Thrifty goodness and Etsy supplies!!

Thrift stores are the greatest, aren't they? So many wonderful odds and ends and cheap sources of inspiration! Today I discovered an even cooler thing about my favorite thrift store that's around the corner from my house. Outside of the store they regularly leave a few grocery carts on the sidewalk which they fill with things they have decided to remove from the shelves for one reason or another. The stuff is there for the taking... all free of charge!

I stopped to peruse the goodies and came away with a shirt and a pair of pants made of linen, a jacket made of washed silk, a little metal candle thingie (hard to describe), a beat up plastic baby doll, and a few other odds and ends. Lovely! The linen will be used in some pillows or tote bags, the silk will be made into some little drawstring bags and handmade roses... I think the metal thingie and baby doll will be put in the supply drawer for when I start making my assemblage art.

I'll be looking forward to receiving today's Etsy purchases to put in my supply drawer as well - some pages from a book all in Greek, and some little playing cards with illustrations of young women, and a nice old photo of a bearded man with a little more going on in his head than you think at first glance.

Just in time for the goodies I've started to gather, I picked up Altered Curiosities to provide some inspiration and some lessons in the craft of making art from trash. Jane Ann Wynn has the most amazing way of turning things most people throw away into precious little trinkets and special altars of quirkiness. I can only hope to be half as creative.

Now if my craft area were a little warmer in the evening I'd be a bit more enthusiastic about spending time there...