheet — you can use it as a kitchen command center, a makeup organizer or a handy memo board. Dollar store cookie sheets are great for crafters; they’re made out of steel, which means they are magnetic! This gorgeous idea is from The Crazy Crafty Lady: [DIY a Magnetic Organizer]

Project Estimate:

• Cookie sheet, $1
• Scrapbook paper, on hand or $1
• Mod Podge, on hand or $1

Total: $1 and up

The post DIY Magnetic Organizer from Dollar Store Cookie Sheet appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Dollar store “prayer candles” have to be one of my favorite supplies to work with — they are clear glass containers filled with a candle. You can easily decorate them any way you like. I especially  like these spooky candle holders I found over at Today’s Creative Life: [DIY Spooky Candle Holders]

Project Estimate:

• Prayer candle, $1
• Vellum, less than $1
• Tape, on hand
• Printer

Total: $1-2.

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