Gardener Turns A Few Dollar Tree Finds Into Adorable Garden Lights

Are mushrooms in your garden a good thing? Well, mystery mushrooms popping up in your yard can be a sign of underlying problems. But these fun fungi decorations from @doitonadime are not only safe but also extremely whimsical and adorable. To make them, you just need to make a quick trip to Dollar Tree, where you'll grab a plastic punch bowl, a tall vase, a tea light holder, and some colorful glass gemstones. The bowl creates the cap of the mushroom, while the vase and candle holder create the stem. Add some fairy lights, and you have a larger-than-life glowing mushroom to tuck into your garden.

The cost of mass-produced garden decor can be downright shocking and out of budget these days. That's why DIYing these giant mushrooms from Dollar Tree supplies makes so much sense. You can make one for less than $10. The Caterer's Corner Crystal Cut Plastic Punch Bowl ($2) is perfect as the top. To create a fun silhouette for the stem, grab a Clear Glass Hurricane Vase ($1.75) or something similar. The original design uses a small tea candle holder to raise the cap higher — any small glass candle holder will work. A pack of LED string lights ($1.50) offers an inexpensive source of light to make the mushrooms glow.

It's also a flexible project because you can mix and match different bowls, vases, and similar items from the aisles of Dollar Tree to create a cluster of shrooms. Choose shorter and taller vases to vary the height of the mushrooms, as well as larger and smaller bowls to make each fungus look unique. You can also mix in some Bundt pan mushrooms for even more variety.

In the original, the DIYer flips over the vase and glues the tea light holder on top. She then flips over the bowl and glues it on top of the candle holder. To add the lights, glue part of the strand to the bottom of the vase, so the rest of the strand hangs down inside the column. Or, set the open bottom of the mushroom over a small puck light, which then casts light upward into the stem. You can also use small dabs of glue to attach fairy lights underneath the mushroom cap to illuminate that part. 

Grab your gemstones (or other embellishments) to customize the detailing on your giant mushrooms. To follow the inspiration project, glue a few flat gemstones, like Dollar Tree's Crafter's Square Accent Gems, on the cap. If you want extra glam or more color, glue on lots of gemstones, or mix in different colors or other embellishments, like buttons. Or glue a row of them along the edge of the bowl. You can also add gems along the vase stem.

If you want to change the color of the mushroom, spray paint the cap first. The opaque cap adds a little more mystery because you can't see all of the separate parts that make up the decoration. Leaving the vase clear lets the lights illuminate the entire design. If you want to paint the stem as well, hang the fairy lights underneath the bowl, so it is still visible. Or, incorporate the mushrooms with other landscape lighting ideas to borrow a little illumination from those light sources. Arrange the decorated mushrooms in a group, or spread them throughout your garden.