Looking for craft supplies or inspiration for new projects? Bargain supplies and ideas may be as close as your neighborhood yard sale. Carol Duvall's friend and neighbor, Susie Thomas, took Duvall "sale-ing" and together they found all kinds wonderful deals. Not only did Duvall learn a lot about yard sales, but she also discovered a treasure-trove of handy crafting items.
Duvall and Thomas Share Some Fabulous Finds:
- Old ashtrays--They make great holders for those small paint brushes when you're working on a project. If they're deep enough, they can also hold water for rinsing off the brush.
- Big books--Great to use for pressing flowers if you live in a small town where the phone directory doesn't have enough pages to do the job.
- Electric frying pans with nonstick surfaces--Perfect for melting wax for batik or other wax related projects.
- Sleds--These and other seasonal items are always a good beginning for holiday decorating.
- Picture frames--Thomas uses these for a number of projects. Small frames, for example, are useful for displaying small arrangements of pressed flowers. A special and memorable use was when Thomas saved and pressed some of the flowers from her mother's funeral and gave the framed pictures to members of the family for keepsakes.
- Linen dinner napkins--Combined with pieces cut from an old white chenille bedspread she bought for a dollar, Thomas made more than a half-dozen good-size throw pillows. The napkins made very pretty backings.
