WiseArts

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!

I’ve had a busy weekend and haven’t had much time to post here, but I hope to make up for that with a few AMAZING flea market finds from this morning!!

First, let me bore you with a few not-so-amazing finds:

Some glassware for my mom. Hen on nest was $5, milk glass basket was $3.50

Some bulbs, bobbins, and random sewing things for my new sewing machine.
Marked $5, I bargained to $3.

I’ve been looking for a cheap type case for a while, in which I can put little things and/or craft supplies. Who in bloody blazes got the urge to paint a type case blue?? I don’t know, but it allowed for the good price of $4. I’ll strip the outside edges and put on some stain and varnish and I’ll paint the inside white. I think it will look nice. I’ll shine up the handle too. It’ll be great!

Now on to my amazing finds of the day!!

I collect old scrapbooks, and was delighted to see the aqua-colored one for $1!! I didn’t even really look at the contents until I got home! I am so excited about it because I discovered that it follows a family trip around the US in 1959!

It’s filled with postcards, hotel stationery, menus and placemats, and what appears to be the writings of a young lady (I’m no pro at handwriting analysis!) who documents some of the events for us.

There is also some great vintage Disneyland stuff in there, like this brochure for the Sleeping Beauty Castle! It has a sweet fold-out poster in the middle.

Now if this wasn’t enough, I found ANOTHER amazing scrapbook at the same flea market on the same day!!! It has a plywood cover bound with leather lacing. It was marked at $15 and I only had $12 left in my pocket. I asked nicely (trying to contain my PURE JOY) and the seller accepted my offer easily.

This book is filled with amazing photographs of Girl Scout camp in 1937 and 1938!! There are tons of photos of swimming, sailing, cooking in tin cans and all that sort of fun! These are obviously older scouts, and it seems that they are campers themselves, but later in the book they serve as camp staff for younger children. The names of two camps are listed: Camp Alice Chester and Camp Wells. A Google search finds that Camp Alice Chester is still being used and is located in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I can’t seem to find anything about Camp Wells. Anyone have any details?

Here’s the first page of the book! This is the “cast of characters” for the rest of the book. Each of the young women seems to have a nickname, which is used throughout in the photo captions.

Stay tuned for more!! I plan on scanning both of these scrapbooks in their entirety to save them for posterity. The paper in them is typical cheap (acid-filled) paper for scrapbooks of the time, and it is terribly yellowed and getting crumbly. I’m not sure of the best way to proceed in preserving these books, so I’ll do a little research on that. In any event, I will definitely be scanning them to save them in digital form and I’ll share lots more here in upcoming posts!

I found a box of Polaroid 779 at a thrift store for 50 cents, and with the current state of Polaroid film being discontinued and soon to be gone, I decided I better pick it up! Expiration date was in ’02, so it seemed to have potential, although I had no idea how that box had been stored. I loaded it up and took a few kitty shots this evening, and the results were unfavorable. It would help if the little darlings would stay still… I’m wondering if the camera’s rollers might not be a little loose. I just don’t think the film is old enough to be that dried out. I don’t know. It is interesting though. See the kitties in there?

Here’s Ziggy! He’s quiet, but sweet and playful. He’s always asking to be picked up, standing on his hind legs and leaning on me, stretching his front legs up as far as he can reach. If you don’t obey his wish, he’ll attack your feet or find some sort of trouble to get into.

Here’s Hayashi

We also call him Beepers because he has a rather high-pitched meow and he never shuts up.

Beepers is obsessed with food, and I’m in the kitchen, so that is why he allowed himself to be photographed. The first time the camera clicked and whirred as it ejected the film, he freaked out a little, but would not be put off from a potential feeding.