WHERE DO YOU BUY YOUR ART SUPPLIES? THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSE!

This past weekend I ventured out to Archiver's (a large chain scrapbooking store) with a friend for their special National Scrapbook Week promotion. I had a coupon that entitled me to a free plastic case with little compartments to hold charms, brads, etc. We each made a couple of free "make and takes" of a card and a scrapbook embellishment. After our visit there (where I bought 2 yards of new blue/green velvet ribbon and a container of diamond stickles) we walked up into the Mall for an iced tea and a pretzel. It was kind of a shock when I realized this was as far as I had been in any Mall in years. Mind you, I have never been a Mall person, but I used to travel into at least the perimeters of them - to get my hair cut, to buy perfume, new underwear -- some things. Apparently, I am doing without these things or I have found other ways to procure them because outside of my frequent visits to Archiver's (which is near a back entrance and who's current and frequent trips are as much social as necessary) I never go to a Mall. Since I made the venture a few years ago into this world of collage and altered art, I rarely buy a card or a present - I make them! I could see this coming on a few years ago when I began to turn things over in stores to try to dissect how they are made. At the time I wondered if I would someday actually be able to make most of the things I want to possess. My answer has been a resounding, "Yes!" This is not to say that I personally actually make all the things I am interested in owning. I, alas, can not, at least not with the same competency as other artists can make them, but most of the things I want are made by other artists and you cannot find them at the "MALL."
This last weekend I did go to three Goodwill stores in search of things to alter, but I was only able to find 2 children's books - a children's encyclopedia type book of "Natural History" with lots of good 1950's pics of animals and plants and a children's book with jokes and riddles with one for my current Tea project: "Would you care to join me in a cup of tea? Answer: There's not enough room in the cup for both of us."
What else was I searching for in these stores? Well, here they are, in no particular order,
1. Clothes to alter - with paint or thread
2. vintage purses - to alter
3. vintage linens that can be cut up and made into other things (old print sheets, embroidered pillow cases or dresser scarves
4. Silk scarves that can be cut up and used for shabby ribbons or as the cover for future journals
5. jewelry to take apart and use for projects (particularly vintage earrings)
6. ditto china dolls
7. old sewing supplies (already aged - no need to spend precious art time distressing them)
8. old sewing patterns - for the illustrations on the envelope or for the actual pattern pieces
9. old dictionaries, atlases, children's books
10. old wood things that can be painted and repurposed

Today I picked up a bottle cap in the parking lot to put into my stash and I am searching coffee/tea rooms for interesting "tea" packaging for the aforementioned tea project. I have many supportive friends that regularly bestow on me old jewelry, coasters, frozen juice can lids, bottle caps, and papers of all sorts they think I can use.

Please help me and my readers by leaving a comment to tell us where you get your own art supplies. What's on your own list of things for which you regularly search? Maybe there are some things on your list we need to add to our own lists.