this photo is only about ten percent of what I boughtMy uber-crafty mom is in town, and this weekend I took her to a place I’ve long heard about but never visited. It’s called SCRAP, and it’s like an enormous heaven for craft supplies, out in the always-intriguing industrial hinterlands of San Francisco. SCRAP stands for Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts, and that is a bang-on description.

It’s basically a salvage yard of raw materials. After our brains short-circuited with all the possibilities, we walked out with a trunk full of supplies that cost us all of $12.

Need foam core, tissue paper, paints, sewing patterns? Check. Buttons, fabric, books, tiles? Yep. A six-foot fold-up Nutcracker? Duh.

I had to fast-track through the rows of fabric or we would have been there all day, but I did check a couple bins and dug up some industrially-pinked satin and ends of a few printed knits, which I promptly turned into a quick cummerbund.

It really snazzes up a tee shirt, or I can drop it down to my waist as a sort of low-slung belt. I think I’ll wear it to dinner tonight, even though dinner is only in our kitchen.

I am proud to be among your scroungers, SCRAP. I will be back.