“Found” Craft Materials at Yard Sales
August 3, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Home & Living
I marvel each time we have a yard sale the items that delight people who stop by, especially those into crafting.
Image: sxc.hu
*One lady bought all the buttons my daughter had decided she could part with. She told me she decorated clothing with them. At a previous yard sale, a customer said she made Christmas stockings for sale and decorated them with buttons.
*A young man purchased a box of used crayons. I asked if he had children who enjoyed coloring.
“No,” he replied. “They’re for me. I have some coloring book pages and am going to color them to make wrapping paper.”
*Another customer purchased a number of my daughter’s quilting and craft magazines. I asked what type of crafts she did.
“My children and I are going to cut pictures from these and make collages.” I remembered doing this when my grandchildren were small. It makes a nice rainy day project and we’ve been having many summer rainy days this year.
*One lady was excited with the baggie filled with scrapbooking supplies my daughter decided she didn’t use. Since some of the items were new to her, she asked for ideas on how to use them.
What kinds of crafty ideas do you come up with using your yard sale “finds?”
I use all kinds of goodies from my yard sale adventures in mixed media art. I look for frames and boxes of all kinds to decorate, books to alter, photos and paper ephemera to use in collages, pottery and unusual containers to hold my art materials, and more. Jewelry, fibers, sewing notions, gift wrap, toys, doorknobs, wire, copper pipe, buttons, badges, buckles–they can all find a home in my work. In fact, I find these treasures better than anything that can be purchased in a store… and the price is always more enticing.
Thank you, Tawana, for stopping by and sharing your yard sale adventures. It’s fascinating to see what people pick up at our sales and the creative ideas they have when I chat with them.
My daughter and I have to be careful we don’t go out and replace all the items we’ve put in our sales. At least we try to have specific purposes for our “finds.”
I LOVE garage sales. They’re the best “art supply” source out there. I make button bracelets, shopping bags from old tee shirts, flowers from old china and glass, and people from coffee pots!
(In case you’d like to see some of the folks:
http://coffee-pot-people.blogspot.com/search/label/Coffee%20Pot%20People )
Thank you, Anitra, for sharing what you do with the “art supplies” you discover at yard sales. Also, I visited your blog and your creations are delightful. Your coffee pot people are so unique.