Today I’m excited to share my latest wreath, made with Mardi Gras beads, seashells, and a little mermaid glitter! Would you like to make a Mardi Gras Mermaid Wreath too? Read on for instructions.

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Wreath a Day #6: Mardi Gras Mermaid Wreath

I have had these pretty seashells in my stash for a few months. I bought them because I thought it would be fun to make a dollar store mermaid crown, but I never made it. When I saw the shells in my Craft Hoarder’s Paradise (aka CHP, aka my garage), I thought “Hmm, maybe I’ll never make that mermaid crown. But you know what I need to make right now? A wreath! Maybe I should make a mermaid wreath!” And the idea was born.

I held onto the shells for a few days because I couldn’t settle on the right background on the wreath. I had neutral colored ribbon that would have made a perfectly serviceable beachy wreath, but what I really wanted was something mermaid-y. I wanted a sparkly blue or green background. When I was visiting the dollar store, I saw these Mardi Gras style beads, and I knew those were the final component in my mermaid wreath.

Supplies Needed:

• Foam wreath form*
• 3 packages of Mardi Gras beaded necklace (approximately 18 necklaces)*
• Assorted seashells and starfish
• Blue glitter paste or glue* and blue glitter*
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks*
• Paint brush*

*Items with an asterisk can be purchased at the dollar store or DollarTree.com.

Step 1: Glue beads to wreath

Before you glue the beads to the wreath, you need to break the beads on the spot where they are glued together. Find the two beads that are fused together and break them apart with your hands (or hold one side with pliers if you have trouble breaking them). Alternately, you can just snip the string between any two beads.

Put a line of hot glue on the wreath form and put the end of the beads on the glue. Hold the beads on the wreath form until the glue cools, then begin to wrap the beads around the wreath form.

When you reach the end of one strand of beads, glue the next strand to the previous strand, and secure it onto the wreath with a dab of hot glue. Continue to wrap the wreath with beads until it is fully covered.

Production note: You might want to paint the wreath form before you begin, as the wreath form does show through the beads a little bit. If I made another wreath (or made one to sell), I would definitely cover up the wreath form before I glued the beads.

I didn’t have enough blue beads to cover the entire wreath (which would have looked amazing, I think), so I had to split the wreath coverage between blue and green beads.

Step 2: Glue the shells onto the wreath

Before you add the beads, tie a piece of ribbon around the top of the wreath to provide a hanger.

Hot glue the starfish and seashells in place on the wreath.

I arranged the starfish evenly around the wreath first, then arranged the seashells between them.

Step 3: Add glitter paste

When I got all the seashells glued in place, the wreath didn’t look finished, so I rummaged around in my CHP and found some sapphire blue glitter glue paste. You can buy the paste at your local art store, or online.

Or, you can just use liquid glue and blue glitter (both of which you probably have in your stash, or you can find at the dollar store).

I brushed blue glitter paste on all the shells to add some shimmer, and also to tone down the brightness of some of the shells and help them blend into the beaded background a little better.

That’s better! I like how the glitter looks kind of like sea gunk, but glittery sea gunk. It also tied the disparate seashells together more and made them fit together as a unit of related items.

Overall, I like how it turned out! I think it would look neat if I spray painted the whole thing white and then added some glitter glue over that. I wouldn’t mind trying it.

I hope you are having as much fun watching me bust my stash as I am having making these crazy wreaths! To follow along with my project, check out my other Wreath a Day posts.

The post Mardi Gras Mermaid Wreath appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I have a lot of random jewelry components in my Craft Hoarder’s Paradise (aka, my garage), so I’ve been dipping into that stash to create my latest wreaths. For today’s wreath, I used a color palette I’m very fond of (turquoise and red) to create a small fun and funky wreath that has a bit of a folk art/Scandinavian flavor: a Red & Turquoise Valentine Heart Wreath.

Wreath a Day #5: Turquoise & Red Valentine Heart Wreath

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I have a lot of jewelry supplies because I love making jewelry, but the sad truth is, I don’t make jewelry often enough to use up all the supplies I own. I could make a necklace every day for a year (maybe that will be next year’s project?), and still not use up all the supplies I have. Does anyone else have the same craft supply hoarding problem I have?

I got these jewelry components from the Fire Mountain Gems $1 Sale (Check out my haul video here).

Supplies Needed:

• Grapevine wreath*
• Wireless chenille stem ribbon
• Red ribbon*
• Turquoise Beads
• Metal Leaf Beads
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks*

I got the wireless chenille stem ribbon at Consumer Crafts, but you can use any white or silver ribbon you have on hand for this project. In fact, you can substitute any supplies you DO have for the ones I used in this project. Just use it as a jumping off point for your own creativity!

You can get wreath forms at DollarTree.com.

Step 1: Wrap Ribbon Around the Wreath Form

Secure a piece of silver ribbon or the wireless chenille stem ribbon to the back of the wreath, and then wrap it around the wreath form. When you get all the way around the wreath, cut the ribbon and glue the end of the ribbon to the back of the wreath. (Bonus points if you manage to line the ends of the ribbon up with each other!)

Step 2: Add Beads

Next, hot glue some of the metallic leaf beads to the wreath. I arranged them in alternating color order, and placed a wire mesh heart bead at the top of the wreath.

But the wreath isn’t finished… it needs something more.

Add 1″ plastic turquoise-colored beads to the top of the flat leaf beads. Hot glue them in place.

Somehow the wreath isn’t quite done. It needs something to pull it all together.

Step 3: Add More Ribbon

When I added this red ribbon over the top of the wreath, it really came together.

Hot glue the end of red ribbon to the back of the wreath, and then wrap it around the wreath, between the round turquoise-colored beads.

Tie a piece of ribbon or baker’s twine to the top of the wreath to provide a way to hang your wreath.

The red ribbon really makes the turquoise beads pop, and the chenille ribbon and leaves make a great backdrop and add visual interest to the wreath. Finally, the valentine heart at the top gives the wreath a sweet focal point.

I hope you are having as much fun watching me bust my stash as I am having making these crazy wreaths! To follow along with my project, check out my other Wreath a Day posts.

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Have you ever succumbed to the siren’s song of novelty yarn? Today’s wreath project answers the age-old question “Now that I bought this novelty yarn that looked so cool in the store, what the heck will I do with it?” In an attempt to use the stuff in my stash, I created this Novelty Yarn Wreath, covered with plastic gemstones, and full of a kaleidoscope of jewel tone color.

Wreath a Day #4: Novelty Yarn & Gemstone Wreath

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I originally gave this wreath two different names. The first was “Psychedelic Bling Wreath” because this wreath is so colorful and flashy, and the second was “Tween Dream” wreath, which I think is its rightful wreath name. I would have LOVED to have this wreath in my room or locker as a tweenager! My seven year-old claimed this wreath as soon as he saw it. It’s very colorful and fun in real life. Photos don’t really do it justice.

I found this Bernat Boa yarn in my Craft Hoarders Paradise (aka, my garage), and I knew I had to try to use it for a wreath. I’m just not sure what to use novelty yarn for in regular crochet projects! What do you use it for?

This yarn is like a short, soft fringe with a very pretty colorway.

Supplies Needed:

• Foam wreath form*
• Bernat Boa yarn (or other novelty yarn)
• Plastic jewels or rhinestones*
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks*
• Scissors

*Items with an asterisk can be purchased at the dollar store.

Sometimes you can find novelty yarn at the dollar store, too! I also frequently find yarn in large bags at Goodwill for a good price.

Step 1: Wrap Yarn Around Wreath Form

You can hot glue the end of the yarn to the wreath form, or simply tie it like I did. Then, start wrapping the yarn around and around the wreath form, overlapping as you go.

If you are very detail-oriented, you might want the fringe to all face the same direction. I didn’t worry about it. I also didn’t worry too much about leaving small gaps because it was something I could go back and fix later.

It takes about 5-10 minutes to wrap the yarn around a wreath form. It will take longer if you want to make sure the fringe all faces the same direction.

After you cover the entire wreath form, wrap a second time around the form, just covering the areas where there are gaps in yarn.

Step 2: Glue Bling on Wreath

Fire up your hot glue gun and start gluing bling on your wreath. I used oversized plastic crystals that were shaped like arrowheads, and plastic chain links. You probably won’t be able to find the exact items I used, so just use dollar store rhinestones, or any other bling you have in your stash. Any kind of beads or buttons would work, too!

Step 3: Tie Wreath Hanger

I don’t think this part really needs its own official step in the instructions! Just tie a piece of yarn or ribbon around the top of the wreath to give it a hanger.

You’re totally done! Now you have something you can make with your novelty yarn! I love how colorful and shiny this wreath is. It’s a fun little wreath that takes about 30 minutes to complete. It would be a lot of fun to make on a tween/teen girls’ craft night.

Follow along with my Wreath a Day project here!

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Today’s wreath will teach you how to decorate a wreath form with frosting-like clay (decoden), and embed an adorable tiny tea set, creating the cutest wreath for tea lovers. I got the wreath form at the dollar store, and the rest of the supplies for this craft from my stash. This wreath is super easy to make, and it looks so darn cute when it’s finished.

Wreath a Day #3: Tea & Frosting Decoden Wreath

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Have you heard of decoden? It’s a silicone clay that looks like frosting, and is great for decorating just about any item. You can embed little trinkets, rhinestones, or other items in the clay, and when it dries it looks like a delicious, whimsical, treat, but it’s completely permanent.

For this project, I used Mod Podge Collage Clay, which is by far the easiest and quickest version of decoden frosting I have found. You can also create your own “frosting” with silicone caulk and a decorating tube nozzle.

Supplies Needed:

• Foam wreath form*
• Mod Podge Collage Clay, white and pink
• Tiny ceramic tea set*
• Resin flower cabochons

*Items with an asterisk can be purchased at the dollar store

I got the tiny tea set in the $1-2 dollar section at my local toy store, but you can sometimes find comparable tea sets at your local dollar store. The resin flower cabochons can be purchased from many different online places, including Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

Step 1: Decorate the Wreath with Pink Decoden Frosting

If you use Mod Podge Collage Clay, this step is very simple. Remove the lid on the pouch of collage clay, screw on your chosen frosting tip (several tips are included in the box), and start decorating.

I chose the star tip and decided to pipe random stars of pink frosting on my wreath form.

If you are concerned with perfection, you can practice on a scrap surface first, but remember, you will be embedding things into the collage clay later, so you can easily cover up any ugly frosting dollops. Squeeze from the bottom of the tube and lift the tip to create a star.

As you can see, my frosting dollops weren’t that good. I think it’s because I got the collage clay out of my cold garage and it needed to come to room temperature first. You can solve this problem by leaving the lid on the pouch of frosting and gently kneading it for a minute or two. Or, just keep your collage clay inside your house instead of in your freezing cold garage!

Step 2: Fill in the Wreath with White Frosting

Next, fill in the rest of the wreath with white frosting. As you can see, I have a few gaps in some areas of my wreath. This is something we can fix later.

Step 3: Add the Embellishments

Space your tea set around the wreath. Use a dollop of decoden frosting to keep the lids on the teapot and sugar bowl.

Add the resin flower cabochons to fill in the blank spots. I also added some contrasting blue flowers around the wreath to add a little bit of visual interest.

Fill in any remaining gaps in frosting with the rest of the frosting.

Let the decoden frosting dry overnight, or according to package instructions.

See all the wreath a day wreaths here!

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Did you hear that I’m making a wreath every day? Today I made a paper collage wreath created out of  mixed media pages from one of my journals, then punched into star shapes. I love how it turned out – it has a happy, colorful quality that also evokes graffiti and found objects. If you have some scrap paper and spare art supplies, you can make this wreath! Read on to find out how:

Wreath a Day #2: Mixed Media Paper Star Wreath

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Supplies Used:

I used supplies I already had in my stash, but your stash will vary. Regardless, you can make colorful mixed-media pages with stuff you already have on hand, or with a few items from the dollar store. Read my related article: How to Find Art Journaling Supplies at the Dollar Store.

*Items with an asterisk can be found at the dollar store

• Watercolor paper*
• Watercolor paints*
• EK Success Large Star Punch
• 10×10″ Piece of card stock
• Markers*
• White pen* (Use a White-Out pen from the dollar store)
• Glue* (I used Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue)
• Scissors*

1. Creating Mixed Media Papers:

Last spring, I took a mixed media art journaling class from my locally owned art & craft store. In the class, I learned how to use Ranger Dylusions Ink Sprays (SO MUCH FUN), which are water-based pigment sprays that work like watercolor paints. In the class, we ripped several pages out of our journals to use to clean up our inks while we worked on our journals. Then, we saved each page to use for later.

If you are creating your own mixed media pages from scratch, simply

1. Cover a couple pages of watercolor paper with your favorite colors of watercolor paint. Make sure to use several different colors.
2. Let the watercolored pages dry completely. (Use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process, if you are impatient.)
3. Doodle and write over the watercolored areas with marker. Add additional details with a white gel pen (or one of those White Out-style correction pens from the dollar store).
4. You can also add any other types of embellishment you can think of, including paint splatter, smearing, paint daubs (see the red dots on the yellow page in the photo above? I used bingo marker pens from the dollar store to make those), or rubber stamped images.

Don’t worry if you think the page looks ugly, or a section of a page isn’t the best. Once you punch the paper, each star becomes a work of art. As you can see in the photo above, my pages weren’t all that impressive.

2. Next, punch out the stars.

I like to remove the bottom cover from my paper punch and punch it upside-down so I can see the paper and I can position the shape to punch out the best-looking section of the paper. Punch one side of the paper, then trim away the jagged paper to cut the next section of the paper.

3. Create a wreath form

Since this wreath is just made from paper, I decided to create my own “wreath form” with a piece of card stock. I folded a large square piece of paper into quarters, then cut an arc shape out of the corner, and a hole in the middle.

As you can see, my wreath form isn’t perfectly round. I didn’t mind that for this particular wreath.

4. Glue stars to the wreath form

This step is pretty self-explanatory! One thing to think about is layering your less-favorite stars onto the wreath first, as you will be gluing other stars overlapping them. Spread the different colors of stars evenly around the wreath.

I had a lot of stars left. They are so neat! I made sure to save them all (as well as the background papers I punched out) for a future mixed media project. Maybe I’ll add them to my art journal.

I hope this project has inspired you to make something today! You can use some of the techniques explained here to create your own unique artistic wreath.

See my other wreaths here.

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Today I would like to show you how I took my favorite gift wrap from the holiday season and re-purposed it into a new wreath! I used stuff I got at the dollar store, and things I already had in my craft stash to make a cute and funny wreath that I’m excited to hang up in my office. Do you have extra gift wrap with a cute design that would make a great wreath? Then read on for instructions on how to transform your gift wrap into a simple and fun wreath project.

Note: This post contains affiliate links to the products I used, in case you want to shop for them.

Wreath a Day: #1

I bought this winter taco gift wrap on the first day it was for sale (for $2 a roll) at Target. I had to have it — who doesn’t love tacos? And I get sick of the samey-samey holiday gift wrap. I instantly gravitated toward the cute tacos wearing scarves and their avocado compadres. (I admit, I am a bit of a gift warp hoarder… it’s hard for me to pass on cute gift wrap.)

My favorite gifts under the Christmas tree were definitely wrapped in this taco paper! So when I went looking for supplies in my craft hoarder’s paradise, ahem, I mean my garage, I was immediately drawn to this paper once again. I grabbed it, and some dollar store stickers (that I also found in my CHP — yeah, Craft Hoarder’s Paradise), and went to town.

How to Make a Recycled Gift Wrap Wreath:

Supplies Needed:

• A foam wreath form, $1
• Roll of gift wrap, on hand or $1
• A sheet of card stock, on hand
• Stickers, on hand or $1
• Glue (I used Aleene’s Clear Tacky Glue)
• Hot glue gun and Glue Sticks
• Baker’s twine, on hand or $1
• Ribbon, on hand or $1

Total cost: $1 and up

Step 1: Cut out all the cute things printed on your gift wrap.

In my case, I carefully cut out tacos wearing scarves, avocados, and tomatoes. Your gift wrap probably has something different on it, and that’s okay! Notice what colors are used in your gift wrap, and pick one of the colors that you’d like to highlight when you choose your card stock. I chose to use a red striped card stock I had on hand.

Step 2: Glue the gift wrap cut outs to the card stock, leaving enough space around them to cut them out and provide a card stock border.

Alternately, if you don’t want a card stock border, you can skip step 1, and glue gift wrap directly to the card stock, then cut out the figures in one step.

The card stock IS important to provide stability to the gift wrap, which is lightweight and too floppy to glue directly to the wreath.

Step 3: Cut out the figures from the card stock, leaving a small border.

Step 4: Cut strips of wrapping paper about 1″ wide (doesn’t have to be exact).

Step 5: Secure gift wrap strip to the foam wreath form with a dab of hot glue. Wrap the strips around the wreath, overlapping as you go, to cover the entire wreath form. When you reach the end of a strip of gift wrap, glue it to the wreath, then start a new strip where the old one ends.

And, the wreath form is all covered! Now it’s time to decorate it.

Step 6: Tie a piece of baker’s twine to the top of the wreath for a hanger. Then tie a piece of ribbon into a bow to put on the top of the wreath and glue it in place with hot glue.

Step 6: Prearrange the pieces of the wreath to decide where they will go, then when you are happy with their placement, glue them into place with hot glue.

Step 7: Add dollar store stickers to the rest of the wreath to finish it.

Then you’re done! This wreath is a great lightweight wreath to use for home decor, or put in your cubicle at work.

The post Make a Recycled Gift Wrap Wreath appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’ve made a new commitment for 2017: I am going to make a wreath a day for the entire year! That’s 365 wreaths, and I am gonna make them all!

First I want to tell you about the rules I have laid out for myself:

1. I will make 365 wreaths this year
2. I will focus on using materials I already have in my stash (read: my full garage of stuff)
3. I will post about my wreath-making progress right here at Dollar Store Crafts
4. I will attempt to make one wreath a day, BUT
5. If I fall behind, I am allowed to make it up, as long as
6. I will make 365 wreaths this year.

That way, if I have a day where there’s no way I can make a wreath, my project isn’t completely blown. I am happy with this set of rules because it allows me to complete my goal without getting upset if for some reason I fail on one day.

I hope that you will join me in making some wreaths this year!

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