Watermelons are one of our favorite summer motifs! So it’s not surprising that we love these watermelon coasters by Jessica at Young At Heart Mommy, who painted the design onto slices of wood. If you have a tree branch and a saw, you can make your own slices, or you can find them fairly inexpensively at most craft stores or online. You can even use this basic idea to create other fruits, like citrus slices. Be sure to check out Jessica’s post for some great tips on painting the watermelon seeds! [how to make wood slice watermelon coasters]

Project estimate:

• Wood slices, free or about $3 and up
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Glitter (optional), on hand or $1 and up
• Mod Podge, on hand

Total: Free and up!

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I love nail art.  But – and this is a really big but – I am generally not patient, coordinated, and artistic enough to pull off a nail art manicure on my own.  I recently saw a really cute video tutorial for watermelon nails and, while fairly basic compared to many other nail art tutorials I’ve seen, it still felt like it was a little beyond my skill level.  Taking that idea as inspiration, I decided to simplify the design down to more of a nail-art-for-dummies level.  I even managed to use my extremely clumsy left hand to paint this design on my own right hand – if it’s easy enough for me to have left-handed success, anyone can do it, I promise!

Project estimate:

• Nail polish, on hand or $1 and up
• Toothpick, on hand
• Top coat, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  $1 and up

Colors I used:

• Pink – Essie, Off the Shoulder
• Green – LA Girl Color Pop, Peacock
• Black – Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, Pat on the Black

Start by painting a base coat of color on your nails.  Paint your thumb and pinkie nails green, and paint the middle three nails pink.  Let your nails dry.

To add the seeds, make a drop of black nail polish on one of your pink nails.  Use the tip of a toothpick to “pull” one edge of the polish outward to a point, creating a seed-like shape.  Repeat on your other pink nails.  (I chose to leave an accent nail on one hand without a seed on it.)

After the seeds dry, apply a topcoat to seal them and make the design last longer.  I decided to give this matte topcoat a try and I love the effect it gives – try different topcoats for different finished looks!

I love how my nails turned out!

The post Summer Nail Art: Watermelon Manicure 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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Have you ever seen the little wooden boxes that Dollar Tree sometimes gets?  They are hinged with a magnetic closure and they always fly off the shelves so fast at my store that whenever I see them, I always snag a few more, so that when an idea hits I won’t have to wait months to find them for $1 again.  Which of course means I have a whole box full of these boxes.  As part of my effort to work though my supply hoard, I came across the box of boxes and was struck with the idea to paint one to look like a slice of watermelon.  (I guess I must be in a summery mood!)  I wrote an easy how-to on Mrs. Greene showing how I did it.  [how to paint a wooden watermelon box]

Project estimate:

• Wooden box, $1
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  $1 and up

I think that it would be a cute way to give a small hostess gift at a summer get-together.  Personally, mine is now on my desk holding paperclips.  It’s so much cuter than the plain ol’ wire mesh holder they were in before!  I still have a ton of these boxes left, so what else should I paint on them?  Should I stick with a food theme, or change it up and paint all kinds of different stuff on them?

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We’ve dubbed this week “Crafty Shark Week,” and in honor of this celebration, we’ll be bringing you all kinds of sharktastic fun! To kick things off, we found this fun party shark over at Sun Scholars. With some clever carving, a watermelon is transformed into a hungry shark, perfect for a summer get-together or backyard barbecue. [how to make a watermelon shark]

Project Materials:

• Watermelon, $1 a pound
• Blue Jell-O, $2
• Fish-Shaped Candies, $1
• Blueberries (or use raisins), on hand
• Toothpicks (3 or 4), on hand

Total: $5 and up

Stay tuned as we bring you sharky crafts all week long!

Crafty Shark Week Logo shamelessly repurposed from the Discovery Channel, who inspired this craft theme. Our theme not affiliated with Discovery Channel!

More shark crafts:
Follow Mrs. Greene’s board Shark Week! on Pinterest.

The post Make a Watermelon Shark Snack appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

How to make a strawberry costume for kids of all ages. This quick and easy Halloween costume is cute for small kids, but can be adapted for older kids or even adults. You can make this halloween costume very quickly, and I have instructions for sewing and no-sew versions. I also have a modification to make it into a onesie. I made it of felt yardage, which is quite possibly the greatest costume fabric ever, because it’s easy to sew, doesn’t have to be hemmed, and is extremely inexpensive.

When I found out my oldest son wanted to be a piece of pizza for Halloween, and my second son wanted to be a candy corn, I thought, hey! those are both triangular foods! and wondered what I could make my youngest son that would fit the theme. Suggestions from the peanut gallery (aka Facebook), were varied but I thought a wedge of watermelon would be cute. Well, when I cut the costume out, it looked like watermelon. Kinda. It also looked like a strawberry (also a triangular food!), and even a little like a hot chili pepper (before I affixed the seeds).

When I held the costume up and asked my older boys what it looked like, one said strawberry and one said watermelon. So, consider this a versatile costume you can make into any of a number of red and green fruits or veggies. Or, omit the seeds and use it for a Christmas elf costume. Or, switch up the felt colors and make other types of triangular food (yellow and orange felt for a wedge of swiss cheese, or cream and tan with toppings for pizza, orange with black spots for a Dorito, etc.).

We decided to call it a strawberry. My youngest son just started walking, but he still crawls almost everywhere he goes, so I put a piece of velcro on the bottom of the point so I could fasten the costume onesie-style and it wouldn’t get in his way when he is crawling around in it.

Project Materials:

• 1/2 yard of red felt yardage, $1.85 ($3.69 a yard)
• 1/4 yard of green felt yardage, $.92
• 1 sheet of black craft felt, $.25
• Ribbon, on hand
• Sewing stuff or hot glue stuff

Total: $3.02

These instructions are for a costume that will fit from 18 months to 3T. For larger sizes, increase the size of the triangle and rectangle.

1. Cut a triangle from red felt yardage about 18″ wide, with blunt corners. Leave about 4″ flat on the sides. Cut another matching one

2. Cut 2 rectangles of green felt yardage, 18″ wide, and about 4″ tall.

3. Sew green rectangle to top of red triangle, right sides together. Or hot glue instead of sewing. Repeat for other triangle and rectangle.

4. Fold flat sides of top of costume over, and hem or hot glue. These will be the sleeves.

5. Fold over and hem (or hot glue) diagonal sides of costume pieces.

6. Put the costume pieces right sides together. Sew shoulder seams as shown here, leaving 6″ unsewn in the middle. This will be the neck. Alternately, hot glue together.

7. Sew or hot glue bottom inch of sleeves together.

8. Cut a scoop in the front for the neck. Cut a straight line down the back about 6″ to make the hole big enough for little noggins to get through.

9. Cut two pieces of ribbon, about 12″ long. Singe the ends with a flame to keep them from unraveling. Fold over top hem of back of costume. Sandwich ribbons in the end and sew or hot glue to secure. If desired, fold over collar area and hem or hot glue.

Here’s a back view.

Cut seed shapes out of black felt, and affix with hot glue.

To modify the costume into a onesie, put a scratchy piece of velcro on the inside front point of the costume. It will stick to the other side of the costume felt (no fuzzy velcro piece necessary) and work like a onesie, fastening between the legs.

Hat: If you want to make a hat, follow my instructions for the Pumpkin costume hat over at Amazing Moms.

Other quick and easy halloween costume ideas:

• Candy Corn costume
• Pizza costume
• Last minute no-sew costumes
• Greatest Costume Hits
• Homemade Costume Week

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