Welcome to the Wonderful World of the Packrat!

.

List organized by Johanna Anderton and sent by Sylvia Kleindinst

Advertising CD cases that come in the mail – clear or printed
Bank notes and coins, foreign, national (scan, rub, or photocopy)
Beads of any material, small, flat, bugle, and sequins
Books on nature from junk sales
Boxes – tea, cereal, crackers, etc.; anything colorful and interesting
Business cards – some have useable designs
Buttons – to use as is or to photocopy
CDs that come in the mail – we love that shiny side!
Cellophane windows from boxes of pasta and envelopes
Coins, real and fake
Comic books – really beat up ones with no value otherwise
Damaged books from which to cut letters, words, phrases, and whole paragraphs
Doilies - paper, plastic, cloth; pretty or just plain interesting napkins, place cards
Embroidery transfers - old-fashioned blue
Envelopes with printed exterior patterns
Envelopes with printed interior patterns
Fabric paints
Fabric scraps
Fabrics that will take dye
Fashion magazines
Feathers
Fortunes from fortune cookies
Fresh or dried flowers
Game pieces from defunct games
Garden magazines (in color)
Glitter
Glitter glue
Glittery paint, glittery nail polish
Grasses, seeds and seed cases, leaf skeletons, twigs
Hair, human or otherwise
Illustrations from old books – don’t destroy a good book!
Jewelry – broken, beads, sequins, faux loose jewels
Junk mail with colorful illustrations
Labels - Clothing, shipping, and "made in" (made in Canada, made in Taiwan, made in China,
Labels – Warning labels (Can be both illuminating and hilarious.)
Labels from anything and everything
Leather gloves, old and soft
Letters, old documents, bills
Lint from the dryer; used dryer sheets
Maps
Menus
Men’s ties for their fabulous material and design; women’s scarves ditto
Metal or plastic charms; metal or plastic chains
Newspapers and magazines – for their illustrations, advertisements, and lettering
Newspapers and magazines in foreign characters or languages
Odds and ends of the category-defying sort that are never used – until now
Paper dolls – old and otherwise unsalvageable
Papers – brown paper grocery bags, especially the ones with handles that can also be used
Papers – from candy and other kinds of food
Papers - handmade or simulated handmade; oriental, rice, etc.
Patterns for dresses and other items
Puzzle pieces, crossword puzzles from magazines and newspapers
Photocopies - Black and white, of large richly textured items. (I've been trying to photocopy the cat; no luck.)
Playing cards, tarot cards, (swap cards – baseball, cigarette, toys, etc.), old score cards
Postage stamps (cancelled). Also the covers of self-stick stamp books
Postcards – in color or black & white, to use as is or make photocopies
Potpourri and tiny plastic bags
Pretty (or foreign language) labels from canned goods
Ribbons, lace, ric rac, bias tape, binding tape, even snaps and zippers and other sewing notions
Seashells – small, flat are best; can be water colored for added interest
Seed bags and envelopes
Seed catalogs
Seedpods, weed fronds
Shoe and boot laces
Silk flowers and leaves, fake or dried real fern fronds
Snapshots to use as is or to photocopy
Soap wrappers
Stamps – postage or rubber. If rubber, add stamp pads to your loot
Stickers
Tea bags (unused to send as a gift within a card) More tiny plastic bags
Textiles – scraps, ribbons, woven design sewing trim tape, etc.
Textured items like wood, floor tiles, or coins for making rubbings
Thread – embroidery, cross-stitch, etc.
Tickets (bus, train, cinema, theatre, sports events, etc)
Veggie bags (the mesh ones that oranges, onions, potatoes come in)
Wallpaper books or leftover wallpaper
Watch parts
Wire - copper, silver, gold
Wrapping paper, decorative or plain