Christmas Clearance update 1/3

I stepped out this morning to check on a few stores' Christmas clearance and here's what I found:

Michaels 80% off Holiday (a lot of items left, especially ribbon and floral)
Target 50-70% off Holiday (lots of food items left and misc decorations)
Rite Aid 75% off Holiday (Lots of nice gift sets and decor still available)
Walmart - don't bother, shelves were cleared out of 75% off items

Since I had to head out again, I decided to visit a few more stores this evening:

Home Depot up to 75% off Holiday (very little left)
Walgreens 70% off select Holiday (oodles of candy left)

Note: For the most part it seemed the stores were all out of outdoor lighting.

I'll be checking a few other stores later today and in the am tomorrow.  Happy Shopping!

These deals are for the Buffalo, NY area. Prices may vary by region, please check your local ad (or store) to verify deals before shopping. Some coupons are regional - I do my best to only include deals for coupons which were received in our area. Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links for which I receive compensation. Thank you for your continued support!

DIY Monster High Dollhouse

Santa elves finished up this Monster High Dollhouse just in time for Christmas (with a little help from me of course - and yes, I was a little stressed out about working with Santa on this project!)  There were a few little extras that didn't get done; laptop, cork board, fish tank and closet.  But, hey - there are always birthdays!

My daughter was so excited when she realized that the bedrooms light up!

So here we are with finished dollhouse.  As you can see from the photos my daughter was very excited on Christmas morning!  This project was very affordable.  Many of the items are hand made (and pretty easy too), the unit itself only cost $5 from a local garage sale!  The base has wooden dividers added for each room, is wallpapered in a variety of scrapbook papers and fabrics, and there is a battery operated light in each room on the ceiling.  You can read more about how we got started here.

In case you're thinking about taking on a similar project, here's some info on the materials used and tutorial links that inspired:

I "winged-it" on most of these projects.  I was inspired to make a canopy bed after seeing this listing on Etsy (I wouldn't judge you if you bought one pre-made, this was by far the most difficult.)  Since I wasn't really sure where to start, I used this free bed tutorial by Chad Alan as a guide.  A few differences; I used heavy duty straws for the bed posts and added cardboard at the top.  Also, the mattress is actually the soft foam covered in fabric so it is more realistic and squishy.  If you watch my video here, you can see when I push down on it.   Little extras: The small beaded box in her room came from Michaels Craft Store clearance section and the itty bitty bottles on her table are from the Hobby Lobby (I removed the screws).

My husband made the TV and DVD Player (remote and DVD too) out of cereal boxes (for real!) following this tutorial from MyFroggyStuff.  She has seriously cool tutorials available for all types of dolls - you MUST CHECK IT OUT!   The small wooden chest was purchased from Hobby Lobby for $0.99, painted it black and added the jewel stickers.  Little extras:  Mirror, duck tape and jeweled stickers were all purchased at Hobby Lobby.

For the chair (and Ghoulia's couch) I just cut each section out of styrofoam; sides, back bottom and covered with fabric using hot glue.  For the cushion, I covered a piece of soft foam in fabric.  Then hot glued them all together - easy peasy!

I used this tutorial from DollHigh to make Ghoulia's "glass" coffee table.  The "glass" is made from the plastic packaging from the doll boxes!  Little extras:  The little books are charms (again, I removed the hooks) from Hobby Lobby.   They have TONS of little charms that make great dollhouse accessories!

To make Draculara's coffin bed, I used cardboard to create the coffin shape and then covered in duct tape from the Dollar Tree (these are smaller rolls, but if you only need a little it's much cheaper than the craft store.) I then cut out some more of that soft foam for the mattress, covered in fabric and glued it to the bottom cardboard.  I also added a some lace trim to spice it up!

Since I ran out of time to make a proper closet, I used some Dollar Tree pill boxes for extra shelving.  Just cut off the lids and covered the sided in glitter tape.

So now that Christmas is over, my daughter has set up her new dollhouse in her room.  I'm sure we'll be adding a few crafts to it in the future...

Monster High Dollhouse...so far, so good...

Santa is very busy this time of year (well the elves are anyway), so I'm helping him out a little bit.  My daughter has been complaining for a loooong time that her poor Monster High Dolls have no where to play.  Instead of buying some overpriced small plastic house, I decided to try to make one.  Well...most of it.

I bought this shelf at a garage sale this Summer for just $5!  The wood wasn't in great shape, but that doesn't really matter when you are going to paint and wallpaper it.  My wonderful husband cut 4 dividers and screwed them in for me (he's so helpful!)  I painted the entire unit black and added some jewel stickers for a more girly look.  Each room has wallpaper and flooring using a mix of scrapbook paper, felt, duck tape and fabric.  I added battery operated lights from the Dollar Tree to each room and it really makes those wallpapers sparkle!

Since most of the furniture and decorations are still in the works, I'll be sure to post links for tutorials and purchasing once the house is finished.  I'm hoping to be done by the end of the month, so be sure to check back!

Hope you guys like it (hope my daughter likes it too!)  BTW: It's a secret, so if you see my 6 year old, please don't tell her - Thank you!