Apron Thrift Girl

how to find a Garage/Rummage/Estate sale

A reader contacted me over the weekend to tell me how frustrated she was about only shopping in Thrift Stores. She has trouble finding rummage sales and estate sales and asked if I would do a post about how to find sales. I love thrifting in any form and that includes thrift stores but I do love a balance of garage sales, estate sales, rummage sales and thrift stores. Here are some tips on how to find the sales.

My top two favorite ways to find a sale include the local Newspaper and our local Craigslist.

I subscribe to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat just for the Garage Sale Ads. I subscribed to their Thursday through Sunday edition which are the exact days that I need the ads. I didn't subscribe for months but found the online edition for the ads very cumbersome. I much prefer to old school style of walking out of my front door, grabbing the paper and sitting at the dining table with highlighter in hand.

The night before any thrifting day I will also sit at the computer and look through the Craigslist ads at the computer.

I first click on my area which in the San Francisco Craigslist would be North Bay. I then click on Garage Sale which is under For Sale. I next type in Estate in the Search For box at the top. Other searches include:

• Books
• Vintage
• Christmas
• Old
• Retro
• Rummage

If any sales look interesting I copy and paste them into an email or blank Word document. When I have all the sales that look hopeful, I print them off. Many people will only place their ads in the newspaper. Yet many people will only place a post at Craigslist. I want to make sure not to miss any sales which is why I look at both. At that point with my Craigslist favorites and newspaper ads marked I will plan my route for the day.

Here are other ways to find out about Sales:

• Bulletin Boards
• Church Newsletters
• School Newsletters
• Estate Sale Mailing List (sign up either at the sale or on their website)
• Facebook (some people are creating FB Events for their Garage Sale)
• Call local Churches and ask if they have a yearly rummage sale. They may even have the date already in the calendar.
• Website: Yard Sale Search I was really impressed at how many people are using this site. My area is full of sales for next weekend. That's a great sign that this site really works. I've seen other types of sites but only have a single sale from three months ago. I'm going to add this to my weekly routine of searching for sales.
• Watch for signs on street corners.

Do you have any other ways to find sales? What's your favorite way to stay informed about sales?

Thrift Share Monday - Change of Seasons

The seasons are slowly changing. You can sense the hint of fall in the air in the criso mornings. When I wake around 6 a.m. the sun is barely present. Signs of Halloween are appearing at stores and children are heading back to school. I'm not sure if it is a coincidence but this weekend the thrifting felt very different. Friday was fabulous but Saturday was just awful. There were quite a few sales but they were just selling junk. Is this the thrift shift as we move into fall or just an unlucky weekend? I'm hoping the latter.

I'd love to get a sense from all of you about your thrifting weekend? Was it a good one? Were there many garage sales? Is your season just starting up as the weather finally cools down a little?

My third vintage umbrella find in my slow growing collection. I do use my vintage umbrellas because unlike the Seattle area where mostly tourist use them, in Sonoma County the rain can be fast and furious and an umbrella is a must.

Keiran spotted this Strawberry Shortcake sweetness in a box. She's in beautiful condition and will be headed to Etsy this fall.

I grew up with our yearly Christmas tree covered in tinsel. It looked like metal but it always had the feel of plastic. And yet I have a hard time looking at a non-tinsel tree and not think that it's missing something. Now I can toss out the fake looking stuff (which I have re-used each year for the last 5 years or so) and use this fab vintage foil tinsel. 50¢ for the two boxes.

This was my find of the weekend. I found this kit at an estate sale in Santa Rosa. Anytime I spot anything with letters, I'm drawn to it. I adore fonts and letters far more than any normal person should. When I used to get creative with the children's birthday parties I would spend a couple hours at MyFonts in search of the perfect font for their birthday party invitations.

This unique kit was meant to display titles for Slides and Movies. It's called Title Spot. I can't seem to find anything on this set. Have you seen one before?

It included 112 letters and characters including "the end."

This Charley Harper mug was a lovely surprise. It was only last week that I found this book below.

Giant Gold Book of Biology illustrated by Charley Harper.

I find his artwork and illustrations just breathtaking.

What did you find this weekend? Take a look at Southern Hospitality to check out her party.

ReSelling Tip Post - Enamel Signs

Every week at Apron Thrift Girl I'm going to share with you an item which might be worth picking up as you are thrifting. The items that I suggest may have a good ReSelling value to them. Like stocks and bonds or gold and silver, the market always fluctuates. Something that might be a good seller now may drop in price drastically over the next few months. Also as any experienced eBay seller knows, there are certain seasons where some items do better than others. Before you buy any items that I suggest, please do your own research to understand the market of the item that I mention here at ATG.

This week I'm going to discuss the topic of: Enamel Signs

Before I chat about Signs I wanted to mention how to become a ReSelling Tip Post Sponsor:

Apron Thrift Girl features a weekly post about a second hand item that her readers can look for while thrifting to ReSell. If you are interested in sponsoring a single post the cost is $5.00. This will include a small banner/small button on the post and a link to your service, store or item. This post will be placed on the ATG facebook fan page, on twitter and will be Stumbled. This would be ideal if you want to drive more traffic to your Etsy store, eBay store, ReSelling Product or Service. If you wish for more information on demographics and monthly pageviews, please fill out the Contact Form from the navigational bar with your request.

This sign example is sort of sad looking but it is indeed a vintage enamel sign and it is the first sign that I have found while thrifting. Dave actually spotted it at a sale last Sunday. I have two of them and they were a dollar each. I doubt that they would sell with the amount of wear so we are planning to put them on our garage or barn when we move to our next home.

I learned about the value of enamel signs from watching American Pickers. In nearly every episode Mike and Frank are "popping" on signs. What I love about the show is that they have opened my eyes to an area I never considered. I doubt I would even had considered asking about rusty old signs. I even look at tools with a sly calculating look where previously I would have passed quickly by them to look for vintage craft supplies. Now I'm digging through the tools with the men (typically) seeing if anything jumps out at me to buy.

Smashing Magazine has photos of 60 rare and unusual vintage signs. It gives you a great visual on what to look for. I don't think that I had seen enamel signs before mostly because I wasn't looking. Well Dave might say I'm still not looking since he spotted them. But maybe now after this purchase I will start to see them better.

A similar sign from the 1930's with reflectors sold for $180.

A 1950's Time Premium Gasoline Gas Pump sold for $1250.

A little Shell Sign sold for $455.

This link should take you to some completed eBay auctions for Enamel Signs with the high prices first. I try to not link to individual auctions since the links have a short lived life. If the link the list of completed auctions doesn't work, simply type in Vintage Enamel Sign into eBay and click Completed Listings.

Now, when you all are out scrounging through basements and garages you can keep your eye out for some vintage enamel signs. Have you ever found and sold any?

Have a fabulous thrifting weekend. xoxo Selena

Thrift Education

I think I basically spent a good nine years despising school even though I truly love to learn. It was in 4th grade when our 4th grade year became divided of those that were social and popular and those that were not. I was shy, energetic, spirited, odd, very small in size and stubborn as all get out. My father told a couple months ago that part of the reason I didn't do well in school is that I never conformed to what everyone else was doing. I did my own thing and stood by my actions. This got me into a lot of trouble. When I was teased I didn't just take it and quietly walk away but I think I dished it back. Well until high school when I was threatened to be killed. I learned to quiet down when I needed to. School was hard for me. I'm a right brained type of girl in a very left brained orientated world. For the most part. When I took my California driver's license test it brought back all the poor memories of high school. I'm lousy at taking tests. It took me forever to take the license test because I couldn't just read the words and answer them. I had to picture them strongly in my head in order to understand what they were asking me. If I had some toy cars and a little Lego roadway, I probably would have taken the test in half the time. This is partly why my children are in Waldorf education. I knew early on that my daughter was too similar to me. Waldorf education is about touching, smelling, tasting, seeing and experiencing. It's an education that focuses on all the senses. My daughter thrives in it and I think that I would have thrived in it too. 

Lately my need to want to learn has resurfaced. I'm craving the desire to know more about ReSelling. I found this course the other day offered by Christie's. It's not exactly what I was looking for but it is along the same lines. I want to learn more about what I do. There isn't a lot of education for ReSellers. I mean we mostly learn by doing. We learn from buying something that might be a mistake or it might bring us a lot of money. It's really a hands on type of learning. I want more though. I'd love to be in a classroom with an instructor and an old fashion chalk board teaching me things about designers and artists.

I haven't quite found this yet so on Tuesday amidst our heat wave, I went to the library. Or maybe I should add I went to our air conditioned library. I found these books.

 

I've started with World Design for my initial class on designers. It's perfect because it is in alphabetic order. Designer items are my niche at the moment and I want to learn all about them. Yesterday when it was too hot to move I began to research everything I could about Alvar Aalto, a Finish designer married to Aino Aalto who has been credited to launching his career. I even researched how to pronounce his name so that I could say it correctly in my head. It actually sounds more like Oliver Alder. Alvar, Aino and two others founded the company Artek. Besides learning a little bit of their biography I'm looking at completed auctions and really trying to know what his furniture looks like. I want to recognize it immediately when I go to estate sales.

Once I feel that I have learned all there is I'll move to the next entry in the book. My business goal isn't to just have a some things in an antique store booth but to sell things at a high quality auction houses. Bonhams has an office in San Francisco which offers a special day a month for appraisals. You can take up to 7 items at a time. It's a big goal but I think doable with the right knowledge. It's all about channels to market. An Alvar Aalto vase might show up for $2 at a garage sale, might sell for $50 online or perhaps $200 at a posh auction house. There's nothing to say that something that any of you find couldn't sell for a couple thousand dollars in the right venue. It's being open to the idea that will lead you to finding it, researching it and selling it.

The beauty of ReSelling is that there are books on almost every niche out there. Do you focus on cut glass, coca-cola glasses, Belleek, comic books, children's literature, or various other subjects? Look for books on the subject, do a completed search on eBay on your niche or go to an antique store for hands on experience.

Study, learn, memorize, explore and become an expert in what you love to sell.

I'll leave you with a photo of Keiran enjoying the heat wave.

a Thrifted Drexel Hutch

Quite a few of you asked for a photo of the new hutch. Here's the photo and the story behind it.

When we arrived at the Salvation Army "Thrift Land" I noticed that the furniture was 60% off. I saw a Mid Century Hutch in one of the outdoor covered furniture areas with a price sign on it. The original price was $250 on sale for $125. I asked one of the workers if it qualified for the 60% off sale and would it be taken off the $125 price. He asked me if I would buy it if it was on sale. I said I probably would but I would not buy it if it was $125. At that point I hadn't planned on buying a large piece of furniture. With our goal of being frugal I was banned from buying large pieces of furniture.

He came back and told me that I could have it for $50. I told him that I would take it. I didn't think about the furniture ban at that point or where I'll put the hutch in the van with the two Steelcase chairs (mentioned in yesterday's post). I just said yes and followed him to pay for it. 

It took us 20 minutes to fit the hutch into the van. Well I say we loosely, it was actually two of the Salvation Army workers doing the lifting, shoving, maneuvering and I was sort of directing at times. It was finally in and Keiran and I made our way home to Dave and Cerys.

 

I found a 1956 ad on eBay for Drexel that priced a hutch (without glass doors) for $175. If my dad was awake right now I would call him and ask him how much that would be in today's money. He loves to tell me how much something would have cost "in the day" or do the math to tell me the 1950's price in 2010.

I could have spent $499 at Target and purchased a hutch.  Or I could have spent $4000 and bought an Amish Solid Wood Hutch. Instead I spent $50 on a piece that was probably 50 or 60 years old and is solid.

I didn't mind being patient in my wait to find a high quality hutch. My old hutch that is now in my office worked well in the meantime. I've really honed in the skill of not being a retail impulse buyer. I rarely sit at home and see something on tv or in a magazine and run out and buy it except in the case of Liberty of London. Often when it comes to furniture I don't even know that I need something until I come across it. Occasionally I will trade up if I come across something of better quality and that I like the style of more. 

Do you find that you have patience when it comes to shopping? Are you able to wait and thrift for something that you have been looking for?

an office makeover for less than $50

The thing about thrifting is that it will constantly surprise you. A couple Fridays ago Keiran and I had no idea that we would be driving up to Ukiah to an estate sale. It was only when I opened the newspaper and saw that the local says didn't look too good that the ad from Ukiah jumped out at me. We got in the van and headed north.

I also didn't know that I would later spend the weekend emptying my office and creating havoc on the rest of the house in the meantime. My little office held a lot of boxes of stuff that now linger in the dining room, living room, bedroom, hallway and seating area in the hallway.

After Keiran and I went to the estate sale we went to a couple more yard sales and eventually to the local thrift stores. We picked up two Steelcase office chairs for $10. Keiran asked to stop at Thrift Land (Salvation Army Compound of 5 Thrift stores) on the way home in Healdsburg. Little did I know that we would end up buying a Drexel Mid Century Hutch. I could not resist the price of $50 for a solid wood, gorgeous hutch. (photos to come in a later post)

We have a teak hutch already in our dining room but it wasn't blatantly dining room like. I decided that it would be perfect for my office. Combined with my new chairs it was time to give my messy-chaotic-can't-get-much-work-done office a makeover.

This ReSelling season is going to be my busiest ever. I have so much inventory to sell and I need to be efficient. My work day will consist of 5 1/2 hours while the children are in school. Friday I'm out scouting for new inventory which leaves me Monday through Thursday. I'm also doing some ReSelling Consulting this fall and may have one day a week where I'm out of the house working. This means I need every second in my office to be time well spent.

I'm a person who can't really imagine what a room is going to look like until it is practically empty. I took everything out of the office and into all the rooms mentioned above. I next brought the old dining room hutch into the office.

We bought this on Bainbridge for $50 a few years ago.

The Sunday after I bought the new Hutch, I also thrifted a new glass shelf unit and a teak dining table.

Finally all the computer/tech stuff in one organized place. Still wish that the wires could be hidden better. This shelf was $10. Notice the wires running across the door frame, that is our internet wires to the phone system. This house has the same electrics/phone outlets as when it was built in the late 50's so we have wires running all over the place. This was going to be a temporary rental for us when we looked for a house. Here we are a year later.

I found this table at a yard sale. They were asking $20. I offered $10. It has some damage but for an office sorting table it should do the trick. Under the table on the other side is where I'm planning to line up my boxes of list-able book inventory. That way it will be easy to access from my desk.

I found this wire rack at an estate sale last winter. It was in Dave's office to hold my listed book inventory but I felt that it would be put to better use in my office. At the moment it is holding these sorting boxes:

• eBay to sort (to be divided up in smaller boxes in my eBay closet under categories)
• Books to list
• Items to Research
• eBay to photograph
• eBay to List
• Items to Photograph for Etsy
• Etsy items to list
• Items to price/package for Flea Market/Craft Shows
• Box to the side of shelf unit - Yard Sale

My goal is to bring my purchased items into my office and place them in their boxes along one wall area. Over the weekends I hope to sort as much as possible so that when Mondays rolls around I'm ready to get to work. Excess items are going to be moved out of my office and into the garage in order to prevent inventory buildup. I simply cannot work when it gets like this. I'm sure that every thrifter and ReSeller can relate.

It's not the most beautiful chair in the world but it is incredibly comfortable. This is a Steelcase Chair and they are very expensive to buy new. Here's an idea of prices for this brand of chairs. The two that I bought were dated 2007. $10 for the pair.

Saturday morning brought me to another Mid Century Modern sale. I arrived at around 6:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. sale. Once we got in the door I realized quickly that the prices were again way too high. A MCM rocking chair for $600 or a MCM dresser for $1000 was out of my budget. I left with some Vera napkins and a little troll. I stopped at another sale on my way out of the neighborhood where I found two of these chairs for $5 each. They now are on both sides of my sorting table.

I bought this on Sunday at the Friday MCM sale that I posted about. It was originally $25, later marked down to $15 and I bought it for half off, $7.50. It is perfect for my desk.

My first flip clock. I had been keeping my eye open for these ever since I read a post about them at Mid Century Modernist. It was $2.

I try not to place much art on the walls because this is a rental and most likely the walls are redwood. I did feel that my office makeover was in need of some inspiration so I did hang up a few items, mostly nailing in the grooves of the wood.

I found these two little bulletin boards at Target a few weeks ago. It was the color that won me over.

My recent office makeover did come in under $50. If I had to price my entire office out from past purchases it would look like this:

• Teak Hutch $50
• Filing Cabinet $10
• Wicker Filing Basket $5
• Metal Wire Shelf Unit $10
• Teak Dining Table $10
• 2 Vintage Teak chairs $10
• Steelcase Chair $5
• Vintage Desk $10
• Orange Lamp $7.50
• Vintage Metal Office Tray $3
• Metal & Glass Shelf Unit $10
• Teak Trash Bin $2

Total cost: $132.50

In my heart of hearts I wished that my space looked like the studios of Alicia Paulson or Cathe Holden. Eventually I'll get there. For now in my rental home, I've made it as cozy as I can. It doesn't drip of eye candy but it has little bits of inspiration for me to blog, write, take photos, research items and ReSell. When I eventually do get my studio, the wait will have been worth every second.

Thrift Share Monday - Edith Heath

Over a week ago I noticed an ad on Craigslist mentioning a sale from the estate of Edith Heath of Heath Ceramics. I wasn't sure if it was the real thing as it sounded too good to be true. I emailed Heath Ceramics to verify that this sale was indeed from the estate of Edith Heath. They returned my email confirming that the sale was real. I next emailed the store owner of Modern i Shop where the sale was to be held in San Anselmo to inquire about prices. I asked if they were going to be estate sale prices or high end gallery. The owner replied and said "estate" sale prices. With my research complete, I planned my Thursday based around this sale.

Dave was in Minnesota so I asked a friend to look after Cerys so that I only had to manage one child. Generally Keiran is the better shopper. He's interested in everything, very chatty, everyone seems to like him and he's helpful overall. Cerys at this time just wants to read every second of the day.

We left Santa Rosa around 10am and arrived in San Anselmo just before 11 a.m. with the sale set to open at 1 p.m. We found a place to park the car where we could park for 4 hours. We grabbed a snack, my empty box and made our way to the front of the store. I wasn't sure whether to expect a long line or not.

 

We were the first ones there. We luckily had the window to look at although they had blocked off the rest of the store with brown wrapping paper.

Most people that walked by the shop would look at Keiran, me and a man who was also in line early, Steve. He was in the area from San Diego and is part owner of this fabulous website Objects USA.

The amazing woman behind Heath Ceramics.

Keiran after waiting patiently for 2 hours. He and I passed the time by chatting, practicing math facts, playing thumb war and picking out our favorite pottery pieces in the window.

The front of Modern i Shop.

I can't imagine a better job than what this sign describes. I'll take the shop, location (right on main street) and the sign.

At 1 p.m. the doors opened and Keiran was the first to walk through. The shop was very small and it was filled to the brim with plates, mugs, bowls and sculptures. I grabbed Keiran's hand and asked him to stick very close to me. With so many people in the store it made it very difficult to maneuver through especially with an 8 year old boy in tow. As you can see in this photo the prices were indeed higher than this thrift girl was going to pay.

The prices may have been estate sale prices, but none that I have ever seen before. I was rather disappointed to find $60 plates and $150 bowls.

From a life experience point of view, it was fascinating. Some of the pieces in the sale came from Edith Heath's home. The books for sale were her books that lined her bookshelves.

The thing about any sale, is that you never know if it's going to be worth your time or not. This sale was not worth my time as a ReSeller, but I'm still glad that we went. I could have done without waiting for two hours but again, we couldn't know. I attempted to find as much information about the sale before going.

The only Heath purchases I made were these five plates for $10.00 each. And the minute we arrived home I had buyers remorse. Yet how could I go to a Heath sale and not buy any Heath? In hindsight though I would have left these behind.

 

My find of the entire day was this paper mache figure by Gemma Taccogna. Cathy of California has written a beautiful post about her shortly after Gemma passed away. My friend Jacki introduced me to Gemma's art and I remember the two of us sitting in front of her computer looking at auctions on ebay of her work. Buying this piece for $15 made the entire journey and wait worth it. Edith Heath had this piece in her own home. Did it sit on her mantel? Did you look at it and find inspiration? This is what makes it priceless to me. 

What did you find this weekend? Pop on over to Southern Hospitality to see what others have found too after adding your link to Thrift Share Monday. 

Waiting - at an estate sale

My planned post this morning didn't happen when I slept in until 7am. So my Edith Heath estate sale will have to wait until Monday.

It's 7:34 and I'm waiting at this mid century modern house for an estate sale. I have my newspaper to read and my breakfast (which Dave made me as a surprise) to eat during the 1 1/2 wait until they open the door. It should be worth it as the house is packed with MCM. The only downfall is that the estate seller prices can be higher than other ones in our area.

I'm sure I'll be able to find something. Have a fab thrifting weekend. Can't wait to see what you found on Monday.

the art of packaging

I've received quite a few comments asking me how to handle packaging the items that I sell. Some people don't fancy this part of ReSelling. My favorite part is selling the item at the end of the auction. I love to watch those seconds fall to nothing while the price jumps higher as people rush to bid. In some ways it would be lovely if the money went into your account and that was the end of it. Or the item could be transported magically to the buyer. I try to make packaging easy by having everything on hand. If I have to spend time creating a box by resizing it, I am left frustrated and my time feels wasted.

My Epson Ink cartridge that sold for $15.16 and the buyer paid for First Class Shipping. First class is anything 13 oz or less. When it comes to shipping, I like the appearance of the items to look professional and I want the items to arrive safely. Out of 10 ebay auctions on Ben Seibel dishes that I won, 7 arrived at my door broken. No matter what get ships from my house, I try to envision the worst happening to it. I picture my package being dropped, being placed under heavy boxes, getting squished in some machinery and so on. By picturing the worst, it helps me with how to package everything that I send through to the USPS.

I cover the sold item first in bubble wrap or tissue paper. Sometimes I cover them in both such as flatware starting with tissue paper followed by bubble wrap.

Thanks to my new roll of baker's twin that I picked up at the rummage sale, I'm now using this as part of my packaging system. It takes me a few seconds to use and I think it leaves a good impression for the buyer. I usually save this kind of packaging for Etsy but as someone pointed out in the comments they use it for anything that they sell. A buyer is a buyer at the end of the day.

I don't want the package to get jostled in the box as that is when damage can occur. I make a base layer of scrunched up newspaper. I place my package on top of that first layer and surround it on all sides with more newspaper. The goal with any package is to shake it once it is sealed and not feel or hear the item move inside the box, especially something fragile like glassware or pottery.

I cover the item with more paper followed by the packing slip with the word "Thanks" written on it.

The box is taped up across the top and on each side. This is a free box that I found at the natural food store. I usually write the name of the item at the top of the box and collect all my packaged items together. That way I can do the postage labeling at the same time and not have to try to remember what was in each box.

I use Endicia to buy my postage at home combined with a Zebra label to keep it efficient and easy. After they are labeled, Dave usually runs them to the large box in the lobby of the post office. He doesn't have to stand in line, he merely places them in the box and leaves.

These two cartridges sold for $90 and are quite large. They each measure around 20" long. I didn't individually wrap them but I nestled them in very tight again surrounded by newspaper. With something so valuable your goal is to get it to the buyer in one piece. I next covered them with more newspaper.

Here are some other ways that I package sold items.

• Books - either in bubble wrap envelope or in covered in bubble wrap and placed in a flatrate priority envelope. A large lot of books would be wrapped together in bubble wrap, placed in a box with newspaper around the sides.
• CD's/DVD's - a piece of cardboard is placed on each side of them and placed in a bubble wrap envelope.
• Clothing - covered in tissue paper & twine and placed in a Tyvek envelope.
• Pottery Vase - covered in bubble wrap, possibly two layers and placed in a box full of packing peanuts (best choice) or newspaper. Sometimes I'll pack a breakable in a box and put that in another box just to make sure that it will not break.
• Plates - Each are bubble wrapped and each plate is taped together in groups of four. This means the plates will not bump against each other in transit. They would go in a box of packing peanuts.
• Flatware - cover each piece individually in tissue paper although I sometimes wrap one and add another on top if they nestle properly. I continue to roll the tissue paper up adding more of the flatware. I cover them in bubble wrap and pack them in a box with newspaper.

This is just a few examples of how I package certain items. I go with the idea of the more packaging the better. When I have everything at my finger tips, wrapping everything up can go very quickly. When I use items like Endicia and Zebra it goes even quicker. I have always felt strongly about investing in my business if it will make it more efficient. It used to take me so long to print off a label, cut the label from the sheet of paper and tape all four sides on my package. Now I press print and the label comes out of the Zebra printer, I peel it off and stick it on my package.

I packaged five items yesterday and from the start of finding the first box to heading out the door to the Post Office I probably spent one hour. And I know that absent of my somewhat deflated mood yesterday and without the company of Keiran asking me continuous questions that I could have done it quicker. 

Do you have any tools that make your shipping efficient? I'd love to hear what you use.

Crafting - The Legacy Thrift Store

Sebastopol, California is home to one of my favorite thrift stores in the country: The Legacy. It's a thrift store unlike any other that you've probably been to. You will not find garish Christmas sweater or scratched Teflon pans for sale. Instead you will find every craft supply imaginable.

Bins full of Markers, Sequins, Beads, Findings and more.

Every space is filled neatly in this craft Thrift Store.

Cerys goes straight for the embroidery hoops to look for the perfect ones for her dream catchers. Small ones start at around 25¢.

Vintage Aprons line the wall in one corner of the store. 

Some of the worse thrift stores are those that are a mess. The volunteers work so hard at The Legacy organizing the donations and making it very easy to find what you are looking for. I found some vintage Strawberry Shortcake material in the "pink" bin that I had to take home with me.

This store has shelves and shelves of material which they sell it by the pound.

This is a just a small sample of their large selection of buttons. When I was making my button art, I came here in search of the colored buttons that I needed to complete my project. And if you adore buttons, One Gal's Trash is giving away some fabulous buttons on her blog. 

They even went so far as to divide the patterns up by sizes. Where have you ever seen that in a thrift store?

Their selection of yarn is incredible. I adore that they separate the wool from the acrylics. I tend to buy only natural fibers so this makes it very easy to find the wool. I don't have to put every skein up to my cheek to see if it is scratchy or not. I've certainly received some seriously strange glances from shoppers when I've done this in the past. This is also a good test for blankets at estate sales and garage sales.

Needlepoint yarn in bins separated by colors.

This store isn't very big, but it is so well organized that you can literally spend hours here. I had the two children with me who were a bit naughty so I had to quickly take photos, buy our craft supplies and escape before too much havoc occurred in this sweet little shop. The opposite wall to this one is also filled with books.

They have miles and miles of ribbon, lace, cord and rickrack.

On the 2nd Friday of each month, all regularly priced items are 50% off. If you love crafting and live in the Bay Area or you are planning to visit the Bay Area, this store should definitely be on your to-do-list.

Outside in front of the store they usually have at least one box of free fabric. Some are just scraps but enough to make something especially if you have a project in mind. I picked up these pieces of fabric and was so surprised that they were free. The one in the middle I think is raw silk.

The Legacy is open Monday - Saturday from 10am-4pm. They stay open until 6pm on Thursdays. They are always accepting craft donations which are of course tax deductible. They even offer you the option to sell your handmade items on consignment. All profit from the shop goes to the Sebastopol Area Senior Center. They have a blog although it hasn't been updated in awhile. It does include a lot of information about the store.

If anyone does take a trip to visit The Legacy, let me know and I'll show you around Sebastopol.

Do you have a favorite Thrift Store? Why is it your favorite?