For one loathsome year of my life, I worked as a cashier at Kmart.  For a portion of my tenure, I was stationed in the gardening section of the store.  One thing I discovered during this time is that flower pots and other planters are insanely overpriced.  I remember the day that I just about choked when I rang up a chintzy styrofoam urn and …

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 …

When I was a kid, I was fascinated with raffia.  But for all my hours of playing around with it, I never did manage to make anything useful out of it.  Enter Chyanne from Off the List.  She came up with these ingenious raffia bowls!  [how to make a raffia bowl]
Make a bowl from raffia in autumn colors and fill it with apples for an …

Episode 2 of our new show Dollar Scores is up! This week I take you on a tour of Ross Dress for Less’ home decor section and find a bunch of steals and deals, including curtain panels for $3.99 and throw pillows for $6.99. To take the tour in written form, check out my post: Find Smokin’ Deals on Home Decor. If you are a …

I’m always on the lookout for things that fall into the categories of bright or funky when I visit the dollar store.  Recently, a bouquet of bright pink and yellow silk flowers caught my attention.  Having just redecorated the bulletin board in my entrance hallway, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them: turn them into fun push pins!
This project is perfect for …

I love how sweet and whimsical this crocheted doily spiderweb is. And I love the wee crocheted spider! It’s true, get ready to start seeing Halloween posts all over the wide wide world of web! (Oops, pun not intended!) Jen at Lipstick and Laundry made a couple of these sweeties. These might be my favorite Halloween crafts ever. [see the original doily spiderweb here]
If you …

I’ve seen just about everything done with placemats, but I’ve never seen this! Sarah at StepThruCrazy made a pendant lampshade from three vinyl placemats. Wow! She even wrote a tutorial so we could all make one for ourselves. The dollar store is a fabulous resource for placemats, so check for them next time you go. [how to make a hanging placemat pendant lamp]
Project Estimate:

3 vinyl …

Camilla at Family Chic has some great ideas! I like this one: dressing up a strand of garden lights with pretty cupcake liners. I haven’t seen cupcake liners at the dollar store, but I have seen them in the dollar aisle at Michael’s! Paula Deen’s budget cooking line has several pretty styles of cupcake liners. In fact, I picked some up the other day, so …

I’m always looking for cute ways to dress up my sewing room without making it look too “busy.”  This week I thought of something that should have been obvious — to me, anyway!  For years I’ve had a little clothesline with tiny clothes hanging in my laundry room.  Wouldn’t something similar be perfect in the sewing room, too?  Of course!  [come check it out!]
Project Estimate:

cording (mine was …

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, …