I don't know about you, but I am so ready for Spring! One of the things that I love most about springtime, is knowing that Easter is upon us, and Easter is such a meaningful time for me. In the weeks leading up to Easter, my family journeys with the church around the world, through the season of Lent. This year, we made a point of making a special place in our home for 'sacred space' during Lent, for contemplation, meditation, and to help teach our son about Jesus' journey to the cross.

We received a big box of goodies from our friends at Dollar Tree, and were asked to get a bit creative with some of the items, for the Easter season. There were so many cute items in the box, and I knew we could certainly do some fun things with them. The first thing I wanted to do, though, was to make our sacred space for Lent.

Here's what we came up with...

We made a salt dough spiral, and painted it purple. With some of the leftover salt dough, we made a cross, and secured it with some purple pipe cleaners, which we purchased from Dollar Tree. We also used some decorative rocks/stones from Dollar Tree, some beads from my jewelry box, and a bracelet, to decorate around it. The cross moves one space closer to the center (where the pebbles are stacked) each day during Lent, to represent Jesus' journey to the Cross. Each day, we say a special prayer, and as we move into Holy Week, we'll add in some special activities. Behind the spiral, have have the cross at the center, because Jesus is at the center of it all in our lives- from our hearts to the heavens. I used some craft foam to fill the purple vase, and we used sticks from our yard to fashion the cross (again, using pipe cleaners to hold it together). We added decorative moss (from Dollar Tree) to the base, and draped one of my scarves over the cross. I chose this scarf in particular, because it had purple in it, but also because the design and colors give it a sort of stained-glass effect. 

Next up, we made an Easter wreath...

Here are a few of the items I used from Dollar Tree for this project...

I already had the wreath. It's a simple burlap wreath that I threw together, and left very rustic and ragged-looking, frayed edges intentional. I use this wreath year-round, and swap out the ribbons, picks, etc- for the different seasons.

First, I added a blue burlap ribbon bow to the top...

...and I thought these cute Easter egg picks would make a fun accent, though they were too long.

I used my craft scissors to trim the picks down to the size I wanted them to be.

Next, I poked the picks through the burlap, and spaced them out accordingly.

In the same fashion, I added these adorable butterfly picks, in between the eggs.

And here's what we wound up with-- a cute, rustic-looking wreath, with lots of Easter cheer!

I can't wait to hang the wreath on my front porch, or front door. It will be such a bright, cheery addition to our spring decor. Just a couple of more weeks, and it'll be out there, ready to greet our guests! This project took about twenty minutes- obviously, if you don't have a wreath base already prepared, it will take a bit longer. You could easily dress up a grapevine wreath with these additions, for a quick project.

We also made an adorable appreciation gift...

We received these super cute plush-like, bendy flowers, Easter grass (paper), and a flower pot from Dollar Tree.

I thought it would be so cute to add these flowers to the flower pot, with the green grass inside, having the bright and cheery flowers, sticking out. I twisted the bottoms of the little flowers to make them stand alone in the flower pot, and then added the grass. I had one little butterfly leftover from the wreath I made, so I added that to the middle, and simply clipped that down over the lip of the flower pot. I plan to add some flower seed packs to the flower pot, as they would made a cute addition to this gift! This is such a fun way to show appreciation for someone special- like a teacher or caregiver.

If I can get my son to sit still long enough, I'd love to have him paint the flower pot, as well!

We also made quick candle rings with the jelly beans we received. I was excited to use the jelly beans in a crafty way, because I don't care to eat jelly beans (though B loves them!).

The jelly beans were the perfect contrast between the white candle, and the silver candle holder.

And of course, I made a cute little Easter goodies display for my son!

A super cute way to wish your little ones a Happy Easter!

I laid a felted egg decoration down as a placemat, and added elements to this set-up. We received a tall, slender purple pail, so I used some of the craft foam at the base, and stuck the two pinwheels inside. I added some of the paper Easter grass, filled some of the plastic eggs with the jelly beans, added some lollipops, a bubble wand, and Easter Bunny glasses. I also added a festive curly ribbon bow to the pail for decoration. I filled the purple egg shaped container with yellow Easter grass, more plastic eggs with jelly beans inside, a couple of the lollipops, and a cute wind up chick. Next, I placed an adorable plush chick, wind up bunny, light-up ball, and wooden blocks, spelling 'HAPPY' around the pail.

I'm so glad that I got to practice a little trial run for B's Easter treat display. I may add in a couple of other items- like a VeggieTales DVD, some Easter stickers, and perhaps a chocolate bunny. I love that I have a plan in place, because Easter is so busy for our family, that I usually wind up throwing the Easter baskets together at the last minute. Not this year!

Let's Get Crafty!

There are so many amazing projects and crafts you can create, using items from Dollar Tree! Who doesn't love the idea of Easter decorating and giving, for less?

For more creative Easter ideas, head over to ILeaveHappy.com, and be sure to stop into your local Dollar Tree store to see what's available! Remember- everything is just $1.00!

Check out the contest: Vote for your favorite blogger's Dollar Tree Easter project over at ILeaveHappy.com. Public vote will decide the winning blogger. One blogger will receive a grand prize of a $500 Visa gift card, and ten lucky voters will win a $50 Dollar Tree gift card. 

Special thanks to our friends at Dollar Tree for allowing us to share our creative ideas for Easter!