The Five Dollar Challenge

I recently stumbled across a new blog that I absolutely love - Living With Lindsay. Lindsay challenged her readers to create something for $5 or less, using items from a dollar store.

I've seen moss balls in all kinds of home decor catalogs and magazines lately, so I decided to try and make my own DIY version. This is an easy project and most importantly, it is cheap! Here's what you need:

Glue gun & glue sticks

Styrofoam round balls of varying sizes

Paint and brush (optional)

Moss

The glue gun and the two larger styrofoam balls were from my personal stash, so those were free. You can get the larger size styrofoam balls at Walmart, two to a pack, for about $3.50. The moss came from the Dollar Tree and was $1 per package (I used two). The Dollar Tree also sells multi-packs of styrofoam balls in various sizes - I got two for $2. Grand total? $4.

I didn't get pics of the process, but it really couldn't be easier. I decided to paint my styrofoam balls before adding the moss, but you really don't have to do this step if you are careful about packing on the moss. I painted the white styrofoam brown so that if I missed a spot, you wouldn't be able to tell.

Work in small areas. Spread a little glue, and then pack on a mound of moss. I eventually made a little pile of moss, spread glue on the styrofoam, and then rolled the ball in the moss. When it cooled enough to handle, I packed down the moss tightly. It's easy to get burnt with this project, so be careful when handling the glue.

Here's the end result: the larger ones replaced my candles on my candlesticks, and the smaller ones were placed inside a large bowl on my coffee table.

What have you created with items purchased from the Dollar Store?