SCRAP

If you love Michael’s and Blick’s check out SCRAP. It’s like a crafting roulette wheel, a surprise every time, but much cheaper than retail stores.

I have a complicated relationship with SCRAP.  I love this place.  Yet, I also avoid it.  It has a tendency to trigger some hoarding instincts inside me.  I find myself justifying purchases that I do not need to be making: 
“How can I afford not to buy one thousand feet of film from a 1990’s b-movie for just $5?”
“I’m sure I can figure out something to do with lime green tiles”
“Broken trophies?  I’ll fix them!”
Next thing I know, it’s two years later and my treasures are still gathering dust in my craft room.  So beware, this is a great place, but it’s very easy to go overboard.  

Some people might do all those things… I am usually not one of them.  Two years later and my treasures are still gathering dust in my craft room.  So beware, this is a great place, but it’s so easy to go overboard. But even still, I love shopping at SCRAP.  It’s full of all kinds of junk, art, framing and sewing supplies, that you may or many not need at rock-bottom prices. 

According to their website, SCRAP is a non-profit “donation based creative reuse store and donation center in Northeast Portland.”  Creative Reuse is the process of using creativity to give a manufactured item a new life by putting it to a new use. Example: turning jewel cases into bird feeders or old t-shirts into rugs.

  

SCRAP is mostly known for it’s retail store, but it also hosts field trips, birthday parties and summer camps.  Kids love this place.  While I was there earlier this week a group of kids were running around squealing.  They were so excited about the stuff they could buy with their own money.  I’m going to remember this place in a few years for Brigitte’s birthday party.  The projects sound like a lot of fun!

The thing to remember about SCRAP is that you never know what you are going to find.  The inventory changes a lot, so what you saw during your last visit may be gone on your next.  But there are a few things that are pretty consistent: fabric scraps, paper, matte board and art supplies.  Beyond that each visit is a new surprise.  On my last stop I went in looking for fabric, but ended up leaving with two vintage sewing patterns instead (only $0.50 each).  What self control!

SCRAP is conveniently located right on NE MLK Jr. Blvd, so stop in for a quick visit next time you’re driving by.  You never what you’ll find or what ideas will emerge during a visit.

SCRAP
2915 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
DAILY: 11AM-6PM
SEE WEBSITE FOR DONATIONS