Dollar Store Find: Grow your own Crystal

This was in the craft section at Dollar Tree. They also had pink and green, but this was the only purple left. I have bought something similar to this before from Earthbound, but it was more expensive, and crystals were not what I expected.. (they just looked like white salt accumulated on the rock) I am hoping for better results this time.

Crystal Growing Kit

Crystal Growing Kit Back

opened kit

Here is what It came with. Tray, Stir Stick, 2 Rocks, and a pack of "Crystal Chemical". 

I made a mistake on this part, you are supposed to use HOT water to dissolve the chemical, but I was lazy and didn't want to use another container, so I didn't want the tray to melt if I put boiling water inside. so I only used warm water. After stirring it for 5 min, the chemicals did not dissolve all the way. 

After putting the rock in the water, I followed the instruction and sprinkled the rest of the chemical on the rock, and it accumulated itself on the rock, making it look like its growing crystals already.

The tray is very flimsy, so make sure you place the tray in something sturdy so if you can move it around if you desire.

I hope I'll get some beautiful crystals, but if not, its okay, because I still love watching the process of crystals forming. I will keep you updated on how this turns out!

UPDATE:

Here is my end result of my crystals.

A little disappointed that the crystals didn't end up on the rocks, but still pretty cool.

Dollar Store for Inspiration?

I love going to different stores for inspiration. Anthropologie is definitely one of my favorite. But have you guys ever heard of someone going to the Dollar Store for inspiration? Sure, you can get inspired by all the finished products that you see on the shelves saying, "Oh I can make that!", but for me, supplies and "raw materials" are also great inspiration to me. Of course supplies and materials that cost a dollar is just the icing on the cake!

A little searching around showed I am not the only one who browse through dollar store to find things to use in their projects. There are websites such as Dollar Store Crafts, where people use all kind of stuff from the dollar store to make wonderful projects. I even found a Dollar Store Challenge, too bad that was over a while ago, or I would have entered my projects there!

I will be showcasing several of the project that I have done using things I found at the dollar store on this blog. So please stay tuned for more!

So this lead to the surprise that I mentioned from an earlier post. I had finally finished this project after having it sit there for a while. So here it is!

This pillow is made for less than $4! The casing is 2 Microfiber cloth from the dollar store! It is actually really really soft and fluffy. If you have some stuffing from around the house (in old pillows that you longer use) this project could be done for $2.00! 

The  microfiber cloth came in a rectangle shape, so all I did was cut it to a square and sewed them together leaving about 3-4 inches open on one side. After stuffing it,  I just hand sew the sides together. Super easy! it only took me so long because I couldn't find my needles to sew the sides close. 

The finished pillow is about 13in. X 13in. It is not huge, but just the right size for my bed. 

Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts!