Primitive Crafts....from Dollar Tree? Sure!

Anybody who knows me also knows that I do not like to spend money on my craft supplies. If I am inclined to spend money to make something, it has to be cheap. That is but one reason I love the Dollar Tree and Mighty Dollar. While perusing the web recently, I came upon a blog that had SUCH cute things that the lady had made using Dollar Tree materials. Her blog, called Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night (find it HERE), is great and the craft ideas are easy. So....the family and I spent this past wild Friday night getting free Dunkin' Donuts drinks and shopping at Dollar Tree. We are just loose cannons that way, you know.

I love anything old, old-looking, crafty, cozy, shabby, cast-off........whatever. I don't have any one particular style. I just pick what I like. That includes primitive stuff which is so popular right now. Dollar Tree has a really good selection of things that are already nice, but have potential to be better. I love candles, and it seems that we always have one burning, and the other blog had some nice ideas on how to make DT's cheap looking candles match country or primitive decor. In my excitement to get started, I forgot to take a before picture of the products, so I pulled these from the Dollar Tree website. Check out the before:

  

I was only able to find one package of the LED tealights, so they may be seasonal with the ones I found being stragglers left from Christmas. They had plenty of the 8" white jar candles, though. The idea was to "grubby" these things up....make them look old and primitive. The lady in the other blog used something called Texture Fierro to get the grubby, textured look. However, I am always one to substitute and use up things I already have; therefore, I thought I would try mixing up some white glue and used coffee grounds. After mixing into a paste, I spread it onto the jar candle as well as the body of the tealights (bulb was taped with masking tape so as not to mess it up). After that dried (took about 2 1/2 hours with the help of a blow dryer), I squirted on some acrylic craft paint in cinnamon brown, and spread it around gently with a mildly stiff paint brush. Throughout the drying process, the paint / coffee grounds / glue kept trying to run down the sides of the jar. I simply used to brush to dab it back into place. This is a messy craft and I had cardboard on the kitchen counter underneath it, BUT this is how they looked after the paint was about half dry (ignore the clothespins......still working on that project):

And, THIS is how they turned out when complete and after a second coat of paint and a bit of torn fabric for a ribbon (the woman in the other blog calls the ribbon "homespun"):

Cute, huh? That candle is not only cheap, but it is supposed to burn for 80 hours. Also, for those who are allergic to certain scents, it is unscented! Yep - - that's a little bit of Dollar Tree potpourri you see there surrounding the little LED tealight in the cast iron skillet. I am inspired now to make more of these for gifts. I I might even dry brush a little black paint on the next ones I make just to make them a little "grubbier". Acrylic craft paint is cheap, white glue is cheap and used coffee grounds are free. There are only 325 more days until Christmas, our Lord and Savior's birthday, so I hope you're inspired! Making gifts a dollar at a time is not only better for the budget, but you are prepared and stress-free by the time it rolls around.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous Sunday, from our house to yours!