Thrifty Goodness - The $1 craft bag

You give me a big brown paper bag and tell me I can fill it up with anything from the craft section of the thrift store and I can fill the bag.  Starting with bias tape, seam binding, hem facing and blanket binding (none of which I have actually used in real life - yet!) 

I'm not afraid to throw in some loop braids, soutache braids and rick rack, even if I'm not so sure what I might use them for....

Hoops?  I got your hoops right here!  (And I didn't even clean them out, can you believe it?!?!?)

This is a lot of pretty cool stuff - an 8x8 album that will be perfect for my next art journal project, a tablet of Column Write paper, three cross-stitch pattern books and a couple of needlepoint stitching guides.  I've been wanting to try the t-shirt transfer paper for a while, so this was a good opportunity to give it a try.

Tear-away paper?  Check.  Big ole wooden balls?  Check.  Glue sticks?  Check.  Metallic embroidery floss?  Red?  Check.  Green?  Check.  Gold?  Double check!  A couple of glue sticks, a tropical island stamp, a roll of twill ribbon and six rusty miniature snowmen/angel cutouts and round out this picture of craftiness.

The embroidery kit is pretty cool - it has two different but similar patterns.  One is more advanced and is intended to be done by the adult while the second is a simpler version of the first pattern to be completed by a younger person who is watching/learning from the more advanced embroiderer.  Is that a word?  Why wouldn't it be?  The dressmaker's tracing paper is pretty cool and yet another sewing tool that I have yet to use.  At least I can't use the excuse that I don't have any!  Handkerchiefs are always good, right?

You need some buttons?  Specifically little purple or yellow buttons?  I got your little purple and yellow buttons right here.  Some other ones too, but mostly purple and yellow ones.

I rounded out the bag with some flowers and a sweet bowmaker.  Now I think that I've seen this bowmaker on TV, but normally a fine quality product like this would add "As Seen on TV" to the packaging if that was the case.  My disappointment was assuaged by the discovery of 100 extra bow pins tucked inside the bowmaker box, so it's all good.

Let me know if you need anything in the way of craft supplies - I've probably got ya covered!



Thrifty Goodness - Two For The Books

Rather than venture out amongst the retail zombies on Black Friday, Shad and I did a little thrifting.  We had excellent success due in large part to a $1 Bag sale that we found at one of the thrift stores.  I ended up with two $1 bags - one full of books and one full of craft supplies. 

Brown bags of excitement!

I was trying to be mindful of the fact that I already have a lot of books and so I tried to limit it to books that I actually had an interest in or could pass along.  Here are some of the books that I put into my bag:

Average price = less than 5 cents per book!

I picked up the kids' books for a little project that I'm hoping to do for the local hospital when I get a spare minute or two.  I'm kinda excited about the Janet Evanovich book - which is actually the first three Stephanie Plum books in one - because I have a few friends that really like the series.  I've tried to read some of the middle books and have had a hard time getting into them, so I'm hoping that starting at the beginning will ease me into it.

I did pick up two other books that I was super-psyched about.

Vintage BC cooking baby!

Care to make some animal pancakes?

Perhaps some fudge?

Would it be wrong of me to get all excited if I successfully make some of the recipes from this book?  I mean, I'm a girl, and my cooking skills are approximately at the level of a 10 or 11 year-old, so it would be alright, right?  One of these days I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.

My last literary find was another one that I've been on the lookout for.  It's been fairly easy to find more recent copies of this one, but I've been hoping to find one closer to the book I remember from my childhood.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you.....

Complete with the green Wal-Mart price sticker of my youth

I love the illustrations!

The mad tea party

Hiding from the Queen of Hearts

So that's it for the $1 bag of books - I'll catch ya later for the $1 bag of craft supplies.  It was awesome!

One A Day - November 28

One of my favorite recent finds from the GW Boutique

Thrifty Goodness

It was an awesome weekend for finding things on the cheap!  Shad and I hit a few yard sales and did a little curbside shopping (a/k/a dumpster diving without the dumpster) on Sunday and came away with some pretty awesome things.

We happened upon the last day of a church-sponsored yard sale having an incredible special - fill one kitchen-sized garbage bag for $1.  I'm sure that I can't name everything that we came away with, but I know that we ended up with:
           * A new ceiling light fixture for my craft room
           * Three blazers (for material)
           * Flip-flops for Shad
           * Two shirts for me
           * a 1970s macrame belt
           * Kyle from South Park
           * Corduroy shirt and pants (for material)

I think we ended up at something like $.07 per item.  I've already put up the light fixture, which is a vast improvement from what was originally there, so it's already been $1 well spent.

Speaking of spending dollars, look what else I got for $1 each!

I would put money on the fact that the Pronto! is still in working condition - the OneStep perhaps not so much - but how cute are they for display for only one bone apiece?!?!?  They've already become part of a new camera-related display that I'm putting together.  I'll post pictures when I get it finished so you can further observe (and perhaps be jealous of?) my good fortune.

   
We also picked up this pair of salt and pepper shakers, originally marked $2 for the pair.  When we took them up to pay for them the owner said that she would sell them for a dollar because of some damage.  Have you seen such cuteness for $.50 each?  I had not and suspect that I shall not again for some time.

I'll post later about our curbside find - it's pretty cool too!

Thrifty Goodness

I can only imagine that you share my excitement at my recent find - a mint-condition BeDazzler, still in the box, for the low low price of $2.99!  As Seen On TV!

Believe it or not, I've already broken in this bad boy on a project with Malorie.  In the process I discovered that the little Dazzlers (for that is what they must be called, right, if we are "BeDazzling"?) are remarkably like ticks when it comes to removing them from fabric.  Luckily I screwed up enough to develop a pretty workable system.....

Now that my computer and Blogger are once again working together to allow me to upload pictures, I shall resume posting on a more regular basis.  Lucky you, huh?!?!?!?