A Lovely Package Exchange

This is the first year I'm participating in the {lovely} PACKAGE EXCHANGE graciously hosted by Danni from oh, hello friend.

Nearly 200 lovely bloggers signed up to exchange pretty presents by mail and I was matched with Carrie Koehmstedt from Carrie Loves and Sweet Faerie Designs. And oh happy day, her thoughtful gift was one of my favorites from Etsy: a Gourmet Sea Salt Kit from Cook Outside the Box.  

My offering was a bracelet from Wish by Felicity and little Moleskine notebook set since Carrie's favorite colors are turquoise and pink and she put the most adorable photo up on her blog:

[photo by Carrie Koehmstedt]

Thanks, Carrie and Danni for the holiday cheer!

I Heart Holiday Prep

Call me cheese-y if you need to, but I'm a lover of holidays...and especially of planning!

Aside from event planning for a living, back in 2010 there were big plans for Christmas time (even though only 4 out of 7 were accomplished) and prep for my first flower arranging job.  And back in 2009 I recapped my haul from Michael's when they opened a Manhattan location, so exciting!

Last night Justin kindly drove me out to Bayonne, New Jersey and patiently walked down every aisle with me in awe "like a kid in a candy store" as he said.  The Michaels motto is "Where Creativity Happens" and it's impossible not to agree while swooning at the Martha Stewart section.  I tried not to overfill the cart, but it was amazing knowing I had a whole car to drive me home.  So, here's the somewhat controlled haul (which includes the pretty ball ornaments above):

Mint Drops and Wilton pink gel coloring for a January Gingerbread House-Building Party and Martha Stewart sequin stickers, glitter glue and a snowflake stamp set.

Sparkly blue paper, striped pink paper, lavender blank notecards and (finally!) a paper punch in a nicely sized tag shape that I've been trying to find for a while: no need to ever buy tags again.

Styrofoam in tree, ball and wreath shapes, plus pipe cleaners to make even more snowflakes.

LOTS of ribbon (there was a 50% off sale!), glitter glue pens, mini pompoms and mini jingle bells in bright and subdued tones.  Do you know how hard it is to find mini jingle bells elsewhere in New York City?  When I needed some to make amigurumi cat toy mice and a reindeer I had to cut them off a cat collar.

I had coupons from joining their e-mail list and I also signed up for MichaelsRewards ("where Creativity Counts").  If you can read the prices on the receipt you'll see how little I spent for so much, PLUS in the bag were more coupons!

Maybe on my next visit I can get a discount on buying more time.  

Christmas is only a week and a half away....Happy holiday prepping!

Addendum!  Forgot to mention I also snatched up the premier issue of Stitch Craft Create Magazine, lots of great holiday inspiration here.

SweetAnd Condensed

Oh my, oh my has it been a crazy month: welcome to December! I feel blessed, I feel happy....I feel...tired.  I heart the holiday season there's just so much to do and so much going on... 

I love being busy though and made some cookies for the 2nd Annual New York Holiday Cookie Swap event today organized by Bloggers Without Borders to benefit the Cookies for Kids' Cancer charity.  So many great blog friends to catch up with and new ones to meet.  Oh and did I mention all the cookies?!  

So, someday I'll catch up on blog posts about flower arranging, (birthday present, 2 Thanksgiving dinners, 2nd year of amaryllis for a big fashion client), canning (Brooklyn Swappers event and Justin's first pickles), sewing (new book and material to make my first skirt), knitting (another beautiful book and lilac-colored socks), felting (have the tools, don't have the time), paper crafts (squirrel place cards and so many great friends who are into this!), craft fairs ('tis the season), friends visiting from out of town (yay!), holiday parties (double yay!) and holiday projects (oh so many in mind...)  

But this week is the busiest one of the whole month for catering, so I'll resurface very soon.

Here are some much better recaps of the event, enjoy:

Three Many Cooks: thank you so much for organizing such a fun, tasty event!
Justcook NYC: in which he made THREE kinds of cookies, oh my
The Diva That Ate New York: with a video!
Sweets by Sillianah: she even volunteered for the event
One Tough Cookie: my award for best presentation with her cookie TREE
Healthy Green Kitchen: mmm iced ginger bars...
Abby Dodge: sooo sorry I didn't grab a piece of her caramel 
macadamia coconut shortbread before they all got snapped up
Open Mouth Insert Cookie: an amazing picture summary of the assortment