These super funky flamingos are absolutely bursting with character!  Ashlee from My So Called Crafty Life gave a pair of standard plastic flamingos a polka dotted makeover, and even pretty beaded necklaces!  If you check out end-of-summer clearance sales right now, you might be able to score some birds extra-cheap.  Then grab some paint and turn the kitsch factor up to eleven!  [how to make funky polka dot lawn flamingos]

Project estimate:

• Lawn flamingos, $1 and up
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Painter’s tape, on hand
• Foam spouncer, on hand or $1
• Beads, on hand or $1 and up
• String, on hand

Total:  $1 and up!

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With spring just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about garden projects! We’re big fans of the ol’ classic pink plastic flamingos, so it’s no surprise that we love this quirky mosaic flamingo by Lucy at Lucy Designs. Starting with a plain flamingo, you can make your own with a few tiles, a little grout, a fair amount of time, and lots of patience. It takes a while to get all of those tiles on there, but the results are well worth the effort! [make a mosaic flamingo]

Project estimate:

• Plastic flamingo, $1
• Mosaic tiles, about $3 and up
• Glue, on hand
• Grout, about $3 and up

Total: about $7 and up

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If the neighbors had any doubt that we are the strangest people on the block, I think that my latest project just might confirm our status as the neighborhood weirdos.  Lots of folks around here have plastic flamingos on their lawn – one guy even has a collection of them that he rearranges into different configurations every few days – but nobody else in town has a zebra flamingo.  (Zemingo?  Flebra?)  Want to add a little weird to your yard as well?  Read on…

Project estimate:

• Plastic flamingo, $1 and up
• Spray primer, on hand or $1 and up
• Black paint, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  $1 and up

I was so excited to see plastic lawn flamingos at Dollar Tree that I had to resist snatching up a whole armload of them.  Instead, I grabbed a pair.  If you can’t find them at your local store, check for them on the Dollar Tree website; while seasonal items come and go from their inventory, when I looked I found them available with a minimum order quantity of four!

I knew that I wanted to give my flamingos a complete makeover, so the first thing I did was give them a few coats of white spray primer.  Be patient and use lots of light coats to get good coverage in all of the cracks created by the feathers without making the paint look drippy.

Before you start painting the zebra stripes, look at some photos of real zebras to get an idea of what they should look like.  I kept a photo of a zebra up on my computer screen as I was working so I always had something to refer to.  This picture is from Wikimedia Commons; if you want to see more pictures of zebras from different angles, try a Google image search.  A little research goes a long way!

The great thing about painting zebra stripes is that, due to their unique-like-a-fingerprint nature, they are actually very forgiving.  I had five or six “oops” moments while painting this one and you can’t even tell!

I still have one more flamingo left to paint, but I am debating what to do with it.  Should I paint it with zebra stripes as well, or should I try painting one with giraffe spots?  (Wouldn’t that be funny??)  What’s your vote?

The post Tutorial: Zebra Stripe Lawn Flamingo appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

We’re scouring all our friends’ blogs this week to find the best Halloween costumes made from dollar store stuff. This Flamingo costume by Charlie at Attempting Aloha is one of the cutest costumes I’ve seen this year, dollar store or not. She got everything she needed for the hat at Dollar Tree, and provides a template and great instructions for the flamingo hat over hat her blog.  [how to make a flamingo costume]

Supplies: Sometimes you can find pink feather boas in the dress up toy section at the dollar store, but you might have to go to the craft store to find what you need.

Project Estimate:

• 3 feather boas , $3
  
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1
  
• Glitter foam paper, $1
  
• Foam visor (3-pack), $1
• Safety pins, on hand or $1
  
• Fake eyelashes (found in the make-up section), $1
  
• Tights, on hand or $1
  
• Skirt, on hand

Total: $6 and up

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Over at The Polkadot Chair, I found this cute idea: make a zippy pouch for wet stuff out of a shower curtain! This cool flamingo shower curtain was on sale at Target, but if you don’t mind plain, the dollar store has shower curtains, too. Sure, summer is almost over (hello, August!), but wet pouches are useful for lots of other applications. Moms of diaper-wearers, raise your hands! Author Melissa said she likes using shower curtains because they come in cute prints and they offer a lot of yardage at a good price. [how to make a zippy waterproof pouch]

Other ideas for stuff you can make with shower curtains: diaper changing pads, oversized totes for workout, pool or beach, waterproof fitted sheets for a crib. Consider using shower curtain material for any project that would benefit from being waterproof. Don’t forget you can reuse your old shower curtains too. Just toss them in the washer with a teeny bit of bleach and allow them to dry before you cut into them.

Project Estimate:

• Shower curtain, $1 and up
• Zipper, $1 and up
• Sewing stuff, on hand

Total: $2 and up

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