Cheapskate Angel

Imagine the chaos of Black Friday shopping. Imagine how those shoppers fight each other for items, sometimes so passionate about purchasing an item that they injure themselves or others in order to take possession of that item.

Now imagine me at my favorite thrift store. I'm usually sifting through piles of nonsense like a miner pans for gold. No one wants what I have. Other shoppers may raise an eyebrow, but they certainly won't fight me for it. 

These items are often the lowest of the low. The "as-is" stickers emblazoned on them remind this English teacher of Hester Prynne with her scarlet letter. They are untouchables. 

But I see that "as-is" sticker as a challenge. Surely that item is not useless. Surely it's not junk.

Strangely, I find myself buying things that I would never in a million years display in my home. Take folk art, for instance. Those who know me know that my tolerance of cute extends only to babies and animals. I'm kind of creeped out by Christmas decorations that include Spanish moss for hair. I'm not crazy about a face made out of a wooden bead...a face that has no face. 

So how on earth did a cute and creepy angel end up in my basket?!

That angel remained tucked among my crafty treasures, without a purpose in life until I joined a key swap. Then she got a make-over: 

 I began by removing the aforementioned moss hair and expressionless face.

 This left me with a headless angel, which wouldn't really bring much peace to my swap partner.

 I decided to cover the wings with handwriting. I photocopied a letter from a women's history book and glued that down.

 Then my dilemma was how to attach a new head.  In my junk drawer, I came across what I think was originally a metal box with a slide lid. It may have originally held lip gloss or perhaps some sort of salve. The lid worked to create a surface flush with the body. That way the head would not have a sunken or inset appearance.

I decided to use the bottom of the metal box on which to showcase a gold key. I was pleased that the rust on the metal box enhanced the copper color on the angel's sleeve.

Finally, I added the stamped image of a face. I glued the peace blocks to the body, as they were in the habit of moving and then not spelling any particular word. I decided to repurpose the silver star, which had been located on top of the original bead head. And just for a touch of whimsy, I decided to give her a halo made of a metal clock face, to which I added a tiny gold key.

Best of all, I amused myself for the low low price of 80 cents.