For The Love Of Thrift Stores

For those of you who don't really know me I love to gamble......occasionally. I visit Las Vegas or even once or twice a year go to my local casino here in Florida. I love putting those quarters in the machine, closing my eyes, fingers crossed, wishing and hoping I get a really good payoff. Those darn slot machine always, always disappoint me and gobble up my money.  Once I've had enough I leave very sad, no wins just loses. Now I know you are wondering what the heck does gambling have to do with thrift stores. Well for me it's almost the same thrill, less costly of course.

There is a thrill I get when I find something in a thrift store that I love, that I believe is worth more than it's price, that can become something great, can earn me a few dollars. My fix for thrift store shopping has a greater hold on me than casino gambling (I shop thrift stores once or twice a week) and to be frank I'm a bit more successful at thrift store shopping than gambling coins at the casino.

My latest find is this 8 yards of linen fabric that I got for $1.00 a yard. At first glance I thought I got an $80 pile of fabric for the $8. Jackpot!  but I didn't do that well. The fabric once I got it home was only 45" wide so the $10 a yard estimate didn't hold true. Possible it's really worth about $40 maybe not a jackpot but definitely a win.

This fabric will go on to become........ well, I have plans, plans to dye some of the fabric, plans to make some white crisp pillow cases with lace, possible some ruffles on some pillows. Who knows for sure but it will become something great! (I hope)

I never, ever, ever, leave a thrift store sad, nope I leave happy, excited, thrilled and eager to get to the next thrift store. I love thrift store shopping!

I'm off to another store so keep your fingers crossed I find more gold.

What You Can Find At The Thrift Store

I'm always up for a thrift store run and yesterday I did just that with two of my favorite thrifts right here in Clermont, Fl.

It's always about the hunt and sometimes you hit it big and sometimes it's a bust, yesterday was a good shopping trip.

The first shop I went to is a bit of sloppy type of thrift store but it's here that I get the best bargains.  I found this vintage silver serving tray sitting out just waiting to be bought. It's a very heavy piece and it's stamped on it  FB Rogers Silver Company  My research on Ebay showed me that I'll make a nice profit from this piece.  You can see my listing on Ebay here.

I love to look at the linen section of thrift stores. I might find curtains, or throws, or tablecloths or napkins and think wouldn't this make a nice........  pillow or fabric bag.  My eyes usually just skim the racks to see if anything catches my eye and that's all I do. Yesterday my eyes found these great lookers staring back at me. Two of them resembled bark cloth of days gone by and were made into valances and there was enough fabric in them to make some pretty pillows. All they need is some deconstruction, a good wash, then some thinking on what they should look like.
 

 I also found about a yard of the black and white toile fabric for a great price and I knew right away that the black and white fabric will become the ruffle on a burlap pillow. 

Thrift store shopping accomplishes two things for me. One I get to find something that I can list on Etsy or Ebay and make money on that item. The second thing is I find things that get my design juices going that brings new life to something I find there. My pocketbook is thankful and my creative urges are so appreciative.