Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Scrap Exchange

It's been a while since I have been out exploring. The ol' hubs and I decided to make the journey out to Durham to check out The Scrap Exchange. WOW! This place has tons and tons of items -- it's almost a bit overwhelming. The inventory changes often based on the donations they receive. We noticed a lot of medical supplies -- but that's not too surprising given the medical community in Durham.


On today's trip we saw fabric scraps and wallpaper, test tubes and pipettes, wrapping paper and ribbon, metallic sticker paper (I limited myself to 5 sheets), magazines and postcards, wine corks, baskets and tins, wood scraps and glass, old electronics, and soooooo much more. You can also grab a bag and fill it full ($7.50 for a small bag or $15 for a large bag) of items they stash in huge blue barrels.


While meandering, we happened upon a little girl's birthday party being held at the store. The Exchange hosts "make and take" parties. It was fun to watch the kids scour the store and search for things to be a part of their creations. How cool is that? Also cool, this wall made of old VHS tapes ...


And if you think you can handle more awesomeness, be sure to check out the The Scrap Exchange's blog. They post creative ideas for how to reuse some of the items you can find at the store -- worth a look for some sweet upcycling projects. If you can't make the trek to the store, they have an eBay store where they sell some of their wares. See, I told you ... AWESOME!!