Part of the reason I started doing this blog was because I wanted to share with people how to make things that were cheap and easy to do. I love a good bargain and all of my friends and family know that I will shop around or know where to go to save myself some money. My thrifty ways started as student but now I'm still not in a high earning job and I don't see the point of spending lots of money on materials and things when you can get it for half the price if you know where to look
So here are 5 items I have in my craft box that cost under £5 and where you can get them from.
Bakers Twine
Bakers Twine is really popular at the minute which means its cheap and easy to get hold of in tons of colours. I got this little set on Ebay for £1.99 + 95p P&P and there's a lot of each spool. I basically couldn't decide which colour so I got a mixed set but if you just want one particular colour, people sell lengths that they cut of their large spool which is also cheap.
I couldn't find the original one because I bought it a while ago but this one is the same brand just different colours. Type in 'Bakers Twine' into Ebay and you will see all of your options.
Electrical Tape
Yes, this is exactly what you think it is - Electrical Tape! Ever since I saw Jim Lambie's amazing art work made entirely of electrical tape, I have never underrated how useful it is since. This set is from Poundland so the clue is in the question here, it was only a £1 for all 6 rolls. There isn't tons on each roll (a classic Poundland problem whereby they made the cardboard tube bigger so it looks the same size as normal. But hey, for £1 I do not complain) but its come in handy for wrapping presents. Looks particularly good with bright kids wrapping paper!
Craft Tags
These are essential to every craft box! I don't know what I did without them, there are so many uses! I think this is a pack of 20 and they were 99p from The Works. If you don't live in the UK then I'm sorry you won't have this shop but you will be able to find them on Ebay no problem! They are great for present tags and easy to customise (See how I decorate mine in this post I did a few weeks ago) and I even used them to label up my university work when I was submitting is for assessment. Easy labelling!
Wooden Numbers
Ok. So this isn't an essential but since finding them in The Works a while ago for the bargain price of 99p I have loved using them to embellish scrapbooks and add something a little different to pages. I left mine unpainted but you could paint them, cover them in washi tape or craft paper and they work really get for embellishing pages with dates and significant numbers. They also do letters now which I am still trying to find in my local shop!
Sticker Set
I found this little gem on Ebay when looking for washi tape and I thought it was a really good idea to have lots of little sheets containing round and rectangle stickers that could be passed as washi tape. They come in a little tin which is really cute and you can get a few designs as well as refills. If you are lucky you can get these sets in damaged tins which are cheaper but the tin has been a little bit bashed but everything inside is perfectly fine. Seller Dragonchant has lots of lovely bits in her shop including stamps, stationary and washi tape but I would recommend these if you're into scrapbooking or just need some nice stickers to put on envelopes!
I hope you found this useful! If you are in the UK then you are lucky as some of the shops I have mentioned are UK based only. However I know if America Target is a good place to shop for crafts and Ebay is your best friend when it comes to discounted craft materials. This at least gives you the idea as to whats out there so you can find your own in your own country.
Happy Crafting!