Thrift Share Monday

Apron Thrift Girl is sponsoring Thrift Share Mondays and I thought I'd join in. I'll be cheating a bit as we didn't do any thrifting this weekend. We spent most of Saturday hiking in the woods with dogs and friends and Sunday was Easter so, not much thrifting opportunity anyway.

I wanted to share my finds relating to arts & crafts. As all you artsy-crafty types are well aware, that scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, painting habit can get very expensive. Dick Blick art supplies can be had at good discounts but are still shockingly expensive when added up and Michaels coupons can only go so far. We won't even discuss yarn- those picturesque little yarn shops that dot the countryside? I could pay my electrical bill in winter on what it would cost to make a sweater from yarn purchased at one of those places.

Perishable supplies like paint & glue are hard to thrift (and usually are half dried out and mostly used up) but I've really good luck with paper, fabric and tools. My completely thrifted fabric and wool scraps collection will be the subject of its own post. Today I wanted to share my thrifted tools.
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I love paperwork- mostly journaling, bookmaking, origami and collaging. Really important tool:

This isn't the latest in paper cutter technology with lasers and widgets and thermometers....but it actually cuts the paper in a straight line. For a buck and some elbow grease, it works great for me.

Here's a paper trimmer specially designed for scrapbooking sized paper:This too cost a buck. I think these are around $20 new.

This is a tool called Clik-it from Karen Foster. It has proven invaluable in book-binding. It's basically a screw-punch and had only been used a couple of times when I saw it. I agonized over it but in the end shelled out $5 for it:It has instructions, all the parts and a pad designed escpecially for the punches, all together in a nice wooden box. It works like a charm. I don't know what the retail cost of these are since they aren't available anymore. It has been replaced by the Scraparatus. If I ever see a Scraparatus at a yard sale, I won't hesitate to buy it.

I'm not a scrapbooker but some of the tools, like the Clik-it, have proven very useful in other crafts. It seems a lot of women go all out and buy everything scrapbook related and either never really make anything or keep upgrading to the newest products. Either way, they tend to get rid of their stuff at yard sales. Lucky me!