Thrifty Stashy SNAP Swap – Creative Goodness

In less than 2 weeks I'll be in Utah at a conference designed specifically for creatives called SNAP!. I've been doing a little networking ahead of time and have had the opportunity to be included in a pre-show challenge. Enter the Thrifty Stashy SNAP! Swap. It's a group of super creative gals, each with their own specialty and experience and all excited to share ideas connect with new people. We were paired up and challenged to shop the thrift store for potential crafty goodness to send to our partners as well as share some of our own supply stash.

I was partnered with Amy, owner and creative inspiration behind Plucking Daisies. We exchanged a number of emails to share what we like, our style of design and get to know each other a little bit. Amy is a bit of doodler too and I love her colorful style!

Amy sent me the best box of goodies. Usually I end up designing in bright colors and kid-like style. However, deep down I love vintage, weathered and all things old. Some day I need to marry the two styles and call it goodness, but for now, I play in both arenas. I told Amy about this love of styles so she sent me an amazing assortment of materials…

Surfaces and materials and textures and all kinds of creativity just waiting to happen. Amy did a great job finding things I adore. There's also some great Tim Holtz markers and ink tools.. but I've been playing with them, so they missed their opportunity in this photo shoot today. However, here's a picture of the playtime I shared on Instagram over the weekend. I'm not entirely sure how these markers are intended to be used, but I had fun coloring and blending on standard drawing pad paper.

Look at all that juicy distressed and weathered happiness. I love the modern grunge texture and feel to decor pieces too.

This trinket box will be getting a make over as soon as it's warm enough to spray paint. I'm going to cover it in white and use it as a craft supply store shelf in my studio – a little French Country accent to my creative space, yay!

One of the other cool items I received is a silver metal paper towel holder with an awesome dragonfly on top. I was thinking it would look great in the garden, but until the snow melts, I think it also makes a great ribbon holder…

How fabulous is that dragonfly!?

I haven't had the time to make a pile of elaborate DIY goodies to share yet. I plan to make some cards and home decor items covered in the vintage sheet music and old book pages. But to start off the sharing, I did play a little with this tiny fabric swatch book. It's originally intended to use in scrapbook layouts, but it is going to become collage happiness in my world instead.

The patterns and colors coordinate beautifully – very “no brainer” combinations so I don't even have to think about this fabric pieces to use. I can just grab and go. I love that easy creativity – makes the gluing and glitter so much more fun! I grabbed a pile of fabric swatches and made a couple little flowers. Usually I'll glue the flowers together using a fabric glue, but I happened to have the needle and thread out, so I sewed these cuties.

I can turn these flowers into hair clips, bookmarks or greeting cards. Glue them on to something else, or sew them on to a piece of clothing. I haven't decided yet, so for now they are sitting on my desk looking pretty. I'll share a tutorial for making these fabric flowers later.

Thank you Amy for all the creative fun!

I'd love to hear what you would make with all these fantastic materials. Maybe you'r idea with spark a whole new direction for me to try!

I'll report more about SNAP! when I get to Utah next… NEXT WEEK!

Check out all the fabulous crafty fun everyone shared:

I am SO EXCITED for the upcoming SNAP! event. There are so many amazing creative women from different bubbles of creative inspiration. Now everyone draws or paints. Some are party planners or project designers. Other's are crafters or scrapbookers. Some specialize in photography and some specialize in video tutorials. I'm looking forward to connecting with this new group of creative inspiration and so thankful to be included in this swap to get to know some of them ahead of time. Utah, I'm heading over the hill and will see you soon!