I love thrift store shopping. Every time I walk through the doors of a thrift store, I feel as though I am embarking on a treasure hunt. You never know what you will find. I love that items are getting a second chance to bring usefulness and joy to someone new. 

Over the years I have found treasures in all departments. However, being the crafty person that I am, I especially love the craft isle. Crafting can be an expensive hobby. There are so many different crafts to try each with unique and often expensive equipment or supplies needed to get yourself started. I love that I can find supplies for current projects and new ones alike. You can often try out a new craft with supplies found at the thrift store for a fraction of the cost of buying them new. I find that I am willing to take risks and go ahead and try a new craft when the startup cost is minimal. That’s exactly what happened when I found a Harrisville Designs Lap Loom Kit for $4.99 at my local goodwill. I’d been interested in weaving and making wall hangings for a while. I had a number of weaving projects pinned on my Pinterest boards and pictures ripped from magazines of pieces I liked. In fact, I’d made a couple small ones with my kids during deep Covid using just cardboard. So when I saw that loom, I snapped it right up. Curious when I got it home I looked it up and it’s over $50 on Amazon!(Lap Loom) Goodwill for the win! 

Not long after bringing my new loom home, I made my first wall hanging. It was honestly pretty ugly! I didn’t care. I had a great time making it and wanted to keep going! So, what does anyone who wants to learn how to do something new do? I went and found a couple of YouTube video tutorials on weaving. I particularly liked the tutorials by Spruce and Linen https://www.youtube.com/@spruceandlinen. I bought some more yarn and wool at goodwill and just kept going. Each wall hanging I make gets better and better. I found that I love gathering interesting pieces of driftwood to hang my weavings on. However, I am starting to have the problem that many crafters have at some point. You run of out room for more pieces in your home, and people to inflict, I mean gift your creations to. What do you do then? Well, you list them on Esty! 

Last week I was sharing a crab I painted, and if you’ve cruised through my Etsy shop you’ll notice I have driftwood for sale, earrings, the list goes on. All the marketing guru’s say you are supposed to pick a niche and stick with it. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. My shop is going to be a mish mash of pieces of art that I feel in the mood to make. You know what, I’m fine with that. Because if I just made the same thing over and over again, I’d get bored. So right now, it’s weavings on a $4.99 loom from Goodwill. Next week, … well I’ll have to let you know after I hit the thrift store again and see just what kind of new craft supplies and tools I stumble upon and find inspiration in.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/1673084256/rose-purple-and-pink-woven-wall-hanging?click_key=d91fd4bb6c85577194efc3bf11fc0834185bd145%3A1673084256&click_sum=cd2017cc&ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1