My fellow craft designer/blogger friends have been busy this week, and I have seven great DIY projects for your crafting pleasure. This week, we are hitting the accessories and home decor projects hard!

1. Debi’s Design Diary created a gorgeous faux weathered paint finish (drooling!) for her Chair makeover with weathered Boat paint finish.
2. Trinkets In Bloom shows us how to give a plain belt a paracord-inspired embellishment.
3. Margot Potter (of DIY Doyenne) created a very cool set of Stamped Metal Charm Bangle Bracelets.
4. Create faux jewels with Mod Melts, courtesy of Cathie & Steve in their Faux Jewel Statement Necklace.
5. Love this Loteria Pillow, designed by Crafty Chica.
6. Mark Montano went glamazon with his Boho Lampshades.
7. And don’t miss Morena’s very clever dollar store craft this week: a lamp made out of foam core board!

The post 7 Swell DIYs to Try: Accessories & Home Decor Edition appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

We’ve had some house guests this summer, and I had to think of some cheap and easy ways to make my three year-old’s bedroom presentable as a “guest room.” His pendant lamp used to have a paper lantern shade, but with three little boys in the house, that shade didn’t last long. So, I checked my local dollar store and found a cute yellow wire wastebasket that I thought would make a swell industrial-style lampshade. Check out how I did it — it only took five minutes!

Project Estimate:

• Wire wastebasket, $1
• Shears, on hand
• A pendant light kit, on hand or about $6 from IKEA

Total: $1 and up

How to Make a Wire Basket Lamp Shade

1. Cut a small circle out of the center, bottom of the wire basket. Your hole should be about 1.25″ across. Remember, a smaller hole is better because you can always enlarge it if needed.

My kitchen shears (look how well-loved they are!) did this job easily, but you can also use tin snips depending on how sturdy your wire basket is.

2. Place basket on pendant light kit, putting together according to package directions. Don’t forget to insert a lightbulb!

3. Hang up, and enjoy!

Looking good!

I actually like it better than the original paper lantern shade we used to have in the room!

The post Tutorial: Wire Wastebasket Light Fixture appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Both whimsical and modern at the same time, this ping pong ball pendant lamp is one of the most impressive and innovative upcycles we’ve see in quite a while.  (The balls can be attached around the frame from an old lamp shade; rescue one that is stained or dented by removing the covering, leaving only the wire structure of the frame.  Thrift stores and yard sales are great places to look for them if you don’t already have one on hand.)  Dollar Tree sells ping pong balls in packages of 8 for $1, and it took about 180 balls to make the lamp shown.  The number you will need depends on the size of the lamp shade frame you use as a base!  The project by Léa Baert originally appeared in Marie Claire Idées, a French magazine; Jan at Poppytalk shared an English translation of the process. [how to make a ping pong ball pendant lamp]

Project estimate:

• Ping pong balls, about $22
• Lamp shade frame, on hand or $1 and up
• Spray paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Fishing line or string, on hand
• Wire, on hand or $1 and up
• Lamp kit, about $5 and up

Total:  about $27 and up

The post Make a Ping Pong Ball Pendant Lamp appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

If you’ve ever looked at Anthropologie’s prices, you know that their version of this lampshade retails at around $100.  Now, I love me a good lampshade as much as the next girl, but on my budget that would mean giving up two weeks’ worth of groceries.  If you love the look but not the price tag, save yourself $99 with this DIY version by Autumn at design*dump.  It’s the perfect project for using that slightly-beaten-up shade you’ve been unable to part with because you knew it was salvageable; the fabric circles will disguse any imperfections.  Autumn used a cutting machine to make her circles; if you’re a member of the I-wish-I-had-a-Silhouette club, you can also cut the circles by hand.  Either way, it will definitely be worth your time to get this high-end look at a price suitable for a pauper’s pocketbook.  [how to  make an anthro-inspired lampshade][see Anthro’s original in this post]

Project estimate:

• Lampshade, $1 and up
• Fabric, on hand
• Glue, on hand
• Trim, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  $1 and up

The post Make an Anthro-Inspired Lampshade appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Natalie at Vegetablog made a paper lampshade for a lamp using her Silhouette SD craft cutter machine. She used 10 pieces of vellum paper cut with a bubble pattern she designed, then overlapped the papers and attached them to a pendant light. There’s no doubt a craft cutter will make this project simpler, but if you have a few hours to spare, you can do it with a craft knife, too. [how to make a paper bubble lampshade] [via]

A note about flammability: Natalie added a small cage at the top of the pendant light to keep the paper away from the bulb. If you make a project like this, please take precautions to keep the bulb away from the paper. One of the commenters on Natalie’s site suggested using a product called Flame Free, which is a spray you can use to help make things you use in crafts flame retardant.

Project Estimate:

• 10 pieces of vellum, about $10
• Craft cutting machine or craft knife, on hand
• Pendant lamp kit, $4 at IKEA

Total: $14

The post Make a Paper Bubble Lampshade appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’ve seen just about everything done with placemats, but I’ve never seen this! Sarah at StepThruCrazy made a pendant lampshade from three vinyl placemats. Wow! She even wrote a tutorial so we could all make one for ourselves. The dollar store is a fabulous resource for placemats, so check for them next time you go. [how to make a hanging placemat pendant lamp]

Project Estimate:

• 3 vinyl placemats, $3
• Hot glue gun & sticks, on hand
• String/strong twing, on hand

Total: $3 and up (add a pendant lamp kit from IKEA for about $3)

p.s. Help me print CROQ zine – pledge $5 and reserve your copy of this craft magazine! We have already raised over $1000.

The post Make a Pendant Lamp out of Placemats 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!

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