Dollar Store Diva Archives - Page 11 of 16 - Cha-Ching on a Shoestring™

The Dollar Store Diva: Upcoming Surprises!

March 30th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

The Dollar Store Diva went on a little shopping spree and here’s a little teaser of an upcoming series! I love surprises, don’t you?

***

I called my daughter Kaley today. The first words out of my mouth were, “Just to let you know, I’m hyper.” Kaley’s response was, “Thanks for the warning.”

She knows that I get “happy hyper” when I’m excited about a new idea, and I am indeed excited about my new idea.

But I’m not going to tell you what it is.

Yet.

As soon as we hung up from our highly energized “I could… and you could…and then we could even…” conversation, I grabbed my coat and headed–you bet–to the Dollar Store.

And what a blast I had shopping at my local Dollar Tree.

And this is what I came home with:

Actually, I’m still developing my plan for exactly what I am going to do with these six items. However, I have promised Kaley that I will have something in her inbox by Monday morning.

Yikes.

That way we can have the Grand Reveal of our “I could… and you could…and then we could even…” idea next week.

Guess I’d better get off the computer and get to work.

I wish you all a lovely Easter weekend with the blessed assurance that

He is risen indeed.

The Dollar Store Diva: St. Patrick’s Day Gifts

March 9th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Check out this whimsical gift idea and FREE printable from the Dollar Store Diva! Makes me want to say “Top o’ the Mornin’ to ya!”

***

On March 17, we are having three friends over for Sunday dinner. Since it will be St. Patrick’s Day, and since Irish blood runs through my veins, I came up with an idea for some just-for-fun-St.-Patty’s-Day gifts for my dinner guests.

As usual, I looked around the house for supplies I already had on hand to put together a few gift bags.

The gift–surrounded by green shreds–in this bag is most definitely memorable and totally IRISH.

Are you wondering what it is?

Why, of course, what else but IRISH SPRING soap!

(Which I actually did already have around the house because I had bought it in a great sale some time before.)

I have included a FREE printable for the tag I used to decorate each bag: Hurrah for the Irish . (If you want to print four of the tags, just run the cardstock though the printer again, being careful to replace the paper in the tray so that it will print on the opposite half of the sheet.)

Cut out the Irish flag and the HURRAH FOR THE IRISH tag; adhere that tag to the flag cutout. Add any other colorful and creative touches you choose.

Maybe these will spark some St. Patrick’s Day gift ideas of your own.

***

Hey, wait! Here’s another just-for-a-chuckle idea: why not spruce up a bottle of Bailey’s IRISH Creamer? Afterall, what could be more Irish than that? 🙂

And one can’t help but say:

Hurrah for the Irish!

***

For those of you who haven’t met her, the Dollar Store Diva happens to be my Mom, Nancy, who has a special power. She can transform Dollar Store and other inexpensive finds into super fun gifts that would brighten anyone’s day!

Check out more Dollar Store Diva Ideas.

The Dollar Store Diva: Proud to be Irish!

February 28th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

The Dollar Store Diva wants to help you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

***

My maiden name was Gilmore; Gilmore is an Irish name. My great-grandfather, William Gilmore, emigrated from Dublin, Ireland, and settled with his wife Rebecca on 200+ acres on Morton Hill near Roscoe, NY. Their son Joesph and his wife, Margaret, raised five children on Morton Hill; one of those children was my beloved father, Arthur William Gilmore.

I am proud to be Irish!

I teach the students in my ESL class to be proud of their cultural heritage, so on March 17 I am going to show pride in my own roots by giving them each a little St. Patrick’s Day gift.

Whenever I am looking for a gift idea, I think to myself: What do I already have in my house? I had some green Hershey Kisses left over from Christmas. (I used the red ones for Valentines Day.) I also had plastic spoons (even some green ones from Sweet Frog!).

So you could join me in the fun, I created some free tags for you to print: Kiss Me I’m Irish and Proud to be Irish.

I wrapped a piece of plastic wrap around each Kiss and tied it to the spoon with green curly ribbon. I punched a hole in the the Kiss Me I’m Irish tag and used gold ribbon to tie it to the handle of the spoon. For the banner, I wrapped the white strip (see printable) around the handle of the spoon and attached it with good old fashioned scotch tape.

Give these as a gift or add a festive touch to the place settings at your St. Patrick’s Day table!

And there you have it: Proud to be Irish!

***

But wait! There’s more!

Stay tuned for two more ways to make your friends smile on St. Patrick’s Day.

***

See more Dollar Store Diva ideas here.

The Dollar Store Diva: Repurposed Mini-Valentines + Free Printables

February 2nd, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Get FREE & FUN updates in my email newsletter or on Facebook.

***

Another Valentine Gift idea from the Dollar Store Diva! Who knew K-Cups could make more than just great coffee?!

***

Just for fun, let’s do a little exercise that I use with my ESL class when teaching new vocabulary words. When you are thinking of making a Valentine gift, would you put a smiley face next to the words below or a frowny face?

1. frugal/money-saving

2. happy gift

3. yummy

4. easy

5. recycle/repurpose

6. creative

7. mini

Did you put a smiley face next to all seven? Good job! You get 100% on the pop quiz!

One of the ways I try to be frugal is to repurpose or recycle what I already have. When I was thinking of creative ways to say Happy Valentines Day, I wandered around my house to see what I already had that could be repurposed for Valentine containers. I was specifically thinking of mini (as in too, too cute).

And this is what I found:

Keurig cups, little take-out containers that held dressings/sour cream; pudding/applesause containers; votive candle holders.

Oh, the ideas that started flowing!

***

First I created several sets of mini-tag printables to share with you for your own happy, frugal, too, too cute Valentine gifts.

Be My Valentine 8 Hearts printable

Then I combined the tags with the mini containers: applesauce containers filled with Lifesaver Wintergreen Mints and Hershey Kisses.

Keurig Cups: one wrapped in red cello and the other in pull-it-out-of-your-kitchen-drawer plastic wrap.

Lots of Kisses XOXO printable

Votive Candle holder turned Hugs and Kisses holder!

Don’t forget pink! Votive candle holders with pink striped candy sticks and a fat pink ribbon.

So there you have it. Why not wander through your house and see what containers you could recycle for a mini Valentine’s greeting.

And lots of kisses and sweet Valentine wishes to all of you!

***

The Dollar Store Diva: Mint to be Valentines!

January 23rd, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Here’s a FREE Valentine’s printable from the Dollar Store Diva! York Peppermint Patties are my favorite, so I’m secretly hoping she’s sending me one. 🙂 Don’t miss her fun Valentines-by-Mail ideas as well!

Here’s an easy way to create a sweet Valentine card for someone you want to make smile on February 14th.

Blue paper source here

Using these FREE Mint to be Valentines printables, print out the cards on cardstock, trim, and attach a York Patty. (They have them now in Valentine colors.) I attached mine with red and white paper clips from The Dollar Tree.

I also happened to have some CD sleeves that I had bought on a major sale. The card can be presented with or without the sleeve–as long as the chocolate is attached!

************

And how about this idea? Trim a Tic Tacs Mint to be Valentines printable tag and wrap it over the top of a container of Tic Tacs. I adhered mine with double-sided tape. For more fun, I used a red plastic paper clip to attach some red, black, and white thin ribbons.

And look–on the back is a special surprise: XOXO

****************

But wait! There’s still more fun to come! Look around your house for any random containers you can part with. I have extra white ironstone cups, so I filled one with chocolate Kisses, added some red angel hair ribbon shreds (Dollar Store), and used the printable XOXO tag.

I also have an abundance of votive candle holders, so I filled one with peppermint sticks, wrapped some ribbon around it, and folded the Mint to Be Valentines in half to make a mini card. Then I punched a hole in the card to thread thin ribbon.

And there’s still that happy little Valentine message on the back of the card:

XOXO

***

The Dollar Store Diva: Five Clever Valentines-By-Mail Ideas

January 20th, 2013 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Did you know that you can mail just about anything as long as it has a mailing address and the correct postage?

My Mom (a.k.a. the Dollar Store Diva) is the queen of sending out-of-the-ordinary mailings, from water bottles to cereal boxes to puzzles and more. Here are some clever ways to brighten the day of your Valentines who live far and wide.

***

A Cereal-ously Cute Idea

When you can’t ‘Scrape’ Up Enough Dough

Go to Infinity and Beyond to send your Valentine some love

Gifts for the budding artist in a clever package

‘Puzzled’ about what to send your grandson? Here’s an idea.

A bottle of Sunshine to brighten anyone’s day!

Yes…for those of you who are counting, this was actually SIX clever Valentine’s-by-Mail ideas. I found the last one after I had already made the graphic. Ahem.

Love me anyway? 🙂

***

See more Dollar Store Diva ideas here.

The Dollar Store Diva: Wishing You a Merry Christmas and a Fruitful New Year!

December 19th, 2012 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Here’s the final installment in the Dollar Store Diva’s Holiday Gift Giving series. She’s saving the day yet again with a simple yet LOVELY gift idea that will only take a few minutes (and a few dollars!) to create.

***

Fruit baskets are usually a welcomed gift, but often the amount of fruit is overwhelming. I decided to make a cute little mini-version.

I like the shabby-chic look of this fit-in-your-hand-lunch-bag “basket”. [As in FREE.] I started folding the bag down from the top, over and over, until it created a “basket’ about 3” high.

One apple

one pear

and a few Hershey Kisses

all fit nicely on a bed of brown paper shreds I had sliced with my trimmer from another bag. [Once again, as in FREE.]

All I had to do then was to wrap the “basket” with a fat ribbon, tie a bow, and slip in this Fruit Basket Printable Card. [Yup, you guessed it: FREE.]

For a second mini-fruit basket, I filled a pretty little glass bowl from the Dollar Store with a strand of red tinsel garland, then added three pieces of fresh fruit–an apple, a pear, and an orange–and a few Kisses. Finally, I wrapped it all with cello wrap, tied it with some curly ribbon, and attached the same Fruit Basket Printable Card.

I took it to my beautician today.

She loved it.

Wouldn’t a teacher also love a gift like this? Or a ________________, or ____________________, or ________________. [You fill in the blanks. You can even put my name in one of the blanks.]

And I really do wish all of you a

Merry Christmas

and a

Fruitful New Year!

***

For those of you who haven’t met her, the Dollar Store Diva happens to be my Mom, Nancy, who has a special power. She can transform Dollar Store and other inexpensive finds into super fun gifts that would brighten anyone’s day!

See more Dollar Store Diva ideas here.

The Dollar Store Diva: The Gift of Bread + a FREE Printable Tag

December 12th, 2012 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

“What hymns are sung. What praises said. For homemade miracles of bread?”

Louis Untermeyer

***

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocations of innocence and delight.”
– M. F. K. Fisher

***

After an abundant meal, my mother would often say: “Thank you for the elegant sufficiency; any more would be a superfluity.”

She made me smile every time she said it.

One of the celebrative aspects of Christmas is that it is a time of sweets and treats galore–elegant sufficiency indeed.

But, as we know, the sweets and treats galore of the holiday season can also become a significant superfluity.

So, when we take a gift to a neighbor or co-worker, instead of sweets, how about taking the gift of homemade bread?!

Gifts of bread can come in all shapes and sizes – banana bread, zucchini bread or you fill in the ___________ with your favorite recipe.

I have a bread maker, and my favorite recipe is one that my daughter Alicia introduced to me.

An important note: Alicia adapted the recipe slightly by changing both the flour amounts to 1 1/3 cups. And it is perfectly delicious!

For this first loaf, I cut off the front of a grocery bag, and wrapped the bread like I was wrapping a package. Both fun and free!

Then I added some ribbon and a tag that said exactly what I wanted it to say:

Eat your bread with happiness!

This is actually a quote from the Bible–Ecclesiastes 9:7. Some translations use the word “joy”, and others use the word “happiness”. Some say “your bread”, and others say “thy bread”.

I love the thought of eating bread with joy; I even love the poetic sound of the old English “thy”.

Next I walked the aisles of my local Dollar Tree to find other containers for my gifts.

I found this basket, just the right size and shape for my gift of bread.

I also found this red plastic cutting board–the perfect Christmas color and shape for my fat loaf of bread.

And then there is the ever-faithful brown paper bag decorated with scrapbooking paper with a lovely loaf of fresh bread poking its head out of the top.

I have created a free Eat Your Bread with Joy Printable Tag with a variety of fonts, colors, and options for you. I have formatted the pages for landscape and 5×7 pages. I set my printer for the 5×7″ setting and printed the first two pages on pages I tore from a paperback I had picked up free at a book sale. I then cut out the tags and matted them with scrapbooking paper. I printed the last page of the printables on white paper, cut out the tags, and matted them with colored paper.

I am so happy with the results.

By the way, our local Wegmans sells ever so delicious breads in their bakery. If you don’t have time to bake a loaf, who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive a loaf of bakery bread wrapped with curly ribbon and one of these tags?

Yummy…an elegant sufficiency to be eaten with joy.

***

See more Dollar Store Diva ideas here.