Halloween is tomorrow! (Eeep!  Are you ready?)  Luckily, you can whip up your very own guard monster to keep tricksters at bay in no time!  This wreath would also be a great decoration for a monster-themed party any time of the year.

Project estimate:

• Four feather boas, $4 and up
• Small wreath form, $1 and up
• Two ice cream cone dog toys, $2 and up
• Silver craft paint, on hand
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1 and up
• Spiked slap bracelet, $1
• Popsicle stick, on hand or $1 and up
• Hot glue gun and glue, on hand
• Paintbrushes, on hand

Total: $8 and up

Step 1: Wrap the Wreath form.

Secure the end of one of the boas to the wreath form with hot glue. Wrap it through the wreath form to cover it. Repeat using two additional boas to completely cover the wreath.

Once the wreath form is completely covered, use glue to secure one end of the fourth boa and wrap it around the outside circumference of the wreath, securing it every few inches with hot glue.

Step 2: Make the horns

Use your scissors to cut the cone portion from the ice cream cone dog toys.

Use silver craft paint to paint the cones. Set them aside to dry. If desired, you could add silver glitter to them as well!

Step 3: Finishing details

To create a base to hold the collar (slap bracelet) on the monster, break the popsicle stick roughly into thirds. Space the two rounded ends out the width of the spikes on the bracelet and attach to the wreath form with hot glue.

Allow the glue to set completely before wrapping the ends of the slap bracelet around the popsicle stick anchors.

Once the  horns are dry, secure them to the top of the wreath with hot glue.

Add the googly eyes and you’re ready to hang!

The post Tutorial: Guard Monster Wreath appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’ve talked before about my wreath stalking tendencies. I particularly love atypical wreaths. The kinds of door decor that makes you pause and go “oooooh.” And that’s exactly what happened when I saw Heidi from Honeybear Lane’s fluffy Valentine’s Day wreath. Heidi says she bought 12 packages of pom-poms to make her wreath but it appears her packages contained fewer poms than the large bags at the dollar store. If you want to do an all pink wreath, you may need extra packages, but if you like mixed colors, you could probably buy just 3 bags of dollar store poms to make one wreath. If anyone makes one, please let us know how many bags you used!  [how to make a pom pom heart wreath]

Project estimate:

• Heart shaped wreath form, $3 and up
• 6 bags of pom-poms, $6 and up
• Hot glue gun and glue, on hand
• Ribbon for hanging, on hand

Total: $9 and up

The post Make a Pom-Pom Heart Wreath appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Did you know that this year is the 100th anniversary of Washington, DC’s National Cherry Blossom Festival?  I’ve always been fascinated with the lush, pink blooms that cover Japanese cherry trees every spring.  Even if Washington is too far away to enjoy the festivities, you can still celebrate at home by making your own cherry blossom art!  Rachel from AlphaMom figured out that she could use an empty soda bottle as a flower stamp, quickly and easily creating her own sakura blossom picture in just minutes.  It’s pretty enough to frame and hang on the wall, but simple enough for children to master!  [how to make easy cherry blossom art]

Project estimate:

• Poster board, on hand or $0.50
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Empty soda bottle, on hand

Total:  Free and up

The post Make Easy Cherry Blossom Art appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Have you seen the rose-shaped soaps at Dollar Tree?  They look so pretty and smell so good that it’s easy to see why Desirée of The 36th Avenue was drawn to them.  In need of powder room accessories, she came up with a great crafty idea.  By taking the flowers apart and strategically pinning them to a foam ball (also found at Dollar Tree) she ended up with a pretty kissing ball or pomander type of decoration.  To display this piece, you could mount it on top of a glass candlestick, or if you prefer to hang it you can pin a length of ribbon into it.  (You may also wish to add a touch of glue to the ribbon, just in case!)  [how to make a soap flower ball]

Project estimate:

• Rose soap petals, $1
• Styrofoam ball, on hand or $1
• Pins, on hand or $1

Total:  $1 and up

The post Make a Soap Flower Ball appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Decorchick threw an adorable party for her daughter, and shared some of her dollar store crafted secrets for making the party pretty! She made dollar store hurricane glasses and decorated them with pretty rhinestone decals. Then she filled them with simple but pretty candy-dipped pretzel rods. She got her rhinestone decals at Hobby Lobby, but you could simulate the look with those rhinestone decals in the craft section at the dollar store, or how about taking a fingernail jewel kit from the makeup section and decorating the glasses with those? [see the dollar store decorated party here]

Project Estimate:

• Vase, $1
• Candle stick, $1
• E6000 glue, on hand
• Rhinestone decals, $1 and up

Total: $3

She wrote a post about how she made the hurricane glasses.

She also made a cute serving tray with a dollar store plate (pink polka-dots!) glued to a candle stick. When you’re planning a party, remember you want to add varying heights to serving dishes to add drama. Also, notice the blue mason jar vase in the background (it has pink flowers in it – such a pretty combo). Be sure to visit her blog to see the rest of the party.

Additional Resources:

• Tips for Throwing a Fabulous Party
• Thrifty Decor Chick: Williams Sonoma-inspired Hurricane Glasses
• 320*Sycamore: Williams Sonoma-inspired Hurricane Glass – Tutorial (from this roundup)
• Color Pop Tiered Trays

The post Dollar Store Party Serving Inspiration appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’m in awe of those who can plan a truly fabulous party. If party-planning doesn’t come naturally to you, I’ve collected some quick tips to help you plan amazing parties (and save money doing it). But first, the inspiration for this post, Shelley’s Sweet Shoppe party over at How Does She – her adorable twins had the best.first.birthday.ever with this amazing sugary pink party. All photos by Kara Jo Photography. [check out this adorable pink party at How Does She?]

Quick Tip: Make ruffled streamers and hang them in sweet stripes as a background for your party

Choose a theme… and stick to it

One thing I’ve noticed in the party posts we all drool over is that the planners choose a theme and do not deviate. In order to make maximum impact, every detail of the party must serve the theme.

Saving Money: a theme helps you save money because it eliminates excess components that don’t fit in your theme. It gives you direction for where to spend your money, and what items to include in the party.

Now, being the social/squishy person I am, I have to remind you that the MAIN theme of any party is the person it’s being planned for. In your quest to create the perfect party, please don’t forget the guest of honor (and the rest of your guests). Make sure the experience is great for everyone by focusing on the guests, including yourself, on the day of the party. Nobody likes a partyzilla. Which brings us to my next point:

See Page 2 for more –>

The post Fabulous Sweet Shoppe Party and Tips for Cheap Party Planning appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

In addition to choosing a winner of the CSI Dollar Store Project, I was also able to choose my top 10 projects. It wasn’t easy to narrow the top ten down, but all of the top 10 projects were innovative and showed me something I haven’t seen before (or cleverly twisted something I have seen before). One of my top tenners, Becky, made a pretty pink ruffly umbrella out of an unlikely material. I loved this project because Becky managed to make $2 from the dollar store look a LOT more expensive, and super pretty and feminine. Her ruffly umbrella was so clever I asked her to share the tutorial with you! So welcome to Dollar Store Crafts, Becky! We’re glad to have you here with us today! -Heather

How to Make a Ruffly Pink Umbrella
by Becky Waldrop, http://beckywaldrop.blogspot.com

It’s finally here! The dollar store ruffled umbrella tutorial. I entered this into last weeks CSI Project contest which was the dollar store challenge. (Heather was the guest judge) I got in the top 10!! I am so so excited!! I want to thank Heather for having me here at Dollar Store Crafts. I am beyond excited and so so thrilled. This is my first tutorial so if you don’t understand something or I wasn’t clear please ask in the comments and I can answer stuff there.

Project Materials:

• Umbrella, $1
• Plastic tablecloth, $1
• Double-sided tape, on hand or $1
• Rotary cutter and mat, on hand

Total: $2 and up

Go to page 2

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Here’s another question for everyone to brainstorm about!

I’m doing a Mother/Daughter tea for my work and am short on money. I was wondering if you had any idea on how to decorate. So far, I have white tablecloths (I wanted pink overlays, but apparently they don’t exist) and white and pink carnations (donated). I was thinking more pink than anything. Any thoughts? It’s next month and I realized I don’t have all this figured out yet!

Thank you so much!

Heather

Thanks for your email, Heather! Here are my ideas:

Burlap: this is a pretty hot decorator item right now, and the best part about it is that it’s super inexpensive! Ways to use it:

• Get a few yards of burlap and cut it into narrow table runners to go down the center of the tablecloths
• Use it to make pretty paper towel flowers (with a general pink color scheme)
• Get some smallish white frames at the dollar store, frame some burlap and a pink flower
• You can also spray paint the burlap pink and use it any way you want

Speaking of Spray Paint: This is a quick and cheap way to makeover anything, including dollar store or thrift store knick knacks for table decorations.

Ask Around: If you know a few people who are coming, you could ask them to lend you their tea sets. Pretty tea sets are great table decorations in themselves!

At the Dollar Store:

• Paper doilies
• Pink rose petals (in the wedding section)
• Pink ribbon
• Vases
• Faux flowers

Okay, that should get you started. Readers, please chime in with your good ideas!

The post How to Decorate for Pink Mother/Daughter Tea? appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I am always so happy whenever I receive project submissions from my readers! It really makes my day to get an email that says “Hey, look what I did!” Here are a few recent projects that you have submitted to Dollar Store Crafts. As always, click on the link for each project to find instructions at the original blogs (if available).

Papier Mache Heart
By Leanne at SeetheWoodsandtheTrees

This great project uses recycled materials to make a pretty heart embellished with buttons and paper adornments.

Project Estimate:

• Old newspapers, magazines, or catalogs, on hand
• Masking tape, on hand
• Glue (1 part flour to 2 parts water), made from stuff on hand
• Tissue paper, on hand or $1

Total cost: FREE or $1

Pretty Spring Wreath
By Shana from mysillybeanz

Use pretty ribbon to make a cheerful wreath to welcome Spring! Shana says: “I made a ribbon wreath for my daughter’s Pink Themed Birthday Party.  I bought the foam ring shape at the local Dollar Tree, I think I purchased one roll of ribbon, the rest I had laying around the house.  I basically cut and tied the ribbon around the wreath till I felt it was full enough!”

Project Estimate:

• Wreath form, $1
• Ribbon, various, $1 each

Total cost: $4 and up

High School Musical Grad Hat Craft
By Kris at JesseKate Designs

Kris made this fun graduation hat craft for her daughter, who is a huge High School Musical fan, in honor of HSM3 coming out on DVD. She got all her materials at the dollar store.

Project Estimate:

• Construction paper, cardstock, or posterboard, on hand or $1
• Red disposable plastic bowls, $1
• Ruler, on hand
• Brad, on hand or $1
• Cereal with a hole in the center (Cheerios, etc), on hand
• Yarn, on hand

Total cost: $1 and up

Flower Fairy
By Colleen, from a project on Family Fun

I used to play with flowers in the garden and pretend they were little fairies or ladies in ball gowns. With faux flowers, you can create fairies that will last and last. Great project for a rainy day!

Project Estimate:

• Artificial flowers, $1
• 16mm round wooden bead, $1
• Pipe cleaners, $1
• Embroidery floss or yarn, on hand or $1

Total cost: $3 and up for many fairies

The post Reader-Submitted Crafts Roundup appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.