Couldn’t resist posting a few vintage valentine images – I inherited the one above from my grandmother. The ones below came from an old family scrapbook that my husband inherited . Don’t you just love the art on vintage valentines?!
After several days over the holidays with paper stuck to my fingers and glue in my hair as I rushed to get my 3 inch stack of photos converted into my 2014 scrapbook, I decided that it was finally time to give the digital scrapbooking thing a try. I do everything else on my computer…so why not scrapbooking?! Here’s the catch though, its been decades since I’ve used photoshop and since I’m on a tight budget, I didn’t want to pay upwards of 100 bucks to give it a whirl. So I tried using Acorn, which is a similar image editing program for macs, but I realized I lacked some essential skills with that program to do everything I wanted to to do. So I put my thinking cap on and came up with the idea to try it with Microsoft Word…and I’ve been really happy with the results thus far.
Here’s how I did it!
1) Create a 12×12 custom page size (after you have it setup, you can keep selecting it each time you make a new page). Then modify the page margins so that the images could stretch all the way to the edges.
2) Find digital paper and embellishments that fit your theme – I found some great free sets and samples on the following sites:
http://www.designsbymeganturnidge.com/
http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/
http://www.freeprettythingsforyou.com/
http://www.persnicketyprints.com/digifreebies/
http://bestfreedigitalscrapbook.com/
http://freedigitalscrapbooking.com/
http://www.computerscrapbook.com/free-digital-scrapbooking.html
And thanks to one of my recent visitors, I wanted to share this awesome tutorial (since I still have a lot to learn about the tools, terms and tricks to digital scrapbooking): http://gottapixel.net/tutorial-directory/
3) When you drag a new image onto a page use the “wrap text” or arrange feature to bring each item to the front so that you can move it around or rotate it. You can later use the “arrange” feature to move each image up and down (over and under) other images).
4) Once you have everything the way you like it on your page, you can save (or in my case “print”) it as a PDF.
Here are few of the pages I’ve created so far.
My sister and I have hosted a multi-family garage sale at her home in Indianapolis for more than a decade. Most posts and blogs about garage sales will say that you need to determine whether your goal is to make money or get rid of stuff. However, we suggest that there is a third reason: to have fun! Of course we also like making money and clearing junk (I mean treasures!) out of our homes. Over the years we’ve learned a few tricks and come up with a few unique ways to make our sales successful – and that’s what I’m aiming to share in this post.
TIP 1: Have great signage that catches people’s attention as they drive by. My sister’s garage sets at the end of a long driveway and the inside of the garage cannot be seen from the road – so my first tip is about getting people to get out of their cars and take a look at what you have to offer. So that people aren’t disappointed, we try to include a brief summary of what types of stuff we have in our sale. We also use balloons or other “attention-getters” to attract passers-by. In past years, we’ve also done elaborate chalk drawings along the driveway (e.g., one year we had a giant set of chalk footprints leading all the way back to the garage – in other years we used giant chalk arrows to help guide people to the garage).
TIP 2: Display things in fun ways. We always set out a few items toward the end of the driveway that help people get preview of what the sale has to offer and then we use create an inviting pathway toward the rest of the stuff. We are also big fans of staging items so people can envision themselves using them….think Ikea! Instead of setting out a desk all by itself, add a chair, a few notebooks, a lamp, and a cute desktop accessory or two. Even better: stick a cute rug underneath and put a bookshelf next to it with a few more items carefully displayed and you have an instant vignette that lets shoppers imagine themselves sitting down to study or get creative. Got a dining table to sell? Set out a centerpiece and a few place settings to help people envision sitting down to eat… If nothing else, its fun to do, and gives shoppers something fun to look at.
TIP 3: Bulk is best! While our primary goal is to have fun, we always appreciate the opportunity to get rid of a lot of stuff. We are big fans of the bulk-pricing philosophy. Allowing people to fill a bag full of clothes, or as the sale is winding down to fill a bag or box full of anything they like – is a great way to keep from having to make an extra car-load to the Goodwill after the sale end. We priced our bags of clothing at $5/bag on the first day of the sale and marked it down to $4 and eventually $1 at the end of our sale on the second day. People can’t resist a bag of stuff for a buck – that’s a good deal even by Goodwill standards! Its fun for shoppers to fill a bag full of treasures and its fun for us to find new homes for once-treasured items that are no longer serving a use in our homes.
TIP 4: Sort it out – Sorting clothing into different bins by size helps people find what they are looking for. We used re-writeable chalkboard labels that we found at the dollar store to label our bins, so that we could easily change or update info as the sale went on. Don’t worry about folding clothes in the bins – people are going to sort through them, and might be more willing to do so if everything isn’t carefully folded. Some people find it fun to sort through a bin to find some treasures – so don’t think of bins as a cop-out, but rather as a way to create more opportunities for garage sale fun and adventure!
TIP 5: Maximize browsing potential by making a children’s play area where parents can keep an eye on their kids while shopping. We were thanked by many parents who had extra time to go through all our clothing bins because we’d purposefully put all the toys (many at child-level) right next to our clothing section. We also sold/got rid of a lot more clothing because of this simple organizational layout choice.
TIP 6: It seems like stuffed animals magically reproduce – no matter how many we get rid of each year, there’s always a closet more to get rid of the next year. In past year’s we’ve adopted out pets to kids for free (complete with adoption certificates – which helped to make stuffed animals a little past their prime seem a little more loveable). This year we opted to fill a swimming pool with dolls and stuffed animals (two pools actually). Kids were invited to jump in and find a new friend (or two, or three…). They were also great resting spots for the younger members of our garage sale crew throughout the day.
Above: Splash pools full of dolls and stuffed animals provide a fun place to rest or play.
TIP 7: Free is fine! Having a free spot at the end of a driveway offers an alternative to discarding items that you can’t or don’t want to sell (e.g., car seats, pillows, broken items, etc.) One man’s trash could be another man’s treasure.
TIP 8: Have a theme – I know it seems dorky, but it makes a garage sale a lot more fun if you have a theme. It helps your sale stand out from other people’s sales and, if you are like us and have an annual sale, it helps each year stand out from the previous years. Our theme this year was a Luau – so we all wore leis, and the kids wore grass skirts. We played Hawaiian music and came up with Luau-themed signs and decorations to give our sale the festive look of a luau. Other themes that are being pondered for future years: a wild-west theme, a circus of savings, discount disco, etc.
TIP 9: Find things for even the littlest helpers to do. My sister’s kids have literally grown up thinking that “garage sale season” ranks right up there with Christmas, Easter and Halloween. Even at a young age, they can help tidy up by putting toys or clothes back into bins, greet shoppers, help to bag up purchases, or provide entertainment (This year we had impromptu hula dancing sessions that were a big hit with our shoppers). Kids can also help to run a refreshment stand or craft station when they are a little older.
TIP 10: Ask people what they are looking for. Many people come looking for something in particular, so it never hurts to ask “Is there anything in particular that you are looking for?” In addition to helping you make more sales, it can actually be a lot of fun to help someone find something that they are looking for. For example, someone interested in car parts may not have realized that you had a lot of old car magazines in with your books; someone looking at your used potty seats may not have realized that you have several videos about potty training as well. Knowing what people are interested gives you the ability to point them in the right direction, help them make a fun bundle of items, or might simply be an opportunity to think creatively to help someone find something they may not have realized that they needed (like materials for a unique craft project). Over the past few years, we’ve frequently had people ask for the following items: jewelry/watches, tools, cookbooks, vintage toys, and records. Getting info about what people are looking for gives us ideas for what to “stock” in future years, but also gives us a chance to find the perfect home for each item in our sale. Set a challenge for yourself to see no person leave empty-handed!
TIP 11: Move around. Admittedly, having a garage sale can be exhausting, but I choose to think of it as the ultimate workout! Instead of sitting, plan to move around and engage with shoppers throughout the sale. Wear clothing with big pockets to carry your change (because you don’t want to leave your money lying around if you are up and about). Better yet, find an apron or fanny pack. This year we transformed painters aprons from the hardware store into a cute uniform for our garage sale crew to wear. We also have matching baseball hats and in past years have worn “Garage Sale Crew” buttons to help people easily identify one of the helpers at the sale if they have a question or are ready to check out.
TIP 12: Keep track of your garage sale memories. Because garage sales can be exhausting, we’ve found it inspiring to keep a scrapbook filled with all our favorite garage sale memories to get us inspired and give us fond things to remember about all our garage sales in the past. Did you sell an instrument to a budding musician with dreams of stardom or have a customer do something completely hilarious? Jot it down! Add pictures, and stories, and your own tips and reflections as well.
TIP 13: Have a pricing party. Open a bottle of wine, make some fruity drinks, invite some friends over and price! We like to make an event of pricing and getting ready for the sale – there’s usually some silly dress up, a lot of reminiscing and, most of all, a lot of fun. I also think its important to stress that I’m not of the opinion that pricing every single object is of paramount important. We often price by type (e.g., paperbacks for .50 and hardbacks for $1) or by table. As we welcome people to our garage sale we also invite them to ask questions or make an offer if something isn’t marked (inevitably, some of the tags fall off anyway). None-the-less, it helps to have a few items marked ahead of time, and a pricing party is a fun way to do it.
TIP 14: Celebrate! A few years back, we started the tradition of having an after-sale banquet as a chance for everyone to share their favorite stories from the sale and enjoy a lovely – and free (thanks to the profits from our sale)! – dinner. This is a great tribute to all the hard work put into the sale over the course of the past few days – and something we now look forward to at the start of each sale.
So there they are – 14 tips to help make your next garage sale FUN (and hopefully profitable too). If you have a tip to share, please feel free to add to the list by offering a comment.
Whimsical and practical…Never has it been so much fun telling time with a vegetable. This craft was made from fleece scraps, stuffing, a corn filled beanbag and a clock-makers kit from the craft store.
Country Crafts 