Thrifted Bead Kits

When I saw a thrift auction listing for 19 jewelry-making kits that had only two unclear pile photos I imagined there wouldn't be any takers. From what I could see one of the kits had been sold by Mary Maxim for $12.99, which convinced me to bid on it. Although Mary Maxim doesn't have a jewelry kit of the month club, their other clubs at present are not cheap.

Although I only wear bracelets and earrings I like jewelry kits; they can be a lot of fun. One other bidder took a shot at it, but I ended up winning the lot.

The lot dates back to about 2017, and has some really nice kits. This is the one I saw with the Mary Maxim tag.

Two $19.99 kits, and one for $9.99.

Most are Cousin DIY Jewelry Kit of the Month collections, like these two (the only duplicates in the lot.) I checked their web site, and they don't sell them anymore, but they're a pretty well-known company that have been around at least as long as I have. I'd say these retailed for $10 to $15 per kit.

All the kits are complete, too. They're mostly pieces that an older woman would wear, too.

I put together this set from the $9.99 kit in about fifteen minutes. Other kits will take more time, but it will be good fine motor practice for my hands. Since all the findings and beads are intact and in mint condition, I'd price these for resale at $7.00 per kit, or $133.00 for everything. I paid $22.00 for the lot, or $1.16 per kit. Savings: $111.00.

Comments

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

Search This Blog