Dollar Store Diva Archives - Page 13 of 16 - Cha-Ching on a Shoestring™

The Dollar Store Diva: Framed Thanksgiving Hymn and Give Thanks Printable

October 24th, 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 another simple yet beautiful autumn idea from the Dollar Store Diva using Free Fall printables. I LOVE it.

Printable Thanksgiving Hymn

I think that this framed Thanksgiving hymn is one of the favorite things I have ever created. I have it on display in my family room, and every time I walk past it I think, “I love that picture!”

And it was ever so easy to make.

First, I printed on tan cardstock a copy of “Come Ye Thankful People, Come” that I found here.
Then I ran that printed copy through the printer and printed Give Thanks over the hymn using this printable I created. A word of caution here: when you print Give Thanks over the hymn, be sure that you have slipped the paper into the printer tray properly. It’s very disappointing to wait with anticipation as the printer is whirring, only to have the text printed upside down!
Next, I stepped outside my front door, gathered some autumn leaves, and then arranged them on the printed document.
Finally—the exciting part!–I slipped this all under the glass of a dark brown frame from the Dollar Store and proudly put it on display.

What a lovely reminder of the reason for this autumn celebration.

The framed print made me so happy that I decided to have some more fun.

I printed four copies of the hymn per page on tan cardstock.
Then, as with the framed picture, I ran the hymn through the printer and printed Give Thanks over the hymn.
I used my trimmer to cut out the four prints and wrapped each card with a slender orange ribbon, slipped in a sprig of baby’s breath and—Oh!–a lovely place card for my Thanksgiving table.

I plan to have this as part of our family celebration. We will start off the meal by singing this hymn placed on each person’s plate. I love the thought of my family, as one voice, raising this ancient hymn of praise to God.

If you aren’t familiar with this song, you could print any number of other songs (How about “Over the River and Through the Woods”?), quotes, poems, or verses about autumn or gratitude.

By the way, don’t you like my pretty napkin? It’s a Dollar Store dish cloth. Yup—a Dollar Store dish cloth. They come two or three to a package. I keep my eye out for them, and I actually have them in appropriate colors for each season. I just throw them in the washing machine along with the rest of my laundry, and they are fresh and ready for the next festive meal.

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dollar-store-diva

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

Check out more awesome Dollar Store Diva ideas here!

Want help simplifying your holiday season? I wrote my book with YOU in mind…

The Dollar Store Diva: Happy Fall Y’all!

October 17th, 2012 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 is back and this time she has FREE FALL PRINTABLES!

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Who doesn’t love the word FREE?

Include the word PRINTABLES, and I’m a happy woman.

Then add the word FALL—as in FREE FALL PRINTABLES—and this woman decides that life is indeed good.

I have the privilege of teaching English to adult immigrants and refugees. For many of my students, this is the first time that they have experienced fall. Autumn in New York is a thing of beauty, so I like to make a big celebration out of the wonder of this season.

I decided to decorate some Hershey bars for my students and my family using the colorful harvest art I found online. [Which I happily categorized as FREE FALL PRINTABLES.]

I wrapped each candy bar in one of the following: decorative orange scrapbook paper, a page from a book, a comic strip, brown paper from a bag, a doily, or tan cardstock; then I added ribbons or yarn for a final festive touch.

[Oh, the possibilities are endless.]

On some of the wrapped bars I attached a Happy Fall oval tag with a fat pumpkin that I found here— adjusting its size to fit the Hershey bars.

Another is decorated with the word Autumn and a splattering of fall leaves. I found the printable here.

On another I typed the words Blessings Galore in black with a font (Honey Script 72) on my computer and printed it on brown paper from a Dunkin’ Donuts bag.

Finally, you’ve got to love the sketch of the tree with the falling leaves on the bottom left candy bar! I found this fun idea here.

This FREE FALL PRINTABLE from My Blessed Life sent me directly to the grocery store for supplies to make caramel apples. [OK—I confess that I cheated; I bought a package of Caramel Apple Wraps. But ever so easy, and ever so yummy.]

Happy fall, y’all!

***

For those of you who haven’t met her, the Dollar Store Diva happens to be my Mom 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 awesome Dollar Store Diva ideas here!

The Dollar Store Diva: Let’s Have a Ball!

September 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.

This plastic container beckoned me from a shelf at the dollar store; I was attracted by its shape (it has a grip handle) and its perky blue lid.

Doesn’t it just beg to be filled with fat multi-colored gumballs?!

Since we give money to our kids and grandkids for their birthdays, I’m always on the lookout for creative “wrapping” ideas. My new daughter-in-law (Yippee!) celebrated her birthday in July, and a shiny plastic container filled with red/blue/yellow/green/orange/pink gumballs was just the “wrapping” I needed to celebrate Macia’s first birthday with the last name of Hill.

I slipped her cash gift under the lid, then filled the jar with a happy assortment of gumballs from Wegmans.

And, most certainly, a gift for Macia needed to be tied with a festive bow of green polka-dotted ribbon.

Inside a small card made from scrapbooking paper I wrote:

Happy Birthday, Macia!

HAVE A BALL on your 25th Birthday!

And, yup, I was absolutely right–as soon as Macia pulled the gift out of the bag, she opened the blue lid and popped a gumball into her mouth and then proceeded to share her birthday bounty.

My too, too cute grandsons Griffin [7] and Lincoln [4] both celebrate their birthdays in August.

Before you read any further, please be assured that–from the bulk candy aisle in Wegmans–I called my grandsons’ mother to get her permission to give these gifts to her boys.

Kaley said that I could give them this gift because, she assured me, she would be in charge of allocating them.

To make labels for the front of each jar I matted green and blue scrapbook paper and added a large sticker with their initials. Then I rolled their cash gift in a strip of paper and taped it under the lid, making two fun parts for the boys: 1) grabbing a sweet treat from a jar overflowing with them and 2) unraveling the paper-wrapped bill.

Smiles all around…

I was having so much fun that I decided to include my adored first-born grandson in the frivolity.

Andrew also celebrated a birthday in August. Because he lives exactly 1729.89 miles from my front door (requiring a minimum 27-hour-and-17-minute drive), I was not able to attend his 21st birthday party. [Small sob.]

Hey, I thought, why not send a mayonnaise jar filled with gumballs via USPS for this milestone birthday?!

I printed HAVE A BALL on your 21st birthday! in bold red letters on celebrative paper, removed the Hellman’s label from the plastic jar, cut the paper to the same size and wrapped it around the jar. On the side of the label opposite the birthday wish, I wrote his name and address, and the postal clerk attached the postage there. [Keep in mind that this jar contained a pound of gumballs, so the postage significantly exceeded a first-class Forever stamp.]

Just think of all the occasions you could use the HAVE A BALL theme–for an anniversary, retirement, birthday, wedding shower, baby shower, graduation, vacation, back-to-school, or off-to-college gift.

Oh, my, what fun can be had…

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The Dollar Store Diva: A Bottle of Sunshine in the Mail

August 9th, 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 another clever gift-in-the-mail idea from the Dollar Store Diva! What little kid wouldn’t love receiving this?

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My postal clerk actually enjoys seeing me coming; she is fascinated by the objects I send in the mail.

When I first brought these goodies home from the Dollar Store, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with them:

a 6-pack of bottled water,

a bag of Twizzlers [who doesn’t love Twizzlers],

and some lemonade singles powder packets.

I only knew that I wanted to slap some stamps on the bottles and send a bit of sunshine via the USPS.

And then I thought of my sweet grandchildren in far-off Kansas–three of their birthdays are in June! They are always happy with their usual birthday card with Grandpa and Grandma’s usual cash gift, but this year I wanted them to also get something fun in the mail.

Kayla’s birthday came first; in her emptied and thoroughly dried water bottle I put an assortment of the drink packets and some plastic straws surrounded by celebrative pink grass. Audrie’s bottle was filled with bright red Twizzlers; Brandon’s had Twizzlers and several fruit-flavored freezer pops–not yet frozen, of course 🙂

I wrapped colored paper around the label on the bottles, added their address, and at the time of each birthday, headed off to the post office.

Three times my friendly postmaster smiled, applied the stamps, and sent the little gifts across the miles.

And three times, a certain mail box in Kansas contained a plastic bottle filled with sunshine.

xoxo

***

The Dollar Store Diva: A Thank You Gift Basket

July 26th, 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 another clever gift idea from the Dollar Store Diva!

I recently gave a gift to a college student who had done an extraordinary job as an intern in my ESL class. I had purchased a gift card to Amazon, but I couldn’t bring myself to just hand her an envelope. The morning of her farewell party [If it weren’t for the last minute I’d never get anything done.] I ran downstairs to my basement to see what I had in my “dollar store stash”.

This is what I found:

A small rectangular basket–a fantastic 69-cent-thrift-store find; a boy-was-I-thrilled-to-find-this-for-a-$1 spool of wide lavender fabric ribbon; some purple dollar-store curly ribbon; two cans of dee-licious Pirouline Rolled Wafers (a super-yummy dollar store treat); and some Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate.

I used the curly ribbon on the individual gifts, then I wrapped a purple napkin (left over from who-knows-what event) around each of the items. Finally I stood the gifts in the basket, poofed up the napkins, and slipped the gift card in the back.

It was all so quick and so very simple–a gathering of items I already had on hand. I wish I had taken a picture of Andi when I presented her the basket; pleasure was written all over her face even before she opened it. She almost hugged it.

Yes, the gift card would have been enough–but the presentation of a colorful, beribboned basket added to the joy of thanking a young woman for a job well done.

***

The Dollar Store Diva: It’s All About the Presentation!

July 3rd, 2012 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 is back!

***

Q: What do you get an adorable father-in-law who is celebrating his 86th birthday and insists that he needs absolutely nothing for his birthday?

A: Uhhh…absolutely nothing?

Beep! Wrong answer!

I have learned that there are ways to give a little something that will almost fit into the category of absolutely nothing.

For many years my sister and a group of her friends have gotten together to celebrate each others birthdays. However, as the years have passed, they have started to purge and downsize; another picture to hang on their already decorated walls, or another knicknack for their already crowded shelves started to become a burden instead of the intended blessing. So one year they decided that the only kind of gift they could give each other was one that was disposable.

Aha! Something disposable.

With my father-in-law we like to give him something–disposable–that will make him laugh. We have learned that he gets a huge kick out of fun cards–like the ones that sing or make silly birthday remarks. He takes them to the senior center to show all his octogenarian buddies.

This year we created our own birthday card hoping to make him laugh. On a recent trip to the Salvation Army Thrift Store my husband found this sweatshirt.

And we had found the perfect birthday card for Dad’s birthday.

To package the “card”, I used a sturdy zippered pastic bag that my living room curtains had come in. I folded the sweatshirt over the piece of cardboard that the curtain had been wrapped around so that “Aged to Perfection” showed through the plastic. Inside the plastic bag on the back side of the “card” I slipped a piece of colorful scrapbooking paper; on that I added some birthday greetings in big letters, then wrote his address and our return address. And once again I made the postmaster smile.

This is what Dad saw when he opened his mailbox.

And, yes, it made my father-in-law smile and, yes, he wore it to the senior center. And, yes, after he has had some fun with it, it can go right back to the Salvation Army Thrift Store or, better yet, get wrapped in plastic again for another friend who needs absolutely nothing for his birthday.

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Dollar Store Diva: More DIY Wrapping Paper Bow Ideas

June 6th, 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 another Dollar Store Diva post for you guys!

I got on a roll with the fun paper bow I showed in the previous post. Here are three more ideas that might stimulate your own thinking:

I have recently discovered Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds powdered with Dark Chocolate. Oh, my goodness! They are so delicious. Not only that–they are healthy!! Hmmmm–delicious and healthy–I used to think that was an oxymoron. [Which…in case you didn’t know was Kaley’s winning spelling word in 8th grade. :)]

I have started giving a can as hostess gifts, but I also used them to say thank you to my neighbor. I simply wrapped a strip of my happy polka-dotted paper around the can and added bows of two different sizes.

Cute, huh?

I teach English to immigrants, and one of my students just passed her citizenship test; she is now officially an American citizen! I am so proud of her! For fun, I attached a paper bow and ribbon to her card. To represent how thankful I am that she came from Ghana to New York, I created the bow out of a map of New York State cutting from the portion picturing the Binghamton area where we live.

I wanted to start recording the things in my daily life I am thankful for, so I turned an 89 cent Ollie’s notebook into a thing of beauty. I added a rectangle of some of my favorite black and white Creative Memories paper and then adhered a black and white paper bow. I actually have it on display in my home, and I’m happy with it every time I look at it.

The Dollar Store Diva Returns: DIY Wrapping Paper Flower

June 5th, 2012 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

I am so happy to share that the Dollar Store Diva has returned and will be a regular feature here! For those of you who haven’t ‘met’ her yet, the Dollar Store Diva happens to be my Mom, who has a special power. She has the ability to transform Dollar Store and other inexpensive finds into super fun gifts that would brighten anyone’s day!

Today she shares a very simple way to add a beautiful touch to any gift…on the cheap, of course.

***

Look at the wrapping paper I found at the Dollar Store! Be still my heart!

I used it almost immediately to give a restaurant certificate as a thank you gift to a young couple. They had been very kind to us, and I wanted the presentation to make them smile.

I found this idea online and knew it was perfect for my gift wrap. You can see how simple it is to create (and I’m all about simple), but below are some pictures showing how I adapted it.

I took the white envelope the certificate came in, used a plastic template to draw lines (which I later erased), and wrote Thank you so much over and over on the envelope. From time to time, I went over the writing a few times to make it bolder, or I wrote it in colored ink. Nothing fancy. Then I wrapped the envelope in the very fun polka dotted kraft paper (from the Dollar Store) and tied it with twine. Now I was ready for the cute-as-can-be flower to add the final touch.

I grabbed three items of varying sizes to cut my circles: a mug, a small glass, and–why not–a bottle of sugar-free maple syrup. [Don’t worry if you don’t have a miniscule bottle of sugar-free maple syrup on hand. It just means that you haven’t eaten at the Cracker Barrel recently.]

Other than that, I only needed a pencil, a pair of scissors, and a Dunkin Donuts bag (my paper bag of choice).

Then I traced, cut, and snipped the edges of the circles, taped them together, and added them to the gift in the shape of a lovely little flower.

And there you have it. Simple. Cute. Inexpensive.

Just the way I like it!