Miniature Dollar Store Scores and Trash Talk - Part 1 -Let's Make Some Dollhouse Accessories for Pennies or Free

Hello and thank you for checking out my blog. I am in the middle of putting together a Miniature Hobby Work-Space blog for you but I decided to introduce all of you "Newbies" out there of two basic concepts, or definitions, if you will. These are 1.) Dollar Store Scores and 2.)Trash Talk. I will frequently add examples of one or both to my blogs. I will also create a separate link or page to posted items so if you are in a bind or looking for something specific you can be sure to check out the links to those topics and over time you should be able to find just what you're looking for, hopefully. Or, you can always leave a comment about what it is you are trying to recreate.

It would be nice to start out with Museum Quality Miniatures right from the start, however, for most of us this just isn't feasible. There needs to be a way to create our little worlds without putting a second mortgage on our house. That's why Dollar Store Scores and Trash Talk have been such  popular topics for miniaturists for as long as there has been miniatures, Well, for as long as there have been dollar stores at least.

There are Dollar Stores in just about every city now days. Stores where everything cost $1. Trust me, you need to find the closest one because these places can be a gold mine when it comes to creating the perfect pieces to meet your needs for, yes, you guessed it, one dollar.

The second topic I am hoping you will become familiar with is Trash Talk. Now this doesn't mean some special way to insult other people's work so that ours will look better. This simply means a process by which you don't let any one in your family throw anything into the trash until you have inspected it to determine its trash value.

The following is an example of each new concept...

Dollar Store Score (1:12 Scale ideas)

Nail Art Decoration Kit - Part 1

Purchased at Dollar Tree in Mississippi. April 2017.

Kit includes the following: Cuticle Pusher, Nail Glue, Nail File, 6 Glass Bottles with Glitter and Cap, Inner Package Tray and Outer Package Box. Now let's see what we can do with this $1 Score.

Cuticle Pusher - This is really just a short dowel that is pointy on one end and filed to a sharp slant on the other. While there are dozens of uses for dowels, I will give you a couple of my first thoughts.

1. Cut the slanted end off. Use flat end to apply a bit of sticky wax and attach any small project item that needs to be painted. Once painted, stick pointy end of stick into a piece of Styrofoam and allow your masterpiece to dry.
2. Glue a small piece of sand paper to the flat slanted surface and use as a mini file to get to those hard to reach spots on your projects.
3. Cut both ends off and reduce dowel to 1 1/8" long. Glue a flat button, about 1/2" diameter, to bottom of dowel. Glue a matching flat button, about 1/4" diameter to top of dowel. Add a small bead to top with glue. Cut a piece of paper towel 1" x 2". Sparingly glue (I would use a glue stick) one end of pre-cut paper towel to dowel and wrap remaining towel around and Viola! You now have a paper towel holder for your Tiny Kitchen. 

The next item is the Nail Glue.

1.  First thought, use as glue! Not trying to be sarcastic but the glue is really strong on non-porous surfaces, water-proof.
2. Use the white cap as a cup, flower pot or maybe even a pencil cup for the desk in your tiny office. 
3. Using a sharp (X-acto) knife, cut out the top of the tube right around the point where the silver meets the red. That portion would be a great base for a lamp or a fancy serving dish. 

The small pink Nail File

1. Again, not trying to be sarcastic, but make an awesome sanding tool. You could even cut it in half longways and use for tiny spots.
2. This file has a foam center so if you want to make a foam covered stool, bench or small chair for a child's room all you need to do is peel or slice of the top sandpaper while trying not to cut into the foam. Cover with fabric of choice and there you have it.*I said child's room because at only 5/8" wide this wouldn't be big enough for an adult chair. 

This item is actually 3 items you have to work with. 1.) Six small glass bottles 2.) filled with round bits of glitter 3.) and capped with little plastic stoppers with handles. Lets talk about these one at a time.

First, the glass bottles;

1. Make Fimo lids, paint, use as canisters for the kitchen.
2. Fill with Fimo candy or tiny seed beads/micro beads, make a lid using a small disc of wood with a bead glued to the top for candy jars.
3. Fill with tiny combs and resin "alcohol". Add a lid made from a foil pie plate. Great for a barber shop. 
4. Fill with Fimo pickles. Make a foil lid. That's right, a large jar of pickles.
5. *This list is really unending. Use your imagination and you will surprise yourself with what you come up with.

Second, the rubber stoppers;

1. Small frosted juice glasses. Just carefully cut off the handle using an X-acto knife. I saw this on the My Small Obsession Site. 
2. Form a lid from Fimo to make a Sippy Cup for baby.
3. Use the handle (which you cut off to make the the juice glasses) as small purse handles. Just paint them in the color of your choice. Make a small purse and glue handle to inside.
4. Cut handle in half, through the center of the circle so you end up with just half a circle. Paint and glue to top of handmade pot lids, casserole dish lids and the like.
5. Glue the bottom half (the flat portion of the handle) to the bottom front of a waste basket with a lid and you end up with one of those waste baskets that have the lid that opens when you press the lever. This is the lever. 

Now for the glitter. The first thing I noticed is that this is not just glitter. It's actually round. Normal bits of glitter are usually square. 

1. The round shape of this glitter made me think of sequins. Hint, do you have a sewing room? 
2. Then I noticed that the silver looked a bit like loose change. So this is what I did. I put a piece of double stick tape on top of a scrap piece of card stock (an old manila folder). I sprinkled some of the orange glitter on top of the tape. Chose orange because it's the closest to copper color.

Then I dabbed some metallic copper acrylic paint onto the glitter/tape with a toothbrush. Once the paint was dry, I scraped the "pennies" off of the tape with the blade of my X-acto onto a tile. 

I wouldn't call the coverage excellent but I was satisfied that it would do the trick. After selecting about a dozen of the best pennies, I added them, along with a few pieces of the silver, into a glass bowl. It looked just like loose change! Hard to tell in the picture, but it came out pretty good.

I have come up with 20 items so far, of things to make with this one purchase and I'm not finished yet. Some are ideas you've seen before, some are new but this is meant to be an introduction to Dollar Store Scores for the Miniature Newbies. I have got a great tutorial for you tomorrow to finish off items made with this item and I have saved the best for last! Please check it out.

Don't forget to pin this article on your Pinterest board! Thank you.
Until tomorrow...

Take care and tiny blessings to you!