As a girl, I always dreamed of my perfect dorm room and how pretty and put together it would look. 

But realistically, all those adorable decorations off Dormify or any other website are not cheap for any college student. The decorations can be over $100, and it could literally be a painting you could do yourself. 

I learned from being at school for three years that the best dorm decorations are the ones you create yourself. 

A popular trend recently in dorms are these bedazzled paintings of very simple things like a ticket from a carnival or a margarita glass, but on websites, these cost around $50 to $60, which is crazy. After doing the math, if you do it yourself, you’ll save $35, which is totally worth it for a budgeting college student. 

These are super easy to make. All you need is a small canvas of your choice, paint, Elmer’s clear glue, mod-podge, and a bag of rhinestones. Then all you have to do is find an inspirational picture for your painting. 

I recommend looking on Pinterest, and you can either trace or freehand the design on the canvas. Once you have the design, I recommend painting the background colors in similar colors to what rhinestones you’ll be using to make it pop more. 

The rhinestone is the hardest part of this whole painting because it is so tedious. I used tweezers for the smaller rhinestones and the bigger ones I was able to place with my fingers. I recommend putting the glue on the back of the rhinestone and holding it in place for a good 10 seconds, but they still might move a little the more you place. Once done you must let the rhinestones and the glue dry before added the cover top of mod-podge. If you don’t you will mess up the rhinestones. 

After the glue dries, do a decent layer of mod-podge. This will make it more secure and also give the rhinestones an extra shine. Be sure to get the entire painting or else it will look wonky because one part will be shining and the other part will look matte. 

Once it dries, you can hang up on the wall using a thumbtack to hold the canvas and boom all of your suitemates and friends will be begging you to make one for them. You can make anything you want for one of these pictures and they do add a great touch to any dorm room.