Category: Crafting

Crafting on a Budget: Dollar Store Craft Ideas

by nicoleg714, posted in Crafting
Photo by Deeana Creates on Pexels.com

Crafting has always been a big thing in my home. My 10 year old and I have been doing them since she was able to hold a paintbrush. We love to try new things and have even attended art studios to take classes on making different crafts. It is definitely one of my stress relievers. However, it can start to add up. The more often you do the crafts, the more expensive it can get. At first, I was always going to the more expensive stores to get my crafting materials. I never even thought of trying out the Dollar Store. But one day, my daughter and I were perusing the aisles and we found ourselves in the art aisle. There were so many goodies!! Canvases, paints, glitter, brushes, wooden jewelry boxes to pain, signs to pain, vases to decorate, the list went on and on. We have done a lot of crafts in our time. Some I have documented, others I have not. But now that I am blogging, this is a great space to share our crafts with you. They don`t always turn out perfect, but we always have fun making them.

Re-purposing a vase or container with twine

This is a popular DIY that I have seen around on the internet. I decided to give it a try because I love the twine look. I seem to really be veering toward the farmhouse, country style these days. Something I never would have thought 10 years ago! Ideally you will have a vase or container of some sort kicking around at home. I did not, so I purchased one. I am loving this look and now I keep looking around my home trying to find anything else I can wrap in twine! We spent around $12 on this craft.

To complete this craft you will need:

  • Ceramic vase or container
  • Twine rope
  • Preserved Forest Moss (if you like)
  • Artificial flowers (your preference)
  • Block of floral foam
  • Hot glue gun
  • Scissors
  • Good music to get you in vibing!

First you want to ensure that your vase is clean, then heat up your glue gun to begin. Make sure that you have enough glue sticks, I found that this project did require quite a few. Once glue gun is prepared, start by gluing the top rim of the vase and placing the rope along the rim. I suggest putting a bit of glue and then rope and alternating. That way you aren`t doing all glue and then by the time you finish with the rope, the glue is starting to dry out. Press down firmly on the rope to assure it is adhering to the glue nicely. Repeat until you have completed around the rim. Then you want to continue wrapping the twine around the vase, ensuring it is tight knit and there are no spaces between each row of twine.

Once you have completed the vase with the twine, you can begin working with the floral foam. Depending on the shape of your vase, you will probably have to modify the shape of the foam. I just cut mine in half and then cut off the corners until I was able to press it into the vase. My daughter loves the feel of the foam, hence all the finger prints on it! Depending on your preference, you can either arrange your flowers in the foam outside of the vase or once the foam is in the vase. I chose to do it after the foam was in the vase. Then just arrange your flowers however you like them.

You will have to cut the flowers if you are using the artificial ones like mine, because they are just too long. They can also be a bit tricky to cut because a lot of them have the metal rod in the middle. I ended up having a floral arrangement that looks very Easter like and that was totally not on purpose!

After the flowers are in place in the foam, if you haven`t already inserted the foam into the vase, now would be the time. Then you can add the moss in. I added it into any space I could find. You will have to press it in firmly, as the space will be tight but it will work. You can put as little, or as much, as you would like. You can also swap out the moss for something else, if you prefer, such as rocks. Whatever you would like! This is just a guideline, you can design this to fit your style and personality.

Here is the finished product. I am really happy with it. It fits perfectly on my shelf with my other decor and I love how the floral arrangement turned out. The Easter colors were a great surprise and the spring colors have me feeling happy during this dreary weather.

Tie-dye Name Art Canvas

This was a really fun one to do with the kiddos. We spent about $15 at the Dollar Store. You will need the following supplies:

  • Art Canvas (however many you want to do)
  • Acrylic Paint
  • Masking Tape
  • Plastic Bag

We chose to do both of the girls’ nicknames (Lala and Ellie) to save on space. Next you use the masking tape to spell out the name as you want it to look. I didn’t have masking tape on hand, so I had to use the clear packing tape which was a bit of a pain to use but it did the job. It’s hard to see the name in the photo, but it’s there.

We then chose the colors we wanted on the canvases. For Eliana’s I chose to do pink, purple, yellow and blue. Olivia chose to do blue, pink, yellow and purple. Then we used a plastic garbage bag (it was the only plastic bag big enough on hand) and put the canvas inside the bag.

Then Eliana used her hands to feel around and smudge the paint. We had to help her a few times and show her certain areas that required more attention. She really loved the feeling of the paint and the bag. It was a great sensory exercise for her! Olivia let Eliana do a bit of hers but quickly took back control. You can do this until you are satisfied that the paint has covered every inch of the canvas that you want it to cover. You don’t want to have more paint in one area then the other, they should all be about even. Once you are done, you can remove the plastic bag right away. Try your best not to interfere with the canvas too much as you take off the bag. It is inevitable that it will happen a bit but just avoid as much as you can. The canvas now needs to dry before you can remove the tape.

I left the canvases alone for a few hours to ensure they were completely dry. Then slowly peeled off the tape. I would say that because of the type of tape I used (clear packing tape), the paint did bleed a little. I ended up really liking this look but if you want a clean look, I recommend getting some masking tape or paint tape to prevent bleeding. So you take the tape off and your masterpiece is done! I am really happy with how both of the canvases turned out!

Well those are two budget friendly crafts that are fun and really easy to do. I would love to see yours so make sure to drop a photo in the comments below or even tag me in your post on Instagram (@suburbia_mombie).

Looking for other inexpensive crafting ideas? Check out what a few GalPals have put together with their dollar store crafts! Head to our hashtag #galpalsbloggerbabes on Instagram to see what fun we’re up to.

Do you have a fun dollar store craft? If so, tag @galpals_bloggerbabes in your Instagram post with the hashtag #galpalsbloggerbabes in the caption to join and be featured with us Gals!!

Happy Crafting!!!

xo Nicci