New Years Crafty Sales – Heads Up …..The Works

I don’t usually purposefully “do” the sales, I am just happy when I stumble upon an unexpected bargain, however this Christmas has been a bit different, with Lu and I deciding to go for a walk and then a posh coffee in town on Boxing Day to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. The only place open, except for the coffee shops and pubs was The Works and well, it would have been rude not to have a little mooch wouldn’t it, especially when the windows were all plastered with up to 75% off signs.

Well, it seems the early bird catches the bargains as the ladies in the shop were putting stickers on, among other things, all the Christmas craft bits and pieces.

Now, I had lusted after these little wooden houses ever since they came out but at £1.50 each they were a bit pricey, but at 50p each, that’s a very different matter, I bought all they had.  They look pretty simple to put together, I am thinking a quick flick of varnish, followed by Ranger Enamel Accents highlights?

They also had a few of the wooden sledges left, so I availed myself of them too, I think they were 50p a pack.

These other wooden embellishments will come in very handy too.  I am already thinking of putting the penguins on small 4ins x 4ins cards for school?

The packs of 4 house treat boxes were also reduced to 50p, perfect to pop a small chocolate in etc. to hang on the tree. I am thinking school dinner lady fairings?  I would simply go over the lines with white 3D paint, add some nail art peppermint swirls and candy canes and then perhaps a wooden gingerbread man or two.

Our branch of The Works doesn’t carry the greatest range of crafty bits and pieces, I notice the variety of crafty stock tends to differ from store to store, so I will admit to having a look online in the evening (as the TV yet again was rubbish this year) to see what else was being reduced. Click and Collect is £1.99, which seems a cheat, but hey ho!  A pack of the wooden Christmas trees above was 50p, a no brainer, as the bigger trees are a really useable size and all are a decent thickness that would take to being glued upright and then standing up on say a wooden domino to create a little scene?

I’m not sure why I bought the card Christmas puddings, so no ideas how to use them yet, but at 50p again they were worth a punt, perhaps Glossy Accented and glittered …….

Then at the bottom of the bag I found that whoever put my order together had also popped in two packs of these felt shapes for free!  Perfect again for small school cards.

My apologies if it’s to early for you to be thinking about Christmas, but these past few years I seem to work it all year round. I promise I will give Valentines Day and Easter some thought.

I will also admit to putting in an order with Hobbycraft, it was the wreath frames in particular I was after, but as they had some real bargains in the 50p and £1 range, again it would be rude not to. I’ll post these next week, but it might be worth a look beforehand if you are interested, as things seem to be selling out fast.  The Range is also worth a look, but I always find their site so difficult to navigate.

Anyway, I start the New Year with no excuse whatsoever not to get crafting so watch this space ………