Dollar Tree Calendar DIY

 

I have been talking about this craft made from Dollar Tree calendars since I saw this tutorial and I finally made a couple today.

At first I was only able to find this calendar...

Which was not one I really wanted. I searched the local Dollar Trees several times and then on Friday there was the one I really wanted! Yay! It is so pretty....

The circle designs are perfect for putting on the chargers which I also got at Dollar Tree. They came in White, gold, silver and a raised design gold one at our local store. I liked the white best so I grabbed a bunch as I had been hoping to make some as gifts with the different designs and maybe a couple of ones for me for different seasons.~smile~

So I got to it! First I cut out the designs. For the Christmas one I cut all around the leaves and edge details and it really made it look nice on the the charger. 

Next came the mod podge -I love Dollar Tree I was even able to get little bottles of it there. I painted the center of the charger with mod podge  and carefully laid on the design. I thought oh this is great and looked away for a second and looked back and it was all bubbled and wrinkled - *sigh*

In the tutorial she does warn that the pictures bubble and wrinkle. But she felt it added to the farmhouse look so hey who am I to argue lol!

I used a plastic scraper tool to smooth out what I could, then added a top coat of mod podge paying attention to the edges and they ended up not looking too bad when they were dry. The only thing I will say is that due to the thin calendar pages you can see the numbers and lines in spots showing through from the back if you look closely. If your pictures are not white they will not have that trouble. The pumpkin was one I thought may not work well but I ended up liking it best.

Now that they were dry I added some decoration to the edges. I just used some frosted greenery and holly leaves on the Christmas one and added a pine cone, holly berries and some tiny red berries. I like how the holly in the decoration picks up the holly in the picture.

 

For the fall one I layered gold maple leaves over red ones and hot glued them on then made a burlap bow to go on. I just took a piece of the burlap ribbon and folded the ends to the center to create a bow shape then wrapped jute around the center and tied it off in the back. I hot glued that on and added a piece of pip berry wire that I had twisted around my finger to make it look a bit like a curly pumpkin vine - with cute pip berries ~smile~

 

To hang them I will hot glue a pop can tab to the back of each one. Simple and free! What could be better!

So I think they turned out cute- not perfect but they will still look nice on the wall.

For my next project I will be making the magnets also shown in the Unicorn Dust tutorial using the pictures on the back of the calendars and the tumbling tower blocks from... Yep! You guessed it Dollar Tree! I am hoping those turn out well and look good enough to give as gifts. We will see!

Happy Sunday!

Blessings.

Liisa