As summer starts to wind down, we’re heading to the time of year when it’s comfortable to have outdoor parties again.  I love being able to entertain outdoors!  For my daughter’s recent birthday party, I wanted to set up a fun little table outside for guests.  Our yard has a lot of wonderful trees, and I wanted to keep leaves and other things off the table, as well as provide a festive ambience to the setting.  I came up with an inexpensive canopy cover that’s fun, inexpensive, and easy to assemble!

Project estimate:

• Pool noodles (I used 6), $1 each
• Clothesline twine,  $1
• Plastic tableclothes (I used 2), $1 each
• (Optional) paper lanterns, $1 each

Total:  $9 and up

Step one:  Cut the pool noodles in half.

Step two:  Arrange the pool noodles, three pieces to a side, to form a square.  Tie an additional piece of twine outside two opposite rows.

Step three:  Thread the twine through three noodles at a time.  Knot the corners to maintain the square shape.

Step four:  Tie twine across the square to make a grid.

Step five:  Hang the canopy “frame” up by tying the four corners to trees or to posts.

Step six:  Drape two tablecloths over the “frame”, slip them over the pool noodle and through the extra piece of twine you tied on in step two.  Fold the excess plastic over, staple it together, and trim to fit.  Repeat on the other side.

Now you can hang paper lanterns, streamers, lights, etc. for the center grid of the canopy.  I like colorful paper lanterns, and the fun colors match the colors on my table.  You could hang balloons, streamers, string lights, or just leave the canopy as is.  I went with bright colors for a kids party, but you could do something similar in black and white or all one color.  We’re still enjoying our outdoor canopy, and I plan to leave it up as long as it lasts!

The post Tutorial: Make Your Own Party Canopy appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

With Memorial Day upon us, the start of summer picnic season is here!  And what picnic is complete without watermelon?  Over at the iLoveToCreate blog, Aunt Peaches shares how she made this festive watermelon tablecloth using an apple stamp.  Yes, an apple!  She used an old bed sheet as her fabric for this project; a drop cloth would also be a great option.  If watermelons aren’t your thing, try other fruit and vegetable stamps to make your design.  (Perhaps roses stamped with celery are more your style?)  [how to make a stamped watermelon tablecloth]

Project estimate:

• Apple or potato, on hand
• Fabric, on hand or $1 and up
• Fabric paint, on hand or about $6

Total:  Free and up!

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If you made our patriotic windsock project from yesterday, you’re going to have some plastic tablecloth strips leftover. Don’t want to toss them in the trash?  Use them to make this festive last minute wreath! Even if you didn’t make the windsock, this wreath is a quick and easy project.

Project estimate:

• Paper plate, on hand
• Red rectangular tablecloth, $1
• White rectangular tablecloth, $1
• Blue rectangular tablecloth, $1
• Scissors, on hand
• Metallic star shape, $1
• Star shaped noise maker, $1
• Hot glue gun and glue, on hand

Total: $5 or less

 Step 1: Cut Tablecloths.

Cut the tablecloths into long strips that are 1.5 inches wide.

 Step 2: Make the wreath.

Cut a circle out of the middle of your paper plate. (Don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be perfect.) If your plate is thin, you may want to stack 2-3 plates together.

 Take one of your tablecloth strips and fold it  into a shorter strip that is about 8 inches long and trim the ends through the loops so that you have a small bundle of 8 inch plastic strips.

 Tie the bundle around the paper plate and then pull the pieces apart to fluff them.

 Continue tying small bundles of strips around the plate, alternating colors between red, white and blue. To make the colors stand out more, I tied two bundles of each color at a time.

Step 3: Make the center.

Cut the stars off of the noisemaker. Cut the tab off the bottom as well.

 Center a red star from the noise maker in the middle of your metallic star cut out (these came in packs of 5 at my local dollar store) and attach with hot glue.

Use hot glue to attach the points of the star to the wreath before hanging on your door!

The post Tutorial: Patriotic Wreath from Picnic Supplies appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I love the classic looks of American patriotic crafts – red, white and blue streamers, sparkles and stars make my heart happy. So of course this craft is full of these! Reading the supply list might make one think you’re getting ready for a picnic but with a little help from scissors and glue you can turn your picnic supplies into a fun patriotic porch decoration!

Project estimate:

• Rectangular plastic table cloth in red, $1 and up
• Rectangular plastic table cloth in white, $1 and up
• Rectangular plastic table cloth in blue, $1 and up
• Plastic juice pitcher lid, on hand or $1 and up
• Three star shaped noise maker necklaces, $3 and up
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat, on hand
• Hot glue gun and glue, on hand
• Pipe cleaner, on hand or $1 and up

Total: $6 and up

 Step 1: Cut tablecloths into strips

Use scissors or a rotary cutter (not your fabric one!) and mat to cut tablecloths into 1.5 inch strips. I cut the white tablecloth lengthwise and the colored tablecloths widthwise. Craft tip: Don’t unfold the table cloth all the way. Leave it partially folded while cutting and unfold the strips as you go.

 Step 2: Glue the white strips onto the juice lid

Fold the long strips from the white tablecloth in half. Stagger the “legs” of the fold a bit and then attach to the juice lid with hot glue. Be sure to use a low temp glue gun or use a chopstick to help you press the tablecloth into the glue to avoid burns. Attach folded strips all the way around the lid.

 Step 3: Attach red and blue strips to lid

Unfold the full length of the red and blue strips and glue them in an alternating pattern on top of the white folded strips all the way around the lid.

 Step 4: Add stars

Cut the sparkly stars from the noise makers. Save one of the beaded strings they are on to use as a hanger and set aside.

 Put hot glue on the back of the extension that was used to hold the stars onto the noise maker and glue the stars around the top edge.

Step 5: Make a hanger

Cut one of the beaded necklaces into thirds. Use hot glue to attach the beaded strips to the top of the juice lid.

 Hold the three beaded strands together so that the windsock hangs level. Secure strands with a pipe cleaner. Don’t forget to make a loop in the top of the pipe cleaner for hanging. Trim excess beads if needed.

Step 6: Hang it outside!

The post Tutorial: Festive Fourth of July Windsock appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

From birthdays to wedding receptions, nothing sets the mood for a party quite like festive decorations.  Going all-out on party decorations doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated when you use ideas like this DIY fringed garland by Brittany at One Charming Party.  Made using plastic tablecloths, you can get enough mileage out of a buck or two to deck out your whole space!  [how to make a fringed garland]

Project estimate:

• Plastic tablecloth, $1
• Scissors, on hand

Total:  $1

The post Make a Fringed Garland appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Picnics are a fun staple of summertime activities.  But even the slightest breeze can make things go awry of your tablecloths aren’t weighted down!  While anything heavy will work (my grandmother always uses big rocks), if you’re like me you want something pretty to do the job.  Enter Heidi of Hands Occupied, who turned a few basic dollar store supplies into bright tablecloth weights.  We’re loving the current neon trend, but if it’s not your thing, use any color scheme that suits your fancy!  [how to make neon tablecloth weights]

Project estimate:

• Washers, on hand or $1
• String, on hand or $1 and up
• Clothespins, on hand or $1

Total:  Free and up

The post Make Neon Tablecloth Weights appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I decided it was about time that I kick my butt into high gear and start making some gifts so that I don’t find myself madly crafting until the wee hours the night before.  (Yeah, I do that a lot.)  For my mother-in-law, I knew that I wanted to make her some jewelry to wear to work; she wears a uniform, so her jewelry is an important daily fashion statement!

While I was wandering through Dollar Tree, I was looking for things that would match her work shirt, which is a bright, royal-ish blue.  One of the first things I found in the right color was a plastic table cloth.  But how could I turn that into jewelry?  And then the answer struck me: fused plastic!  A little ironing and cutting later, I had these fun, funky confetti earrings.  Want to see exactly how I made them?  Read on…

Project estimate:

• Plastic tablecloth(s), $1 and up
• Iron, on hand
• Towels, on hand
• Parchment paper, on hand or $1 and up
• Pin or needle, on hand
• Large split rings, $1 and up
• Jump rings, on hand
• Earring hooks, on hand

Total:  $2 and up

I wanted to alternate between two different colors of “confetti”, so I chose two plastic tablecloths:  one in light blue and one in dark blue.

Cut off a small section of tablecloth.  Fold the piece in half twice so that there are 4 layers of plastic, then sandwich the piece between two towels.  (You are supposed to also use parchment paper for this step; I was out of it, so I just used a couple of frayed, older towels so I wouldn’t care if they got bits of plastic stuck to them.  It also gave the plastic a neat texture!)

This next part isn’t an exact science, so you might need to experiment a little to get it just right.  With your iron on a medium-ish setting (I used the “rayon” setting on my iron), iron over the top towel to heat the plastic underneath.  Check the progress frequently; you want to heat it just enough that the four layers all bond into one sheet, but not so much that you melt holes in the sheet.  If you mess up, don’t fret – you still have plenty of plastic left to play with!

(Tip:  melting plastic can release toxic fumes; make sure you do this step in a well-ventilated area!)

Cut the fused plastic into small squares.  The don’t have to be exact – in fact, variations in size and shape will make the finished earrings look more interesting!

Use a pin or needle to poke a hole in the corner of each piece.

To assemble the earrings, I used 12mm (about 1/2 inch) split rings, the kind of rings the look like mini key rings.  Just like keys, thread the pieces of plastic onto the ring.  If you are using more than one color of plastic, alternate colors as you add pieces.  I put 15 pieces on each earring, but you can add more or less to get exactly the look you like.

Use jump rings to attach earring hooks to each split ring.

Voila!  Think anyone will guess that they are made out of plastic tablecloths?  I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law is going to love them!

The post Make Plastic Tablecloth Confetti Earrings appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Faux food gifts are a fun idea that’s been floating around out there for a while.  You’ve probably seen diaper cakes or sock cupcakes, but here’s a new twist!  Jolene from Creative Dollar used an assortment of baby essentials to create “sushi”, which she presented all wrapped up on a plate.  Hers was a baby girl gift and included hair bows; for boys, you could use more socks or other small soft goods instead.  Sushi-loving moms-to-be will love this creative presentation!  [how to make a sushi baby shower gift]

Project estimate:

• Onesies, $1 and up
• Washcloths, $1 and up
• Fish toy, $1 and up
• Baby socks, $1 and up
• Plate, $1 and up
• Black plastic table cloth, $1
• Rubber bands, on hand
• Scotch tape, on hand
• Chopsticks, on hand or $1

Total:  $6 and up

The post Make a Sushi Baby Shower Gift appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Recently, I told you that I met up with Breanna, a DSC fan, for a day of Dollar Store Craft shopping at Dollar Tree. She shared a great 15 second tutorial for making cool glass pedestal apothecary jars. I made another video that shows some of the things we found on our trip. If you aren’t a video watcher, I rounded up the highlights from the video here in this post. If you YouTube, be sure to subscribe to the DollarCraft YouTube channel. [How to make an apothecary jar]

Cupcake Gift Boxes: I found several cute cupcake gift boxes that ranged from small (about 3″ cube) to pretty large (about 7″). These were along the bottom of the gift bag section, which is an aisle I usually speed through or skip altogether. These are really cute, though!

Tinkerbell Notebooks: Dollar Tree has a lot of licensed merchandise with Disney characters like Tinkerbell, the Disney Princesses, and Toy Story characters on them. If you are having a birthday party with any licensed characters, stop at the dollar store first to find out if you can find any of the right stuff.  Other licensed characters I noticed: different superheroes, Spongebob and Dora the Explorer. Products ranged from notebooks to plastic dishes and small figurines.

Idea: Dress-a-Bear Kits for Pumpkins: Last year, my sister-in-law and her pre-schoolers dressed their Halloween pumpkins in these dollar store dress-a-bear kits. They turned out so cute, and because there was no carving or paint involved, it was a fun and mess-free activity. [how to dress your Halloween pumpkins]

Cameo Hair Elastics: Find these in the hair accessories section of the store, and use the cameos to embellish your crafts, or for jewelry-making projects.

Sage Green Bathroom Accessories: I found these pretty green bathroom accessories (they look prettier in real life). They’d be really nice with a monogram – either paint it (use these stenciling instructions) or cut vinyl or contact paper.

2-pack of Bandannas: These bandannas are poly-cotton and come in packs of two with cheerful patterns, so they’re good for projects like the bandanna tablecloth.

Colorful Knee Socks: Fun for kids to wear, or use to extend sleeves on kids’ t-shirts for fall and winter. Or make arm-warmers (like these Ninja Mitt Fingerless Gloves from Leethal.)

Wooden Magnetic Letters and Numbers: These were a hot item last year, and they sold out quickly. My Dollar Tree has them back in stock. You could glue them onto photo frames or wooden chairs or chests to personalize them for your kiddos. Or use the numbers to mark an advent calendar (yes, it’s time to make this year’s advent calendars!)

Flannel-Backed Tablecloths: Use these to make reusable sandwich or lunch bags, or reusable grocery sacks.

What have you seen at the dollar store this week?

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Bandannas have been showing up at my dollar store lately, in two-packs, but they’ve always been cheap even when they weren’t available at the dollar store. You can usually find them for a dollar per bandanna at your local big-box retailer, and the blue store carries traditional bandannas as well as some in fashion prints and colors. Anneliese at Aesthetic Nest has a great bandanna tablecloth tutorial (and a great cheap source for bandannas, too). She made a really cute tablecloth for a party – I’m sure her tablecloth will get lots of use for many summer activities to come! [click here for the bandanna tablecloth tutorial]

Project Estimate:

• 15 bandannas, buy 8 2-packs, $8
• Sewing stuff, on hand

Total: $8

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