Grumpy Owl, Car Photo Studio, & Clipboard Collecting

If, like me, you've been thrift-shopping ever since the 1980s there was a Hadassah thrift shop across the street from your junior high school, you might have figured this out already. It's really hard to stop. There is always a treasure around the corner.

To get my shopping fix, I often look for one or two special things for my collection, rather than combing the whole store. Take clip boards: they are usually less than $1 and abound in the oft-neglected office supply section of your local Goodwill or Salvation Army.

I especially love small ones (hard to find), as well as old-looking versions, like the board above (75 cents). I use these what taking pictures for my website and to clip purse orders, to do lists, and more in handy locations.

Another way to curb the collecting habit is to sneak a picture of a find in its thrift store habitat, and then (this is the hard part) leave it there. That's how I made the Grumpy Owl, above, part of my digital only collection. Doesn't his smile just kill you?

PS - If you do end up buying something, I high recommend photographing it inside your car, as I did with the clipboard shot. (Fakey aged and Poloroid-ed with this Android application.) Somehow the natural light in a car seems to be the perfect little photo studio for a quick shot.