I'm getting the hang of this garage sale thing

Last Sunday I stopped at a garage sale. I only had $10 cash with me so I steered clear of any large items. I was really only looking for sewing or craft items anyway.

I came home with: seam roll, pack of elastic, 2 packs of orange bias tape, and 6 zippers:

12inch navy zipper

7 inch white zipper

14 inch red zipper

7 inch bright red zipper

7 inch lilac zipper

14 inch bone zipper

I paid $5.50 total. Did I overpay?! I am terrible at haggling and garage sale prices always seem dirt cheap to me.

Confession: I don't exactly know how to sew a zipper yet :)

Sewing + Thrift Sales, Garage Sales and Craigslist

Ever since I've started sewing I keep seeing great deals others find on Craigslist and at garage sales and thrift stores. I need to know... where is everyone finding these thrift stores?! I have never seen patterns or fabric at a thrift store!!

Now I am much better at navigating Craigslist. Everyday I search my city's Craigslist for "sewing" and "fabric" hoping to score an awesome deal. Last week I saw a posting for a garage sale that would have "sewing notions." I went on the second day of the sale so there is no telling what may have been available the first day.

I found 2 boxes full of fabric. Each roll was $1 and a roll of scraps were $0.50. Is this typical garage sale fabric pricing? I only had fabric store prices to compare it to so it seemed like a steal to me!

I'm not quite sure what type of fabric these are... I'm still very much a beginner and still baffled by the different types of fabrics! I'm just sure these aren't cotton.

1 1/2 yds.

1 5/8 yds

3 1/2 yds

1 7/8yds

1 1/2 yds

I also got this gift wrap storage thing for $1. I am sooo excited about this! I was able to place my rolls of gift wrap, basket shred, store bought bows, some tissue and tags in this. There is a spot to put a hanger at the top and now this nifty thing hangs in a storage closet far away from the corner my gift wrap used to live in.

I had fun shopping at my first garage sale.

Christmas gift for my girls!

I found this adorable travel makeup brush roll on Sew4Home. I really want to make a few of these to give to my girlfriends as Christmas gifts (and one for myself of course). The tutorial can be found here. I've read the tutorial over and over and I'm pretty sure I can handle this project on my own. The only thing holding me back from getting started is the laminate fabric. Huh?!

There are two things I've learned about laminate fabric so far, 1) Its expensive, and 2) the selection in the craft store is horrible.

I definitely think I will be ordering the fabric for this project online. I'm still researching... I'll be sure to report back what I find and decide on!

Handmade Holidays

I absolutely love gift giving. I am much better at gift giving than gift receiving! This year for Christmas I am determined to handmake almost all of my Christmas gifts. Specifically, I would like to sew almost all of my gifts. I'm excited to be a member of the Crafty Christmas Club this year!! This is an awesome outlet for my fellow creators. You can share your handmade Christmas plans, get tips and tutorials, and most of all talk about your gifting plans without the recipients knowing!

A large number of my gifts need to be shipped before the holidays so my deadline is even sooner than I thought! I also want to make gift tags for all of my gifts using my Cricut. I can't wait until the gifts are done so I can get to the wrapping. Its my favorite part!

Are you giving any handmade gifts this year?

Welcome

Hello!!

I am so excited to start this blog and share my passion for crafting with others. I just love the satisfaction of finishing a handmade project. I have a passion for gift giving and I get a thrill out of finding the perfect gift for my recipient and packaging it perfectly.

I just started sewing two months ago and I’ve been stalking sewing blogs ever since. It only made sense to start my own!

Hopefully this blog will be a way to monitor my progress as I learn to sew and be a source of inspiration for other beginners!