If you are a rubber stamper, you are probably familiar with the wonder of embossing powder! It’s a powder that you apply to a stamped (or wet) surface, and then heat with an embossing gun to melt it into a pretty, shiny finish. You’re probably familiar with how to use embossing powder for cards, but have you ever thought about all the other ways to use embossing powder?

Over at eBay*, I have written a guide for 7 Creative Ways to Use Embossing Powder. My favorite idea is to dip plain office brads in embossing powder to create decorative enameled brads. (*I wrote that article as part of a paid collaboration with eBay.)

Do you have any good ideas for how to use embossing powder creatively?

The post 7 Creative Uses for Embossing Powder appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Project estimate:

• Ink or paint, on hand
• Various household objects, on hand

Total:  Free!

The post Make Stamps from Household Objects appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’m always getting codes for free photo stuff from places like Walgreens and Shutterfly, but I usually don’t have any photos that I need to have printed out.  Not wanting to let those codes go to waste, I decided to find creative ways to use them.  When I got a code for a free 4×6, 20-page photo brag book (all I had to pay was shipping), I had a brilliant idea.  I have a friend who writes a lot of poetry, and I was inspired to turn it into a 20-page custom journal for her to write in!

Project estimate:

• Photo book, $2 and up
• Printable scrapbook journaling tags, free
• Glue, on hand
• Washi tape, stickers, or other embellishments (optional), on hand or $1 and up

Total:  $2 and up

The photo book I ordered is usually about $7 plus about $2 shipping; since I had a code to get it for free, I only paid about $2 for mine!  I also frequently get codes for 8×8 photo books for just the cost of shipping, so eventually I plan to make a larger version of this project!  Since I wanted my photo book to be full of scrapbook-paper-like backgrounds, I spent a sunny day taking pictures of the sky that I had printed in my book.  You can also choose from a variety of different backgrounds for the photo book pages and not have any pictures printed in the book at all!

To add text areas to the pages of the photo book and turn it into a journal, I used free printables.  There are tons of different free scrapbook journaling tags available around the web that you can use to give your journal a totally custom look!  I’ve compiled a few links at the end of this post to get you started.

Once you’ve cut out all of your printable journaling tags, start arranging them and gluing them into the pages of the book.  I experimented with a few different glues and found that spray adhesive gave me the best results.  (Make sure you use permanent spray adhesive, not repositionable adhesive, or the journaling tags may peel off!)  If you want to dress up the pages even more, use washi tape, stickers, or other embellishments to fill out the space.  Make sure you use flat items and avoid any dimensional elements so that the pages remain easy to write on.

Don’t forget to put a journaling tag on the cover as well!

I am so excited to give the journal to my friend!  It is so perfect for her poetry, and it’s as one-of-a-kind as she is!

I can just imagine what it will look like filled with her poems, thoughts, and doodles!

Need some journaling tags to get started on making your own journal?  Here are a few links:

• Yarn-Trimmed Scrabook Journaling Tags by Dollar Store Crafts
• Doodle Scrapbook Journaling Tags by Simply Scrabooking Now
• Basic Journaling Blocks by Creating Keepsakes
• Free Printable Journaling Blocks Assortment by Sweetly Scrapped
• Lovely Labels in Warm Colors by Mrs. Greene
• Scallops and Dots Journaling Tags by Mrs. Greene

The post Tutorial: Custom Journal from Blank Photo Book appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Welcome to the first installment of a new series here on DSC:  Friday Freebies!  Every Friday we will bring you a new, free printable to use in your crafting or home decor.  Today’s printable is for all of you scrapbookers out there!  If you love the look of dimensional elements in your scrapbook but don’t like the way they make the pages lay in the album, here is a solution for you!  These free printable scrapbook journaling tags give the appearance that your page is trimmed with bits of pretty wool yarn.  I designed them with the old-fashioned cut and paste method; as much as I love graphic design projects on the computer, there is something about the tactile experience of working with paper and glue that just doesn’t compare to the virtual equivalent!  They’re lined for convenient, easy writing, and their color scheme is both cute and versatile.  Just print and trim and you’re ready to go!

Yarn Trimmed Scrapbook Journaling Tags

The post Friday Freebie: Printable Yarn-Trimmed Scrapbook Journaling Tags appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I recently received a box in the mail from a scrapbook supply company called Vintage Street Market. It was an exciting box to open because they make some very interesting products, including one thing that immediately got my gears turning that’s called Tinted Tape. It is scotch tape that is printed with different designs, including a style that mimics the yellowed look of aged tape. Seeing this tape made me want to find some old photographs to tape down!  However I don’t have any vintage snapshots laying around, so I decided to use a free photo editing website called Picnik to create my own retro-looking photos. (That’s right, no fancy software required!) Read on to see how it’s done.

Project estimate:

• Digital image, on hand
• Picnik online photo editor, free
• Vintage Street Market “Aged” Tinted Tape, $4.95
• Paper, on hand

Total:  $4.95

First, choose a photograph to use.  (It should be a digital image, so if you’re using a physical copy of a photo you will need to scan it into your computer.)  I used this shot of my husband and I taken on our honeymoon.

Go to the Picnik website and upload your photo to the editor.  To upload, click on the “Upload Photo” button and select your image.  Once uploaded, your image will appear in the photo editing dashboard.

From the menu near the top of the screen, click on the “Crop” button.  From the drop-down menu, choose the option to crop the photo to a square shape.  Drag the box on the screen around the portion of the photo you’d like to use, then click “OK” to save.

Click on the “Create” tab at the top of the page, then select the “Effects” option.  Scroll down the menu in the left-hand side until you find an effect called “1960’s.”  Click on this effect and the colors in your photo will change slightly, giving it the look of an old photograph.  Adjust the intensity of the effect with the slider bar if desired, then click on “Apply” to save the changes.

Optionally, you can also use the text tool to add a date stamp to the corner of the photo.  Once you’re done editing the photo, choose the “Save & Share” tab to download the finished photo to your computer.

Print and cut out your image.  (I resized mine to 4 inches before printing to make it closer to the size of a standard photo.)

Now the photo is ready to be taped down with the Vintage Street Market aged-look tape.  Some ideas include scrapbook layouts or personalized Christmas cards, or you could even tape the photo to a 5″ x 7″ piece of paper and put it in a frame.  Use the Tinted Tape on the corners of the picture to complete the vintage look.

Thanks for the inspiration, Vintage Street Market!

disclosure: Vintage Street Market sent me some of their products to try free of charge; all opinions are 100% mine.

The post Make a Vintage-Look Photo appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

It’s printables week here at Dollar Store Crafts!  This week we’ll be bringing you some great free holiday printables and crafty ideas to go with them.  To kick things off, I made this fun Thanksgiving picture frame.  To make it more versatile, it comes in three versions:  One that says, “I’m thankful for friends,” one that says, “I’m thankful for family,” and a third that says “I’m thankful for you.” Download the PDFs at the bottom of this post.

The printable is made to frame a 4 x 6 inch photo, with finished dimensions of 5 x 7 inches.  There are two frames to a sheet, downloadable in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format.  So what can you do with this frame?  Quite a bit, actually!

The simplest way to use the frame printable is to use it as a photo mat for framing.  Cut out the center of the mat and use it to make a 4 x 6 inch photo fit into a 5 x 7 inch frame.

It’s also an inexpensive way to make photo greeting cards for Thanksgiving.  Frame a picture of your family and attach it to a folded piece of cardstock; inside, write or print out a greeting.  Mine says, “Happy Thanksgiving from the Greenes.”

But I think my favorite use is as a scrapbook embellishment!  It makes for a quick, simple scrapbook layout, ideal for on-the-go scrapbooking moms.  (This layout literally took less than 5 minutes to complete!)

Enjoy this free Thanksgiving printable, and let us know how you use it!

Download the printable PDFs here:

• “I’m Thankful for You” Thanksgiving Frame: thanksgivingframe-1
  • OR download from Scribd
• “I’m thankful for friends/family” Thanksgiving Frame: thanksgivingframe2
  • OR download from Scribd

The post Printable Thanksgiving Picture Frame + 3 Uses appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Okay, I haven’t seen these shadow boxes in the dollar store for a few months, but maybe you picked one up awhile back and still haven’t done anything with it (guilty! I have at least three). I love this Halloween shadow box made by Jana at I Can’t Wanna. Such a cute mix of pretty paper and creepy accents. Yes, Halloween is almost here and gone, but this basic concept will work for any holiday! Make one for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, etc.  [find out about the halloween shadow box]

This would be a fun project for tweens to do at a slumber party or scout party, or maybe YOU should get together with some of your girlfriends for a crafternoon. This is also a great stashbuster – use small scraps of paper or fabric and other little bits you have left over from craft projects. The dollar store also has a decent selection of scrapbooking supplies, and you can paint or glitter them to go with your color scheme.

Project Estimate:

• Shadow box, $1
• Paint, on hand
• Glue, on hand
• Assorted ephemera, on hand or $1 and up

Total: $1

p.s. I found a bunch of other cool Halloween dollar store crafts at I Can’t Wanna:

• Halloween matchboxes
• Halloween cupcake toppers
• Halloween spider specimen display
• And these Halloween mini shadow boxes by GoodyGoodyGumdrops

The post Make a Halloween Shadow Box appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Make a ton of custom stationery with a roll of pretty gift wrap from the dollar store. Right now, my local dollar store has several nice prints on brown kraft paper that make great stationery or printer paper. You’ll get many sheets of paper for only a dollar and a little bit of work preparing the paper. You can use the paper for all kinds of applications, including scrapbooking.

Thanks to my sister Shannon of Redcouch Photo who came up with this great idea! She and I always have a great time being crafty partners in crime. Right now she’s in Africa doing dollar store crafts with cute little kiddos – I can’t wait to share some of the projects we came up with!

Project Estimate:

• One roll of gift wrapping paper, $1
• Iron, on hand
• Paper cutter or scissors, on hand

Total: $1

To create your own stationery, iron out a roll of gift wrap on the low setting on your iron (no steam!). Trim ironed paper to size with your paper cutter. Cut 8.5×11″ for letter-sized paper that will fit in your printer.

Here’s an example of what you could do with your new stationery. My friend and I made these little zines using the gift wrap as cover paper. We glued on the cover graphic that was printed onto cardstock, and then glued ribbon from the wedding section at our dollar store around the border of the cardstock. I think they turned out super cute!

Dick Blick Art Supplies: Gifts Under $25

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