Halloween crows

Welcome back to Halloween craft week at Holy Craft.

I've been sharing a few of my favorite crafts that I have worked on from this season.

The first in the series was this birch candle holder made from a decorative pumpkin.

Then I showed you these glass knob pumpkins

Today, I am showing you my gussied up crows.

I love the crows that you can buy at the Dollar store.

I usually pick up a whole handful of them.

This year, I decided to dress them up a bit.

I used this template for their book page witches hat.

Once the hat was cut out and glued, I used black crepe paper to embellish the hat.

I ruffled the crepe paper collar by using a needle and thread.

I simply pulled the needle and thread through the two pieces of crepe paper and pushed the crepe paper in a ruffle.

I cut a small x in the bottom of the hat and used hot glue to glue the hat to the crow.

I glued the two ends of the collar around the crow's neck.

He makes a nice addition to my book page wreath don't you think?

 Check back tomorrow for our final craft

{a tutorial}

in the Holy Craft Halloween craft series.

Dollar Tree Anniversary Celebration

I am excited to be partnering with Dollar Tree to share their special Anniversary Event Bonus Buys with you!
If you have been reading along with Holy Craft for even a second you will know how much I love Dollar Tree.  We live far too close and I visit Dollar Tree far too often!  I am unbelievably excited about the Dollar Tree Anniversary Celebration and you should be too.  You won't believe what you can pick up for only a dollar! Dollar Tree's anniversary celebration is going on now through October 11, 2014 with tons of new Bonus Buys with up to 58% more FREE for each item! You can still pick up your name brand favorites but for a limited time, they are available in larger sizes and are still only $1 each. 

Over two years ago, I shared with you a post on things that I buy at Dollar Tree that I think are a good value.  I was overwhelmed with the response!  So many of you love the bargains you find at Dollar Tree too!  I've become something of an expert on Dollar Tree and I am still a frequent shopper.

Here are a few things I will be stocking up on at the Dollar Tree Anniversary Celebration.

You should get a pen and start a list.  You will want to buy these things too. 

Promise.

I use Dollar Tree's bottles of L.A.’s Totally Awesome® Window Cleaner and  L.A.’s Totally Awesome® Ammonia and I've heard from a lot of my readers in the comments section of my Dollar Tree posts that they use those products too and are amazed at how well they work.  

I pick up snacks like packs of Snyder’s® Mini Pretzels, and boxes of Pepperidge Farm® Goldfish®

and I almost always use Hefty® Gallon-Size Zipper Bags for food storage at home.

And it's stock up time on things like Crest® Toothpaste,  Dial® Bar Soap, and Tide® Simply Clean & Fresh™ Detergent.

Did you know you can use coupons at Dollar Tree?  You totally can!

Pair a coupon with these great Bonus Buys and you are having your own little celebration because of how much money you saved!

Quantities are limited, so head to your local Dollar Tree today and stock up!

Keep up to date by subscribing to weekly e-mails from Dollar Tree.

Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest

Now go. 

Leave.

 Head to Dollar Tree and stock up!

That's where you will find me!

disclaimer: this is a sponsored post as part of a campaign by Blueprint social.  You never have to twist my arm to write about my undying love for Dollar Tree though. All opinions are 100% my own.

What not to buy from the Dollar Store from the archives

All this week, I will be pulling out some of my favorite old posts from my Holy Craft archives.

I'm currently in Uganda with World Vision on a vision trip and couldn't be more excited to share my trip with you when I return.  In the meantime, if I am able, I will be updating my instagram with pictures.  You can follow me at HolyCraft1

This post on what not to buy from the Dollar Store is by far my most popular post.

It's funny because it wasn't something I put a lot of thought in, but it certainly struck a chord with my readers.

It's had nearly 3 MILLION page views.  The best part is reading the comments from other dollar store shoppers, so when you are done reading this post, head on over and read the comments.

I live way too close to The Dollar Store

I end up spending a lot of time there

Which means I also tend to spend a lot of money there too.

I've bought a few things that have been worth a dollar.

And I've bought a few things that are totally not worth a dollar.

So stroll with me through the aisles and I will tell you all those things you should snag

and all those things you should avoid.

Tissue Paper-Snag it

It's so much cheaper at The Dollar Store and works great in those 

recycled gift bags we all have laying around.

Scotch Tape-Snag it

Is it just me or does your house go through tape like it's going out of style?

 Thumb Tacks-Snag it

You probably don't need these every day, but I did do a project recently and wish I knew they had them at The Dollar Store because I paid too much.

Furniture Polish and Window Cleaner: Snag it

Both things I use often, both things worth picking up
Windex does not corner the market on window cleaner and Pledge doesn't either

You can read about Anna's top secret cleaning tip (hint, it involves furniture polish) here.

Estracell sponges-Pass
While they may look like the scotch brite sponges, they are not the same.
 Don't waste your money

Sun dishwashing liquid: Pass

This stuff is so watered down that it's cheaper to buy the name brand

Stor-it sandwich bags: Snag it

We don't use a lot of these baggies (I use my reusable ones instead)
but when I do need them, they do the job

Potted Meat: Pass

I'm pretty sure potted meat is never a good idea

also, any "meat" at The Dollar Store-gross!

Pretzels: Snag it

These are great for lunches and so much cheaper than at the grocery store

Kids Shampoo: Snag it

If you have kids that wash themselves you know how much shampoo you go through.

Shower Curtain: Snag it

Now I'm not saying you should use just this shower curtain in your bathroom,

but under your fancy shower curtain, this one for $1 is perfect.

Washcloths and Towels: Pass

So thin and so not worth it

Extra Healing Lotion: Pass

It may look like Vaseline's healing lotion, but it is not even close.

Find a sale and buy the real deal

Bobby pins: Pass

Honestly didn't know anyone could screw up bobby pins

but they did.

Don't bother

Cotton Swabs: Pass

Stick with Q-tips

These guys bend before you even stick 'em in your ear.

It's like they are scared or something.

Pregnancy Test: Snag it

Who knew?

Seriously, the best $1 deal in the store

Compare them with other brands here
**updated**see this follow up post Should you Buy a Dollar Store Pregnancy Test

Glue Pens-Snag it

I always peruse the craft aisle you never know what you will find

I know I've bought these at Michael's before for WAY more!

Colored Pencils: Pass

These are awful! They won't sharpen and they get dull in a nanosecond

Crayons: Pass

There is something to be said for Crayola.  They have crayons figured out.

These are just waxy and yuck

Dough Pate: Pass

It's called Pate...seriously...skip it.

It's not play doh

Bubbles: Snag it

I buy these by the armful during the summer

Cheap, big and full of fun

So what dollar store items did I miss?

Good or bad I want to know!

**updated**
This Dollar Store post has by far been one of my most popular posts.
I did a few follow up posts based on department.
You can find them here

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Gold animal head book ends. Classing up a Dollar Store find.

Gold is the new "it" color.

It's funny because for years, we have been shying away from anything gold

and now it's slowly creeping back into decorating.

When I saw these animal heads at the Dollar Tree, 

I knew that they would be 100 times better with a coat of gold paint.

Lucky for me, I found gold spray paint at a garage sale literally the next day,

 so this project ended up being super cheap!

My favorite kind of project.

I won't bore you with the details of how I spray painted these heads.

I have faith in all of you that you can figure it out.

I really love the end result.

This is the rhino head.

and the elephant head.

Isn't that a great update?! For under $5, I took 4 dollar store finds and made them look way classier then they did before. I love spray paint!

Book page eggs tutorial

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of anything with book pages.

I have made a book page canvas

book page pumpkins

book page wreaths

this wreath

So when I found these foam Easter eggs at The Dollar Tree, 

I knew exactly what I was going to do with them!

These are the supplies I used.

I started by ripping out pages from my vintage book.

I don't like to have a lot of white space, so I would tear the white space off of my pages.

I used mod podge and painted the glue on the egg and again on top of the paper 

smoothing down the page edges.

Because you are working with a small space, your fingers will start to get a little sticky and you will start pulling the book pages off of the egg.

You don't want that, so work with half of the egg at a time.

After you coat half of the egg with your book page, dry your egg on wax paper.

Once it's dry, do the other side.

Once your eggs are dry, 

have fun finding every nook and cranny to display them in.

Another fantastic book page project don't you think?!

How are you decorating for Easter?

What's in my cart at The Dollar Store

It's been awhile since I did a What's in my cart at The Dollar Store post.

I know you have all been dying to know what I have been buying while I have been shopping there.

Oh, you haven't?  

Well, that's too bad!

My son's Boy Scout troop recently had a cake auction fundraiser.

I bought a plastic platter and was quite pleased with how easy it was to use.

Many scouts cut up foam board or a box as a base for their cakes, 

I spent $1 and none of my time and provided the winning bidder a reusable platter.  

Double win!

I still love my silver plate chalkboard sign I made last year.

I picked up a few so that I could make more.

I have never been a fabric softener user.

Ever.

But there is something about having growing {stinky} children and a dog, that creates a need to eliminate odors.  I've been mixing half water, half liquid fabric softener to create my own febreeze in a squirt bottle.

It works.

Occasionally I add it to the laundry and my daughter gushes over how much she loves the smell.

We don't get out much.

I don't buy a lot of food at the dollar store, but occasionally there are deals to be had.

For instance, these marshmallows.

I used them as a topping on the aforementioned Boy Scout cake auction s'mores bars that my son and I made.  And only because when we first made the recipe and toasted the marshmallows in the broiler, they caught on fire {like blow it out before it burns the house down fire}.  We had to scrape off the burnt marshmallows {that I paid $1.49 for the bag for at Target} and ran to the Dollar Store hoping they would come through.  

Spoiler alert. They did.

I seemed to have misplaced all of my microfiber cleaning towels so when I wandered down the cleaning aisle, I picked up this 2 pack of white towels.

A typical trip for me to the dollar store requires wandering down every.single.aisle, so while I was going down the automotive aisle, I saw these much larger microfiber cleaning towels.

If you think I still got the smaller white kitchen towels, you would be wrong.

I did not.

My teenage son would be shocked to know that the underwear that he is currently wearing came from the dollar store.

I guess it's better than coming used from a garage sale.

I snatched up a few pairs of these Starter brand boxer briefs and the jury is still out 

{I keep forgetting to ask him about his skives}

so I don't know if they are worth the buy or not.

The pickings were slim though.

You had your choice of small or 2XL.

I found myself in need of a bandana

{don't we all every so often?}

and I am glad I held out to see what the dollar store's selection was.

Hobby Lobby had 1 bandana for $1, but the dollar store had 3 for $1.

I needed a nail file.

I bought a 4 pack.

That is all.

And finally, my last purchase was a stock up of Styrofoam balls and cones.

I use these for crafts all the time and they can get quite expensive at a "normal" craft store.

I used the cones last year to make twine wrapped carrots

and I used the balls to make snowmen.

Stock up, it's a great price and worth adding to your stash of craft supplies.

That's what was in my cart

Have you snatched up any winners at the dollar store lately?