Valentines day Wreath- IN 5 MINUTES!

Origninally I wanted to make a wreath like on of these that I found on Simply Designing. I went to 3 Dollar trees and Jo-Annes to find a wreath base that was solid like that.. like a Styrofoam type... (what am I trying to say here??)

 Anyway, At Jo-Annes they had these styrofoam wreaths but they were too small. I wanted a bigger one. Then I saw this "grape vine" wreath. I loved how rustic it looked and I thought it would be a nice contrast with the sparkly heart picks I had already bought and the yard I already had. Plus, it was only $3. Way better than the smaller $8 styrofoam wreath.

 The heart picks I bought from the dollar tree (2 packs but I didn't use them all) The yarn was on hand and the wreath from Jo-annes. Total $5 (cheaper if I had a 40% off coupon)

 I started by just placing the picks into the vines. Pretty simple.

 I trimmed off any ends of the picks that stuck out. Then took yarn a few feet at a time and tied and wrapped it around the wreath.

 TA-DA! I love it! I think its simple and cute.

 It doesn't have any glue in it so when valentines day is over I can change it out for the different seasons. Its super cute and it seriously only took me 5 minutes and $5. Totally worth it

Lace Back Tank

I got this doily from a thrift store for $1. I've had it for a while with the intent of doing this and I've finally got around to it.

You will need:
Lace or crochet doily (you can get these at the dollar tree!)
Tank top (on hand)
Sewing machine

 First: Lay the lace over the back of your tank top.

 Then: pin the lace to the tank top starting at the shoulders (or where ever it fits best) and trim off any odd parts. You can see I trimmed the top and bottom middle and also the sides of the bottom corners.

 Then sew the top by the shoulders and the bottom edges.

Sew everywhere there are red lines

Like this

Then flip the tank inside out and cut out the portion of the tank top where the lace overlaps the tank.

Then you are all done. I LOVE IT! I love mustard yellow and I love lace.

Total cost: $1


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Christmas for $1

Ok, well maybe not just $1 but I decorated my whole apartment with dollar tree things. The Entertainment center is my favorite part. I wish I could have taken better pictures before my camera battery died!

 For spacial reasons (the only option that we had) we have our TV in front of our fireplace. So here is a shot of our "mantel". I used 4 bushels of flowers, a faux pine garland, and part of a red and white striped garland, all purchased from the dollar tree. I clipped the flowers from the base stem and used the remaining stem to wrap the flowers around the pine and striped garlands.

I also have some cute wire rain deer and angel on top of the TV but they didn't come out in the picture.

 I used fabric that I had on hand and extra ornaments to decorate our stockings.

 I had three candle sticks(purchased from Kohls for $3 each) that I attached glass vases to the top (from the DT) and filled them with ornaments, hemp chord, and bells (again, all from the DT). I think it turned out quite lovely.


PS Heres a picture of those sugar scrubs that I made.

Faux Window etching decal

I have a mirrored closet in my hallway/bathroom area That I'm not the biggest fan of. But I'm renting so I can't really do too much about it.

While I was roaming the Dollar tree I came across this clear book cover roll. Its a roll of sticky plastic that is kind of like shelving liner. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I have finally figured it out.

Here is what you will need:

 First: Draw out petals (or whatever other design you may want) with a marker. I wouldn't suggest a ball point or pencil because it will dent the plastic.

 Second: Cut out your design. If you cut individual pieces it will be easier if you lay them out how you want them to be placed before you start placing them.

 Third: Peel each piece from its backing. I used my exacto knife to help peel the back off.

 It's hard to take a picture of this decal. But it looks much better in person. It's subtle and cute. It's just enough to give some interest to the mirror.

My First Wreath

Wow! This has been the most HECTIC month Ever! School started, then my boyfriend moved, then it was my best friend's 21st birthday, then it was My birthday, Mix all that with Lots of design projects and you have one absent blogger.

However, I did have time to make a wreath for fall. This is the first time I've ever made a wreath and I have to say, I really like it!

From the Dollar Tree I bought a strand of fall leaves, a strand of shiny leaves, a wreath, a spool of ribbon (I also used one I had on hand), and a "happy halloween" sign. Total cost: $5 and it only took me about 5 minutes to make. I just hung the Halloween sign on the hook so that once Halloween is over I can keep it up through November and just pull the sign off.

I think I will be making one of these for every holiday :)

DIY tall planter

I made this planter about 6 months ago and never posted it. I'm a little too late because DSC featured the same idea.  Great minds think alike! I found these pots at the dollar tree and bought them without a plan. While I had them just stacked there waiting for some love I thought hmmm they would look pretty good stacked.

I flipped one upside down and glued the other one on top with hot glue. I transplanted a succulent (that's a fancy word for "its ok if you forget to water it") into it and I'm done!


Don't forget to check out my ETSY, MadeInTheAli. I will be posting "hair goodies" this weekend!

Vintage Lace Ring

Steppin thru Crazy made this Lace Ring a while ago on her blog. Shortly after I found the perfect lace for making this ring. However, it took me Months to find ring blanks (an empty ring with the glue pad on top). Finally I found some at the Dollar Tree of all places. But they already had tacky flowers attached. So I ripped them off and attached my own lace flowers.

This is how the lace doily started.

If you can't find ring blanks, you can also use ribbon and glue it into a circle to fit your finger.

This whole thing cost me $2 for 6 rings. I got 8 flowers for $1 and 6 rings for $1. I love them. I think they are adorable. I'm so glad that I finally found the rings for these. I will be wearing purple tomorrow :)

Dollar Store Craft GIVEAWAY!

Heather at Dollar Store Crafts is giving away a Silhouette Machine! I'm So excited! I hope I win! I want one so bad, but I'm being practical and not buying one. Winning it would be amazing! I'm Crossing my fingers.

Dollar Store "Faux"-pothecary

UPDATE: I finally found it! Here is the link up to where I found this idea.

 I've been seeing a lot of these apothecary jars in BlogLand and I haven't been able to find any at the thrift stores. But then I saw this idea of taking candle sticks and glass jars from the dollar tree and gluing them together. I was on that idea in a matter of hours.

I Really hate to take an idea and not give credit to the blog I found it on, but I was SO sure that I found the blog from the "dollar store crafts Facebook page" and now I can't find it for the life of me! I googled it and found a few blogs with similar ideas but not the same one I saw. So if I find it, I will for sure update this.

So here is my work in progress:

 Now I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend finding a base similar to the one on the right.... because otherwise you will have something top heavy and you may end up with a situation similar to this:

And then there were 2

Here are some pictures of my bathroom:

The Rug

I'll keep you updated on the bathroom sink. I'm not totally satisfied.... Then again, will I ever be? :P

Mini Tins

These Tins have been in the wedding section of the Dollar Tree. I Bought them a little while ago but didn't really know what to do with them. Then I had an idea. They are so cute and make great little gifts. You can put candy in them or jewelry in them to gift wrap it.

Read on!!

Placemat purse

Check out this cute Purse I made out of a dollar tree place mat. It's super easy and only takes about 5 minutes!

You will need:
-sewing machine
-ribbon (on hand)
-handles ($2.50)
-placemat ($1.00)





ONE: Cut 4 pieces of ribbon around 3-4" depending on the thickness of your handles.

TWO: Pin the ribbon to one of the shorter sides of the placemat wrapping the handles in them. Make sure that the handle is centered on the placemat

THREE: Sew all the way across from one end to the other sewing the ribbon to the placemat. If you can sew over the existing hem it will look a little cleaner.

FOUR: Trim off excess ribbon.

FIVE: Repeat on the other side.

SIX: Fold in half and sew each side to create the pocket.

SEVEN: Fill it with stuff! Project total: $3.50

4th of July Candle holder/center piece

My roommate asked me to do "Art with Ali" Day in her classroom. I was so excited and I figured this would be a great project for the kids to do since the 4th of July is coming up.

It was a little wet when I took the picture but it looks even more awesome when its dry.

From the dollar store I used a glass vase and squares cut from paper streamers (there is a ton of streamer left over so you'll have some to decorate too). By watering down some elmers glue it was easy to "paper mache" the squares on. When you do this make sure that the red stripes go OVER the white stripes. It looks cleaner that way. The pattern is pretty simple and its a great project for kids to do or for adults to make as table decor.


You can use these to hold silverware, food or flowers instead of a candle. During the day you can put these balloon weights from the dollar tree to make them look like fireworks. Then at night remove the weight and put a candle in them. Here is a picture of them with a candle in it. It was during the day when I took this but it looks really cool at night.

Have fun! And Happy 4th of JULY!! Be safe everyone!