Sea glass is still so popular, and it’s a beautiful way to decorate your home in the summer.  Rather than buying new decorative accents, you can make your own using a few simple items plus recyclables.

Don’t worry if you don’t feel like you’re very artistic!  Stencils make it easy for all of us to create beautiful, professional looking home decor projects.  I used a clear glass bottle from my recycling bin plus a few DecoArt products to create this beautiful faux sea glass bottle.

Project Estimate:

• Bottle – on hand
• DecoArt Texture Glass – $5.50
• Stencil – on hand
• Glass Paint – on hand

Total:  $5.50 and up

Step one:  Tape the stencil to the cleaned bottle.  Spread the Texture Glass onto the stencil, then remove the stencil.  Let it dry.  The paste is easy to work with since it goes on white but dries clear, so you can see exactly where you’ve applied it before it dries.

Step two:  Use glass paint to cover the entire surface of the bottle.  I used a turquoise color, but you could use green for a different look.  There are lots of glass paint colors available, so even if you don’t like sea glass you could paint your bottle any color to match your decor.

I’ve decorated my home in turquoise and lime green, so I paired this sea glass blue bottle with this faux ceramic bottle that I also made from recyclables.  You can find that tutorial here.  I love that I can turn my trash into something beautiful and useful!  You could make several of these to use as pretty outdoor table decor, too.  I think they’d make fun patio centerpieces if you put a few flowers in them and use them as a vase.  Have fun crafting and creating.

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• Fishing line, on hand or $1
• Sea glass, $1
• Industrial-strength glue (aka E-6000!), on hand or about $5
• Driftwood, on hand

Total: $1 and up

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I’ve lived within a few miles of Lake Michigan for pretty much my whole life, and for as long as I can remember I have enjoyed walking along the beach and collecting bits of colorful glass worn smooth by the waves and sand.  But what if you don’t have access to beach glass, or you don’t have enough pieces to complete a project?  Over at Mrs. Greene, I shared how I used some 3D frosted glass paints to give some dollar store drinkware a beach-inspired mosaic makeover – and it’s even dishwasher safe!  [how to paint faux sea glass drinkware]

Project estimate:

• Glasses, on hand or $1 and up
• Frosted glass paint, about $3/bottle and up (about $9 for 3 colors)

Total:  about $9 and up

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Every once in a while we see a project that is so simple yet so high-impact that it makes us step back, pause, and marvel at someone’s creative genius.  This window was one of those moments, spotted at Forever Decorating.  Blogger Terry’s friend, Gail, had the unadorned window hanging on her porch as a decoration.  After a wind storm blew it down, Gail decided to revamp it before rehanging it.  Her embellishments of choice?  Decorative glass pieces from the dollar store!  She used both flat glass stones and frosted “sea glass” to decorate the panes, gluing them into a random mosaic pattern.  The finished window makes a gorgeous statement on her porch, but this project also has a practical side!  It would be a great idea for anywhere you want to have a little privacy but still let in a lot of natural light, such as a bathroom window.  Don’t have a spare window laying around to play with?  Try your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, where you will likely find stacks and stacks of old windows for just a few bucks each!  [how to make a decorative mosaic window]

Project estimate:

• Window, about $5 and up
• Decorative glass, about $2 and up
• Glue, on hand

Total:  about $7 and up

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Growing up in a beachfront town, collecting bits of smooth, colorful glass from the shore is something I’ve enjoyed doing for almost my entire life.  But what to do with all of those gorgeous little bits once you’ve gathered them?  Over at Crafts Unleashed, Angie strung a bunch of pieces together to make a beautiful wind chime!  Not only does it sounds lovely when the breeze blows it around, it also looks phenomenal with the sun shining through it!  If you don’t have access to the beach to collect your own glass, you can also use bags of decorative glass, which you can often find alongside the river rocks and flat marbles at the dollar store.  [how to make sea glass wind chimes]

Project estimate:

• Embroidery hoops, about $2 and up
• Paint, on hand or $1
• String, on hand or $1
• Beach glass, on hand or $1 and up
• Glue, on hand

Total:  about $2 and up

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When I visited the dollar store this week, the aisles were full of boxes, and employees were busily unpacking new stuff! I totally have to go back this weekend to see what they put out in the store, but for now, let me just share the few things I picked up while I was there: a couple new-to-me items, and some restocked goodies I haven’t seen for quite awhile.

First up, in the picture at the top are these adorable wooden beads. They come in a beaded bracelet kit, and include the elastic thread, round orange, pink, and red beads as well as the decorative painted discs. They’re intended for kids, but I am planning on incorporating them into some remade jewelry pieces. I think they could be really cool! Everything in this pic came together, and grand total for this was $1. I used beads like these a couple years ago when I made my beaded stitch marker project, but this is the first time I’ve seen these beads in the store for over a year.

Well actually, there IS one thing in the photo above that I didn’t include in the price tally, and that’s something that is completely new to me at the Dollar Tree: plastic organizer boxes with compartments!

I have been storing my beads and finding in a muffin tin, but this small case snaps shut, and all the compartments stay completely separate from each other when it’s closed, so I snapped up a couple of these, and my beads have a new home.

This isn’t new at the dollar store, but I found some decorative “sea glass” (ish) in the floral section. I would love to use these in some jewelry, although I need to figure out how to further smooth the jagged edges before I do that. They are definitely pretty, though!

Finally, my 4 year-old son has started mentally processing the concept of geography, so I wanted to get him a visual aid to help him understand cities and states. I found a large map of the USA in the school supplies section, so I’m looking forward to hanging it up so we can study geography. If you’re not excited by the idea of hanging a map up on the wall, think about this idea: these maps would make really cool gift wrap (especially for a guy)!

What have you found at the dollar store this week? And what would you do with the sea glass?

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Gail at Can’t Stop Making Things posted instructions for making these pretty sea glass pendants. How fun would these be for a wedding favor, wine glass charms, or as a bridesmaid gift? Gail even found her “sea glass” in the flower arranging section at the dollar store. [full project instructions here]

If you don’t already have them, you can find wire cutters and needle nose pliers at some dollar stores (they’re in the craft section of my local store). You can also usually find some kind of all-purpose glue that can be used on glass in the tool section.

Project Estimate:

• Beach glass, $1
• 16 gauge wire, $1-2
• 24 gauge wire, $1-2
• Metal charm (optional), $1
• Gel super glue, on hand
• Wire cutters & needle nose pliers, on hand

Total: $3 and up

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