The holidays can be stressful, especially if your budget is tight or you like to make everything yourself.  There just aren’t enough hours and dollars to get everything done, it seems.  Hopefully I can help alleviate some of your stress with these easy ideas for the holidays.

You may have noticed already, but my “go to” idea for easy gift giving is to thrift, glue, and spray paint!  It’s amazing how different (and more expensive) a few items can look when rearranged and painted to look cohesive.  For this project, I used a combination of Goodwill and recycled items, but you could easily find these items at the dollar store as well.

Project estimate:

• Ornaments, $1 and up
• Frame, $1
• Tin, $1
• Glass container, on hand
• Glue, on hand
• Spray paint, on hand or $3 and up

Total:  $3 and up

For the frame:  Remove the glass and backing from the frame.  Use E-6000 glue to adhere snowflake ornaments to a frame.  Spray paint the entire project.  I used Krylon’s metallic finish paint in silver.  Reinsert the glass and backing.  Insert a picture or use stickers to spell a message, like I did.

For the gift tin:  Glue an ornament to the lid of the tin.  The base of the tin had silver dots on it, so I simply painted the top silver so it coordinated with the bottom of the tin.

For the candle holder:  Glue the angel ornament to the front of a cleaned glass jar.  Spray paint the exterior of the jar.  Embellish the jar as desired with ribbon and bell ornaments.  Insert a candle.

Since I used one color, it was quick and easy to make all of these gifts.  I glued them all at one time, and painted them all together.  Since they coordinate, instead of gifting them you could use them to decorate for a holiday party, or to add some cheer to your workspace.  Have fun crafting and creating!

The post Tutorial: Easy Holiday Gift Craft Ideas appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Baskets are a great way to make a room instantly look organized. Got a pile of stuff? Throw it in a basket! Suddenly it looks neat and organized even though you didn’t change a whole lot. The downside of baskets is that they can cost quite a bit. That is, of course, unless you take the lead from I Heart Organizing, and you make your own basket using a laundry basket frame and upholstery cord! Upholstery cord dyes nicely as well, giving it lots of personalizing options. [how to make your own DIY rope basket]

Project estimate:

• Laundry basket, $1 and up
• Spray paint, on hand
• Upholstery cord ($3 a package for 6 packages), $18
• Fabric Dye (optional), on hand or $3 and up
• Hot glue gun, on hand

Total: $19 and up

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Several months ago, I explained how to “crack” glass floral stones (tutorial here).  It’s an inexpensive, easy project that’s fun to do.  I like to use fine glitter to create a sparkly ombre effect on the glass.   Dollar Tree carries small multi packs of glitter that are already color coordinated, so it takes the guesswork out for you.  I turned my ombre cracked glass stones into magnets and pushpins.

Project estimate:

• Glass Floral Stones, $1
• Glitter, $1
• Magnets and/or Thumb tacks, on hand
• Double sided tape, on hand
• Glue, on hand
• Dimensional Magic, on hand or $3

Total:  $2 and up

Step one:  Make the cracked glass stones, as explained in this tutorial.

Step two:  Cut a piece of double sided tape to fit the back of the stone.  Press it onto the stone.

Step three:  Pour the glitter onto the double sided tape.  I started with the lightest color and progressed to the darkest color, to create an ombre effect.

Step four:  Seal the glitter with the Dimensional Magic.

Step five:  Glue a thumb tack or magnet to the back of the stone.

Isn’t the effect pretty?  I think the pink/purple combo looks like a space galaxy.  The smaller stones that I used for the pushpins would make beautiful earrings, and the larger stones would make fun statement rings.  You could use different colors of glitter to match holidays or even school colors.  Have fun crafting and creating!

The post Tutorial: Ombre Glass Magnets and Push Pins appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

If you’re a crafter, you’re always trying to figure out where to put all your stuff.  If you’re a budget crafter, you’re trying to figure out how get organized without breaking the bank.  If you’re a fashionista budget crafter (let’s call it fabucrafter….just humor me), then you’re looking for attractive, inexpensive storage options.  Well, this fabucrafter has got you covered.  I recycled old tins to make cute, colorful storage containers.

Project estimate:

• Tins,  on hand
• Knobs, $1
• Spray Paint,  on hand or $1 and up

Total: $1 and up

To make your own storage tin:

Step one: Drill a hole into the lid of the tin.

Step two: Attach the knob to the lid.  I found the knobs pictured in the dollar bins at Michael’s.

Step three: Prime and paint the tins.

Your pretty storage tins are ready to be filled!  I plan to use mine in my craft room, but since I didn’t paint the inside they could be used for other things, too, like the Halloween candy you took from your kids.  So start saving those tins, all you fabucrafters, and have fun creating!

The post Tutorial: Upcycled Tin Storage Containers appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I must be dreaming of spring already.  Christmas has barely passed and I’m ready for pastel colors, flowers, and playing outdoors.  Those wishes inspired this sweet chalkboard magnet.  Made to look like a window decorated with flowers, it can do double duty as fridge decor and a mini message keeper.

Project estimate:

• Mini chalkboard ornaments, $4.00 for pack of 12
• Paint, on hand
• Miniature watering can, $1.50 for two
• Fabric flowers, on hand
• Magnets, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total: $5.50 to make two magnets

To make your own mini window magnet:

Step one:  Cut the strings off the chalkboards and paint.  (Optional:  give them a distressed look by using ink).

Step 2:  Glue the chalkboards together to look like a window.

Step 3:  Glue the miniatures and flowers to the “window”.

Step 4:  Glue the magnets to the back.

The chalkboards are small, so you don’t have a ton of writing space, but it’s enough for little reminders or motivational messages.  Start making them now while you’re stuck indoors, and when spring rolls around you’ll have little gifts ready for Easter, Mother’s Day, and teacher appreciation!

The post Tutorial: Mini Chalkboard Magnet appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Following the trend doesn’t always have to cost a lot. The “caviar” manicure sets or even just microbead sets from the store can cost anywhere from $10-30. This variation of the trend is created using simple, household, items. With some patience and creativity, you can have yourself a fun and trendy manicure for next to nothing at all!

Project estimate:

• Nail polish, on hand or $1 and up
• Salt, on hand

Total:  Free and up

For my nails, I used the following polishes:

• Basecoat (Essie Grow Stronger)
• 2 nail polishes (Revlon Sweet tart and Bubblegum)
• Topcoat (OPI Topcoat)

1.  Prep your nails. I started off by filing and buffing my nails, making for a nice clean canvas. I then applied a base coat to all of my nails. Now you are ready for some fun.

Pick out 2 nail polishes. For this, I chose 2 different shades of pink, one lighter and one a shade darker. You can either do it that way, or choose 2 completely different nail polishes.

Paint your nails. First, decide which nails you want to apply the salt on. I chose my thumb and ring finger. After you’ve decided, paint the remaining nails with one of your chosen colors. I painted these nails the lighter shade of pink.

Start salting your nails. Paint the remaining nails with the second polish, but one coat at a time. Once the first coat is dried, paint them one nail at a time, and sprinkle salt over the wet polish. I recommend doing this near a sink or outside, as it can be slightly messy. After evenly coating your nail with the salt, shake your nail around to remove the excess salt.

Apply a top coat. I love the finish of my salted manicure after applying a top coat, my nails glistened! Be sure to not only apply it to the top of the nail, but the tip of your nail and sides. This will just help the salt stay on even longer.

The post Nail Tutorial: Salted Manicure appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

The girls over at HowDoesShe? have come up with yet another great reuse project. This time, Heather has come up with a genius way to make nail templates out of office supplies. The second I saw her tutorial, I face-palmed – why didn’t I think of that?! Using round labels, a decorative hole punch and nail polish of your choosing, you can having professional-looking nails in no time that even your kids can help with. [how to make your own nail art templates]

Project Estimate:

• Nail polish (at least 2 colors), on hand or $1 each
• Label stickers, on hand or $1
• Shaped scrapbooking hole punches, on hand or $1 and up

Total: Free and up

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Amy over at The Idea Room has been wanting to make gumball necklaces for herself and her daughter, but could never find gumballs in the colors she loved without having to order them online. Well, one day while perusing the craft store (which happens more often than she would like to admit) Amy spied some wooden beads!  BINGO!  She had her “gumballs” and could make them exactly the colors she wanted.  See her tutorial and more ADORABLE photos of her little one on her blog.  [how to make a faux gumball necklace]

Project estimate:

• Wooden beads, on hand or $1 and up
• Paint, on hand
• Ribbon, on hand

Total:  Free and up

The post Make a Faux Gumball Necklace appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I was a guest judge for the dollar store challenge last week at The CSI Project, a weekly challenge blog. There were a lot of great projects represented in the competition (I saw some of you there! Some of you I have already featured here at DSC), but the one I chose was a huge project done on a dollar store budget. Like I said at CSI, I picked this project as my number one project because it made such a huge impact in the kitchen, and was an innovative way to use dollar store stuff to achieve a new look in the kitchen for little money. Part of the core mission of Dollar Store Crafting is to encourage you to make it work, even if your budget for a project is little or nothing.

backsplash before

Tiffany at Easie Peasie improved her kitchen by removing crumbling and mismatched vinyl-stick on tiles that had been put up on the wall as a backsplash. Since the backsplash at her rental house had already been made of stick-on tiles, Tiffany decided to replace them with matching (and custom painted) tiles from the dollar store. Tiffany said: “This project proves that just because you are renting, and may not have a huge budget for renovations, you can be creative and find a cute way to make it pretty with what you have.” [click here for the dollar store kitchen backsplash]

dimensional stencil technique from Make the Best of Things

Tiffany mentioned that she thought it might be cute to do a stenciled pattern on the tiles, which could look like pressed tin. You could also do the dimensional stencil from Creative Jewish Mom on the tiles, to create more texture on the tiles. I recently saw a cool dimensional applique effect at Make the Best of Things made with hot glue and tissue paper that would be amazing for a backsplash.

Project Estimate:

• 20 stick-on vinyl tiles, $20
• Primer, $5
• Spray paint, $5 (or on hand, like in Tiffany’s case)

Total: $25 and up

The post Make a Dollar Store Kitchen Backsplash appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Did you know that 80% of plastic bottles aren’t recycled? What to do with those landfill hogs? Green Upgrader posted this adorable coin purse made from two recycled 20 oz. soda bottles. They also give additional soda bottle crafting suggestions – cut bottle lengthwise for a clutch, anyone?  [download instructions here] [PET bottle purse FB page] [via best of diy] [designed by]

I like this coin purse project as it is a little more modern-looking than many of the kitschy recycled can craft projects out there. I can see myself carrying one of these recycled soda can coin purses much more than I can imagine myself wearing a crocheted beer can dress (much love to Stitchy McYarnpants).

You can get these soda bottles at the dollar store, but why not just recycle some already-enjoyed soda bottles instead? The trick to sewing the zipper onto the bottle is punching holes in the bottle so you can sew through them (kind of like a preschool sewing card). Poke holes with a 1/16″ craft punch or just a heated needle. Then stitch through the holes to secure the zipper.

Project Estimate:

• 2 20oz soda bottles, empty, $2 or on hand
• Zipper, $1

Total cost: $1 and up

UPDATE February 2010: I got a note from the creator of this project, Zitta Schnitt, with more information on how it was made:

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