Dollar Tree Tray and More!

I love a good dollar store project. It gives me the warm and fuzzies knowing I turned something that costed me pocket change into home decor. I am a poor college student so I am all about dollar store crafts. I spotted my latest project on Pinterst but I did not pin it! :( Fail on my part. Luckily I’m a genius...and this a project even a 5 year old could figure out, minus the E6000. 

The steps are so simple. It’s going to blow your mind. 

1. Go to your local Dollar Tree and pick up two metal-like trays from the kitchen section (they also have a rectangle and oval shape) and one candlestick from their ‘craft' section. 

2. Pull out your handy-dandy E-6000 if you have it. No? I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for $3.50 but it’s also available at Wal-Mart. I just avoid Wal-Mart whenever possible….they’re always super packed in the Des Moines area and I can’t handle the hostility, I have enough on my own. 

3. Apply a thin line of E6000 to the bottom of the candlestick and place on the top of one tray, ensuring it is close to center but it doesn’t have to be perfect because no one can really see how centered it will truly me.

**Try to apply your glue towards to center of your candle stick so excess E600 does not leak out where it will be seen and look less than perfect.** 

***Use a toothpick to remove any excess E6000, NOT your finger! ***

4. Wait 30 minutes or so until your candle stick can no longer be moved on the tray before moving on. It was quite warm in my apartment thanks to the surge in Iowa weather (80 in October!) and we had multiple fans going so I’m sure it set faster than it might in someone else’s house. 

5. Next I applied more E6000 to the top the candlestick and placed the second tray on top. I got really OCD at this point and used two kabob skewers to ensure the sides were even and lined up. 

 6. Next I sat and readjusted this thing like 87 times before I got up and waked away. I had to or I would have ruined the whole darn thing. But now you just have to let it set up. It will be stuck pretty quickly but it takes 24 hours to be permanent.

So I worked on this while I waited:

I just wish I had a better place for those appliances! 

I used E6000 to glue a pickle jar to one of these beautiful black glass candle sticks I got at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.  I spray painted the lid black after scrubbing the smell out of it for several days and glued a drawer pull to the lid. I added some lemon drops from the Dollar Store to it and some ribbon for decoration. We don’t go through pickles very fast here so the other two will have two wait. After making my hurricanes, I have become obsessed with thrifty craft projects to decorate the apartment with.  


Back to the tray-
I put it in our master bath right next to our shower to help give the bathroom more of the ‘spa feel on a budge’ I’m going for.

Of course as soon as I had the candlestick glued to the tray, my roommate Sophie suggested spray painting the trays a fun color. I don’t know if I would have painted it red since I already have so much read in there and black or grey seems boring so we’ll just keep it plain for now and maybe I’ll make a fun one for my mom’s bathroom.

I could spend hours and hundreds of dollars adding little touches. It’s my favorite part! The red glass pieces are from Hobby Lobby and the clear glass pieces I got from Dollar Tree today.

Thanks for looking! I’m so glad I had time to finally do this project! 

~Marissa