Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I Heart Holiday Prep

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Call me cheese-y if you need to, but I'm a lover of holidays...and especially of planning!
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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!
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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):
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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.
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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.
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Styrofoam in tree, ball and wreath shapes, plus pipe cleaners to make even more snowflakes.
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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.
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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!
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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.

5 comments:

Content Director - Strong Female Leaders said...

Mint drops - yum! You can certainly use the holidays to get very crafty. But then again, you've got skills the rest of us don't :O(

http://www.thegirlieblog.com

la domestique said...

Looks like you had fun. It's so easy to lose control in that store. Happy crafting!

Unknown said...

ah i wish we had a micheals! I would have gone nuts like you did :p possibly even more so

Rachel said...

congrats on the Michaels retweet ;) I love this store, and decorating for winter is so magical!! i dont know how you waited this long into december to start!

-rachel w k
rwkrafts.blogspot.com

Craftiness NOW said...

lol Girlie Blogger, that's sweet but everyone has skills for sure. justin was a little afraid of the mint drops actually, but we'll be using them for decorating and not really eating.

thanks, la domestique, i can't wait to dig into everything!!

hi Hearthandmade, until one opened in nyc and i got driven to this one i hadn't been to one in years!

thanks so much, rachel, i was excited by the retweet! the waiting so long to start was called working so much that i literally couldn't relax for even a few minutes, whether in the office or at home. fortunately things have calmed down and it's time to get holiday crafty!

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