Look What I Found at the Dollar Store | Halloween Edition

It's been a very long time since I've done a dollar store round up, so I hope you enjoy this one! I haven't done a thorough Dollorama trip since our move to Manitoba, and Halloween crafting was just the excuse I was looking for.

You might know I'm not a fan of most seasonal decor, and the main reason behind that is that I would much rather invest my decorating dollars into something that will hang around for longer than a couple of weeks.

But, if I can source something or DIY it without allocating too much of my vase-allowance, I'm on board. Something that won't look out of place in our house, that will be useful in years to come, and can also double as party decor for those impromptu neighbourhood get togethers.

Those pumpkins? Started as this...

Three gourds, and two packs of mini-gourds set me back $10 ($2 each), along with some rhinestone stickers ($1 each) some faux flowers ($1), napkins ($1 each) and craft chalkboard paint ($1). Straws were $4 from HomeSense, so the total investment for this Halloween vignette was around $20. Not too shabby, especially since the "chalkboard" (painted canvas), straws, flowers and napkins can all be used throughout the year, and the painted gourds will make an appearance in many Octobers to come.

But that's not all I scored at the dollar store! These glass carafes ($1.25 each) were perfect for decanting my vinegars into so that all the jars match in my pantry, but would also be great filled with water and food colouring to resemble potions and blood for some Halloween creep-factor.

The plastic jars are also great for craft supply storage (or for Halloween, fill with spiders or eyeballs) and best of all, they cost just $3 for three.

This set of black frames was only $3! I thought they were separate frames but are in fact all attached, which turned out to make the perfect "wreath" to hang on the front door for Halloween! I'll share that finished project later on this week!

And these doodle-rific notebooks made the Halloween cut off purely because her eyes and face terrify me - but they are cute none the less and for $2, who can complain about creepy eyes?

Have you found any dollar store finds perfect for Halloween?

Anthro-esque DIY Dollar Store Business Card Box

It's been a while since I've done a "Look What I Found at the Dolla Store" feature, so although this is just one item, let's add this to the list! If you can't find these at your local dollar store I'm pretty sure Michaels will have something similar, so save your coupons and make it a cheap "almost dollar store" buy.


Of course, it does require a bit of transformation to get it to it's final state, but it's an easy project.

When I came across these little boxes at Dollar Giant, they instantly reminded me of something I may find in an Anthropologie or a a stationery store. They are the perfect size for holding business cards on your desk, but I'm sure you could think of a million other things you could put in them. Lipstick. Coins. Tea Bags.

I bought both a rounded edge box, and a squared edge box, but I'll save the latter for another post! I didn't take a before photo (bad blogger!) but I found the square edged box on the Dollar Tree website.

I've painted enough wooden craft boxes in my lifetime to fill a room. I'm sure I'm not alone here, right? Every time I see one, I paint it, thinking it's going to look absolutely amazing and I will be able to display it for all the world to see. Truth is, it usually looks just like a cheap wood box painted with craft paint, and it usually ends up inside a cabinet somewhere playing home to my chequebooks and reciepts. Out of sight. This time, I wanted to do something different, so out with the paint, and in with the "homemade old wood" recipe!

I adapted the "recipe" for this since it's a small teeny tiny box. I used just one teabag, not steeped for more than a few minutes. I also used one steel wool pad,  just a cup of vinegar, and let that sit for just about 12 hours (the longer this mixture sits, the darker your wood will be).


It's such an easy and painless "painting" process because you're just dousing the box in liquid and there's no such thing as drips or a messy paint job. Do make sure you cover the entire box in both solutions though. Whatever you don't will remain the unfinished wood colour. Make sure to let the box dry between the tea and vinegar mixtures, and then let it fully dry before adding any other paint embellishments.

I thought the box could use a bit more panache, so I put my Silhouette to use and made my first ever stencil. I used vinyl, but I think next time I might try some of my thicker adhesive cardstock as the vinyl was a touch tricky to stencil with.

And par ce que everything sounds better in french, I decided to stencil "les cartes" instead of just "cards". Way more fun. Who knows if the French even refer to business cards as "les cartes", but it has a nice ring to it, mais non?

I just used a white craft paint to stencil with my Martha Stewart plopping sponges ( or whatever they're called). After the paint dried, I gave it a quick sand to add to that aged look, and then did a single coat of water-based poly. You'll see in the photo below that the sanding was also necessary because clearly I'm not a great stenciller.

And the verdict? I'm obsessed. I may only have a need for one business card holder, but I seriously want to go buy and refinish ten of these right now. They are just so stinking cute, and at $1.25 each, are about the cheapest bit of lovely I own right now. And with my new business cards being printed as we speak, I'm even more excited to bring them home and store them in a sweet place they can call their own.

Look What I found at the Dolla Store | Part Two

*Quick note! I am experiencing some issues with Pinterest for some reason. If you are pinning from the .ca site you may receive an error saying my blog has been flagged due to inappropriate content (hmmm, Pinterest doesn't like the Dollar Store?). I have contacted Pinterest and hopefully the issue will be resolved soon!*

It's that time again! That time of the month where I curate some of the best finds my local Dollar Store has to offer. In case you missed it, check out my intro to my dollar store finds here, and Part One of "Look What I Found at the Dollar Store" here.

I decided to only feature one find today, and that is because I heart it so so much! I picked it up a while ago and have been eagerly waiting to share it with you guys! 

These little notebooks are too cute for words. They look like something you'd find for $10- $20 at a bookstore or gift shop, yet the two of them only cost $1.25 TOTAL! Such a steal. The colour is obviously my fave, but they have so much more going for them. Perfect size for  your purse, you can easily jot down notes or ideas. They are actually stamped with "Pella Paper" which from their website looks to be a line of stationery that might have been discontinued? Whatever the reason, I am happy they ended up at Dollorama (and that they don't have "Dollorama" stamped on them!).

The material of the notebook and the pages are good by dollar store terms, and again, you just can't beat the colour! If you're planning a bridal shower anytime soon, how cute would these be for favours? 

You can even leave a cute little personalized note in the front for your friend that will make their day every time they go to open up their notebook!

I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting my Silhouette Cameo and one of the reasons is because I really want to do something amazing to the front of these lil guys. Until then, I've used my kraft stickers to demonstrate how cute these would be personalized (and give you an idea of scale since the labels are 2.5 inches). I know I said in one of my previous dollar store posts that I would never get a gift for a friend at a $ store, but I might just have to eat my words. I think this would be a perfect hostess gift (paired with a bottle of wine) or a great takeaway for the next girls night I host.

What do you think? Are you in love like me? I think you need to go to Dollorama STAT and snag some up! I know I will be :)