Tash tori is brilliant. Towns like Lewes so often have cutesy little shops to buy crafting items…read morewhich are overpriced, precious, and usually have one quite rude woman who just wants your cash/ you to leave. Tash tori isn't like any if those places. For a small shop it has almost everything a crafter might need in small amounts. If you ask any of the staff for suggestions about some weird project you're working on, from making a card, to colouring the face of a puppet, they'll come up with very helpful suggestions, and you can tell straight away that they aren't offering you the highest priced option for the sake of it. It's the best arts and crafts shop I've found outside of America, and certainly one of the best in the Sussex area.

This arts and crafts shop on Station Road seems to be fairly well equipped in terms of art…read morematerials; they sell various different types of paints, pastels and coloured pencils, etc. In terms of craft materials, the focus seems to be on smaller craft items, such as foam shapes or coloured beads to be used in card making. They stock a few balls of wool, some coloured papers and cards, stickers, and so on. It doesn't appear to be terribly expensive, and they also hold some events/classes there; there was a poster in the window advertising an upcoming card making demonstration.

Moleskines were once my guilty little pleasure: I would buy them just to fill them with random…read morescribblings, doodles and notes, then buy a new one and start all over again... Just because of the love of scribbling on paper. I've grown out of that a little now, entering the electronic age and all that, but still have a youthful lusting after lovely new paper and pens. When the mood strikes me, I browse through Pen and Paper to regain that part of my life, and it always puts a smile on my face. If you aren't quite as obsessed with some stationary as I am, this probably won't register, but Pen to Paper does sell some of the nicest stationary around. Moleskines, real paper, various lovely pens and pencils (proper writing utensils, mind, not biros or something), that sort of thing: an artist's paper shop, in effect. I love the idea of being able to buy bits of paper and write on them, but then this is all such nice, expensive paper... Now, I'm indebted to the electronic age now. I'm happy to be the guy how types everything these days, or makes notes on his Blackberry over buying new notebooks every couple of weeks. Still, it is nostalgic to breeze through Pen to Paper's lovely products: if you were ever a wistful poet upon the heath, this is definitely for you!

In the digital age where most people communicate through text and email, its comforting to find a…read morestore that's with-holding the tradition of writing and sending letters by hand. As the name suggests, Pen to Paper is a cosy store that sells beautiful stationary, tissue-lined envelopes, greetings cards, fountain pens and boxes of ink. It also stocks exquisite Japanese papers, address books, journals and a wide selection of lovely, pocket-size notebooks and sketch pads.

Just about the most charming little shop in Kemptown. Cards…read moreand doodads and trinkets and doohickies. Lovely staff, lovely layout and a card for any occassion.

This is a small trader but they have a lot to offer. The Gift and Card co stock a number of lovely…read moregifts, trinkets and cards, alongside stationery and other such items. There is also a balloon service offered which is where the company excels. They can provide the run-of-the-mill 50th birthday balloons but also offer a balloon decorating service which would add a touch of originality to your birthday, engagement or wedding party. The ladies who work in the shop are always nice too, which is a great asset, especially on a typical rainy Lewesian day.

Great little shop, helpful, good prices. Good place to go for children's party favours too.read more

If you can't be bothered walking across town to the main Paperchase, this small subsidiary of the…read morestationary and art supply store is tucked away on the first floor of Borders, between the Fiction department and Starbucks. There's a condensed selection of the giftware they sell in the East Street store - namely, candles, tea-cups, travel journals and recipe books - as well as a small selection of greetings cards and wrapping paper. The cards seem to have been chosen with a mainstream customer in mind so there's less camp and kitsch and more polka dots, kittens and golfers. Still, a good place to run in if you need a last minute card.

This little Paperchase store, cunningly situated in Borders, en route to the Starbucks, is a great…read moreone stop shop when you're in desperate need of inspiration for a gift idea. Well, actually gifts for girls mainly , if you'll pardon my sexism. You'll find decorative/cute/kitsch/flowery/pretty cards, stationary, diaries, stickers, decorations and random things like teas sets, sewing kits, glasses cases...

Partytime is a very busy, slightly chaotic but somehow incredibly useful shop…read more Head here for any kind of party goods - cards, balloons, candles - anything for either a child or adult party can be found here. In particular, they have goods for particular seasonal celebrations - I finally found some halloween zombie make up here after searching many other shops without sucess - I'll come here 1st next time. A very good place for birthday cards in particular, with many under £1.

This place does what it says on the tin and then some...it really is party central! It's full of…read morethe most amazing amount of celebration tat you could ever imagine! I'm talking banners, balloons, party bags, wrapping paper, party poppers, confetti...you get the idea. They take partying pretty seriously in this joint- whatever you ask for, guaranteed they'll dig around and find it for you. Halloween? Christmas? Hanukkah? New Year? Whatever the festivity, you can get some plastic tack to help you celebrate. Enthusiasm sure is the name of the game. And it is always so packed! Who knew that the residents of London Rd were secretly busy decorating their homes with streamers and glittery birthday banners all the week long? Aside from the fact that Partytime is gaudy and a bit strange, it is also fairly useful and very cheap. I have twice recently found myself in need of coloured tissue paper, and guess who has a great selection at a price you can't argue with?

This is a small but well-run greeting card and photographic processing shop in Seven Dials,…read moreopposite the 'Good Companions' pub. They have a very good range of cards, including gently humorous ones I have not seen elsewhere, and plenty of those in which you can write your own message. I've never left empty-handed (and I'm quite picky when it comes to birthday cards). They also have a small range of stationery and post-cards. I've not used the photographic services here, but the staff always strike me as very pleasant.

Digital photography means the photo developing side of this business must surely be fairly…read moreredundant these days, but I'm sure they'll survive with the brilliant range of stationery and greetings cards they have here. It's really hard sometimes to find decent cards - they're either soppy pastels or bad jokes, but the range here covers all bases. They have lots of colourful cards with decent pictures, and some humour cards which are actually funny. Also plenty of other useful party stuff such as balloons and streamers, and a small range of standard stationery items. Staff always seem smiley and friendly

This is the Hove original of the Bert's Homestore chain (there's now one in Brighton too), located…read morein the pleasantly pedestrianised shopping area of George Street. (George Street is small but reasonably quiet, even on a Saturday - it's the complete opposite of Brighton city centre.) They sell lots of stuff for kitchens and bathrooms, concentrating on accessesories such as knives, chopping boards, tea-strainers, tea-pots, mug tress, washing up bowls in funky designs, etc. rather on standard crockery and cutlery (although there are a few basic items). It's attractively laid out and lovely to browse, and excellent for things such as olive spoons, tea-bag squeezers, lemon rind peelers, which in my book are not essentials, but make those specific tasks so much easier. The staff are lovely too. It's hard to leave without buying something

This is a trendy little shop selling everything you need (and a lot you don't) for your home. While…read moreI try not to shop at supermarkets if I can, the one thing I think is worth buying from them is kitchenware as its so much more expensive in shops like this. I just wouldn't pay £14.95 for a fold away colander. Why have a fold away colander? That said, they do sell a really good range of kitchen knives here at good prices and that's one thing you should spend a but of money on.