
Craftster Craft Challenge #26 is the Dollar Store Challenge (Round 2) due April 1 – 5.
Leah writes:
I love dollar stores! You never know what craziness you’re going to find! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make something fabulous and hopefully totally unexpected out of items you buy at a dollar store that cost a total $10 or less. (Last time it was $5 but we’ll account for a lil inflation!)
The First place winner will not only get their project featured on Craftster in the Featured Projects area as well as in the Craftster Blog, but will also win a subscription to CRAFT and a CRAFT T-shirt! To find out more details and how to enter, visit Craftster here. – Link.


i have to say, i really dislike the idea of this contest. from an ecological standpoint (they generate loads of junk people just don’t need), from a socially conscious standpoint (nothing in a dollar store is handmade or made in the usa), as well as from the standpoint of a person who has worked in a gallery selling craft (try explaining why this wheel-thrown ceramic mug is $18 when someone can buy a mug in a dollar store for, well, a dollar.)
why are craftspeople supporting this industry when it undermines lots of things that make craft so special and is, ultimately, what makes craft so difficult to sell in a culture of dollar stores?
i hate to be a buzzkill, but come on.
I second your comments!
third!
you should check out storyofstuff.com it explains this problem in great detail
Understandably, craftsters that make a living from their passion might be upset. Does that mean that craftsters who craft for pure joy and stress relief should only use high end materials and then sell their stuff for gazillions of money cause they can? I don’t think so.
From an economical – ecological point of view, doesn’t it make more sense to use the junk to make something nice and useful and even pretty rather than shoving the materials into the landfill? Perhaps, you should talk to craftster about a challenge involving only ‘green’ items or ‘made in USA’ materials rather than being, well… a buzzkill. Some of us cheapskates live in the country where dollar store products are made, though, and are delighted to use our homeland’s stuff – consider that.
At the end of the day you have made your views known and so have I. Will we respect that and move towards helping our planet, or just generate more hot air being hostile??
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