One of my all-time favorite things to do is craft. I’ve been collecting and shopping for craft supplies from the age of 11 or 12 years old. In fact, I love crafting and journaling so much that last year I even started my own Etsy Shop Fortuna Fauna (ad). I have learned over the years – especially the past two years -how and where to shop for affordable craft supplies and get the best deals. Keep reading to find out why the 5 places below are the best places to buy affordable craft supplies.
THE BEST PLACES TO BUY AFFORDABLE CRAFT SUPPLIES
AMAZON
I think that Amazon is a go-to place for a lot of people to do their shopping myself included. Amazon is a great place to go when you are looking for craft items that are sold out at craft stores or items that are hard to find. I personally love shopping for certain Tim Holtz (ad) items that are hard to find and Stamperia (ad) paper on Amazon. Some other great items to shop for are glue, ribbon, linen thread, chipboard or any type of hardware you might need like metal book corners, eyelets and so on.
DOLLAR TREE
Dollar Tree is the first place to go when shopping for ephemera, stickers, fabric, and embellishments. The quality of the craft supplies compares to other big name brands. My absolute favorite thing to buy are the stickers, glass beads, holiday embellishments, ribbon and seasonal fabrics.
Another great thing about Dollar Tree is that they do get popular name brands in from time to time so you might be able to find some incredible deals.
Tip: Make sure you walk down every aisle because you never know what you might find. The garden section in particular always has some great finds.
JOANN
Joann’s is a great place to buy pretty much anything especially because you can combine coupons (as of writing this post). Since downloading their app I have been able to combine coupons on the app and coupons I get in the mail; the savings are unbelievable.
I personally like to get most of my more expensive crafting supplies at Joanns because of the coupons and sales that they offer. I usually buy fabric, glue, scissors, paper trimmers, and scrapbook paper there.
ALI EXPRESS
An incredible place to shop for ephemera, paper, lace, and stickers is Ali Express. When shopping I always look for stores that have the best reviews before placing and order and I’ve never been disappointed. If you are looking for unique ephemera then Ali Express is the place to shop.
ETSY
As an Etsy shop owner (ad) I am also a big Etsy shopper. One of the best things I think any crafter can buy are digital papers or digital journal kits. The great thing about this is that you can print the kits out as many times as you want and use them for personal use as often as you want. This in my opinion can be a big money saver when you compare digital kit prices and ink vs paper pads at a craft store.
With kits you can control what pages you want to print out and the quality of the paper whereas with paper pads at a craft store you are stuck with the whole paper pad and have no control of the quality.
HOBBY LOBBY
Hobby Lobby can be a fantastic place to shop if you know when to shop. Keep an eye on their weekly ad and soon you will start to see a pattern. For example, I have noticed that Tim Holtz products and rubber stamps go on sale every other week. Also, the week that Tim Holtz products are on sale at my store the paper pads are not on sale. I don’t know if it’s the same for every store but I have noticed on YouTube haul videos that people seem to notice the similar sale patterns.
Fabric and other items also go on sale pretty frequently. If it’s not on sale when you visit keep an eye on the weekly ad for the following week and see if it is.
How To Know When To Shop
A great tip is to go on YouTube and subscribe to channels that do “walkthrough” videos or “shop with me videos” to find out when the best deals are going on. I literally do this before I go to the store so I know what sales to look out for. These are some of my favorite channels to watch: Crafty Girl, PrettyNFlawed, and Jennifer Mowan5.
I honestly rarely ever pay full price on any craft products because I’m constantly watching walkthrough videos to see if anything that I want is on sale, looking at the weekly ads and using coupons. This is how I always buy affordable craft supplies.
Also, don’t forget to check out the clearance at your favorite craft stores for some potentially awesome finds.
If you want to see some of the great craft supplies deals I have been able to find make sure you follow my Fortuna Fauna account on Instagram.
