Hi - I'm new here!

[goodaim]

Greeting to all and I'm glad I found this place - just found it today after of course, a trip to a local thrift store. Thrifting has become a hobby of mine, I'd guess you say, after moving to our current town a few years back. It has a huge number of thrift stores for the size town that it is! Or at least it seems that way to me. I like to make altered art with old stuff, and of course thrift stores usually can't be beat for pricing. And I've found some great buys on clothing, kitchen items, etc too.

Happy hunting to all!

Good aim

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Good aim--Welcome to the board!  This is the place for you and your thrifting experiences. Would love to learn more about your altered art. We are a great and creative and diversive group here who love to thrift, create, and share. Looking forward to learning more about you and your experiences.

Ciao, Bella!
Secondhand Sophisticate
"SeSo"

[valleythriftshopper]

Welcome, would love to see pictures of your art & of course your thrift finds!

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Hey, welcome! Glad you found us!!

There are lovely people here, who'll be happy to hear all about your good finds!

[oceangurl]

  Welcome Goodaim! You will enjoy your time here, looking forward to getting to know you and hopefully seeing some pictures of your art! I bet you are talented if you use thrift shop finds! That goes without saying! Ciao! Oceangurl aka Cindy!

[goodaim]

Thanks for all for the kind replies! As far as my thrift-finds-turned-into-artsy/crafty stuff, I only have begun taking photos of things before I give them away - most everything I make seems to go as gifts. I'll have to start keeping a few things for myself! Thus, no pictures of what I've made. I'm also not tech-savvy, so will have to learn how to post pics. So for now I'll just describe my recent finds:

I picked a few small items last week, from a local charitable organization (proceeds go toward buying Bibles):

the board game Careers, intact, copyrighted 1955, 50 cents. I have a craft book that shows how to turn game boards into funky art, and I can use the various pieces of paper money and other paper parts in other projects.

a box of white poker pieces, intact; box itself was interesting. Probably from the 50's as well. $1.00. I plan on using these in a paper flower project (they can be the backs that the paper "petals" are glued to to make the flowers sturdier.

The Tale of Peter Rabbbit, 1961, 50 cents. Cute iillustrations - Easter/springtime cards, the abovementioned paper flower project (it uses old children's' books), etc.

Four pairs of women's gloves, 50 cents/pair. Not sure of their vintage - anywhere from the 40's to the 60's - all in decent shape and all have nice details like a scalloped wrist edging, embroidered detail, tiny buttons, etc. (not all on the same gloves, of course, LOL). I picture these embellished with vintage buttons, trims, etc, lightly stuffed, sewn shut and then some sort of hanger in the back. Might be a little big for Christmas ornaments, even though they're just wrist length, but we'll see.

Several pairs of postcards, one penny each, not old but have goofy drawings/sayings on them like "Don't Bother Me...I'm Living happily Ever After" and "Stress Is When You Wake Up Screaming...And Realize You Haven't Fallen Asleep Yet". I plan on using these as covers for mini journals/notepads - will cut paper pages to fit and then bind together.

One huge roll of light brown crepe paper, 50 cents. Can cut, shape and stamp in various ways.

This shop was having a clothing sale - everything but "new" clothes were only $1.00 each. Thus, I bought one Croft and Barrow women's sweater (Kohl's department store) and one Tommy Bahama women's Hawaiian-style shirt. Its buttons are probably worth more than one dollar alone! Both items looked to be in very good shape - and for a dollar each, I couldn't go wrong! Having worked hard to have gone down a size or two in recent months, I need new clothes!

So, considering no item cost more than a dollar each, I think I did all right!

goodaim

[oceangurl]

marvoulus and innovative ways to use your thrift shop finds Goodaim! How inspiring it is to see you post on how you plan to use said objects, you are alot like me and see the beauty and potential in things, I look at things and see what other people cant see, the possibilities to be done with them etc. I see beauty even in things that you wouldnt even consider salvagable, like you, the buttons etc. to me every object has a "home" or some way it can be reused and reinvented! Keep up the good work and dreaming! lol!