Showing posts with label Dollar Tree. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dollar Tree. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Thanksgiving Decor: Gather Dollar Tree Sign

 


I know lots of people went straight from Halloween to Christmas decorating but I'm contrary and like having my Fall / Thanksgiving decor in between! No judgement...that's just me. I swear I'm going to end up owning every single one of these Dollar Tree signs but I can never pass them up! They're an easy way to decorate and easy to do whatever you want to them from paint to decoupage and many things in between. I decided to do this one in the palette I used for my Thanksgiving Cards

Supplies: 

  • Gather Sign (Dollar Tree)
  • Acrylic Paints in choice of colors. I used Delta Ceramcoat Mulberry and Craftsmart Bright Gold
  • Dimensional Glue. I used Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Craft Foil. I used Recollections from Michaels in Copper
  • Coordinating Sequins 


I always start these by painting the interior of the letters, then the edges, then the back and front. For me, it helps ensure I don't leave bare spots in the nooks and crannies!


These take paint really well so it only took one coat. Next I dry brushed with the gold. 



I really wanted just a hint of gold so I kept it very light. After that, I added some copper accents using the same foil I'd used for the interior sentiment of my cards. 


NOTE: I thought plain Elmers was going to be enough because I was going for a very light effect with the foil...kind of like a dry brush...it was not! So I brushed on some dimensional glue ( Ranger Glossy Accents ). You can put the foil down almost as soon as you brush it on and then I burnished with the handle of a pair of scissors. 


I grabbed some bright gold sequins along with the metallic brown ones I'd used for my cards and just randomly placed them using the same Glossy Accents. 


You can get a better feel for the copper in this pic. I layered the sequins, using the large gold ones and then smaller brown ones. 



Easy. Pretty, Inexpensive. Three of my Crafting food groups! 


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Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Halloween: Supercalifreaking Easy Dollar Tree EEK Sign

 


I love these whatever they're made of seasonal signs I find at Dollar Tree. You can paint them, decoupage them, glitter them, vinyl them or do whatever your imagination comes up with. I chose paint and dots! 

Supplies: 

  • Eek Sign (Dollar Tree)
  • Black and White Acrylic Paint ( Craftsmart, Michaels)
  • Dotting Tools ( See Below for Pic)


This is the unfinished sign. I did the insides of the letters and the edges with a small brush first, then painted the front and the back in a couple of coats of flat black Craftsmart paint. 



You want to make sure you get all of the nooks and crannies of the letters so it just takes a little patience. Spray paint would also work. 


Once you've got your sign painted, time to "dot it up". I bought a set of Ball Stylus dotting tools on Amazon and they really are great for making consistent dots. I also love that the paint wipes easily off the metal. From here, just go with whatever your flow us. I used different sizes and eyeballed my pattern. These are great for mandalas too. 


I started with larger dots and then filled in using smaller ones, filling in the exclamation point the most. 

Et voila!




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Sunday, October 3, 2021

Halloween: Jeweled Doll Head Pumpkins

 


This week's BFF Open House link party continues here

Since our nest has been empty, my Halloween decor has become much more "Gothelegant" which is a word I just this second made up to combine gothic and elegant. Lots of jewels and metallics. Less whimsical ( although I do have some of that too!). But let's just say about the Darth Vader meme "Come to the dark side, we have cookies" is a perfect fit for me! I've wanted to do something with an old doll head but my thrifting trips the past few years haven't yielded the kind of doll head I want so I'm still on that particular hunt BUT I found some creepy plastic doll heads in the Halloween stuff at Walmart and they just spoke to my deep dark little Wednesday Addams heart! 


Supplies 

  • Doll Heads ( Walmart, $4.88 pkg of 3)
  • Foam Pumpkins ( Dollar Tree, while things are still $1)
  • Glass Candle Holder (Dollar Tree, ibid)
  • Craft Paints (Apple Barrel Gloss Black, Craftsmart White)
  • School Glue (Elmers)
  • Glue gun / glue and strong cold bond glue ( eg E-6000, I used Beacon 3 In 1)


"They're creepy and they're kooky, they're altogether spooky". 


Dollar Tree has these foam pumpkins every year and they're great. You can paint them. You can cut them. You can wrap them in fabric. So many possibilities. For this project I painted them. 



They take paint really well and this Apple Barrel Gloss only needed one coat. Then I did my go to glue crackle. 




To finish the pumpkins, I went over the glue with white paint and then used my craft room blow dryer to hasten the crackling. 


The doll heads were already pretty perfect but what fun is that? I got out my silver Rub N Buff and just added some spots of it here and there. 


This highlighted the scars already on the heads and then I dry brushed and wiped off some black paint so it would get in the cracks. 


Creeptastic! Now it's time to glam them up. I had some clear flat backed jewels in my collection so I randomly glued them onto the skulls and finished with smaller self adhesive rhinestones. Glamtastic! 


Once you're satisfied with your jewels it's time to assembler. I used hot glue to attach the skulls to the painted pumpkins and then the Beacon 3 In 1 to attach the pumpkin to the candleholder. I have found that hot glue doesn't always last on glass but it will work, just may come loose after a while. 



It's so good to be back! 


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Saturday, March 20, 2021

Cardmaking: Easy Card No Fancy Tools

 


This week's link party continues here!

As I've written before, I love my amazing crafting tools like my Cricut Explore Air2. But sometimes I also love the simplicity of making something that doesn't require tools.  Here's how you can make an easy card with just some pretty papers and a few basics. 

Supplies: 
  • Scrapbook Papers (I used the Let's Wander Stack by Recollections from Michaels) and some paper scraps from previous projects. 
  • Cardstock. I used 110lb Cardstock, Recollections, Michaels
  • Stickers. I used one sticker from a pack by Crafter's Square from Dollar Tree
  • Embellishments. Crafter's Square, Dollar Tree. 
  • Double sided adhesive or tape runner
  • Paper Trimmer or craft knife
  • Scoreboard / bone folder or if you don't have, you can use an empty ball point pen


First, choose your papers and what you want to use for your card's focal. Stickers are great for this, especially those on clear backgrounds. I found these at The Dollar Tree and for $1 you can make multiple cards. 


Trim your cardstock to 7x10 inches then score in the middle at 5 inches. I use a scoreboard for my cards but you can easily place your cardstock on a magazine , use a ruler as a guide, and use an empty ballpoint pen or something else pointed enough to score your fold but not cut. 


To make the focal for your card, place the sticker you've chosen on a piece of cardstock then trim it to size. If you don't have a paper trimmer, again a ruler and a craft / utility knife and easy peasy. 

Cut the main decorative paper you've chosen to 4.75x6.75 (I used a pink swirly sheet) then mat your trimmed sticker focal on another piece of the same paper and mat with a solid ( I used a scrap of black cardstock). 

Since I've been at this a while, I have a TON of paper scraps from other projects but if this is the first card you're making, choose some coordinating sheets from the paper stack and play around. I grabbed some of my scraps and cut to sizes that worked with my trimmed focal. 

Assemble. Hint: I always assemble my layers before I attach to the card itself. So in this case, I put my matted focal on top of the scrap with the bows on it, then attached to the silver dotted paper, and finally on the pink swirl background. Then attach to your card. 


I always like to finish with some bling or some dots of glitter glue etc. In this case, I used a sheet of rhinestone embellishments by Crafter's Square from The Dollar Tree. They are really expanding their line of crafting materials and you can't beat the price! 


Lots of cards to make with all of those rhinestones! Most of the teardrop shaped ones have the little round ones attached. I used these for the bigger bows. For the smaller bows, just dotted with some other smaller rhinestones in my stash. This part is completely optional. 

But see? Easy, no fancy tools, and when you can get a beautiful stack of papers like the ones in this Let's Wander pack (currently on sale at Michaels 70% off!) then you don't have to spend a lot to make some pretty things! 









Saturday, March 6, 2021

St. Patrick's Day: Acrylic Paint Poured Shamrock Sign

 


This week's BFF Open House Link Party continues here

I've been having fun with some St. Patrick's Day decor. In addition to my Layered Shamrock I had fun with this $1 wood sign from Dollar Tree. 

Supplies:

  • Wood Shamrock Sign ( Dollar Tree)
  • Acrylic Paints 
  • Zinsser Paint Booster ( Lowes)
  • Silicone ( Hardware Store )


Ignore the red hearts. I thought I was going to layer them onto the sign and changed my mind. I found this line of Top Notch paints at JoAnn. I'm not sure if it's an in house brand or not but they are another line of reasonably priced acrylic paints. They make a whole host of other products as well. The Zinsser paint booster is an alternative to Floetrol which is used in a lot of paint pour projects. The silicone you can get at any hardware store. 


I chose to go with a more muted green palette along with some white and a couple drops of gold. So first step was to mix the paints. My formula for small projects is about a capful of the paint booster to 1/3 cup of paint. It's not scientific, I just found it gives the right flow. If you're starting out with paint pouring play around to find the consistency YOU like for your projects. There's no absolute. I squeezed 2-3 drops of the Silicone in and mix well until your paint just looks like paint again. 


Re-using cups is great in practice but I didn't think about pictures. Note to self. Use new cups. But I didn't, so don't be confused by the other colors you see. 


For this project I did what's called a "dirty pour". What this means is layering  the paints in one cup vs pouring each color individually. You can see them start to interact in the cup which they'll do more as they flow once they're on the surface you're painting. 


For a "clean pour" you pour your paints from their respective containers onto the surface one by one. For a "dirty pour" there's the flip step. Place your surface atop your cup, then holding the cup, flip until your surface is on the bottom and the cup with your paints sits atop it. Some paint may leak out but that's OK! 


When you lift your cup you'll see your paints begin to spread and how they've blended and their magic is revealed. I love this part the most! From here, just tilt your surface to spread your paint until your surface is covered. I ended up having to add a little more paint to my pour cup which was fine. I was trying not to have too much and ended up with too little. It's a Goldilocks process!



I love paint pouring so much because no two pieces are alike and each takes on its own personality. If you want exact replication, this art is not for you! 

Once dry, I finished with some black and white check ribbon and kept it simple, just hanging it on a mirror in our entryway. 


I'm happy with it and it was $1!