If you’ve ever waited for your luggage at a busy airport baggage claim, you know how hard it can be to spot your own suitcase in the sea of others. Make yours sand out from the crowd by adding a unique luggage tag! Ashley from Sugar & Cloth used some leather remnants and colorful bits of yarn to create bright, whimsical tags that make her bags easily identifiable when they go past on the carousel. [how to make pom pom luggage tags]

Project estimate:

• Yarn, on hand
• Leather, on hand or $1 and up
• Leather alphabet punches or paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Eyelet, on hand or $1 and up

Total: Free and up!

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I don’t know about you, but my car is usually a disaster area.  During the course of a normal week, I’m in and out of it so many times carrying so many different things that, by the time the weekend rolls around, it looks like the path of a tornado.  Know the feeling?  Take a tip from Heidi at The Castro Family HAPPYnings, who found a great way to organize her trunk.  She used pocketed organizers from the dollar store to hold all of her family’s necessities!  You could also mount them on the backs of the front seats of your car to give backseat passengers easy access to things like toys, games, snacks, hand sanitizer, or anything else that might come in handy on the road.  She even gives a run-down of everything that she keeps in her car, complete with tons of great organizing tips.  You’ll definitely want to check this out before your next road trip!  [how to organize your car trunk]

Project estimate:

• Pocketed organizers, $1 each

Total:  $1 and up

The post Organize Your Car Trunk appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Tic-Tac-Toe to Go: $2

Nikki at Salty Pineapple made this to-go version of tic-tac-toe. You can use plastic figurines found at the dollar store (Cowboys vs. Indians? Army men vs. Dinosaurs?) and take this game with you for instant fun on the go. Click here for The Salty Pineapple’s Tutorial.

Counting Game: $1

Reader Ann at Two Red Heads and a Boy-le made this cool counting game out of a dollar store shadow box. So cool! Get the details here.

Tic-Tac-Toe: $1

The same shadow box becomes a Tic-Tac-Toe game, by Katrina at Sevin Family.

Rubber Band Gun: $.25-ish

Nikki at Salty Pineapple made these fun rubber band guns for a game at her son’s birthday party. Details here.

Airplane Runway: $1 or less

Noelle from Reynolds R Us made this cute little play runway for her son (all with just her glue gun! no sewing!). I think it would be fun to make one out of a dollar store placemat and scrap fabric. Get the info here.

The post Roundup: Games and Toys to Make appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Beckie from Infarrantly Creative wrote a tutorial for this cute animal neck pillow for kiddos, over at UCreate. This project takes a readymade stuffed animal and combines it with a little sewing and stuffing! You could easily make this from dollar store stuff. Pick your favorite animal from the toy aisle, and pick up a fleece blanket or scarf, and you’re good to go! Or, use this to give new life to under-loved animals you already have, and use stash fabric to make it into a stashbusting project! [click here for tutorial]

Project Estimate:

• Stuffed animal, $1 or on hand
• Fabric or fleece blanket/scarf, on hand or $1
• Batting, on hand
• Sewing stuff, on hand

Total: FREE and up

The post Make a Stuffed Animal Neck Pillow appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Moses Basket Bedding Tutorial by Sew Can Do: $5 and up

This is a sewing tutorial, and uses adorable fabric from the fabric store, but you can adjust it to use dollar store receiving blankets or fleece blankets, or bust into your fabric stash (you know you have one).

Road Trip I-Spy Album by GreetingArts: $1 and up

Create a custom “I Spy” game especially for road trips using a dollar store photo album.

Peek-a-Boo Nursing Cover by Tarkheena Crafts: $3

Make a nursing apron with a peek-a-boo gap so you can see baby, similar to the ones you can find in baby boutiques, but at a fraction of the price.

File Folder Matching Games by Mama Jenn: $1

Dollar store classroom supplies are transformed into portable matching games by Mama Jenn.  Click above for color matching game, or here for Sesame Street matching game.

The post Reader Roundup: Parent Hacks appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Carrie from ThisMamaMakesStuff tells us how she made this adorable paper doll who can wear all your tiniest scraps!  And, if you’re a scrapbooker, think of all the possibilities for paper doll clothes from your ridiculously-sized scraps!  [more information here]

I can’t wait to try this out!

Project Estimate:

• fabric or paper scraps, on hand
• 50 sheets blank cardstock, $5

Project Estimate: $5 and up

-By Care, Obsessively Stitching

The post Scrap Fabric Paper Dolls appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Amber from The Brush Barn came up with this fun take-along kit to entertain kids on the go: a Doctor Kit. [click here for Amber’s blog]

Amber says:

I am preparing for a trip to Fl and coming up with some travel idea for my kiddies. This is one I finished. Could also be used for church, car, etc. I made two for about 5.00 (so 2.50 each). My kids love it, keeps them entertained for hours. They lay the animal on the bed, give him a play shot, wrap him with an ace bandage, put some band aids on him and give him some medicine (which they eat themselves!)

Project Estimate:

• 2 pencil pouches, 1.00 each
• 1 ace bandage cut in half, 1.00
• 1 box band aids, 1.00
• 1 sheet white felt, .33

Total: for two 4.33 (or one for $2 something!)

Amber added:

• a medicine dispenser (already had from kids Tylenol)
• little container of smarties (found some little container to stick smarties in… an old 35 mm film canister would work, or even a really small empty prescription bottle.)

To make:
Amber added a laminated Doctor Kit tag, cut the ace bandage in half (way too long for just one) and glued the ends with hot glue or Elmer’s glue so they don’t fray.
Cut the felt in half, perfect size for a medium to small stuffed animal or doll to lay on for a travel doctor bed, and there were 40 colored band aids in the one box so she split it in half for 20 for each bag.

If you don’t have two kids, divide everything and save the extra for replacements!

Thanks for sharing, Amber!

The post Make a Kiddie Doctor Kit appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I made this passport organizer a couple months ago for a craftster swap. I made it out of a dollar store dish towel (possibly the cutest DS dishtowel I have ever seen) and some spare plain yellow fabric I had in my stash. It has pockets for a passport, important credit card-sized cards, a zip pocket for change and other loose stuff, and a sleeve for keeping money or boarding passes for planes.

Project Materials:

• Dish towel or other cute fabric, $1
• Lining fabric, on hand
• Zipper, $1 or on hand
• (Optional) Velcro-type tape, on hand or $1
• (Optional) Hair elastic and shank button, on hand

Total: $1 and up

I didn’t take step-by-step photos of how I made it, but I wrote down the steps for constructing it and drew out rough pattern pieces in my sketchbook before I made it. I also don’t have specific measurements for these pieces at this time.

I used 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper to draw and cut out the pattern pieces for each piece.

Pieces you need:

• Outside
• Inside lining – cut an inch or so wider than the outside to accommodate seam allowances for a zipper
• Left side flap – make sure it is more than wide enough to accommodate a passport pocket
• Passport pocket piece (on top of left side flap) – cut 1″ wider than passport to allow room for seam allowances
• Small goodie pocket piece (on top of passport pocket piece)
• Right side flap – narrow enough to allow cards to peek out from pocket
• Optional: Velcro flap (2 pieces) – I ended up just using a button and hair elastic loop closure

Pre-Assembly:

1. Measure and cut pattern pieces
2. Cut lining piece about 6″ from right side and sew zipper on
3. Sew seams on edges of flap pockets, passport pocket, and small pocket
4. Sew small pocket on passport pocket
5. Sew passport pocket on left side flap
6. Sew pockets onto lining (right sides facing out, as it would look if you were going to use it)
7. Sew credit card dividing lines on right side pocket, reinforcing seam at opening
8. (If you are using a velcro closure): Sew velcro flap, sew velcro to outside piece
9. (If you are using a button & elastic closure): Sew button to outside piece

To Assemble:

Sandwich everything together, right sides facing:

• Velcro flap facing outside velcro OR Elastic band facing button
• Lining with all pockets sewn to it
• Leave zipper open to allow for turning

Sew around the outside of the sandwich layers, taking special care to reinforce elastic loop.

Turn inside out.

Sew a line down center of organizer (next to zipper) if desired.

The post Make a Passport Organizer appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I am in love with the idea of having a small file full of manila folders that contain fun activities for the kids to do in the car. This fun alphabet matching activity comes from Michelle at Her Cup Overfloweth (home of Muffin Tin Monday), and uses a file folder and dollar store alphabet clings. [click here for full project details]

Michelle cleverly laminated the file folder with clear contact paper to make a great surface for clings to stick to. Also, a series of folders like this would be great for summer travel, whether in the car or on a plane. You should be able to find room for a few folders in your carry-ons. (Sidenote: for more good ideas of crafty things to pack in your child’s carry-on, visit Jojoebi at A Bit of This and A Bit of That).

Project Estimate:

• Manila folder, on hand or $1 for many
• Clear contact paper, $1
• 2 sets of alphabet clings, $2

Total: $3 and up

The post Make a Portable Alphabet Matching Game appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Inspired by a tutorial for creating a makeup brush carrier I found at Still Dottie, I made a makeup brush carrier out of a pretty placemat I found at the dollar store along with some grosgrain ribbon. The brush carrier can be rolled up for easy toting in your purse, or packing in a suitcase. If you hurry, you can still make one for Mom for Mother’s Day!

Because you are using a placemat as the base for this project, you only need to sew a tiny bit (all in straight lines, I promise!). The project ends up taking less than a half hour, even if you have an ancient (and finicky) sewing machine like mine.

Choosing a placemat: my placemat was fairly stiff with interfacing, and had sequins sewn around the edge. My sewing machine had no trouble sewing through a double-thickness of placemat plus sequins. If you find a placemat that isn’t as stiff, I think it will still work just fine!

Project Materials:

• Placemat, $1
• Grosgrain ribbon, $1

Total cost: $2

To make:

1. Fold placemat over as desired to acommodate the length of your makeup brushes. Crease with your hand or an iron.

2. Pin decorative ribbon across placemat if desired. This is the time to add any other embellishments, too. Possibilities: sew buttons on, stencil or embroider a design, applique, etc. I used two stripes of ribbon that I lined up on the front and back of the makeup carrier.

3. Sew embellishments on. I sewed my two rows of ribbon. (Optional) Sew a line across area where you creased/ironed.

4. Cut a length of ribbon twice as wide as your placemat. Fold in half, and pin folded side between the folded placemat. This will be the tie for your makeup roll.

5. Line up ribbon (if you’re doing the same thing I did) and pin sides together. Starting at fold, sew straight line down each side of pocket, reinforcing at the open edge of the pocket.

6. Sew lines down pocket for brushes. You might want to put a brush in after the first line sewn, just to be sure the brushes fit. Because the carrier is flat, you will want to make the pocket lines wide enough to expand a little when a brush is put inside. In other words, a wider pocket is better.

You’re done!

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