Take these elephant and dinosaur toys from the dollar store and use them to make some fun photo holders to display on your desk, shelf or playroom. Add a dash of whimsy to any room. You’ll be surprised at the way these clever photo holders are constructed, so check out how easy it is to make this dinosaur photo frame craft!

Hi there! Katie here today from Punk Projects! I love using inexpensive items in my crafting. If it involves upcycling, I’m all for it! I took a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some inspiration for today’s post and I found these awesome plastic toys.

Supplies Needed:

Project estimate:

• Toy animals, $1
• Flat magnets, on hand or $1
• Super glue, on hand or $1
• Craft knife or box cutter, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

1. Decide on your animals. I loved the brontosaurus, and the elephant is for a friend.

2. Use a craft knife to cut through the animal. Most plastic animals have a seam where they were put together, cut on that seam and it will be easier. Just don’t cut yourself.

3. Once you have your animal cut in half, trace around him onto a magnet.

4. Cut out 2 magnets for each animal.

5. Go around the cut edge of your animal with super glue and glue your magnet to it.

6. Let it dry completely.

Once your magnets have been glued on and dried, slide a photo in between the animal piece and stand him back up! I love these little dinosaur photo frames!

What do you think? Would you make a dinosaur photo frame craft for yourself, or for a friend?

Pin the Dinosaur Photo Frame Craft:

I’m Katie, a lover of anything artsy. I doodle on everything I can get my hands on, however my favorite projects are scrapbooking, restyled/upcycled crafts and sewing. I write my blog, Punk Projects, where I post tutorials, inspiration and other fun things as well as designing custom shoes in my etsy shop.

You can also find me here on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Got yarn scraps? Turn them into Easter decorations! Over at Blitsy, Meghan shows how to turn your odds and ends of yarn into these adorable pom pom bunnies. You can also use the same basic method with different features to make a variety of other animals or creatures. They will look so cute decorating your Easter baskets or tucked into your spring decor!  [how to make pom pom Easter bunnies]

Project estimate:

• Yarn, on hand or $1 and up
• Felt, on hand or $1
• Beads, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand

Total: Free and up!

The post Make Pom Pom Easter Bunnies appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

If one of your resolutions this year was to use up the stuff in your craft stash, here is a great project for busting that fabric stash! Over at The Fashion Dummy, you will find instructions for making easy and adorable animal zipper pouches. It’s quickest to make these with a sewing machine, but if you don’t have one, it’s a small enough project that hand sewing is pretty easy. Change the shape of the ears and the facial features to create a whole zoo of fun pouches! [how to make animal zipper pouches]

Project estimate:

• Fabric, on hand or $1 and up
• Zipper, about $1 and up
• Fabric glue, on hand or about $2 and up
• Sewing machine or needle and thread, on hand
• Marker or fabric paint, on hand or $1 and up

Total: about $1 and up

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Confession: I sometimes shop in the toy department for myself.  My inner child is unable to resist cute little whatnots like CPTs (Cheap Plastic Toys).  Things like these plastic animals, which Ginger Snaps turned into keychains!  A little bit of paint totally changes the look of the animals, taking them from childish to chic with just a few brush strokes.  Their use isn’t limited to holding keys either; the same technique can be used to make jewelry too!  [how to make animal keychains]

Project estimate:

• Plastic animals, on hand or $1
• Eye screws, on hand or $1
• Paint, on hand
• Key rings, on hand or $1

Total:  Free and up!

The post Make Animal Keychains appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

One of my favorite cheap craft supplies is felt. My local store has a price break when you buy three sheets, so every time I go in needing a sheet of one color I come out with two extras. Which, of course, has added up to quite a large felt stash over the years. So, what can you do with felt? Well, Eva at Handmade Charlotte used some to make these adorable animal envelopes! These would make a wonderful way to dress up a gift card or cash when giving it as a gift, with a much more creative presentation than just stuffing it into a card. They are the type of gifts that can sometimes seem impersonal, so presenting them in a thoughtful (and reusable) handmade container adds a personal touch. [how to make felt animal envelopes]

Project estimate:

• Felt, on hand or about 3 sheets/$1
• Envelope template, free
• Magnetic button clasp, $1 and up
• Buttons or studs, on hand or $1 and up
• Pom poms, on hand or $1
• Needle and thread, on hand
• Hot glue, on hand

Total: $1 and up

The post Make Felt Animal Envelopes appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Wooden spoon dolls are a pretty traditional craft, but have you ever seen one in the form of a shark? This project from Activity Village uses a spoon as the base for creating a cute stylized shark in a jiffy. You can even use them as puppets! To make the jaw more puppet-like, try adding a control stick under the chin to allow you to open and close the mouth. They also have instructions for a similar project, making a wooden spoon crocodile. What other animals could you make out of spoons? [how to make a wooden spoon shark]

Project estimate:

• Wooden spoon, on hand or $1
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Craft foam, on hand or $1 and up
• Glue, on hand

Total: Free and up

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

The post Make a Wooden Spoon Shark appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Alligators are ravenous reptiles – better give them something to put in their mouths before they bite!  Turn ordinary wood clothespins into hungry-gators note holders; add a magnet on the bottom and they are prefect for sticking to your fridge or filing cabinet.  Making your own version of this classic craft is easy -all items were bought from the Dollar Store, and these alligator fridge clips can be put together in about 10 minutes.

Project estimate:

• Foam sheets, on hand or $1
• Wood clothespins, on hand or $1
• Jagged-edge craft scissors, on hand or $1 and up
• Sheet magnets, $1 and up
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1
• Green indelible marker, on hand or $1

Total: $1 and up

Once you’ve gathered your materials start by removing the spring from one of the wood clothespins.

Colour all surfaces of each half of the clothespin with green marker. Some of the crevices of the clothespin might be too small to get the tip of your marker in, but you don’t have to worry about complete coverage, just make sure most of the surfaces are green. Replace spring in wood clothespin

Using white glue, attach small googly eyes to either the top of one side of your alligator or on either side of one half – this will give your alligator two eyes on top or two eyes pointing outwards.

With regular scissor cut a small rectangle of green foam sheet roughly the same length and height as your clothespin. Then using the jagged-edge scissors, cut diagonally through foam rectangle to create a ridged spine for your alligator. Dab a small amount of white glue on flat length-wise portion of the green foam spine cutout and affix to back of clip behind the eyes.

Lastly, cut a small rectangle of sheet magnet roughly the same dimensions as the underside of the clothespin. If your sheet magnet is self adhesive then you can press on the magnet cutout, otherwise use dabs of while glue to adhere the magnet. Leave for about 5 minutes for glue to set.

Once the glue is dry they are ready to hold your note and be stuck on a magnetic surface, or left on your desk. Have fun!

The post Man Crafts: alligator clips appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Dog toys are one of those things that you purchase expecting that they will eventually be destroyed.  Even if you spend money on supposedly indestructible toys for your pooch, it’s only a matter of time before they are reduced to a slobbery, shredded mess.  (My neighbor’s dog, nicknamed “The Toy Destroyer,” can disassemble any dog toy, no matter how durable, in a few good days of play.)  Sounds familiar?  Instead of dropping money on a new toy, why not try making one out of scraps that you already have laying around?  Ilse from Sew It Love It used scrap fabric to both create and stuff this tug-of-war style dog toy, and all it cost was a few minutes of her time!  [how to make a dog toy from fabric scraps]

Project estimate:

• Fabric scraps, on hand
• Sewing machine or needle and thread, on hand

Total:  Free!

The post Make a Dog Toy from Fabric Scraps appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’ve loved Anthropologie for a long time because they provide me with an endless source of inspiration.  Feeling uncreative?  Spend ten minutes surfing their website and you’ll be cured.  Earlier this year I had the opportunity to set foot in one of their brick and mortar locations for the first time and it was even more incredible!  While Anthro’s “party animal” necklace set isn’t too steeply priced at $38 each, Beverly from Flamingo Toes knew that she could create an inspired necklace for cheaper.  Her necklaces look so much like the originals that you’ll have trouble telling the difference, and you can whip them up at a fraction of the cost!  [how to make an Anthro-inspired party animal necklace]

Project estimate: 

• Toy animals, $1
• Embellishments, on hand or $1 and up
• Jewelry findings, on hand or $1
• Chain, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

The post Make an Anthro-Inspired Party Animal Necklace appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’m always looking for new ways to dress up plain paper lanterns.  (They’re one of my favorite dollar store items!)  Jill from Meet the Dubiens decorated her daughter’s bedroom in a Pottery Barn Kids theme with lots of cute owls and trees.  To compliment the PBK decorations, she made owls out of some paper lanterns that were left over from a birthday party.  If you aren’t into owls, get creative and use the same techniques to make whatever animals you want!  [how to make an owl lantern]

Project estimate:

• Paper lantern, $1
• Scrapbook paper, on hand
• Craft foam, on hand or $1
• Buttons, on hand
• Glitter glue, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

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