Trip Report: Offray Ribbon Outlet

I drove. I gaped. I shopped. But first, I met Heather! After the first 30 seconds, we realized we are cut from the same cloth, and the more we talked, the more we found we had in common. After she and her family move into their new house and get settled, we will meet up again for play days, workshops, and such. It's always nice to meet people that 'get' you. :-)

Now, about that Outlet. Let me say this place is not nearly as large as I thought it would be. I don't know why I thought it would be big; it is no different than any factory that has a small retail outlet stuck on the front of it. But man, what they have packed in there!

I tried to be really good, and I think overall I did make some good choices, both in what to buy and what not to buy.

Here's The Loot, all nice and contained. Those three bags were a total of under $40. While that is a very large amount to spend at this particular Outlet, I am not aware of ANY place you can fill that many bags that full for $40, even at the Dollar Store!

I had two things in mind to look for - velvet and twill, neither of which I found. But look what I did find:

These spools are the largest thing I got, and they are heavy! When I first discovered the bin holding them, Heather and I thought the ribbon on them had to be by-the-yard. HAD to be. Nope. The whole spool was $1.50. That's it! And since this really is twill, even though it is pretty thin, $1.50? SOLD!

To give you an idea of scale (since I am such a lousy photographer), that is a 6" ruler. $1.50!!!!!!

To give you an up-close-and-personal shot, I pulled out a piece of each one. And yes, they are a little glimmery, especially the rust-colored one. I think I have enough of these to last a lifetime. Look for some in upcoming Blog Candy. I do not think I will miss it ...

In the same bin was this partial spool of lace. Heather really liked this one, too, and for 50 cents she also grabbed one. 50 cents!!!!!

Here is a close-up of the lace.

I told myself I did not need grosgrain. After all, I could buy that from myself, right? This spool of 5/8" wide Navy Blue grosgrain is about 8" in diameter. $1.25. I had to get it! I also got some Taupe. And Cream, I think.

Oh, and I have no plans to wind this one around a clothespin, just in case you were wondering.

Then there were the "so out of my comfort zone I had to try it" spools. This one is kindof Vintage-looking, and will definitely challenge me.

This one is purple and teal - waaaay outside of the ole comfort zone.

There is a LOT more, but I will not bore you with more photos of the usual suspects - mostly normal-sized spools of satins in colors SU does not offer, if only to make myself feel better about being disloyal. I think it is safe to say I am pretty set for ribbon for a while. I may even be over the urge to buy the new Papertrey colors, though some of my new satin ribbon would go nicely with their Moss, Aqua and Berry ...

On the way out of the store you get to pick a free Grab Bag of ribbon and other stuff. Heather and I sat in her car and sorted through our free stuff, handing off to each other what we knew we would never use. At the end, she handed me a chunk-o-ribbon and a challenge: use it.

Baby ribbon! Oh, JUST what I need! I tried to see it as anything other than baby ribbon. She suggested candy ... I said maybe Cotton Candy? ... but I kept coming back to Baby. She just smiled and left me to my thoughts.

Right now my challenge is to put all this stuff away ... somewhere ... and start cutting card stock for my workshops. Most of tomorrow will be spent outside at the LSS's Yard Sale trying to sell my retired SU stamps sets, miscellaneous stamps, inks and punches, and anything else I can grab and get out of here. Tomorrow evening will be spent setting up and cleaning. Sounds like fun, huh? :-) I will report back on how the Yard Sale goes.