On Memorial Day, some of our favorite thrift stores have a 50% off sale! It has become a tradition for us to go thrifting and find some great bargains. Here’s the rundown on what I got this year!

I bought these tins to chop up and make stuff from. I made a cute handbound book from a Chinese-y tea tin once. I wish I’d taken a photo of it before I gave it away…

I got the pasta machine for about $3.50! It’s really heavy and nice. I bought it for polymer clay use, but I’m almost thinking maybe I’ll keep it for pasta and get another cheap one to use for clay. The box on the right is a film developing tank. That cost about $2.50. The box is beat up, but it’s actually brand new! I have intentions of learning how to develop film someday, so I thought I better pick it up. The round knitting looms were also about $2.50 for the set! I used to think these things were for kids or people who couldn’t get the hang of regular knitting, but after I saw this book about knitting cables on circular looms, I knew that was not the case! Some really nice things can be made with these. I can’t wait to try them out.

This little Papier-mâché dress form was 30 cents. I don’t really need it or know what I’m going to do with it, but at that price… hehe The little spools are labeled as punch needle yarn. I’m not sure if I’ll use it for that purpose. I have some experiments I want to try with it. The yarns came 3 in a package for about $1.50.

I got some great additions to my fabric stash! The blue stuff is on a big roll; it’s a faux dupionni kind of thing. It’s pretty though, and only $3.50 for the whole roll. All the other bits ranged from $1-$2 and are 1-3 yds. I love the red furry stuff! It’s neat!

I’ve sort of ended up with a collection of these DIY stuffie fabrics. Previously, I’ve purchased some Care Bear and other funny animal fabrics.There’s something kind of charming about them. I don’t think kids really like the finished products that much… the joy of these is much more in the simple and quick construction. These came in a few mixed bags with some other fabric bits for about 90 cents. I really love the Popple one, but it’s missing the back side! So sad! I guess it’s okay, as I’m pondering using them for other purposes anyway…

I got Good Things For Organizing for 90 cents. It has some really cute ideas and inspiring photos. I like it. Got the old McCall’s Needlework for about 80 cents. It’s from ‘77 and has some funny ads in it, as well as some cute projects. The retro Indian and Chinese poster art greeting cards were about 35 cents each. I love the little space travelers! You can see more of them here!

I’ve been busy working on my craft room, hence the lack of posts lately, but it is nearing completion! I hope to finish organizing and putting things away soon, and I’ll share the final results!

We brought the defective Expedit bookcase piece back to IKEA, and the exchange was no problem! Also, my smooth-talking husband was able to talk them into giving us a $15 gift card for our troubles. That was very nice. I quickly blew that of course. It was not a drop in the bucket towards my purchase of two Alex drawer units. These were originally on my list of new furniture for my craft room, but I decided to take them off to lower the bill a little. However, I decided I would buy them eventually anyway, so what difference did it make if I got them now or later? They will be wonderful to put paper in. So excited to get organized!

After we left IKEA, we went over to the mall to get dinner and wander around a little. I stopped at Archiver’s and picked up the preservation supplies for my scrapbooks, some awesome paper, and a new book!

It’s The Doodle Formula by Adrienne Looman.

I was captured right away by the doodley goodness on the cover. Inside, it’s like a design class for doodling. The author presents some great principles about what makes a doodle attractive, tools for doodling, finding your “doodle personality”, ideas on making and using doodles…

It’s quite inspiring! The author insists that everyone can make great doodles, and that making doodles of that caliber do not require any special talents.

My husband and I headed straight to IKEA after work to pick up my new craft room furniture.

On my list:

• Large EXPEDIT bookcase in black-brown
• EXPEDIT inserts with 2 drawers, red x 5
• BESTÅ shelf units, black-brown (23 5/8×15 3/4×75 5/8″) x 2
• BJÄRNUM/JÄRPEN wall shelf combos, black-brown (46 7/8×11″) x 2
• VIKA AMON table top, black-brown (47 1/4×23 5/8″)
• VIKA CURRY legs, red x 4
• LACK shelving unit, red (13 3/4×74 3/4″)
• LACK wall shelf, black-brown (74 3/4×10 1/4″)

Everything was in stock, and I also picked up some lights and decorative mirrors.

Just barely got everything in the car, and drove home with my seat (passenger) so far forward my head was nearly touching the windshield in order to accommodate long boxes.

We got home, got everything in the house, made some room and pulled out parts for the big EXPEDIT bookcase. Started pounding in some pegs and laying out pieces, and WHAA?? Something is definitely not going to work. Here’s what we figured out:

Defective piece! These are the peg holes for attaching the shelf dividers, but… obviously we don’t want this crummy fiberboard showing.

The wood-like side has the holes for the plastic feet drilled into it.

Sooo… someone was “sleeping at the wheel” at the manufacturing plant and drilled this piece upside-down. The other pieces all seem to be fine. I guess we can return just this one piece and exchange it for a good one, so back to IKEA we go for another adventure tomorrow.

Dang it. I was so excited to get this shelf in place and start putting stuff away (to make room for the rest of the furniture!). Hopefully, I’ll have more luck tomorrow! Over and out!

I got started on this stuff when I was in an altered book club, buying it with the intention of using it in collagey projects. I have actually used some of these sorts of things in projects, but as with most crafts I like, I tend to stockpile! There are good intentions for most of this stuff, at least.

Old metal is so pleasing to me! The designs, patinas, wear patterns, dirt and old paint. I love that it’s REAL metal! It’s usually brass or bronze, none of that crummy fake plated stuff. I love how heavy it feels in the hand.

My first acquisition for this collection was a batch of these strike plates. I intended to screw them into altered books with the tabs sticking out, and place tiny images in the “windows.”

I quickly moved on to purchase other bits of antique metal. Here are some keyholes, a piece of old jewelry, and another unidentified piece of hardware. I think the keyholes would be cute for jewelry or artwork.

I love antique door plates! Neat designs, and usually lots of crusty paint, varnish and patina. I have more of these somewhere… probably out in a box in the garage. I didn’t notice before, but the one on the left and the one on the right in this photo actually have the same pattern! I bought them at different times, and never closely examined them until now.

I got this old letter slot at an antique shop for $4. It has a spring on it so the flap so it is self-closing. I envisioned making some sort of decorative box/assemblage with this mounted on an opening…

Got these drawer pulls at an antique shop too. I don’t recall the exact price, I think it was $3.50 each maybe. I imagined attaching one to the front of an art book, using it as a holder for another smaller book or some art cards.

These are one of my favorite acquisitions: antique pocket door pulls. I had never seen any before when I bought them at an antique shop for $5 each. I envision them installed into a book or assemblage as tiny shrines or holders of small objects. Love!

I’m working on cleaning up my craft room today! As I was returning some fabric to the guest room closet (fabric closet!), I happened to glance out the window and see this under the eave:

This carefully-built nest appears to have four fluffy baby robins in it! I pulled the screen out and perched my camera on the edge of the window. I sat there for an eternity waiting for the mama to return. She sat in the big locust tree, flicking her tail, obviously a bit perturbed about my presence. I remained, as still as possible, one eye on her, and one looking through the viewfinder. Finally, she must’ve decided I wasn’t a threat, and allowed me a few photos.

Blast! I wish I had purchased a nice zoom lens already! I’d love to get right in there, and see more of the textures. These photos had to be cropped in quite a bit. Click on either for a larger view!