What I thrift: magazines & books to cut up

I mentioned in a previous post that I watched a lot of thrift haul videos on YouTube in the beginning of the year and planned to create such videos myself. I am sharing my own thrift haul in a (not so quick) video from this summer.

Thrifted book haul pile with a dog book and two cat books with images (Photo copyright Hanna Andersson)

I try mostly to buy materials and items that I will use in my creative practice these days, so it’s a creative thrift haul for sure. I love buying fabrics, pens, stickers, books and magazine (for collage harvesting) and other bits and bobs that might come in handy when I’m stitching, gluing, painting, drawing or filling one of my many notebooks…

When I started thrifting many years ago I bought a lot of fabric, but since I mostly collect them and neglect to use them I have really tried to stop myself from buying more. I’m not saying it never happens but I do try to think before I grab something soft these days. It’s not fun to be a storage unit of materials. I’d rather buy items I actually use.

Books to cut up, give away or use in mixed media collage (Photo copyright Hanna Andersson) — *Books to cut up or read…*

This book haul consists of mostly books and magazines that I am going to butcher (it’s okay to do that, don’t come at me). It came from a new to me place that was more like an outlet store for second-hand stuff than a Swedish typically small thrift shop. Books were thrown into big wooden crates on the floor that I set out to dig through. It was so fun, just thinking about makes me want to go again. You could get 20 books (or magazines) for just 20 SEK (that’s about 2 dollars) and that is super cheap around here. In my regular thrift shop I usually pay that for one book!

Books to cut up and use in collage

If you can’t see the embedded video above click the link to watch the Swedish Thrift Haul Video on YouTube, where you can also comment and save it to watch later.

I love this pile of books so much. But the cheaper something is to get in bulk, the easier it is to grab “too much” and I think that’s what happened here. My rule of buying what I need or can use quite soon went out the window for sure! But I could not resist these!

Books to cut up, read or use in mixed media collage (Photo copyright Hanna Andersson) — *Weird magazines, garden books, text blocks and a volume that I want to read, Waller’s Dog days (have you read it, let me know if I should get to it as it has already moved way down my to-read-pile).*

Here’s what I else I got that is not-new but new-to-me:

Little cute bags for crafting (Photo copyright Hanna Andersson) — *Cat buttons, glittery things and very small, metallic book corners. Little gifts from my mom.*

Second hand iron from my mom (Photo by iHanna) — *Second hand iron from my mom because mine broke.*

Moms thrifted things for me — *What my mom thrifted and gifted me*.

Machine embroidery (Photo copyright Hanna Andersson) — *Machine embroidery by mom. I think it would look good as a book spine…*

Summer is my favorite time to go “thrifting” because I love the big outdoor car-boot sales we have around here, where regular people empty out their garages and attics and try to sell what they no longer want to keep. In Swedish that is called “bakluckeloppis” in case you want to find one when you visit Sweden.

By the way, I have way too many blog posts “started” like this one, but never posted, so today you get two videos in one post! I couldn’t find any photos of these things, so you’ll just have to watch the video if you want to see it all.

Thrift Book Haul (plus some pencils, stickers & a neon pink box)

This video is from about a year ago, but I didn’t share it to the blog back then.

If you can’t see the embedded video click the link to watch Creative Thrift Haul video on YouTube.

I really enjoy making these videos because it feels like I’m sharing what I bought with a friend, you. Thank you.

Pin it:

I love how the pages in the garden book that I thrifted are arranged in order of flower color. It is so visually appealing to me. At first I thought I would cut it up and use the images in my collage work, but now I’m thinking maybe it should be an altered book Art Journal. Maybe even a color themed journal? What would you do with it?

Thanks for reading and letting me share my finds with you guys. xo