The dollar store is one of my favorite places to pick up inexpensive seasonal crafting items.  A perennial favorite across all seasons is their glitter table scatter. Over on Creative Green Living, I show you how to take some wired burlap ribbon and combine it with Valentine table scatter to make a cute bunting perfect for a mantle, door, or mirror.  [how to make an easy burlap and glitter valentine heart banner]

Project estimate:

• burlap ribbon, $1
• Glitter heart table scatter, $1 and up
• Scissors, on hand
• Jute twine, on hand or $1 and up
• Hot glue gun & glue, on hand

Total: $3 and up

The post Make a Dollar Store Valentine Bunting appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I decided I wanted a Valentine’s Day wreath this year.  I’ve never been a big wreath person, but Pinterest can change a girl.  I wasn’t sure exactly how my wreath would look, I just knew I wanted it to be big, bold, and red.

I headed to Dollar Tree and just started picking up red Valentine items that “spoke” to me.  I liked the sparkly garland, and the heart picks were too cute to pass up.  I had a ton of red ribbon left over from Christmas, and some wood heart frames I had purchased at Michael’s.  I looked at my collection for several days, still not sure what to do with it.  So I just started playing with my supplies, and I wound up with a wreath that I absolutely LOVE.  Here’s how I ended up making it.

Project estimate:

• Wreath form, $1
• Wire edged ribbon, on hand or $1 and up
• Valentine garland, $1
• Heart Picks, $1
• Wood heart frame, $1
• Puffy hearts, $1 for 6
• Stickers, on hand

Total:  $5 and up

Step one:  Wrap the wreath form with ribbon (optional, but I can’t stand floral foam shedding!)  Paint the heart shaped frame.

Step two:  Cut the wire garland into 24 inch pieces.  Wrap one end of wire around the wreath form, and coil the rest into a loose spiral.  Repeat.

Step three:  Cut the wire edged ribbon into 32 inch strips.  Attach it to the wreath form by doubling the ribbon, and pulling the ribbon ends through the loop.  Repeat.

Step four:  Slide the ends of the heart picks into the base of the ribbon loops.

Step five:  Glue the wood heart to the front, and attach the puffy heart with a ribbon.  Add a cupid sticker (optional).

Step six:  Curl the ends of the wired ribbon in different directions.

Isn’t this a fun wreath?  If you don’t care for my red/gold combo, you could easily make it white/pink or any other colors that say “Valentine’s Day” to you.  Have fun crafting and creating!

The post Tutorial: Valentine’s Day Dollar Store Wreath appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

When Carissa at Creative Green Living found a sleeve of crushed red paper cups, she knew they wouldn’t be much good for holding liquids, but she didn’t just want to throw them away. Instead, she used them for a fun Valentine’s Day kids craft! With an assortment of basic craft supplies, you can make a nearly endless variety of cute little critters. Set out the materials and let your kiddos’ imaginations run wild! [how to make paper cup love bugs]

Project estimate:

• Red paper cups, $1 and up
• Pipe cleaners, on hand or $1 and up
• Glitter heart “table scatter”, $1
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1
• Rhinestones, on hand or $1 and up
• Fast grab tacky glue (for kids) or a hot glue gun and glue (for adults), on hand or $1 and up

Total: about $2 and up!

The post Make Paper Cup Love Bugs appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Crowns and tiaras are objects that can me made in endless ways using a myriad of different materials.  This example by Stephanie from Make and Tell requires only a spool of wire and a pair of pliers – and if you have super nimble fingers, even the pliers are optional!  You could also add other embellishments to this design by stringing beads onto the wire as you go, or gluing rhinestones into the centers of the hearts.  [how to make a wire heart crown]

Project estimate:

• Wire, on hand or $1 and up
• Pliers, on hand

Total:  Free or $1 and up

The post Make a Wire Heart Crown appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Have you seen the adorable fabric Valentine hearts at Dollar Tree?  After Rhonda posted about them here, I had to have a few!  These are so well made and a total steal at six per pack for $1.  They can be used in many ways, and here are two quick ideas that would make for fun gifts or just for you to wear on Valentine’s day.

Project estimate:

• Puffy hearts, $1 for 6
• Headband, on hand or $1
• Hair clip, on hand or $1
• Craft feathers, on hand or $1
• Felt, on hand
• Glue gun, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

To make the hair clip,glue feathers to the back of the heart.  Place a small piece of felt behind the clip, and glue the heart onto it.

For the headband, simply hot glue the hearts in alternating colors onto the headband.  For a more finished look, glue a strip of felt behind the hearts.

I’ve already had people ask me where I bought my cute headband!  This is such a quick, easy project that you can easily make in under 10 minutes.  I think they’d make cute Valentine gifts, but make sure to save at least one for yourself to wear on the 14th!

The post Tutorial: Heart Hair Accesories for Valentine’s Day appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

When I was a kid, some of my favorite projects were suncatchers, and still today I have a fascination with stained glass and other glass arts. These faux stained glass hearts from Amy at Make and Takes uses white glue with colors added to create a stained glass effect, cleverly framed in with a heart-shaped plastic bracelet. I think they would look wonderful as a mobile! [how to make faux stained glass glue hearts]

Project estimate:

• Plastic heart bracelets, $1
• String, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand or $1
• Liquid water colors (or food coloring), on hand or $1 and up
• Wax paper, on hand

Total: $2 and up

The post Make Faux Stained Glass Glue Hearts appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

All of us here at DSC are loving the floral heart decorations that Dollar Tree has this year for Valentine’s Day. We’ve all been feeling inspired by them, and the other day I decided to turn a package of them into something cute and Valentine-y to hang on the wall. After a little playing and brainstorming I came up with these vertical Valentine banners – and it was super easy!

Project estimate:

• Floral heart embellishments, $1
• Wide ribbon, on hand or $1 and up
• Bamboo skewer, on hand
• Felt, on hand or about 30¢/sheet
• Baker’s twine, on hand or about $2 and up
• Glue, on hand

Total: $1 and up

The hearts come in packages of six, so one package will make two banners that each have three hearts. You could also make three banners with two hearts, or six banners with single hearts – whatever size banners makes you happy! Smaller, single-heart banners would even make nice Valentine gifts for friends or coworkers.

Based on how many hearts you are using, figure out how long you want your ribbon to be. Remember to add about 1/2 inch to the top to allow for gluing each banner around the skewer for hanging. Fold the bottoms of the ribbons in half and trim at an angle to give them a finished look. I used some wide grosgrain ribbon that I found on clearance for 75¢ a roll a few days after Christmas!

To make the red hearts stand out against the red ribbon, I added a white border to each heart.  My initial thought was to do this by gluing the hearts to white felt, then cutting around them to leave a thin white border.  But, I didn’t have any white felt on hand.  I did, however, have white yarn, so I glued the hearts to paper and then glued a yarn border around each.  When the glue dried I carefully trimmed around the yarn.  You can use either method, but I recommend the felt because it would have made this project much quicker and easier!

Cut the bamboo skewer into sections just wider than the ribbon. Center the skewer at the top end of the ribbon and wrap it around, gluing into place. (The side with the glued-down flap will be the back of the banner – make sure you remember to flip it over before you move on to adding embellishments!)  Tie a short length of baker’s twine around the protruding ends of the skewer on each side of the banner. Add a drop of glue to each knot just to be sure it doesn’t come loose or slip off the end of the skewer.

On the front side of the banner, arrange the hearts where you want them to be and glue into place. Once all of the glue is dry, your banners are ready to hang!

The post Tutorial: Mini Valentine’s Day Banners appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Winter can be a long and lonely time of year, especially for older folks who have a harder time getting around.  In many parts of the country this has been a particularly cold and snowy winter, leaving even more elderly members of our communities homebound and isolated.  To help lift the spirits of these people, DoSomething.org has partnered with Meals on Wheels for a campaign they are calling Love Letters.  This campaign urges teens to reach out by creating handmade Valentine’s Day cards, which Meals on Wheels has agreed to hand out along with their regular food deliveries,.  We think this is an excellent idea, so we are reaching out to you, our awesome DSC readers, and asking you to help out in any way you can.  Whether it be creating cards with a church or scout group or even just helping to spread the word, anything you can do it greatly appreciated!  [learn more about the Love Letters campaign at DoSomething.org]

Want to participate yourself?  Here are five handmade Valentine’s Day card ideas to get you started!

[Pop-Up Pixelated Heart Card by Mini Eco]

[Stenciled Heart Card by Art with Kids]

[Seed Bead Love Card by Katrinshine]

[Origami Heart Cards by Omiyage Blogs]

[Mouse Valentine Card by 7 on a Shoestring]

The post 5 Handmade Valentine Cards (and how they can make a difference) appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Every time the holidays change, I make a point of visiting Dollar Tree to see what’s new for the season.  This year I spotted something that I was instantly drawn to: lightweight fabric scarves.  They were obviously made of cheap materials and weren’t much of anything special on their own, but I had a feeling that with a little DIY they could be transformed into something trendy.  I grabbed two of them without knowing what I was going to do with them; days later, I was struck with the thought to make the two scarves into one infinity scarf.  Dollar Tree also had similar scarves for St. Patrick’s Day, so you could also use this same tutorial to make a green one and render yourself pinch-proof!

Project estimate:

• Scarves, $2
• Yarn and yarn needle, on hand
• Ribbon, on hand or $1
• Hot glue, on hand

Total:  $2 and up

I started with two scarves; one scarf has red hearts on a white background, and the other has white hearts on a red background.

Lay the two scarves one on top of the other with the edges lined up.  Pin the two layers together to keep them in place as you work.

Thread a length of yarn through a large-eyed needle.  Measure about 6  to 8 inches from the end of the scarves and sew from edge to edge with a simple running stitch.

Pull to gather and knot the yarn tightly, trimming off any excess.

Measure another 6 to 8 inches down the scarves and repeat.  Continue down the length of the scarf.

Being careful not to twist the scarves, line up the two ends and pin them together to form a loop.  Sew along where the ends overlap and gather.

To give the scarf a more finished look, cut short lengths of ribbon to wrap around each of the gathers.  Hot glue into place.  Fluff the scarf by separating the two layers of fabric in each section.  Wear by giving it a couple of wraps round your neck.

The post Tutorial: Valentine’s Day Infinity Scarf appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I love coming up with uses for the holiday “table scatter” that Dollar Tree sells for every season. Usually the table scatter they sell is made from craft foam covered in glitter, but I recently found some that is small, transparent plastic hearts. I immediately thought that they would look nice with the sun shining through them. So I turned them into a cute little mobile to hang in a window! I thought about going out and buying a few supplies for this project, but then decided instead to be resourceful and hunt down items I already had around the house to finish the assembly. I’m glad I did, because I think I like the improvised version even better than the original design that I had in my head!

Project estimate:

• Valentine table scatter, $1
• Fishing line, on hand or $1 and up
• Glue, on hand
• Small canning jar ring, on hand
• Yarn, on hand or $1 and up

Total: $1 and up

Cut the fishing line into segments about a foot long. (I used 6 strands total to make my mobile.) Place a dab of glue on the back of a heart (hot glue works great!) and carefully place the fishing line onto the heart. Continue adding hearts until you’ve filled about 8 inches of the string, leaving a few extra inches at the top of the string for tying off. I made three strands with 4 heart and three strands with 5 hearts.

When the glue is dry/cool, tie the strands to the canning jar ring. I alternated between 4-heart and 5-heart strands all the way around. To keep them spaced evenly, add a dab of glue to each tied-off strand around the top of the canning jar ring.

Wrap the canning jar ring with yarn to give it a more finished look. I used some Vanna’s Glamour yarn with a metallic thread running through it because I like the little bit of sparkle. To make a hanger, I braided some more yarn to make a thicker strand and glued the ends into the yarn wrapping to secure them.

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