Crafting Heaven

For Little Bird and I, no school holiday is complete without a visit to our local Hobbycraft store.  As we're both crafty types, we enjoy a good mooch around to see if we can pick up any bargains or some inspiration.

Our nearest Hobbycraft is quite near to our local IKEA store too, so we just had to pop in there for a lovely, but very inexpensive lunch out.  As I am now finally a Family member after three attempts at getting a membership card, I made the most of it and got my free beverages whilst there.  I had a wonderful  Chickpea Biryani for lunch at only £2.25 for a large bowl full and it was gorgeous.  I would definitely have it again if I saw it on the menu.  I've noticed on recent visits that they have become a little more adventurous with regard to the dishes they have on the menu and so far so good.

Whilst there I had to take an obligatory look in the fabric department and on the way I noticed a really interesting but inexpensive storage solution I'd not seen before, but unfortunately they didn't have it in a colour that suited the purpose I had in mind, so I will be keeping a close eye out to see if it appears in white at some point in the future and will blog about it if it does.  I managed to successfully get around the store without spending any money and then we popped over to Hobbycraft.  I'm afraid it wasn't quite the same story there, as I got tempted by a few items and bought myself a treat or two.  I bought a few clear craft stamps in some lovely designs, which were pretty inexpensive at 50p or £1 each.

I also bought this book by Cecilia Hanselmann called Zakka-Style gifts.

It is full of inspirational and practical items to make for the home or as gifts, using the smallest scraps of fabric in many cases.  This is really my sort of book.  I have so many sewing books and now rarely find one that to me is worth buying, but this one definitely was.  It cost £7.99 and I probably could have got it cheaper elsewhere, but I didn't care for once.

Little Bird's favourite project was this cute pencil case.  I may try to make her one in time for her starting Secondary school in September. 

Whilst I liked virtually every project in this book, a couple of my personal favourites were these very simple fabric book marks

and these bright and colourful pot holders. 

This will happily get added to my craft library in the sewing room and will hopefully provide inspiration for a long time to come.