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Simple DIYs using SEA SHELLS!

May 1, 2023
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by The Daily DIYer

Do you have a stash of old sea shells you’ve been collecting? Yes? AWESOME! Grab them, let’s get to crafting! No? NO WORRIES! Head to Dollar Tree! They have an amazing selection of sea shells in a variety of styles and sizes. Also check the small bottles that look like decor and pop the corks off, these are great mini shells to use for crafting too!

In the video I’ll link at the bottom of this post you’ll find a video tutorial version of SEVERAL seas shell project you don’t want to miss! There are nearly ten different projects! I thought it would be fun to share at least one project from that video with you here, in blog form.

What is our project tutorial today?

DIY Resin Sea Shell Tray

SUPPLIES:
–Dollar Tree sea shell plastic tray
–Sea Shells
–Resin
–Gloves
–Mask
–Resin Mixing cups
-Popsicle Stick

You’ll need to grab this plastic iridescent tray from Dollar Tree. Right now they have a great selection of coastal and tropical themed items to choose from. However, check in their floral section for bags of sea shells that they carry year round. This tray is about to get a really great upgrade!

We will be using a two part resin to transform this tray. Have you ever used resin before? It’s so fun if you haven’t! If you have, then you already know how fun it is! It’s also easy too. You can find the resin I’m using HERE on AMAZON.

MUST DO: Wear a mask and gloves when working with resin! Also protect your work surface, I like to put down cardboard (thank you Amazon boxes). It’s thick and you can toss it when you are done.

How simple is resin? So easy, let me show you. You’ll need either a disposable container or a silicone reusable container and you’ll mix equal parts of the two part resin together and stir.
Example: I mixed 1.5 oz of the liquid hardener to 1.5 oz of the resin to a silicone measuring cup and used a popsicle stick to stir them together.

TIP: work in smaller amounts, if possible, if you are first getting started. Once you mix the two parts together, you create a reaction and the resin will start to set up. You’ll have limited time to work with the mixture, so like I said, smaller amounts in layers, works best for smaller projects.

Once you’ve mixed your first 3 oz. of resin together, pour it into the Dollar Tree sea shell tray. This will create a nice base layer for our tray.

Now resin is fun to work with but now is the really fun part. You’ll now get a chance to place all your embellishments inside the tray and inside the resin.

For this tray I used ALL Dollar Tree accessories: starfish, variety of sea shells, glass beads, and pearl beads.

It was fun to arrange all of the pieces within the resin till it looked good in my eyes. You get creative and add your own favorite elements to the resin to make it your own!

When you are finished adding your treasures, you’ll pour more layers of resin on top until everything is covered. Just make sure you don’t over fill the plastic shell tray or it will come spilling over the sides, and that’s not fun to clean up.

This is our finished tray, 48 hours later! The resin turns to a clear hard plastic. It does take at least 24 hours for the resin to cure and harden so just check it before actually using it. Mine, I let sit a good 48 hours just to be sure all was good.

Now how do you use your new tray?

Idea #1: (shown above) Use it as a collection tray! It’s perfect to drop your keys or extra change near an entry way.

Idea #2: Use it as a candle holder!
*WARNING* – Do NOT place a flame in direct contact with the resin, that is a big fire hazard

I would suggest a contained candle – like my favorite candle in a mason jar shown above – Antique Candle Co candles
-or-
An even better idea would be to use a battery powered LED candle instead. Very little fire hazard there.

See MORE Sea Shell DIYs and Idea in the video below

All Blog Posts, Cricut Projects, Dollar Store Crafts, Wood Projects

DIYing Mystery Dollar Tree items

April 28, 2023
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by The Daily DIYer

What is the Mystery Box Challenge?

In short form, the Mystery Box Challenge, is a box filled with random Dollar Tree items that the recipient has to use to craft with.

I joined in with this amazing group of talented YouTube DIYers to take part in the Mystery Box Challenge! This month and this round, like always, has a different twist than other challenges in the past. So what was it this go around?

-One project we couldn’t use adhesive, yep, that was a thing
-Two Challenge items HAVE to be used, yep, those were tough
and the rest is just a box of random things we had to craft our way through

What was in my box?

You’ll have to watch the FULL VIDEO to see ALL the items that were in my mystery box. I thought it would be fun to share at least one project from this mystery box with you though. Let’s walk through it, THEN click the link at the bottom of this post to see them all.

DIY Wood Beach House

Dollar Tree has a great selection of wood pieces for crafting, including a wood scrap that is shaped like a simple house. I spray painted that with this spray paint to give it a beach house vibe.

It took about three coats of spray paint to get good covered, but isn’t it a pretty and beachy color? We are going to add more detail to this house and give it a burlap ribbon roof. I didn’t want bunch of hot glue showing through the burlap so Mod Podge was the answer for the front here. Add the Mod Podge adhesive to the roof area, lay the burlap in the glue, and then add more Mod Podge on top of the burlap to seal the fabric to the front. The glue goes on white but will dry clear if you don’t use too much.

It is a good idea to use hot glue at the top of the roof line to give the burlap fabric more hold. Between the Mod Podge and the hot glue the burlap fabric should stay down for you. Then you’ll need to flip the house to the back and trim off any excess fabric with your scissors.

This is a better look at the house once the burlap fabric has been trimmed off and flipped back to the front. Let’s dress this up a little further with a vinyl decal. I found this design on Creative Fabrica. If you haven’t been to this crafter idea heaven – CLICK HERE AND GO NOW. Ideas, files, fonts, crafts, and classes GALORE! It’s amazing! I typed in “beach house” and found this SVG file. I cut it out using my Cricut Explore 3 on white matte vinyl and applied it to the front of the house with transfer tape.

And if you can’t leave well enough alone, like me here, let’s add some additional embellishments. Both elements, the rope and mini sea shells, are both from Dollar Tree. Use your hot glue to add a line of adhesive to the top line of the roof and add the nautical rope. It really does help define the roofline. Next, add a couple small sea shells to the front for a bit of added detail that I think really brings the whole look together.

There she is! Our finished Dollar Tree wood house turned coastal beach house in just a few steps! This smaller scale tiered tray is from the Target Dollar Spot, along with the lantern and white ceramic house. Everything else is DOLLAR TREE! You may notice the “beach vibes” block and some little steps that are the same blue at the bottom, both of those projects are featured in this video that I’ll link below. You don’t want to miss those DIYs! There are some twists and turns in the tutorial… it’s like a story and you’re not sure how it will all turn out in the end. Well you kind of do with this tiered tray, and I will have to say, this one turned out great in the end!

Want to see more? CLICK BELOW!

Click below to see the FULL video!

All Blog Posts, Dollar Store Crafts, Spring Ideas

Dollar Tree Outdoor DIYs

April 17, 2023
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by The Daily DIYer

HELLO SUNSHINE! Are you out in your yards or gardens soaking up the fresh air and sunshine? It is so rewarding and refreshing. However, it can get pricy when you want to make things cute and functional out there!

You can save some dough with this new video tutorial I’ll link below. Or if nothing else you can use the money you save for more PLANTS! If you know, you know.

Let’s start with a super affordable and simple way to turn Dollar Tree planters into a high-end and useful planter garden.

Frugal Planter with a High-End Look

Supplies:
-Planter
–Pool Noodles
–Knife
–Spray Paint
– Soil/Plants
–BBQ Skewers
-Rubber Band
-Jute
-Scissors

You’ll need a good sized planter for this one. I found a 14″ planter in the Dollar Tree Plus section for only $3.00! That’s a great price for a planter this size! They also had different colors to choose from. I really wanted my to be oil rubbed bronze though, and that was an easy fix.

The fix: spray paint. Quick, easy and drys fast. It really took this pot from average to one that looks much more high-end. If you run into bad weather and can’t spray paint outside – I highly recommend this paint tent. It’s ready for in garages to keep the over spray from going everywhere. Just make sure you have a doors/windows open to air out the fumes. You can find it on Amazon HERE.

I bet you red the supplies list above and thought “why pool noodles?” They make great fillers inside the bottom of large planters. You cut them up into smaller pieces and put them in the bottom. It does two things. First, it is a space filler so you can use less of the pricey potting soil. aka – SAVES MONEY. Second, it also makes the pots lighter incase you need to move them around. Win/Win.
Also, if you can find THIS KNIFE at Dollar Tree, grab it! It works so well for cutting up the pool noodles!

Of course, now we need to add soil and our plant(s) of choice. I planted a blackberry bush here. I have no idea how to take care of a blackberry bush but – here’s hoping I can this year! All tips and advice are welcome!!! (leave them in the comments below)

Like the pool noodles, you also may be wondering why we need BBQ skewers, they are for the arbor we are going to create! It’s super affordable and super easy. Use these longer BBQ skewers you can find at Dollar Tree. I would use at least four, I used six here. You simply push them into the soil around the outside edge and gather the ends at the top. To temporarily secure them, use a rubber band. Likely that won’t hold up all season as the rubber band may dry rot from the sun and weather. So over the top of the rubber band, wrap jute several times and tie in a knot for a more permanent solution.

And there you have it! Dollar Tree items turned into a high-end looking container garden!

Watch MORE Dollar Tree Outdoor HACKS Below!

All Blog Posts, Cricut Projects, Thrift Flips, Wood Projects

Useful Thrift Flips

April 10, 2023
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by The Daily DIYer

Thrifting can be so rewarding! It’s the thrill of the hunt to find those treasures. You may have your own mission but the end result is different for everyone and every trip is different too. It’s exciting!

Not only did I find great items to thrift flip in this new DIY video, I also found a treasure that was worth 30 x’s what I paid for it! You’ll have to watch the video to see what it is. I’ll link it below.

There are SO MANY things you can do with canisters! Of course they are great for kitchen essentials storage but they can be used in other ways too. I have four ideas that will set that creative lightbulb off for you! Click the video linked below to see them all.

DIY 1"x6" Planter

Supplies:

(3) 1×6 @ 6 1/4″ LONG
(1) 1X6 @ 24″ LONG
(1) 1X6 @ 7″ LONG
1 1/4″ Brad Nails
Brad Nailer
Miter Saw
Drill
Wood Stain
Vinyl
FREE SVG FILE
Transfer Tape
Soil/Flowers

Here she is! A handmade (by someone else) toilet paper holder? I think? It had potential, and for $4.67, it wasn’t a big risk as far as cost was concerned. I knew I could hack this up while still drawing some inspiration from the shape.

Time for demo! (I love demo) A hammer and crowbar worked great to pry this piece apart. There were also a TON of nails that needed to be removed. Whoever made this originally, really did a great job making sure it wasn’t going to come apart.

I was careful not to dent or damage the wood as I worked it apart and luckily it worked out and came apart nicely!

First, ignore the piece on the left. I was going to use it for the bottom but it was warped and didn’t work out. SO – pretend that’s another 1×6 that is 7″ long (the actual bottom that I used)

The other pieces:
(1)1×6 @ 24″ long – BACK
(3) 1×6 @ 6 1/4″ long – SIDES

I sanded all the pieces with 80 grit sandpaper to get off as much of the original wood stain as I could so I could later, add my own.

Now let’s attach the (3) 6 1/4″ long pieces together with brad nails.This is the front and sides of the planter.

Attach the longer (24″) piece to the back with brad nails.

Here is where we are after the sides and back are attached. And now we need to add the bottom.

The bottom piece is the 1×6 that is 7″ long. Lay the planter on it’s side and attach the bottom around all for sides with brad nails.

TA-DA! We just built a planter! This is a great beginner wood project that you can be proud of!

Now you can get your creativity on and add your personality!

I used Early American wood stain. I like to apply wood stain with pieces of flour sack towel I cut up. It’s a more affordable option than the cloths hanging near the wood stain itself. It’s easy to dip the cloth into the stain and rub it into the wood. Of corse, make sure you are wearing nitrile gloves during the staining process.

Let your piece sit overnight and then we can move onto decorating our planter!

This is looking great already! BUT, I can never leave well enough alone, haha! We are going to add a decal to the front of this and really give it some personality.

I have this design as a FREE DOWNLOAD for you! You can use either the SVG or PNG files however you’d like. The SVG is a cut file used for vinyl machines and the PNG is a print files.

I used the SVG version to cut the design out of white vinyl and weeded out all the vinyl that wasn’t part of the design.

Apply the vinyl decal with transfer tape to your wood planter box. I prefer paper transfer tape for stained wood. It lower tack and won’t pull the stain out of the wood as you peel it back.

Before adding live planters TWO THINGS:
1) Seal your wood with a clear spray or polycyclic
2) Drill holes in the bottom for drainage

*If you plan to use this inside or with faux plants, you can skip the two points above.

I added some rock and soil to the box and FINALLY it was time to add the pretty flowers. Now if I could just keep these flowers alive, that would be a bigger task than building this planter… tips are welcome in the comments.

Want an even more in-depth tutorial on this planter box? Click the video linked below.

The Daily DIYer

The Daily DIYer

Simple DIYs using SEA SHELLS!

DIY Resin Sea Shell Tray

See MORE Sea Shell DIYs and Idea in the video below

DIYing Mystery Dollar Tree items

What is the Mystery Box Challenge?

What was in my box?

DIY Wood Beach House

Click below to see the FULL video!

Dollar Tree Outdoor DIYs

Frugal Planter with a High-End Look

Watch MORE Dollar Tree Outdoor HACKS Below!

Useful Thrift Flips

DIY 1"x6" Planter

See MORE Thrift Flips in the video below

The Daily DIYer

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