These spooky crystal ball candlesticks are one of the coolest, most original Halloween DIY ideas I have seen this season!  I’m seriously amazed at Bev from Flamingo Toes, who came up with the project.  I especially love how she used a variety of different styles of candlesticks, gathered from yard sales and thrift shops, painting them to make them into an eclectic but matching set.  She even teamed up with The Graphics Fairy to create a set of printables that make it easy for you to make a set of them for yourself!  [how to make spooky crystal ball candlesticks]

Project estimate:

• Candlesticks, $1 and up
• Clear glass bulb ornaments, $1 and up
• Spray paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Candle, on hand
• Inkjet transparency film, about $6 and up
• Printable template and images, free
• Hot glue, on hand

Total:  about $8 and up

The post Make Spooky Crystal Ball Candlesticks appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

There are about a zillion ways you can decorate clear glass bulbs, but this one might be my favorite!  Inspired by the water marbling technique used on fingernails, Rena from The Cheese Thief used red and white nail polish to create a candy cane effect.  I love the idea of masking off a monogram or other shape on the ornament before dipping it to create a personalized look!  Hmm…  I wonder what else you could marble with nail polish?  [how to make candy cane marbled Christmas ornaments]

Project estimate:

• Glass bulb ornaments, $1 and up
• Nail polish, on hand or $1 and up
• Water, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

The post Make Candy Cane Marbled Christmas Ornaments appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

No nursery is complete without a fun mobile to hang from the ceiling.  Dress up your little one’s room with this whimsical mobile design by Natalie of Johnny In A Dress that uses something many households probably have on hand:  Christmas ornaments!  She used clear glass bulbs stuffed with bright bits and bobbles, but ornaments of all kinds would work.  She also used a pair of metal hoops that she painted green as a base; you could easily substitute thrifted embroidery hoops instead.  [how to make a glass ornament mobile]

Project estimate:

• About a dozen glass bulb ornaments, on hand or $3 and up
• Two rings, on hand or about $5
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Ribbon, on hand

Total:  Free and up

The post Make a Glass Ornament Mobile appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I’ve seen this yarn-filled glass bulb project around, but I can’t remember where I saw it a couple years ago. I was so inspired by that post author (whoever you are!) that at the time, I got three boxes of these glass ornaments with which to make this craft. I was kidding myself because I was 9 months pregnant, it was Christmas time, and we were moving on December 26th… so I didn’t get around to making these ornaments until a year later!

The idea I saw centered around putting yarn from your stash into the glass bulbs. I love this idea because I have some pretty novelty yarn that I bought randomly with no projects in mind (like the Noro shown in the bulb above), that just don’t suit my crochet/knitting style.

I also used a length of the same yarn to hang the bulb with, showcasing the yarn another way, which is a pretty cool twist, I think!

You can get clear glass bulbs at your local craft store. They usually run $1 each or less, depending on size and sales.

Project Estimate:

• Glass bulb ornament, about $1 each
• Stash yarn, on hand

Total: $1

To make them: I either fed the yarn through the hole in the bulb slowly (to create the coiling/balling effect), or I had a big mass of the yarn and shoved it through the hole with a pen (this method used for the pink ornament).

These are hard to take good photos of if you’re in a hurry (as I always am), so I hope you will get the idea! I like the orange eyelash yarn – it looks like fire in a bulb in real life!

p.s. If you know where I saw this project posted in 2007 (I think it was linked to on a pretty big blog), let me know and I’ll link to it!

The post Stashbust with Clear Glass Ornaments appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

So I had this idea a few months ago to create a terrarium in a glass ornament bulb and give it for holiday gifts. Well, being an ideas person, I have ten-hundred ideas at any given time, and usually only half the supplies I need to make them happen, and one-third the time I need to get them done. As I was researching terrariums, I came across this excellent tutorial on About.com’s minatures page that told me exactly how to make terrariums in glass ornament bulbs. The tutorial was so excellent, that I thought I would just refer you to it instead of creating a sub-par tutorial myself. The tutorial and the photo are by Lesley Shepherd, the miniatures guide. [so go check out how to make a terrarium in a glass bulb]

Oh! And this could be a great project for those liquid marbles we’ve been talking about in another post.

Side project idea: How about making a faux terrarium in a bulb? You could use all kinds of different stuff you have on hand, and either get faux greenery to “plant” or what about making some wee little felt or wool felted plants to put in the bulb? If I were going to make one from my stash right now, I’d get some brown wool roving or brown scrap fabric, shredded, for the dirt part, and then I’d glue a teeny little fake plant in the middle of it all. Add a mushroom, maybe? Hmm, so many options. What would you do?

Project Estimate:

• Clear glass ornament bulb, $1
• Small plant, $1
• Potting soil, $1
• Activated charcoal, $1
• Various tools, on hand

Total: $4

It’s hard to estimate a cost on one of these babies. I know the glass ornaments are about $1 at craft stores (possibly less if you get a sale or have a coupon), but the rest of it will likely cost more than a dollar upon initial investment, but you will use much less of it than a dollar’s worth per bulb. So, I called it four bucks. Your experience may vary!

I think this is such a cool idea, so please link me/send a photo if you do it! I totally want to make this one, either the real version or the faux version!

The post Make a Terrarium Ornament appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.