Hi friends, I hope your week is off to a good start and that the wheels are turning in your mind for plans of spring gardening, inventive upcycling, and creative arts!
I wanted to answer some questions you have been asking me about jewelry making and soft soldering so I did it in a vlog format in a YouTube video with a little illustration at the end...and a chat about what I do when I need to take a break from making jewelry.
Most people know that thrift shopping can be hit or miss. There have been many times I've left my favorite thrift shop empty handed. But there are other days when I've found such an amazing bargain that it makes up for all those empty-handed days!
I guess that's one of the things that makes thrift shop shopping so attractive and fun - it can be kind of a low budget treasure hunt where you never know what you might find.
We all have our mental lists of things that we look for when thrift shopping, whether it be something in particular such as materials for a project we want to make, or clothing, or vintage and antique items to resell.
I always look at the china and dinnerware, glance at the glassware, figurines and tchotchkes, and check and see if there are any craft supplies such as knitting needles, fat quarters or fabric remnants and lace and things like that that I can use for creating things. I will also take a look at the skirts or whatever else I customarily glance at just to see what they have.
As I wrote in past blog posts about thrift shop shopping, there are good shops and not so good shops, shops that are mostly clothes, shops that are mostly nick-knacks, overpriced shops, smartly-prices shops, shops that run sale days, and overpopulated shops that just have too many shoppers. The key is to find balance and to know what the general feel is for that particular shop. For me, each shop that I visit kind of has it's own pros and cons. Some days aren't great shopping days, while others are.
This was one of the good days! Watch the video below where I share my treasures, as well as a cool tip I learned from the thrift shop cashier!
Here are a few more looks at my haul.
Guess how much everything cost?
I came home with an armload!
Vintage jewelry with sterling silver and gemstone beads
These handmade glazed clay pottery beads from the 60's are amazing!
