Tag Archives: dollar store hacks

Holiday Gift Wrapping: Simple Snowflake

This brown paper gift wrapping idea couldn’t be easier. In this video tutorial, you will see how to take a dollarstore Christmas ornament and transform it into the focal point for this gift. Snowflakes are one of my favourite Christmas gift accessories, but you want to make sure your purchases don’t look cheap (even though they are!) I often use dollar store elements in my gift wrapping, but the key is to pay special attention to the “finish” of the ornament when making purchases. I will usually opt for white or wood finishes, as I often find that the sparkly ornaments tend to look cheap and tacky. (I do purchase glittery elements as well, but I make all of my purchases with a very critical eye.) Another trick to up staging the quality of your embellishments, is to give careful consideration to the other elements you include in your design.

For this look, I combine a plain white string with a white plastic snowflake ornament. The simplicity of the string off-sets the finish of the ornament. The finishing touch in this look is a Scrabble Tile “gift tag”. I placed the name in the bottom corner, to add more interest. Even if you don’t use the Scrabble tile idea, this gift would look great with a simple brown or white coverstock tag. Don’t ruin the look by sticking on a tag that doesn’t fit the look of the gift….stick with the theme!

You can check out the full tutorial (‘Tis the Season) or opt for the quicker version (READY, SET, WRAP!}. Enjoy!

Happy wrapping!

Dollar Store Hack Meets Soda Can Upcycle

I’m single “Momming” it this weekend. My hubby is away and I’m lucky enough to celebrate my birthday on the hottest day so far this year! Yay for sunshine! It’s not that I’m not looking forward to seeing Eden’s 3 minute dance number today, I’m just not so thrilled about the other 177 minutes I have to spend in the stuffy concert hall watching other people’s kids perform when the sun is shining and the heat is on. Ugh!  Oh well. I plan to take the kids out for dinner and order a great big fattening piece of something for dessert to celebrate. I’m sure the marathon dance recital will be long forgotten by the time I take my first bite of heaven!

Dollar Store Glassware Upcycle:

As you know, I love the dollar store, but I’m also particular about what I buy. Glassware is usually a pretty safe purchase and you can easily kick it up a notch with a few embellishments. I thought I would expand on the soda can garden markers from earlier in the week and show you how aluminum can be used to dress-up a simple dollar store purchase.

  1. Use scissors to cut the top and bottom off of an empty pop can. Ensure it is clean and free of sticky pop.
  2. Curl the tin the opposite way so that it will lay flat.
  3. On the printed side, trace out the desired shapes you want to cut out. Cut out the shapes.
  4. Add words or “embossed” designs using an embossing tool, dull pencil or dried up ball point pen on the printed side of the tin. (Text needs to be printed in mirror image on the printed side.)
  5. Use a hole punch to make holes through the metal so that you can tie it onto your finished project.
  6. I also used a crimping tool to crimp my tin. The aluminum is so thin and easy to work with, you can even use a punch to create a desired shape. This is especially great for circles.
    Crimped soda can is added to this dollar store vase to add a bit more interest.
    A soda can label is added to this dollar store glass container along with a tealight candle.

These little upcycle projects would be great for a hostess gift, thank you gift or to add a little something to the vase when giving flowers. Have a happy day!

PS Three cheers to all the single moms out there or moms with husbands that travel with work on a regular basis. I honestly don’t know how you do it!

Dollar Store Hack: Spice Bottle Upcycle

As you know, I finally finished my spice rack project. If you were looking at the pictures from the post carefully, you probably noticed that my spice bottles don’t match. I had upcycled some old ones from an old spinning spice rack, but those that were still hidden in the spice drawer were left in their original bottles. I put the mismatched bottles on the new shelf, but picked up some clear spice bottles with white lids at the dollar store.

Spice Bottle Upcycle:

dollar store spice bottlesThese bottles were only 3 for a dollar. I decided to buy a dozen and then see how many more I needed. (Had I thought of it, I would have counted before I left, but I actually went to purchase baking soda and peroxide for my weekend cleaning frenzy.) I put the bottles through the dishwasher and hand washed the lids and plastic pieces (with the holes for sprinkling). Once they were thoroughly dried, I spray painted them with black paint and printed the spice names on the lids with white Crayola twistable crayon. Here is the original post with the tutorial.

I really love the crayon in lieu of chalk. It gives the same effect, but you don’t have to worry about smearing. If you remember, I have chalkboard labels on my glass pickle jar canisters and the chalk is always smearing. I think I might actually erase them all and convert the printing to crayon. Not my idea, but certainly a great one!!

Here are the completed bottles!

dollar store bottles

Easy Piggy Bank Dollar Store Upcycle

Quick, cheap and easy ~ can’t beat this simple DIY project!  My son used to have a tin piggy bank from the “Cars” movie in his room.  We recently “upgraded” (ha! ha!) to a Winnipeg Jets one (same tin piggy bank from Dollarama).  The great part about these piggy banks is that they can not be opened without a can opener.  When we went to transfer Shay’s money to his new piggy bank, he was amazed to learn he had saved $142!  On the contrary, my daughter’s piggy bank contains nothing and the little stopper from the bottom sits on the shelf beside her empty bank.  We are trying to teach the kids the principle of saving 10% and tithing 10%, but our daughter spends money as fast as she gets it.  Unfortunately, the tins don’t fit with her decor at all.

Original $1.25 Piggy Bank Tin

Purchase one of the piggy bank tins from the dollar store.

Jets piggy bank

Upcycled Piggy Bank

  1. Cut a piece of 12″ X 12″ scrapbooking paper to match the child’s decor.  You will need the whole 12″ (plus a bit) to go around the tin and just over 5 1/2″ to cover the entire height.  I measured carefully between the two silver lips at the top and bottom of the tin to ensure proper coverage.
  2. Secure the paper to the tin a little at a time being careful to place it evenly around the outside, tight up against the lip. I have a tape gun that I use for scrapbooking, but you could use any kind of adhesive to do this.
  3. You will notice that there is a small gap where the 12″ length does not quite make it around the tin.  Instead of patching, I chose a 1″ strip of coordinating paper and covered the gap with a slight overlap on both sides of the strip, to sit just over the edges of the larger base paper.
  4. Embellishments ~ I added a little strip of ribbon, a 3D flower sticker and lettering that I had on hand.  All of this is optional, but I found it needed a little something to finish it off.

Upcycled Piggy bank

Project Summary

This project took me about 20 minutes to complete from start to finish.  The tin was $1.25 and I had all of the other materials on hand.  This is a simple Dollarama upgrade that anyone could do and you don’t need any special tools.  Have fun designing your own piggy bank to fit your child’s room decor!

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