Trip to Craftmania, Gt Yarmouth

 Whilst my daughter went on all the rides at Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park, I took the opportunity to visit Craftmania nearby and ended up with this haul!

Craftmania is run by Jamie Rodgers, who also owns Creative Expressions. However, the shop stocks lots of other brands such as John Next Door, Hunkydory, Scrap Boys, Ranger & Julie Hickey 

I loved his own brand Happy Birthday to You die, and quickly rattled off a couple of cards using it.

The place is stuffed full of tempting papercraft goodies, and I came home with stencils, dies, inks, stamps  and a Junk Journal Book by Ciao Bella

They also have an amazing inspiration Room  with loads of cards made from their products, plus some real bargains from the end of ranges, where I picked up this parrot die set

and some vintage swan papers at knock-down prices. I can highly recommend a visit to anyone who is in the Norfolk/Suffolk area, but you will need some time to wander around it. Just as I pulled up, a lady parked and went inside, whilst her husband or partner got out and took a dog for a walk!

They also have an online shop too www.craftmaniacrafts.com which has free postage on orders over £15. 

Charity Shop Bargains

 

Somebody must have been having a big clear out of their craft room as there was a large pile of brand new, unused card making stuff at my local charity shop when I popped in last.

There was a lot of Hunkdory items -books of  toppers, card making packs, sheets of sentiments as well as paper pads and die cuts.

I spent £15 and picked up a lot of  bits to keep me busy for quite a while - and left some for other crafters to enjoy too!

Supporting our Independent Craft Shops

Today I travelled over 20 miles just to visit a local independent craft shop - Keep on Crafting in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. 

There are loads of these little papercraft shops scattered around and they struggle against the big craft shops like Hobbycraft and The Range. But they are little gems, full of treasures and more importantly people who are passionate about papercraft and who love to pass on hints and tips to others.

Keep on Crafting is small but packed with the latest products and examples of how to use them, plus they hold regular workshops, today one on candle making was in progress. So, I can highly recommend that, if you are in the area, that you pop in and have a browse!