Studio

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Where to buy gorgeous but cheap Craft Supplies – June

 

Craft supplies

Sparkly Threads

So where shall I start?  Hmmm, Hobbycraft I think.

All their Gutermann sewing threads are half price at present so I felt it would be a little rude not to purchase a few reels as I do go in there a lot and I can’t not buy anything at all can I?  (Shh don’t tell Mr Chandelier as he would probably be utterly horrified at that statement!).

I will also admit to being just a little bit seduced by the sparkly threads shimmering in the sunlight calling for me to take them home!  Also, at £1.55 instead of £3.10 for the sparkly threads and just 77p instead of £1.55 for the non sparklies they were a bargain.

 

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Another half price product that I purchased was this fat quarter bundle in pinks and purples.  They are by Kirstie Allsopp and were reduced from £11.00 – which I would not have paid as I only really loved the floral ones  –  down to £5.50 which worked for me.  If each fabric had been available by the metre, I would have happily paid more and bought bigger quantities of the 2 florals but they aren’t available by the metre, so half price worked for me.  Although as you know, I have thousands of different fabrics, I am a little lacking in my purple and lilac departments so they had to come home with me!  I think they are going to stop selling her fabrics which is why they are half price.

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In the same purple and lilac vein, I did have to purchase this rather lovely ‘Violet Marguerites’ (what a fab name) fat quarter which, to be honest doesn’t really belong on this post as it was certainly not cheap at £6.00 but it is gorgeous and I kept looking at it every time I went in and as I so need more of this colour I bought it.

Craft supplies

Heart Embellishments

 

 

Still in Hobbycraft, I bought some of these little heart embellishments for just £1.00 a pack.  I do have them in lots of different colours but I had white and not cream so I needed cream ones too.  They are shimmery on one side and matt on the other which is perfect I always work with both.

 

 

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I also had to have this tiny tray of little wooden shapes which have birds and birdhouses, hearts and flowers and watering cans and butterflies.  They were just £2.00 for the whole pack which is brilliant value.

Craft supplies

Lilac Heart Buttons

I did also genuinely need these Hemline little lilac heart buttons as I made an angel garland the other day and was searching for small lilac heart shapes and struggled to find lots of choices.  Hard to believe I know, with all my materials, but true!  At £2.00 for 17 they weren’t that cheap but I needed them.

Talking of Dunelm, I bet you don’t associate them with Fabric and Craft Supplies do you?  Well the sad part is that they did used to have a fab craft department selling all sorts of supplies from artists brushes to ribbons, from paper craft products to beads and sequins and much more in-between.  I presume it didn’t sell well for them as they have stopped doing most of it however, they do have a fabric department with good prices on the fabrics that they do sell.  They do quite a good selection of oilcloth too.

Craft supplies

They also have fabulous reductions on sale fabrics and I really only purchased this Newport fabric in Hibis (pink) because it was half price.  It was reduced from £10.99 per metre to £5.50 but I only purchased half a metre for £2.75 as I like, but don’t totally love, the colour.  However, I do absolutely love it in the faded blue, so I also bought half a metre in that colourway too.  The only thing to bear in mind with Dunelm fabrics is that they only sell in half metre lengths so you cannot have for example, 3/4 metre, which is marginally annoying but do keep an eye out for remnants as I have bought quite a few in the past and they are brilliant value.

Even though, as I said above, they have stopped selling a lot of craft materials they do still have a very good habadashery department which again, is fairly priced, and has a good selection of trimmings, cottons, glues, ribbons and buttons etc., far more than you would expect, so hunt down those aisles!

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Moving on to The Range, these paper flowers above, in pretty pinks and lilacs are £1.00 per pack, which is what most of their craft materials are, but I thought these were faulty as a lot of the gold flower centres are missing.  However I bought them in blues too and they are the same so I figured that was probably how they were meant to be.  I also tend to change or add to the centres when I create anyway so it doesn’t really matter to me, but if you are bothered don’t buy these.

June blog

Finally on to The Works, this three pack of Glitter craft tapes, (like washi tape) is excellent value at £1.50 for all three.

I will confess to perhaps buying a little more than appears on this page but sometimes I get home and literally tear my new materials open straight away as I just can’t wait to ‘play’.  I also buy materials from Antique Fairs and Sales and Boot Fairs and anywhere else my magpie eye spots something pretty or sparkly!

What craft supplies and materials have you bought lately?  Were they bargains or didn’t you care as ‘you just had to have them!’

Happy Hunting.

Much Love

Sarah xx

 

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Craft Storage and organisation – Wooden shapes

As promised, here is the first post showing some of the storage solutions I have in my studio for craft supplies.  I have started with wooden shapes as I have literally hundreds of them from IMG_4039bunnies and birds to cupcakes and fairies, from watering cans and flowers to hearts and stars, from buckets and spades to butterflies and chicks, from wooden letters to dolly pegs and so, so much more.

 Then of course, there is the Christmas wooden department, with dozens of angels and gingerbread men as I use absolutely loads of these from September onwards, reindeers and stag heads, Christmas trees and baubles, stockings and santa heads – I know – it’s madness but it all has to be housed.  I also have lots and lots of angel and fairy heads in different sizes, gorgeous wooden mushrooms, tiny clothes pegs, beads and wooden sticks – I use these for masts when I make driftwood boats – and       we won’t even mention the several bags of driftwood because frankly that would spin my head!!! IMG_3487

I already had loads pre-September but obviously I had to buy many more (yes really – I had no choice!) for all my Christmas making, so although it was semi organised into bags, all the new stock just caused bedlam and I really could not see what I had without pulling loads of stock out everywhere, adding to my already ‘Hoarder next Door’ roomset lookalike. Some items, like Angels, also needed sub dividing as I have angels for hanging, angels for bunting, angels for cards etc. and numerous styles and sizes.

So you see, when I said in my last post that everything snowballed and took hours and hours and hours, you can start to understand why. IMG_3490IMG_3497

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I bought some of these plastic storage boxes which you can find in lots of places such as The Range and Hobbycraft.  However, the cheapest place I have found them is in a store called Home Bargains and the tiny ones are approx 59p, the medium £1.49 and the large £2.49.  Do definitely shop around as some stores sell an identical product for £8.49 for the large one – madness.  Basically, they have loads of little storage compartments in them and you can take out some of the dividers.

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I also used a fabric jewellery tray on the right hand side as; firstly I needed something with larger compartments for all my hearts and stars and secondly, I wanted to utilise the space I had to the nearest centimetre.

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As you can see, I used a combination of different sizes as that suited me (large, back left and medium front left – I had a gap in the middle where I inserted the large hearts and white flowers) but it does of course depend on where you decide to keep them.  I put mine in the Alex chest of drawers from Ikea, mentioned in my last post.  I also decided to take the lids off carefully and keep them underneath the box itself – they all just fit nicely  That way if I do a workshop away from home, I could in principle take the whole box.  In reality, I probably wouldn’t as I would ‘cherry pick’ the items that I need but it’s good to know that I could!

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For the larger items such as dolly pegs, wooden mushrooms, angel and fairy heads etc., I used the existing drawer with a fabric inner divider (the Komplement drawer divider £15.00) – both are from Ikea – I have a run of drawer units which are actually the drawers designed to go inside Ikea wardrobes – Mr Chandelier cut the wardrobes down as we initially had them elsewhere,  (how amused was he with that one!) and we topped them with worktop.  I have several of the fabric dividers bought purely for my studio – I think they are meant to be used for bathroom supplies and underwear etc., but as with everything in life, they are, what you want them to be!

So there you have it, the first of many storage posts, but I can’t tell you how fantastic it is to be able to pull open a drawer and find what I need instantly – heaven!  It also makes ‘filing’ away everything I didn’t use so much quicker too.

Happy sorting!

Much love

Sarah xxx

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Craft Storage Solutions

I don’t know about you, but January – March is my time to catch up and take stock after the complete madness of the Christmas Season, which for me, starts in late Summer / early September.

I have a massive ‘Open House / Christmas Sale’ every November at my house which is held over 3 days and grows each year as most of the people that came the previous year bring someone new, who then brings someone new and so on. It takes me months to make the stock and I make a lot of some things and a few of others and some items are very much one-offs.

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I make an absolute multitude of products from fairies to driftwood boats, from shabby chic handpainted hooks with birds, hearts or flowers to button jars, from cushions to distressed, fabric lined baskets and hampers, from exquisite velvet hair accessories to vintage corsages, from handpainted chairs and shelves to woodland garlands, from faux flowers in vintage pots with tumbling moss to fabric and driftwood collages, from decoupage roses storage boxes to bunny clothes and so very much more – the list is endless. I make whatever comes into my head (believe me, it’s mad in there) and it’s different every week, sometimes every day and I always love to make according to the season.

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I do a few select events as well and at the end of last year I also started creative workshops (I know – what was I thinking!) which were incredibly hard work but amazing fun.  I can’t begin to describe to you the immense feeling that washes over you when someone you have just taught a craft to, is so proud of what they have just made, they can’t believe they have done it and some even call you later to thank you and tell you how “thrilled” they are.  It almost makes you want to cry.   I learnt a lot myself – most people want the social aspect too and nearly every workshop went over time by about an hour (I know, I know!) – no matter how meticulously I planned it!  I have been asked for, and had planned to do anyway, many more workshops throughout the year and once I get order these will commence.

Anyway, the upshot of this, is that my bedroom and my ‘studio’, (which is a large cupboard off my bedroom) – frequently likened to Narnia (it so is!) – is total and utter chaos by Christmas, as after each workshop or making session everything is just dumped on trays or in piles literally everywhere.  No matter how much I promise myself it won’t happen, unfortunately, due to the ridiculous time constraints I place on myself and the sheer volume of products made, it quickly reaches a point where you have to tiptoe and ‘stepping stone’ your way through both rooms.  I also buy a lot of new materials and stock so it very soon looks as if I am filming an episode of ‘Hoarder Next Door’!!!   So, unfortunately, it takes me a few months to adapt my storage and re-install both calm and order. So where did I start?

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This is where I started. The Ikea Alex chest of drawers.

I knew that no amount of super storage techniques or clever tricks were going to resolve this one, oh no.  But then it turned into a bit of a nightmare – oh yes, it really did.  You know when you do something, which affects something else, and then something else which then has this massive snowball effect that you struggle to see an end to – well, that was so me.  I ended up relocating, sorting, dividing and sub-dividing the contents of nearly every drawer – Huge, Massive!  But all Mr Chandelier and the little chandeliers kept seeing was total chaos which really did seem to the average eye to literally get worse every day – no no no!!!        And breathe……

So, for those of you who have craft materials and are unsure how to store them, I will show you my space-saving solutions for each product over the next few weeks, as I slowly finish each category, ready for me to start creating again for my next event – Yay!!!  Believe me, I have a phenomenal amount of materials and a limited amount of space and I need to know exactly what I have and where to find it – if I can get order then absolutely so can you!

Hmmm, where shall we start; how about ribbons, fabric, fabric scraps, bells, bows, wooden shapes (nightmare), flowers (bigger nightmare), lace, cottons, string, wire, paper, card, card making, Christmas, pom-poms, paints, rubber stamps, trimmings, wool, embroidery threads, velvet flowers, jewellery making, beads, sequins, angel heads and angel hair, or simply SPARKLES in every shape and size!?  I could go on (ok, I won’t then!)  –  You’ll just have to wait and see!

Much Love,

Sarah xxx