Inquiring minds want to know, where do you get all the wonderful little bits and bobs you use in your art?  Please tell us some of your favourite vendors or retail stores or hardware stores where you get all those yummy elements!  Of course, I think Artella has some of the best deals going!!!  Vintage ephemera shop!!!  

I usually get what I need "right this minute" at Michaels, because I have one within a mile of my house.  I'm also a firm believer in using what I have, so often I don't buy anything.

Lots of the "art" I do is digital, so it doesn't take any outside supplies.

Well...I'm breathlessly awaiting my Vintage Ephemera order, so I'll start with:

Artella - great prices on ephemera of all kinds, especially for "real" vintage stuff!

Dollarama/generic dollar stores - wooden boxes (for hennaing or painting/embellishing), craft paint, black gel/liquid ink pens (serious addiction, but I *do* use them all the time, not just for drawing), scrapbooking papers and paraphernalia (I don't scrapbook, but I alter books - what a treasure trove of funky papers!), beads and charms (either the crafty packs of them, or the junk jewelry I can take apart), as well as the "tools" of the trade - box cutters/utility knives, paint brushes/sponges, glue sticks, hot glue sticks, tape, etc etc.

Art Supply stores - I developed a habit in college of using hardcover black sketchbooks (love-love-love them!), quality paintbrushes and acrylic paint (a splurge when I've been an especially good girl), stretched canvases and blades for my X-acto knife.

And basically, the world at large - I can always discover something that can be used for art most anywhere - pine cones on a walk in the woods, paint chips, melamine samples, copper wire, little hinges and such at hardware stores, ribbons and yarn from mother-in-law's craft room.

I even get stuff salvaged for me - yards and yards of various gauges of copper wiring from a renovation job, cancelled stamps, old keys, expired bus passes, tickets of all kinds. Hmmm, and I wonder why I have standing-room only in my studio!

Well, to start, I am thrilled to have found Artella!! I have been very pleased with everything I have received so far!!

I live in Utah and there is a craft store chain here called "Robert's" that I absolutely LOVE!!!! It's only about a mile from my house which is unfortunate for my bank account. They usually have either 40% or 50% coupons everyday and you can just walk in and they automatically give it you! They also have great sales that change weekly and they have an incredible selection! I like to say that the three favorite men in my life are Robert, Michael and the UPS man!!

I also get a lot of my art supplies from DickBlick.com. Their prices are incredible!! For fine art supplies you can't beat it!

I like to shop at Goodwill and other thrift stores. I look for silk scarves to use in fiber projects. I also look for books to alter or from which to collect photos or text. I pretty much collect things and decide what to do with them later. I found a geneology book for a specific last name, like a personalized report that was all typed in the early 80's. I think it will be a good book to turn into an art journal or something. It has a rich-looking embossed cover that is dark green.

I also like the chains--Michaels, JoAnnes, Hobby Lobby (in Wisconsin). There was another great store in Wisconsin called Wisconsin Craft Market and they had everything including yarn, wood, kids crafts, paper crafts, rubber stamps, craft how-to books. I used to love browsing when I lived in Wisc.

My most favorite place to get items from is outdoors.

Dharma is a mail order store with fabric paints, dyes, 100% cotton and silk clothing and much more. There was an on-line store where I got 100% silk waste yarn from Nepal, I think it was. I haven't been able to find the site again. I wish I could because I love that yarn and don't want to use it because I'm not sure I can find more.

I hope this helps someone.

 I don't live close enough to a store to buy much of anything, so when I want something, I order it. Here's a few of my favorite places:

Other artists who trade supplies

Artella (both the Artella shop itself and the artists)

The Altered Abbey (ephemera, handmade papers, and FAST service!)

Bmuse (a good source for fine embossing powders, mica coated cardstock, images, and paper ephemera)

Artchix (great for vintage kits and images, as well as German and Victorian scrap)

DickBlick (the best of everything art supply store!)

RubberD (more commercialized products such as the Tim Holtz line; great customer service!)

...and I always have a list for when I do get to the nearest city with a Hobby Lobby; that's my favorite!

Gentle hugs,

~copper cat 

Hi copper cat! 

How do you stand it?!  I think I would go nuts if I couldn't go to Michael's or JoAnn's 'just because'.  Despite living in So. Calif. where I can get to stores easily, I still enjoy ordering from "Outside the Margins" -- great website with lots of gallery items for ideas.  I haven't been on the site recently, but she used to introduce a lot of things before I saw it elsewhere. 

I also subscribe to the free weekly note from Skybluepink.com (I think that's right).  She has a sale of the week and is always coming up with stuff that's not readily available in the stores.  Prices are usually excellent and I've also discovered she'll special order things if one of her suppliers carry them.  She stopped carrying Mizuhiki cords just when I wanted a mess of them.  I e-mailed her about it and she offered to order whatever colors I wanted in whatever quantities.  Charged me the same as before.  She just didn't want to stock them because there weren't enough calls for them.  Very nice lady--always ready to help.

I mentioned JoAnn's above and I don't know whether you're familiar with them.  They're a large chain -- sort of like Hobby Lobby -- and they have a HUGE mailorder business.  If you get on their mailing list you'll know what they're selling cheap this week and it's a good place to just look and see what kind of stuff is available and then wait for one of their 30-40% off one item coupons to grab what you want.  I've been very pleased with them and use their mailorder service fairly often, even though I'm near 2 of their stores.  Sometimes it's just easier and definitely saves me time (and keeps me focused on what I want--if I'm in the store I can't possibility get out without a cart.  I try, but it all calls to me . . . lol

Hope this helps!

 Linda aka QBUdoesart

There was an on-line store where I got 100% silk waste yarn from Nepal, I think it was. I haven't been able to find the site again.

Heather, I know you posted this a while ago, but I thought I might just mention that eBay has stores that sell recycled sari yarn. I did a search on "recycled sari silk" and found one shop today and several auctions (if you are into the auction thing). I love the colours of this fibre. On my list to get some in the future.

I'll add to the list by saying that I've taken to saving the cardboard store tags from clothes to use as the basis for art. The holes and unusual shapes make for interesting frames for collages. I also keep the cardboard backing on the blister packs from, say, batteries or pens. The pre-punched holes are great to use to hang the art with! I have also found some lovely things in Chinese/Asian supermarkets. I found a little plastic doll's boot in the carpark at the supermarket recently! I'm always seeing squashed bottle caps on the ground, too, but I haven't thought of a use for them yet. I got some great pages from a Chinese newspaper once, wrapped around something I got in the mail.

Here and there.  Most of my fabric, yarn, etc. comes from leftover sewing scraps (mine and everyone who knows me), garage sales, old clothes (mine and garage sale and thrift shop finds).  I hate quilt shops and go to a regular fabric store only when absolutely necessary.  I also get a lot of stuff out of the trash -- well before it actually goes in the trash.  I love the mesh bags onions come in and shiny candy wrappers.  I've also used toys from the dollar store and stuff that came in dh's gift boxes when he worked at Oriental Trading.  I also do a lot of computer work and print things out onto fabric.  DH is an amateur photographer and keeps me supplied with photos.  Sometimes I alter them beyond recognition, sometimes I use as is. Most of my beads are leftovers from when I ran a craft store.  I like the challenge of having to hunt for my supplies.  Just buying something is too easy.

Since I used to work as an event sales manager for Michaels, I still shop for all of my papercrafting supplies (paper, rubber stamps, glues) from them, but I also like the "scrap" items that AC Moore tends to have (bags of buttons, scraps of ribbon, etc). I also use a lot of tshirt paint in my paper crafting and tend to get them from the dollar tree and I live by the stickers that I collect everywhere!

For my crocheting, I find yarn at Michales, AC Moore and my local thrift stores. I have even found my scraps of ribbon from there and sometimes an old scarf whose fibers I can unravel to use as tassles on my tags.

Happy hunting *does the happy dance*

I think my favorite art supplies have come from the friends I have made at Artella.  I have exchanged cards in the "Card Swap" at http://artellacafe.com/forums/t/635.aspx, swapped paper scraps with a few members at http://artellacafe.com/forums/t/1425.aspx, and also an exchange of all kinds of paper, fibre, and embellishments...like my all-time favorite, Buttons! 

Thrift stores are fabulous for bags of jewelry, buttons, patterns, scarves, and objects for altering.  Not too long ago, I found a plastic baggie of old bingo cards for only a few dollars.  Even children's castaway board games or puzzles are a wonderful collage source. Because Red Deer is a small city, Michael's is the store for just about everything else.   Oh, Winner's has alot of inexpensive items that can be used for altering as well as a good collection of scrapbooking papers and books on fine art and crafts.  Our Dollar Stores also sell a bounty of scrapbooking items, stickers, stamps, and yarn for much, much less than Michael's.

 ~ chameleon