Craft supplies shopping in London

This post has been overdue for nearly a month, if not longer. I wanted to share with you’ll some of the goodies that I bought while in London for our summer holidays.

One of the biggest confusions, we always have, travelling as a family overseas, is the time for my craft goodies ! Being in a foreign land, we are as it is, torn between filling out days with visiting scores of museums, parks, historical sites etc and to add to the stress, I generally drop a bomb or two, for shopping for my craft goodies 🙂

Generally there is a vote and of course, its not fun when mama is upset so I get away with squeezing atleast a couple of hours for hunting my beloved goods. One thing, I noticed about London is, that being a first world country, people like to shop online and realty is far too expensive hence very few stores have established outlets unless they are eateries or mobile phone stores !!

One of the best stores (or rather ONLY store) that I visited for craft goods was “Hobby Crafts”  A timely tip from a cousin, made it possible for me to search for it on the Sat Nav and ofcourse, then persuade samie  !!

You know that feeling that you had as a kid, when you entered a toy store full of toys that were free for you ??? No ? Well, that’s exactly, how I felt when I entered the store ! It felt like I was in the happiest place in the world for me !! The choices were vast ~ variety was amazing and whats great is that they have two stories full of arts and crafts ! No matter how much I write, nothing can explain, just how much fun that entire experience was. Hence I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Oh AND BTW, Hobbycraft has not paid me to write about them but I wouldn’t mind, if they did pay me 😉  ♣

Oh yes ! Doesn’t it look like the place you could easily get lost in ??? I know I did !

Here are some of my valuable goods from that shopping spree !

And ofcourse I bought a mother load of sharpies too of various nibs !

Couldn’t have enough of these Spectrum color markers !! These are like copic markers ~ alcohol based markers.

CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY OF THE ACRYLIC STAMPS !! Love the steam punk one and the keys one too.

Cant wait to start with these babies !!

Its incredibly difficult to choose 10 of the best designs from a good 50+ ! This is a relatively newer brand and much less expensive than spellbinders.

I just have to admit, that the rectangle die cut on the right has to be my favorite so far ! Oh and another diecut set which was absolutely phenomenal is this one in the center ~ it has a lot to offer for the person good with sewing like scissors, spool, needle, yarn, model ~ and all these are diecuts !!! Endless possibilities !  Its absolutely expensive but so worth it !! 🙂

Sizzix diecuts, a punch and a border punch. 2 sets of wood mounted alphabet rubberstamps. This orange punch is kinda new coz you can actually use it as a border punch or you can get individual coin punches too. Very innovative.

Don’t you just love the fall colors !!

Cant have enough of these ! This bag was at a discounted price.

Unusual bookmarks, clipboard key chain and miniature size safety pins !

These rubberstamp sets were actually a part of the magazines that I bought. Can you believe it !! I bought so many craft/scrapbooking/hobby magazines and they are all came with these gifts !! Yuppee !!

I picked this lovely collection of design paper in blue and pink, from Hobby crafts. Its a large pack of 12″ x 12″ with beautiful pastel designs.

Paints, paints and more paints ~ modge podge, crackle medium and a load of acrylic paints.

Small size clamps

I have this huge “thing” for designed wooden pieces ~ be it heart or stars ! One day I hope I am able to make these myself ~ till then, I think, I can indulge in these 😉

For when I finally start working with carving wood !

I am a huge sucker for fridge magnets !! Both my fridges are stormed with magnets 😦    I love these magnets. Each with such intricate artwork and lovely quotes. We picked these from Lake district in Windermere.

This 3 tier cupcake tray was to die for !! I just fell in love with it ~ and fell out of that love, once told how much it cost ! But this was a gift nevertheless from the boys for me 🙂  Aren’t my boys, the “bestest” !! We bought this from a beautiful little store in the lake district.

Isnt this a beauty or what !!! Its a book holder ~ more for recipe books in the kitchen. It weighs enormously ! Its solid wrought iron.

Nail guns are such a handy tool however, I couldn’t find any in Dubai inspite of  looking high and low for them ! For whatever reason, even Ace hardware did not have them ~ luckily, I found these in London. And bought a bunch of extra pins and nails. They come in batches of thousands.

So that’s it !

Some women, like to buy sandals, some bags, some diamonds and I love to buy tools that will help me create things ! I cant thank my husband enough for being as patient as he was and my wonderful, boys managed to keep their dad engaged in the store next door ( Sports direct ) while mama could have her fill, peacefully.

Oh, in case, your wondering, the last 7 pictures are not items we bought at Hobby crafts.

So that’s it !! I’m feeling so relieved having shared my priced shopping goods with you’ll.

Oh and BTW, I painstakingly kept all the receipts and the VAT reimbursement form for the VAT claim at the airport  ( ♥ thankfully we don’t have this tax business in Dubai ) ~ and guess what ??? Turns out, the airport VAT counter travelex opens at 7:00 in the morning and closes at 10:00 pm. Our  flight was to depart at 9:15 !!!!  Which meant, that with roughly 50 passengers ahead of us, our chances of making it to the counter were so dim.

What’s more weird (but somewhat sensible) is that you have to keep the said items out for inspection  (which in some cases means an entire suitcase !!) ~ The queue for the counter was ridiculously huge with every passenger unpacking his suitcase just to display his goods  !!  My initial attempt to keep Sawaabi with the small trolley bag full of my items at the counter while I juggled between the check in counter and the travelex counter was turning out into a nightmare !!   In the end, we just let it go !! What a complete wasted effort !  Oh well, we learnt our lesson ! Which is ??????  Not sure what 😉

Anyways ~ What matters is that I may have had to pay a tax, but I am a happier person with so many toys to play with. Its been alittle over a month and I have still not unpacked the markers. The rest I have found some use for.

I trust you found my post informative and perhaps even inspirational 😉  Please share with me your experience of craft stores in London. Would love to know, what I missed 🙂

I’d like to share my shopping spree with the following linking parties.

Simply Creations Link Party at My Simple Homelife, Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed, Inspire Me Please Link Party at
Liz Marie Blog, Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, What Have You Redone at Redoux Interiors, Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home, Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove, Simple and Sweet
Fridays at Rooted inThyme, Be Inspired at Common Ground, Faunt It Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Frugalicious Friday
at Finding Fabulous, Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo, Show and Tell Friday at Romantic Home, Junkin’ Joe Vintage and Thrifty Finds at The Cottage Market, Weekend Wrap-Up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Shabbilicious Friday Link Party at Shabby Art Boutique, Tickled Pink at 504 Main, Anything Blue Friday at The Dedicated House, Rustic Restorations Weekend Link Party at Homespun Happenings,  Great IdeaThursdays at A Handful of Everything.

I am delighted you’ve visited me today. Please leave a line or two if you have enjoyed your stay here. You can also subscribe to my posts or add me to bloglovin.

Have a beautiful weekend !