Lookin’ for a good time? Go to the thrift store.

A week or so ago, me and Pattiewack went thrift shopping in downtown Fresno. I don’t usually buy a ton of stuff when I go thrifting. I do find a few occasional steals that I can’t pass up, but a lot of my trip is for amusement. I love the juxtaposition of crap in thrift stores and how random the items are. On top of that, I love all of the little items that come out of the woodwork. I thought I’d share a few of these today!

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i actually think these clowns are quite cute. I like their stripes and their smiles. BTW, I have always liked clowns. They were in my bedroom as a child and they seemed more sad/emotive than scary to me. So when I see knick knacks like this, it warms my heart.

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Not quite getting this, but I guess you can’t go wrong with a cat in a swashbuckler hat and a flesh tone stuffed baby.

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A little disturbing, don’t you think?

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Pattie found a clown with it’s pants down!

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Make it stop! I think these are really goofy. I’ve had a fascination of late with the idea of spray painting characters like this. I guess they are supposed to look all antique-y and baroque like this, but I like the idea of modernizing them.

Thrift store adult diapers
Gotta love a package of adult diapers at the thrift store…and the name is classic! I will prevail wearing my adult diapers!

Embroidery art from Vintage Voola
This one isn’t all that funny…more quaint and cute. See you really can find a wide variety of stuff! You just have to keep your peepers open!!

Hope you have a great Tuesday! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Thrifting with PattieWack!

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Today PattieWack and I went thrifting and we found a bevy of cool things…a few of which I thought I’d share. Pattie bought the camera above for only $3.50! A cute little accent to display! Fun, huh?

I spotted a few things that caught my eye (and hers) as well:

mini teacups
These were fun and colorful.

thermometer set
Love the good design on this old packaging. I love that people really made design interesting and eye catching back then.

davy crockett iron-ons
These Davy Crockett Iron-ons were pretty fab!

red display
And one of the shops always has a different colored display each month. This month it is red!

If you look in my Twitter sidebar you can see a few more things of what I saw!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

3 Thrift Store Revamps I just love!

I’m always trying to find a way to create something from very little. I think true innovation in crafting is found when you find a way to get a high end look from very simple materials. Today, I thought I’d share three ideas that just WOW me in their simplicity and beauty.

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I just love this revamped old painting from Design Sponge that makes something unnattractive very sophisticated and cool! You could total use Tulip® Soft Paint (perfect for canvas) to paint over a giant canvas that you purchase at the Goodwill or Salvation Army. Actually, I was in the Salvation Army a few weeks ago (I actually think they have cheaper stuff than Goodwill) and there was a gigantic 60″ canvas just like this for only $8 bucks! I can’t say that this idea would fit into my current décor, but perhaps in the future I will need to visit this idea!


These thrift store plate mirrors from Craftynest are so fabulous and so easy to make! If you didn’t like the color of a plate set, you could totally spray paint it a solid color as well. I love that it’s as simple as gluing one thing to another! How easy is that?

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I am enamored with this decopauged bunny from A Soft Place to Land. It seems that we all have knick knacks that are tired and boring. I just love that you can make them look like a clean and classic or alter mixed media piece with tissue paper, collage papers, or fabrics! Along the lines of this idea, we created some for the iLoveToCreate booth using Collage Pauge Instant Decopauge™ (that’s a cat I Collage Pauged below…the dots are tissue paper cut with a paper punch). Cheryl Ball decopauged a dog figurine for the show using fabric and it looked just as cool! On a somewhat related note, hop over and read how she upgraded a necklace with nail polish. I saw it today in person and it totally wowed me! You have to go see here. I love colored enamel soooo much.

Collage Pauge cat

Hope you found these revamped ideas inspiring. What thrify projects have you seen that totally blew you away?

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa