Puppety Bargains

I went shopping at Hobby Lobby and yard sales this weekend and wound up with a few goodies for good prices!

First: Side opening Easter eggs. I got these at Hobby Lobby for 40% off:

I will use these to make puppet eyes after sanding and spray painting. I’d had been looking high and low for these and a few friends looking too and no one seemed to have any. I was happy when I found these and bought all they had.  I’ll be sure to show how I make eyes from them as soon as I can.

Next: The usual suspects. Not on sale but something I buy often:

• Neon paint for black light props.  I tested them in the store with my trusty mini-black light flash light I carry in my purse.  Doesn’t everybody? Now to test them under dark black light conditions for opaqueness.
• Floral pins.  This was a “duh” moment for me the day I realized they would work on sheet insulation foam and ever since that day they have changed my life. Really!
• Doll joints.  I use these in puppet arms and other times I need to join something together.

This is probably the cutest find of the day.  A tiny “puppet sized” McDonald’s cup and clip light.  Now I just need to write a puppet script where the puppet needs a soda! The clip light is small and would take a night-light sized bulb.  I hope it works.

Now I really hope this stapler will do the job.  I have a larger heavy-duty staple gun in my travel tool kit and I’m hoping to replace it with this smaller one.  It weighs much less and will take up less room.  The wire is probably for jewelry making, but I use it for wiring things up in props and puppets when I need, well, to wire something up. I got them for $1 each!

Now I saved the best for last because this one has a story.  A heavy-duty keyboard stand for $0.

So here’s the story on the keyboard stand.  It was at the first place we stopped.  My sister-in-law was with me and we looked around, there was nothing really of interest.  I spotted this as we were about to leave and thought, “You know, those are useful, I bet we could always use another one.”

So I asked, “How much?”

The owner replied, “Make me an offer.” 

I really wasn’t sure how much it was worth, it was still in the plastic wrapper, although the box was crumpled.  So I said, “How about $5?”

She said, “Can you do $10?”

Which is the first number that I’d though of actually, so I told her yes I could do $10.  I asked if we could pick it up when we came back around and she said yes.  Then my sister-in-law asks why I wanted it, and I told her I thought it could be useful at church sometime or other.  Then my SIL says, “Wait, didn’t you have a keyboard in your black light show?”

I said yes, but not this big.  Then she proceeds to tell the owner about the show and the puppets I make.  She was genuinely interested.  She ended up giving me back my $10 saying she wanted to donate to us.  What  blessing!  She really blessed me with her sweet and encouraging attitude.  I smiled every time I thought of her and I will be praying for her often.

Blessings aren’t always huge but they are always personal.