A few months ago, I posted a tutorial for a beaded chandelier made from a hanging basket and mardi gras beads (it sounds cheesy, but it looked great, and it’s been one of my most popular projects ever). Britt from A Penny Saved took the tutorial and ran with it and created a fabulous beaded chandelier that is also a working light fixture. To top …

Time to start thinking about Halloween costume-making! I have had costumes on the brain for a month, as I’ve been working on various costume projects. Here’s a question from our facebook page that I wrote a huge long answer to. What do you think? Any advice for Amy, who said: “My son wants to be the sock monkey from the car commercial. Any ideas? No, …

Here’s a cool update on the French memo board idea! This version uses mini bungee cords to create the gridwork that keeps your keepsakes and notes up on a board. This is a great idea for a more masculine (or neutral) office space, or a dorm room or boy bedroom. I like the circuit-board look of the bungee cords! If your budget is really low, …

Come see this amazing transformation! Amanda from The Hand Me Down House took a $15 Craigslisted light fixture and turned it from a dated lantern-style box into an updated light inspired by a Pottery Barn design. You will thrill to her cleverness, trust me! This is a true example of Dollar Store Crafting: finding something you like, and finding a way to make it for …

Make a sculptural hanging lamp with this simple supply found at the home improvement store. Arounna of Bookhou created this lamp for poppytalk using an Ikea pendant light and some wood veneer strips. Although it’s not strictly from dollar store supplies, I thought you would be interested in this idea! Arounna suggests using paper strips if you can’t get wood veneer strips. Now paper, that’s …

Mia at Cottage Love’s PB-Inspired Tiled Mirror was one of my top 10 picks for awesome dollar store crafting at the recent CSI Project dollar store challenge. I know I keep talking about my top 10 list, but there are some really great ideas there! Like the tile-surrounded mirror I featured earlier this week, this piece took small dollar store components and combined them to …

There were so many great projects in the CSI Project dollar store challenge. Here’s one of the projects I chose as a top 10 winner: a tiled mirror made by Kelsey at Tattered and Inked. She used printed tiles from the dollar store and framed them around a mirror. I love this project because she took small dollar store components and combined them to …

I was a guest judge for the dollar store challenge last week at The CSI Project, a weekly challenge blog. There were a lot of great projects represented in the competition (I saw some of you there! Some of you I have already featured here at DSC), but the one I chose was a huge project done on a dollar store budget. Like I said …

Paper clips have to be one of the seven wonders of DIY world. MacGuyver never went anywhere without one! These fabulous chandeliers are made from paper clips – amazing, aren’t they? I found out about the paper clip chandelier thanks to a Craftster dollar store crafting swap I’m currently participating in. Craftster user skullseamstress created the lamp entirely from dollar store materials, using a tutorial …

Have you been loving the look of the mirrored furniture in all the design collections this year? Audra from Simpsonized Crafts wanted a mirrored nightstand, but she didn’t want to pay $600, so she remade her existing nightstand. She added mirrored tiles (you can find them in the candle section at the dollar store, although you might get a better price at a home-improvement store) …