Scrap: An Adventure

I spent the first two weeks of February in Portland, Oregon.  I was there mostly to see family and be in a caretaker role, but I did have a few chances to get out and about.  On my first outing, I had walked downtown from my dad's apartment.  When texting me directions on how to walk back, my brother gave me an address I would pass on my walk home and said "it's like a thrift craft store."  Obviously, I was going to check that out.

Oh. My. Gosh.  You guys, this place was like thrifty craft nerd heaven.  It's a nonprofit started by a teacher as a way to share supplies and keep stuff out of landfills.  It's donation based, so it is a thrift store in that way.  Things are loosely organized by craft type (collage, paint, yarn, fabric, etc) and there is a lot of random stuff that could easily be used creatively. Prices are really low.  They also do kids camps and various maker events for adults.

I spent $6.30 and this was my haul. The three fabrics on the left are fat quarters ($1 each) and the town/truck fabric is a full yard ($3).  That town fabric was a real find for me because it features some of my son's favorites: a fire station and a fire truck. There is also a police car, an ambulance, a police station, and an ice cream truck, all notable on their own. I'm working on an idea for an ocean quilt so the two sea life stencils (ten cents each) were both inspirational and timely, and the two plastic things in the upper left are pencil grips (5 cents each) that I'm hoping I can attach to the pegboard in my sewing room so my pencil is easier to find.

The window in the yarn section

I first visited on a Thursday. The following Tuesday was my last full day in Oregon and I walked downtown to have lunch with my sister-in-law.  On the way home, I stopped at Scrap again, because why not?  They had clearly gotten some new fabric processed because it is unlikely I would have missed the fat quarters of novelty fabric.

My second haul was $8.75.  There are five more fat quarters, a fat eighth (50 cents), a tracing paper that I'm planning to try in an upcoming project ($1), a package of lite steam-a-seam-2 pages that look to be in great condition (25 cents) and a substantial roll of heat-n-bond lite ($2).  I'm hoping that I can trim the steam-a-seam slightly and use it in the printer, but even if that doesn't work I am set on fusible web for a while to come.  I've already used some of the heat-n-bond for this month's Stash Bee blocks.

snowflakes in the window made out of craft supplies

The store is called Scrap and you can see more about it here, and there are now a few other locations in the US.  I had a great time looking at everything and would have loved to take my son to see what crazy stuff he would like to make from other people's craft leftovers.  It's such a great concept; I wish there was one in my area!