This quick, easy project doesn’t just have to be for Valentine’s Day.  You could easily use different stamps to create custom decorative candles for your home, for parties, or for gifts.  I made several winter themed candles as gifts for my neighbors for Christmas, and they loved them!  So pull out your inks and stamps, and let’s decorate some candles!

Project estimate:

• Candles, on hand or $1 and up
• Stamps and ink, on hand
• Tissue paper, on hand
• Hair dryer or heat embossing tool, on hand

Total:  Free or $1 and up

It’s a good idea to do a few practice runs with old candles or dollar store candles.  I often find bags of new to barely used candles at thrift stores, and they are great for practicing this technique.  The candle I used in this project was purchased at Dollar Tree, and while it is a battery operated votive candle, it has a wax coating on the outside, so it works for this project.

To make your own stamped Valentine’s Day Candle:

Step one:  Cut a piece of tissue paper to fit around your candle.

Step two:  Stamp the tissue paper.  First, I covered my paper with a text stamp that has the definition of love. Then I stamped the heart image over the text.

Step three:  Wrap the stamped tissue paper around the candle.

Step four:  Heat the tissue paper with a heat embossing tool or a hair dryer.  As the wax melts, the tissue paper will seem to disappear into the candle, leaving only the image.  Be careful to keep moving your heat tool so you don’t burn the tissue paper or create uneven dimples in your candle.

If you want to, you can further embellish your candle with ribbon, string, rhinestones, etc.  I’m decorating a few candles with blue and green damask stamps to match my living room.  Which stamps are you going to reach for?  Have fun creating!

The post Tutorial: Stamped Valentine’s Day Candle appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Ready Player One will be jam packed with references to the ’80s (that’s an understatement), but the film’s latest trailer reaches back even further to another classic film from our childhood, to invite us into a very different kind of world of pure imagination. But the dangerous of this one are much more fatal than falling into a river of chocolate, because it’s where a massive war for control of the future is being fought both on Earth and in virtual reality.

This newest look at the movie, titled “Come With Me,” is set to a slow cover of “Pure Imagination” made famous by Gene Wilder in 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which means we now fully expect some Oompa Loompas to be one of the thousands of Easter Eggs included in the movie). It bounces back and forth between the real world of Tye Sheridan‘s Wade Watts, and the V.R. one of his avatar Parzival. This is our best look yet at Parzival’s allies against Ben Mendelsohn‘s Sorrento and his army of soldiers in the battle to win control of the most precious commodity on the planet.

Readers of Ernest Cline‘s novel will easily recognize some major departures from the book, especially when it comes to the real world interactions between Wade and the people who he bands together: Art3mis, Aech, Shoto, and Daito. It looks like he meets them much earlier in the contest for control of the OASIS. That will likely alter the dynamics of the group and influence the story’s major themes of identity and reality, but seeing Aech’s van turned into a major battleground could be a lot of fun.

And an important one, because the winner of this war gets slightly more than a chocolate factory.

Ready Player One, directed Steven Spielberg, hits play in theaters on March 29th.

What stood out to you in this new trailer? What new Easter eggs did you spot? Come with us into the comments below to share your thoughts.

Images: Warner Bros.

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Take these elephant and dinosaur toys from the dollar store and use them to make some fun photo holders to display on your desk, shelf or playroom. Add a dash of whimsy to any room. You’ll be surprised at the way these clever photo holders are constructed, so check out how easy it is to make this dinosaur photo frame craft!

Hi there! Katie here today from Punk Projects! I love using inexpensive items in my crafting. If it involves upcycling, I’m all for it! I took a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some inspiration for today’s post and I found these awesome plastic toys.

Supplies Needed:

Project estimate:

• Toy animals, $1
• Flat magnets, on hand or $1
• Super glue, on hand or $1
• Craft knife or box cutter, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

1. Decide on your animals. I loved the brontosaurus, and the elephant is for a friend.

2. Use a craft knife to cut through the animal. Most plastic animals have a seam where they were put together, cut on that seam and it will be easier. Just don’t cut yourself.

3. Once you have your animal cut in half, trace around him onto a magnet.

4. Cut out 2 magnets for each animal.

5. Go around the cut edge of your animal with super glue and glue your magnet to it.

6. Let it dry completely.

Once your magnets have been glued on and dried, slide a photo in between the animal piece and stand him back up! I love these little dinosaur photo frames!

What do you think? Would you make a dinosaur photo frame craft for yourself, or for a friend?

Pin the Dinosaur Photo Frame Craft:

I’m Katie, a lover of anything artsy. I doodle on everything I can get my hands on, however my favorite projects are scrapbooking, restyled/upcycled crafts and sewing. I write my blog, Punk Projects, where I post tutorials, inspiration and other fun things as well as designing custom shoes in my etsy shop.

You can also find me here on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

The post Tutorial: Toy Animal Photo Holders appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

ICYMI, today is the anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. He's a bit of a hero amongst us geeks, having come up with the theory of evolution and all.