With all of the recent holidays and roundups, it’s been a busy few weeks for the writers here at Dollar Store Crafts, and Rhonda and Melinda, the official Iron Crafters. So, today we will bring you up to date with the last two Iron Craft Challenges.

Challenge 16 – Taxman

It was tax time here in the States which meant many of us were thinking about money. We could turn our money into jewelry or art, or create a wallet or coin purse. [See all the submissions from Iron Craft]

Rhonda Greene’s Submission: European Coin Mirror

Rhonda's European Coin MirrorFor the money-related challenge, Rhonda decided to use her collection of coins from Europe. She’s been collecting them since her first trip overseas in 1998 and has coins from England, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, all from before the Euro began making currencies obsolete.

First Rhonda glued a dollar store mirror from the candle section (a leftover from her wedding) to a saucer. Years ago she bought a brand new set of dishes from K-Mart and it came with eight saucers but no teacups. Weird, right? So she’s been hanging onto them forever, knowing they had to have a use!

She arranged the coins around the mirror until she came up with a combination that fit around the edge of the mirror, then glued them into place. Rhonda still has to decide if she wants to display it on a plate easel or if she wants to glue hanging hardware to the back. [More pictures of the coin mirror]

Melinda Hileman’s Submission: Dollar Origami

Melinda's Origami MoneyMelinda decided to use the few dollars she had in her wallet to make some origami (technically called “Orikane”). She worked on a koi fish for almost a week, and turned out just looking like a giant blob, so no pictures were taken! [More pictures]

1. Heart –This is a pretty way to make a dollar origami heart that has a little more flair than the usual, flat front ones. The bottom half has two layers, so you could stick it with the back layer in a book or card, with the front showing as a way to give it as a gift (and you can always use a $10 or $20 bill too!). [Tutorial by Homemade Gifts Made Easy]

2. Shirt With Tie – This collared shirt and tie is made of one dollar bill. It was pretty easy. Melinda actually made this to tip a one of those balloon/magic guys at a restaurant a few weeks ago. He thought it was cool and said “I’m not going to spend this – I’m gunna keep it!” [Tutorial by Homemade Gifts Made Easy]

3. Camera – This is a camera made from a dollar bill. It didn’t turn out as well as Melinda hoped, and she had to use little bits of double-sided, removable tape to hold parts together. Had she used new, crisp bills, it would have held together on its own. The picture on the left shows it’s size compared to her camera (this was taken with her iPhone!) [Tutorial by W. Park]

4. Starship – Melinda made this starship for her husband. Unfortunately, he informed her that this model was not in any of the Star Trek fleets, so it wasn’t as cool. [Tutorial by J. Adams (page 6)]

5. Kayak – This was pretty easy to make, and you can even see its passenger – George Washington. [Tutorial by Tom May]


Challenge 17: Royal Wedding

In honor of the Royal Wedding, we were to make something for an upcoming wedding in our world. It could have been imminent, or just theoretical. If there is no wedding anywhere on the horizon, we could make wedding present for ourselves or a present for our parents if there is no wedding in our plans.

Or just make something, and have it on hand for the next time a wedding comes up, and we would be able to produce an amazing hand made gift.  [See all the submissions from Iron Craft]

Rhonda Green’s Submission: Purple Glowing-Eyed Alien Bride Flashlight

Rhonda's Alien Bride It all started innocently enough, Rhonda swears. But somewhere along the line things got entirely out of control. She’s not really quite sure how it happened, but somehow she managed to make what is perhaps the strangest wedding-related craft of all time. Behold… The purple glowing-eyed alien bride flashlight. Oh yes, that’s right. She’s purple, she’s from outer space, she’s gettin’ hitched, and she’s handy to have around if you drop your keys on the lawn at night.

This is what happens when Rhonda’s friend Sara comes over and they split a pot of coffee and get crazy in the craft room until 3:00 in the morning. She still needs a bouquet, but you get the idea. The strange, strange idea… [See and read more at her blog]

Melinda Hileman’s Submission: True Love Wreath

Melinda's True Love WreathMelinda and Ross got married 5 years ago (well, in September). So she took this chance to make something to remind them of their love!

She bought the basic wreath at Michaels (on clearance), and added pine cones from a tree that was in her in-law’s back yard that was planted for her husband. They moved to Florida a year ago and saved the pine cones. She thought it would be a nice way to display them.

This week Melinda added the bow (two different colors of Martha Stewart ribbon on clearance), and the “True Love Never Has Endings” quote from the Michael’s Bravissimo line. She really likes the bow and plaque – they aren’t too girly, and dresses up the wreath really nicely! [See more pictures]

Did you submit a craft for these Iron Craft challenges? Share yours in the comments section!