More garage sale finds!

Hi everyone,

I went to a yard sale this morning where everything was 50 cents!  They had some great stuff.  I bought a photo album, cake carrier, cupcake carrier, a shelf, butterflies, shutter, and stool for $3.50.




This little shelf was this color.  I didn't do anything to it.  The bottles are the ones that my Aunt gave to me during her yard sale.  Another Aunt has a ton of embossing powder and let me take some of each color.  I am using these bottles to store it.


My Aunt Sheila was at a yard sale where a lady was selling her cricut.  I got the little cricut with one cartridge and the Design Studio software.  She bought it a year ago for about $155.  I got a good deal.  It had never been opened.  I opened all of the packaging and took the cardboard out etc.  It is all brand new.



The same Aunt told me about a huge crafting sale.  A lady's mother in law must have crafted constantly.  They have a huge garage packed full of craft supplies.  The prices were really good too.  They had a ton of fabric, lace, and trim.  They were selling the lace for 10 or 20 cents per yard depending on the width.


I got the red scrapbook and a deck of card for free.  The clothes pins in this picture were 50 cents.  I got twice as many regular clothes pins with the metal piece for 25 cents.  The book in this picture is all about the year 1946.  It's an encyclopedia Brittanica, Book of the Year.  It was $1.


The lace/trim that I bought at that sale is on the right.  It cost $3.  The lace on the left came from Goodwill for $1.99.  That's the only thing I bought at Goodwill today.


This melting pot was $1 at the crafty sale.  It was marked $5.99 from Michaels.

I watch alot of craft, goodwill, and thrift store hauls on You Tube.  A lot of those ladies would have gone NUTS over the lace at this sale.  There was a ton of it and it was gorgeous.  The price wasn't bad either.

Garage sale finds and mini scrapbook

I bought these things from a rummage sale at COA (commission on aging).
Shadow box: $1.50
Mirror: 10 cents
Necklace: $1

The necklace has 10 chains and 11 charms that I will use for all sorts of projects.



I bought this at a garage sale for 50 cents.  I took the dried plants out of it.  I'm going to use it for storage of craft supplies or in my bedroom.  Haven't decided yet.


I made this mini with items sent to me by Stephanie (scrappinmomof2 on You Tube).

Garage sale finds

There was a garage sale advertised in the paper for today only.  They opened at 8:30 and had some craft stuff.  I had to be to work at 8:30 this morning so I asked my husband to go check it out for me.  He did and said that they didn't have much.  When I got home I asked him if he bought any thing and he did!  He picked out perfect things for perfect prices!  He did such a good job.  Love my hubby!


Brand new acrylic paint set:  50 cents
Brand new stamp pad: 25 cents
Brand new set of four stamps: $1
The cardboard in the background is from the back of notebooks.  It was free.  The 1971 & 1972 diaries/calendars were also free.  He also bought me a cream and sugar white/milk glass set for $1.



Then we went to a neighboring town that was having community yard sales. 

Large stack of Stampin' Up 8 1/2 x 11 paper for $5 at a garage sale
Wooden dominos: $0.79 at Goodwill
Box for altering: $0.79 at Goodwill



Books: 10 cents each
Bag of lace, trims, & ribbon: 25 cents
Snowflakes: 5 cents
Two tape measures: 10 cents each

I can use everything for all sorts of different projects.

Garage sale find

Hi everyone,

This is the thing I forgot to get a picture of for the last post.  I bought this at the yard sale I went to this morning.  It cost 10 cents.  The lady said "Oh, you're buying Grandma and Grandpa".  I asked her if she was sure she wanted to sell her Grandparents.  She was sure.  I'll use them in some sort of collage shadow box sort of thing.

Garage sale finds!

Hi everyone,

There was an ad in the paper for a garage sale with craft items.  I never find garage sales with much in the way of craft supplies.  I hit the jackpot.

Books (25 cents each):
Tim Allen, Don't Stand Too Close To A Naked Man
Something of Value, Ruark
Agatha Christies Detectives, Five Complete Novels



I watch videos on You Tube by Heather at The Paper Castle.  She shows all sorts of things that she buys at yard sales and sells on E-bay.  She always buys playing cards.  When I was a kid Dad and Mom had a set of Kem cards that we were only allowed to play with when we played with an adult.  Now Les and I have a set of Kem cards that he won a few years ago.  I bought these two sets today for $1 each.  The other two decks were $0.50 each.  The Canasta deck has an original price tag of $0.89!


There are all sorts of good things in these tubs.  The tub of elastic was only 25 cents.  The other two were $1.50 each.


The bag that is marked $1 is full of old sewing items with great advertising etc.  Lots of sewing needles in paper sleeves.

I got one other thing that I want to show but I forgot to get a picture of it.  I'll do that and add it later.

ATCs

I am hosting an ATC swap on Ravelry (Playshop group).  I've really had trouble getting inspired to do these cards.  Finally, I've gotten some done.


I painted watercolor paper with different color watercolor paints and cut a bunch of ATCs out of it. 

Left: The paper is covered with a piece of a lace curtain then I cut a bird out of some scrapbook paper and framed it with a shell jewelry finding.  The flowers are a pair of broken earrings.  One stone was missing from one of the earrings so I broke the petal off and fit the two flowers together where the petal is missing.  I like it.

Middle: I bought some winding stems for watch making.  I colored some of them with alcohol inks and glued them onto this card. I filled the square in with glossy accents.

Right: Wide trim in the middle and narrow trim on both sides.  I glued some beads of the trim on the edges.

The flower earrings and beads came from boxes that I bought from Alex, MrsMcCabeScraps on You Tube.  She has an Ebay store.  I got lots of awesome goodies from her!



Left: I cut the cards out of some folder I bought from Goodwill.  Then I glued a rectangle of old sand paper to the card.  The lady is from G45 Steampunk Debutante.  The burlap came in a box I bought from Alex.  The button came from my stash.

Middle: Brown card stock with some printed paper glued over top.  I printed a collage sheet that I found online and cut out a bunch of images from it.  Then I inked around the image.  I glued snap parts on  and just bent the clip thing on the edge.  The trim I bought at Goodwill several months ago.

Right: brown paper, patterned paper, burlap I bought from Alex, and an image from the collage sheet I mentioned before.



Left: I glued winding stems over the hair and gears of the steam punk lady.  I love how this turned out!

Middle: More winding stems glued with glossy accents over the wings.

Right: I took parts of a pair of broken earrings (from Alex again) to make the necklace for this dress form. 




Left: I took a piece of one of my file folders and scraped gesso around on it.  Then I inked over the gesso once it was dry.  After that I glued the bottom of the flower to the paper and glued the top part of the flower with the button on a transparency.  I alcohol inked the back of the transparency.  Finally, I used my new Big Bite to attach the eyelets.

Middle:  Brown paper, gesso, ink, and sewing pattern paper make the background.  The clocks and lady are from the collage sheet I mentioned before.  The crown on the lady is a hoop earring with some missing stones.  I just cut the post off.  I really like the way this turned out.

Right:  File folder, gesso, blue, and brown ink for the background.  The blue fabric that says original is a tag from a pair of jeans my Mom bought.  She gave me the tags. I cut the word fit off the end and glued the tag to this card.  Then I glued snap parts, a button, and a zipper pull around the card.



Left: Brown paper, burlap, and black trim are in the background.  There was a huge roll of this burlap in my second package from Alex.  The feather came from her too.

Right: The feather is just part of the feather I used for the one on the left.  I only used one feather between the two cards.

I hope you like my cards.  I've been trying to make videos but I am having trouble.  Hopefully I can have them up soon.

Finished scrapbook and haul

Hi everyone,

I have several videos on You Tube now.  There are several more for me to upload but it takes me a while to get them uploaded.  So, keep an eye out for more over the next week or so.

There were several good yard sales this weekend.  I have also been to Goodwill and a couple of antique malls recently.

Today I went to Goodwill and bought four books along with the items in the picture below.

Books (4 for $0.99):
The Fifties by David Halberstam (1993)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Russell Freedman (1990)
Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Tunnell of Lost Toys (1980)
Ford, The Men and the Machine by Robert Lacey (1986)


Scrapbook (Me & My Big Ideas): $1.99
Furniture feet: $0.99
Party supplies (16 invites, 16 napkins, & a table cover): $0.99
Binder with storage box: $0.99

These are great deals!  I'm surprised some of the prices were so low.


This weekend I got these four door plates for $0.25 each!  We went to a couple of antique malls after I found these.  They wanted $3 to $80 for a door plate.  The one I saw for $80 had one door knob with it.  I'm going to use these for altered box projects.


I made this mini scrapbook cover to mimic the basic design of the one I made for my projects.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I used biscuits and other hardware/tools from Les' workshop including some sand paper.

I hope you like my finds and my projects.

You Tube videos

Hi everyone,

My sister in law let me borrow her Flip Camera so I made a few videos.  It takes a long time for me to upload them so I'll be doing that for the next few days.  I have two up so far.



I want to buy a camera of my own but I wanted to try one out first.  I'm glad I did because I can't plug this one into my computer.  It has the USB plug attached to the side of it.  The plug is too short to reach my USB port on the front of my computer because of the way my computer is made.  Other than that the camera is very easy to use and has really clear picture.  Thank you for letter me borrow it!  I really appreciate it.

I showed this project in a previous post but you can see the details much better in the video.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Finished Projects

Hi everyone,

Here are some projects that I recently finished.


Before.  I bought this at Goodwill for $0.39


After.

This project was inspired by my great Aunt Helen.  She was actually my Great Grandma's Aunt.  I was privileged to know her.  He passed away around the time I graduated from High School.  She was a fantastic lady.  She helped her husband build and run two successful businesses then she became a nurse.  She loved furs, pearls, and diamonds.  But she also loved dogs, camping, and swimming.  When I knew her she had trouble seeing well so she had to wear both contacts and eye glasses in order to read the books she loved so much.  She was extremely nice, smart, funny, and sharp tongued!  She didn't hesitate to tell you if you were doing something she didn't like.  I loved that about her.  You always knew just were you stood.  No guessing necessary.  I admire that.


I made this out of any old book cover for my beautiful cousin, Stephanie.

I painted it with some red paint and then gesso once the paint dried.  Then I decoupaged the butterflied from a napkin over the gesso.  Once all of that was dry I painted it with several colors of water color paint.  Then I decoupaged yellow tissue paper and her name.  The letters were cut with my Aunt's cricut.  The two pieces of flower jewelry that hold the 4x6 picture came from the box of jewelry that Janet gave me.  The napkin came from a swap with Hazel.  I also decoupaged squares of the white part of the napkin in a random pattern over the book before painting it with the water color.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  She is going to display pictures in it at her open house.


I bought two of these clipboards from Goodwill a while ago.  I paid $0.99 each.  I've had a plan for them since shortly after I bought them.  Now I have finally started those projects.

This isn't the greatest picture.  I need to take my pics outside during the day but I never remember to do that.

I recently got an 8x10 picture.  It came in a large envelope with a piece of light weight chipboard.  I cut the chip board to size for the cover of this scrapbook.  It will be a book of my craft projects.  My husband will have one for his projects too.  I started mine first because I need his help with the cover of his book.  He was busy today. 

I covered the chip board with some scrapbook paper that I have had forever.  Then I wrote all over the paper with a black sharpie marker.  I painted white gesso over the writing.  I also scraped the gesso around so there would be thick and thin spots.  After the gesso was dry I lightly sanded it and decoupaged a piece of a sewing pattern over everything.  Again, I sanded it a little once everything was dry.  I inked the edges with some Tim Holtz distress ink.  After all of that, the base was finished.  Now the embellishing started.

My husband cut a wooden spool in half for me.  I inked it and wrapped some crochet thread around it.  I just bought the flowers at Michaels this weekend.  The key has been in my husband's workshop and then in my craft room for a while.  The buttons are from my stash.  The letters that are a little difficult to see in the pic have been in my stash for probably 8 years.  I've used several of them but I still have a bunch left.  I think they look great on the cover.  The dress form is from the Tim Holtz cling stamp, Seamless Experience.  I stamped it, cut it out and inked the edges.  The cameo that I glued over the dress form came from a package I bought from VintageInspireCreate on Ebay.  She is also MrsMcCabeScraps on You Tube.  I love her videos.  I bought a box of various craft supplies from her.  She goes to Goodwill and a flea market alot and gets great deals on really interesting things. 

That's just he cover now I need to make all of the pages. 

I hope you enjoy my projects.  I'm happy with the way they turned out.

The wild life is conspiring against me

Hello everyone,

If you know me personally then you probably already know at least part of the story I am about to tell.   Whether you know me or not I hope you sit back and get a good chuckle.

My husband and I got married in May 2000.  We went to Mackinac Island for our honeymoon.  We drove for about four hours, waited for an hour for the ferry, took a horse and buggy to our hotel, and then spent another hour trying to get checked in and find out room.  Then we waited for our luggage to be delivered.  After all of that we finally went outside to walk to town and officially start our honeymoon. 

A bird pooped on my head.

Les thought that was hilarious and wanted me to reenact my reaction so he could get a picture.  I refused.  We wiped the poop off my head and kept walking. I WAS NOT going back to the room to start all over again.

A few years later I went to Massachusetts with my parents and siblings.  We went on a whale watch in Boston.  There was a large group of kids on the boat for a school field trip.  The chaperones allowed the kids to eat as much candy and run as much as they wanted.  As soon as we actually started moving the kids started throwing up.  They all had bags of vomit.  My little sister started to turn green.  I'd never actually seen anyone turn green before that but I swear to you she was a pale shade of green.  I didn't want to watch her throw up so went outside and leaned against the windows in order to enjoy the view and the breeze without the vomit smell.  My parents and sisters were on the other side of the window.  After a few minutes I looked to my left toward the front of the boat and saw a man getting sick off the side. I turned to the woman on my right to say something like "Oh, poor guy" and she was covering her head.  So, I thought I better do the same.  It's a good thing I did because I ended up with puke from my shoulder to my shoes.  My lovely family was falling on the floor laughing.  I went to the lower deck to wash my hands but of course the bathroom was not working!  So I wiped up as best as I could and went back to sit with my family.  The wife of the man that threw up was sitting next to my parents the whole time and everyone saw the whole thing as it happened.  He came in and apologized.  He also said "I guess I shouldn't have had those three donuts this morning".  Nice.  I didn't need to know what was sprayed all over my clothes.  This was all before we even got to the whales.  I took pictures of the whales with puke on my hands.  After we got back to shore we walked several blocks to a restaurant where I could wash up better.  I had to walk the city for the rest of the day with my jacket turned inside out and wrapped around my waist.

A couple of years after that I was on a March of Dimes walk with my sister and step-mom.  This is the same sister that looked like she was going to throw up in the last story.  (No throw up this time).  About 10 minutes into the walk a bird flew out of a bush and scared us half to death.  I yelled "poop!" (language cleaned up for the kiddies).  Karen laughed and said something like "That's right" and pointed at my shirt.  I had bird poop on my shirt for the rest of the walk!

When there are a lot of birds flying around now I often here "Watch out Kerri!!"

Yesterday at Charlton Park I was talking to a Mom and felt something on my neck.  I asked her if there was a bug on me.  She said no but about a minute later I looked down and saw a huge spider on my sleeve.  I swatted it off and the Mom stomped on it.  I looked down at my sleeve and saw bird poop that I hadn't noticed before.  What in the world!!!!!????

Somehow I have offended the animal kingdom or something.  I realize the vomit story didn't necessarily have anything to do with animals.  But then again we were going to watch whales!  Coincidence, I think not!!

Hopefully I didn't make you sick.  I hope you got a chuckle from my misfortune.