My holiday craft shop purchases

Whenever we visit the US I always make a beeline for a craft shop. It's not quite as exciting as it used to be - thanks to online shopping we now have access to a much wider range of products, and on this trip in particular we found that prices over there have really shot up. But I always enjoy having a good look around and there are always plenty of things that I can't resist bringing home to add to my crafting stash. 

I made trips to three large craft stores - Michaels, JOANN and Hobby Lobby. I also browsed the craft aisles in Target and Walmart and picked up a few bits at Dollar Tree (although thanks to inflation products are now priced at $1.25!) If you are planning a US shopping trip it's well worth downloading the app or looking on the website for each store and looking for coupons, as they are almost always available. I found coupons for 20% off the whole shop, or 40% off the highest priced item. Many of the shops also had rotating offers on specific product categories, with further discounts of 40% or 50%. If you are downloading the app from a non US phone then you might need to change your location settings to download the US version of the apps.

Here are some of the bits that I picked up, and I think that I was very restrained! Firstly fabric. I know I know, I've been writing about working through my fabric stash and trying to use some of it up. But the fabric that I have is all quite similar, mainly pink and flowery, and I wanted some more blues and greens. I found some lovely sea themed fabrics and all of these fat quarters were so cheap, some of them were just $1 each.  

I also found some lovely rolls of ribbon, including some more sea themed patterns and a couple of Christmas ones. 

I love a bargain, and lots of this ribbon came from two discount trolleys which were filled with rolls of ribbon for less than $1 each! I had a good rummage through and I love this photo that Mia snapped of me digging away - I was so engrossed that I didn't even notice her taking it!

I was recently given some beading supplies and that has given me a hankering to try some simple jewellery making. I want to make a simple stretch beaded bracelet with several different strands of coloured beads, mainly blue and green. On the right you can also see some lovely glass beads which look a little bit like sea glass which I'm planning to mix in. I just need to do a bit of research to find the best way to do it!

Finally two projects which I can start on right away. A little cross stitch kit of a colourful cat and a wooden letter shape to decorate - it says 'READ' and I think it would look good on my bookshelf. I've not planned what to do with it yet, I'll definitely paint it and then see if I think it needs something else added.

I'm really pleased with all my purchases and I didn't really spend that much. I'm looking forward to crafting away!