Spotlight Stores shopping trip

This is a sponsored post for Nuffnang and Spotlight
I was gifted $40 to spend at Spotlight.

When Riley was little, we used to visit Bunnings and Spotlight about equally. I’ve always been an equal opportunity crafter, turning my hand to hammer and nails just as easily as the sewing machine (with about as many failures at both.) One day, we pulled up in front of Spotlight, and he informed me it was “just like Bunnings for mums”, and the idea has stuck. I usually go to Spotlight with a purpose - an idea for Christmas craft, or stocking up on thickers because my local scrapbooking store doesn’t carry them anymore.

But I was stumped when Amy asked me to do this post. I’ve really struggled to craft productively in the last couple of years, even when I break projects down into small steps. I tend to spend hours at the last minute creating something, then do nothing for months on end. Just like I did a couple of days ago with book week costumes.

Shopping without a project in mind is a bad idea, I’ve decided. While it’s great to build your stash and invest in tools, I’ve always struggled with the idea of creating without a purpose, so shopping with no project didn’t sit well. I asked the other contributors what they would do, and some said buy consumables (like needles, thread, and blender fabrics), while others suggested trying a completely new craft (and I stood looking at the cake decorating products for ages!), but in the end, a random conversation with Caitlin about the book week costume I sewed for Natalie saw me shopping for a purpose.

Finding dresses that fit Natalie around the waist is difficult, but we recently found a lovely A-line dress that is comfy to wear, and looks great on her. I’m a long way from being a seamstress, but I can template basic clothing, so used this dress to create her Alice in Wonderland costume for book week. Caitlin suggested looking for knit fabrics while we were at Spotlight, but I wasn’t too confident, last time I looked the range wasn’t that inspiring. But I was blown away by the awesome pattern and colour selections in the knit fabrics, and the cotton jersey was so on trend that ensures that I’ll be going back to get some! The owl fabric on top was a remnant I couldn’t resist, I’m seeing pants or shorts for Sophie (although Riley was a bit jealous!)

I bought a metre and a half of each fabric (and blew my budget), with the idea that there will be enough fabric for both girls to get dresses, and maybe some leftovers to make Sophie some t-shirts or shorts.

As we wandered around, I spotted a pom-pom making kit. I’m always a sucker for tools, but with school holidays coming up, I suggested to Caitlin that we get some yarn, and set the kids lose. We tried to choose each kids favourite colour, I’m betting there will be lots of multi-coloured marvels, though!

And something just for me, with no real purpose. My Project Life® stash just gets bigger every time I go near a shop - cute cards with multi-purposes are hard to resist! And the HS die is a pretty generic word that can be used for lots of things (and I even know where my Big Shot is, when I want to use the die!)

I’m actually really excited to cut into those knit fabrics later today. My sewing machine is still set up from my mammoth sewing effort earlier this week, and being able to make cute and functional dresses for the girls has me itching to cut (but life calls me first, errands and food and stuff.)

What would you buy if you had no real project in mind?

Cate Brickell (90 Posts)

Cate is a closer-to-forty-than-thirty SAHM of 4+2 kids, ranging in age from 15 to 3. She doesn't do housework, wastes too much time on facebook and pinterest, and is overwhelmed by the awesome blogs in her google reader. She loves taking online scrapping classes, learning about the scout movement (as a Joey/Cub leader), and has a purple front door. 2013 is all about CHOOSING the right path.