College can be expensive with costs of housing, classes, textbooks, meal plans, etc. After paying all of these expenses, it’s hard to find money to pay for decorations for a drab dorm room. Here are four cheap and easy DIY crafts to spice up your dorm.
Cosmetics Organizer ($11.50)—I found my dessert tray and small plate at a goodwill and a dollar store. I would highly suggest buying them there because they are a lot cheaper. The Gorilla Glue and thin ribbon I bought at a craft store.
Materials: dessert tray—$4, small plate—$2, Gorilla Glue—$5, thin ribbon—$0.50.
Directions: 1.) Turn the dessert tray upside down and Gorilla Glue the bottom of the small plate to the dessert tray. Let dry for 10 minutes. 2.) Cut off 12-14 inches of ribbon and wrap around the base of the dessert tray. 3.) Voila! Now you have a place to put all your cosmetics, hair supplies and even jewelry.
DIY Whiteboard ($1.70)—I bought my frame at a dollar store and found a pack of dry erase markers for $0.50 on clearance at Big Lots. The glitter paper was bought at a craft store.
Materials: 5x7 frame (or whatever size you would like)—$1, colored/decorated paper— $0.50, dry erase marker—$0.20.
Directions: 1.) Cut a piece of whatever paper you choose to fit inside the frame. 2.) Place the paper inside of the frame. Congrats, you just made a unique, chic whiteboard.
Twinkling Photographs ($15)—This set of string lights was from Target. Your photographs can be printed out at a CVS or Walgreens and it’s very inexpensive. Wooden clothespins can be found at a dollar store. Any craft store should carry acrylic paint.
Materials: set of string lights—$12, 8 photographs—$1.00, Wooden clothespins—$1.00, Acrylic paint—$0.99.
Directions: 1.) Paint wooden clothespins. Let them dry for 12 hours. 2.) Place string lights around a mirror, on a wall or even around your bed. 3.) Clip the photos to the string of lights.
Cutout Décor ($6.60)—I made this for my younger sister who is obsessed with turtles. I see a lot of people using elephant cutouts and they look really good too. The ribbon, scrapbooking paper and hot glue gun can be found at a craft store. A template can be printed off of the Internet.
Materials: 32 inches of ribbon—$0.50, four different pieces of decorated/solid scrapbooking paper—$1, template of object of your choice—$0.10, hot glue gun—$5.
Directions: 1.) Trace the template onto the four pieces of paper and cut them out. 2.) Hot glue the cutouts to the 31 inches of ribbon. 3.) Let the glue dry for 10 minutes. 4.) Hang up in your dorm.
