Whoever said that Valentine’s Day can only be represented with the traditional Red decor? Mix it up this year, and turn a Dollar Tree Valentine Red Truck into a fun, flirty, and colorful piece of decor with some metallic paint and funky hearts. One dollar goes a long way with this absolutely adorable Dollar Tree Red Truck Makeover for Valentine’s Day!
There’s nothing I Love more than transforming an ordinary Dollar Tree sign into something that screams Manda Panda Projects! If you’re a sucka for color like me, then you’re gonna just L💗VE this Dollar Tree Valentine’s Red Truck Makeover! It looks super cute hanging next to my Pink Ombre Pine Cone Heart Wreath I made last week.
I don’t consider myself much of a painter, so this was truly very easy to transform. Don’t go doing the “I’m not crafty enough” thing and talk yourself out of making your own version of this Dollar Tree DIY. You can go with the same look as I made here, or you can just use this one as inspiration to make it over to match your personality and decor.
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Most of the supplies I used came from Dollar Tree, with the exception of some embellishments that came from my craft stash. I encourage you to get creative, and use what you have on hand as well! I’ve linked to the closest version of what I used on Amazon, but remember these are not the exact materials I used to make my Dollar Tree Valentine Red Truck.
If you prefer to watch rather than read the steps for how I made this, I’ve got a video tutorial for you too!
Go here to watch the video makeover of this Dollar Tree Valentine Red Truck.
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a cent more!)
Supplies Needed to Makeover a Dollar Tree Valentine’s Red Truck
This DIY Dollar Tree Valentine Truck Makeover was made with ALMOST 100% Dollar Tree supplies, mixed with some things I had in my craft stash. I’ve linked to the closest version of the supplies I used that I could find on Amazon, but of course this will drastically increase the cost of supplies, and please know that some items are not exact. I know times are rough right now and getting out to the DT may be difficult and Amazon can be a savior, so desperate times call for desperate measures!
- Dollar Tree Wooden Valentine’s Red Truck
- Metallic teal paint
- White chalk paint
- Black chalk paint
- Brown paint
- Silver paint
- Paint brushes
- Galvanized metal heart – I pulled mine off of a Dollar Tree sign, but Amazon has some that are slightly larger)
- Pink glitter and silver heart embellishments
- Leopard scrapbook paper (if you can find textured velvety paper like mine even better!)
- Buffalo check fabric
- Pink heart scrapbook paper
- Pink glass heart embellishment
- Pink glitter heart foam stickers
- Sand paper/sanding sponge
- Glue Gun
How to make a DIY Dollar Tree Valentine Red Truck
Follow the below easy steps to make remake a Dollar Tree Valentine’s Day Red Truck!
Before we get started, remove the red ribbon hanger from the top of the wooden truck and sand the entire thing to remove as much of the red glitter and wording as possible.
Cover the entire truck with 1-2 coats of white chalk paint to cover the red and words as much as possible. You’ll want pretty good coverage, but it doesn’t have to be perfect since you’re going to put 2 coats of the Metallic Teal afterwards.
Paint over the white with 1-2 coats of the Metallic Teal paint (or whatever color you choose).
Paint the tires dark grey or black. I mixed black, silver, and white together to get the super dark grey color I used for the tires.
While the paint is still a bit wet, use a dry brush and white paint to paint highlights around the perimeter of the truck. To do this just dip a dry paint brush in just a little bit of white paint, then dab the paint onto a dry towel so you have barely any white on the brush. Then make short soft brush strokes around the edges to give it dimension. Paint some highlights on each side of the truck “door” as well.
Using the same dark grey and the dry brush method you used with the white highlights, paint around the very outer rim of the truck to “dirty it up”, and also add to the white highlights with a bit of grey. Don’t worry about making this perfect! I am not a painter I swear, and just remember you can always paint over it if you don’t like the look of the highlights. Be creative and play around with it until you get the look you’re going for.
While your paint is drying, cut a bunch of hearts out of your various colored and patterned paper. I chose to use some pink sparkly and silver iridescent hearts that came from Dollar Tree as well as a velvety leopard paper, pink heart paper, and buffalo check fabric. You can use the Dollar Tree pre-cut hearts as a template for the paper/fabric.
Arrange the hearts in the bed of the truck how you like, and glue them down.
Take a long popsicle stick, and cut it in half lengthwise so that you have 2 thin pieces. Then cut the rounded ends of a few sticks so that you have 5 pieces about an inch or so long. Stain the popsicle sticks using brown paint mixed with water, and a baby wipe or paper towel. You can use actual stain as well if you have it, but I didn’t have any and paint mixed with water does the trick.
Glue the stained popsicle sticks to make the railing that “holds” the hearts in the truck bed. SO cute!
Now to add the finishing touches! Glue a galvanized metal heart to the door, with a pink plastic heart embellishment on top of that. Add a heart sticker to the center of each wheel. And finally, string a piece of Twine through the holes on the top to use as a hanger if you plan to hang this on your door or wall.
How stinkin’ cute is this!? I am just loving the pinks, and blues, and leopard, and buffalo check combo of hearts! It’s such an untraditional Valentine’s color scheme, yet it screams Valentine’s at the same time. Obsessed.
Are you going to makeover your very own Dollar Tree Valentines Truck? If you do, Id love to see it. If you’re not part of our Craftspiration Facebook group, join in on the fun and post a pic of your completed DIY crafts, I just love to see all your creative and crafty creations!
Until Next Time…
Stay Crafty San Diego!
