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.

Haul Out the Holly

It's a busy party day in NYC: lots of events going on all over and I've got 5 to prepare for today.  So, what better time to make 2 dozen holly corsages for the waitstaff to wear?  Anyway, I started crafting and blogging last year during the busiest work month possible, I guess it's a thing for me.

It took quite a large bunch of holly to get enough nice sprigs with berries on them.

And of course I got stuck a little bit separating them out.  And there was definite manicure damage during the process of hot gluing safety pins to each bunch.

But I put on the Glee Christmas Album while I was working to put myself in the holiday mood and now all the waiters' jackets are festive.  And here's a peek at my other purchases from the flower market for my next project...happy holly-day!

2nd Christmas, Late Valentine's and Other Celebrations

It was almost like 2nd Christmas yesterday as we celebrated 3 birthdays, an anniversary and I brought some late Valentine's Day gifts too.  And this after the start of the Olympics, President's Day, Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras!

I had to wrap up the heart soaps I made, so I made a few miniature gift bags from a Martha Stewart pattern. 

And I wanted to be purple for the day, so I wore this beaded tank from Forever 21

and some light purple jewelry: this beautiful beaded necklace from Cameo Sisters Designs and ring from a trip to Chicago

My Dad had bought my Mom some little purple glasses

and I brought purple wine (and yea, my grandfather likes the box stuff )

And of course there were presents!

I got this gorgeous lilac Le Creuset casserole dish for my Aunt Liz.

[from Yummery]

On the Yummery site, Erin from Erin Cooks explains that this color was only recently made available in the US and right now Sur La Table has the exclusive on the lilac and the darker purple cassis colors, fab!

The other day I mentioned a gift that made me think of pink, pearl and ribbon and that was this Lion Brand knit flapper cloche for my grandfathers wife, Ruth.

Instead of the Landscapes Yarn in the pattern a very helpful woman in the shop recommended the yarn on sale this month: Wool-Ease Thick and Quick.  It's a lamb' s wool/acrylic blend, also a Super Bulky weight and surprisingly soft: it knit up in about 5 hours, so yes (relatively), quickly!  

I say pearl because at some point the shape reminded me of Pearl, the pink octopus in Finding Nemo.  It was even able to stand up on its own!  Let's compare:

[from freewebs.com]

Actually, this would probably make a pretty good amigurumi.  Eventually I got to the end of the knitting part and was all proud, until I realized that I hadn't joined the round.  Oops...

It was sewn up quickly, just ironic since I was already using circular needles, so why didn't I think of that before?  But it turned out fine and then I added this cool 2-tone pink/blue ribbon from Paper Presentation.

It was a good, relaxing day.  And I love that my Mom always has flowers around the house.  Maybe someday i'll learn how to keep a plant alive.

Decorative Decal Pillar Candles

I finished my first Christmas gift project last night: Martha Stewart Living's Decorative Decal Pillar Candles.  The website has the beautiful clip art that you can print onto a decal sheet, which you spray with clear varnish (in a well-ventilated area!).  Then apply the paper to the candles and matchboxes: very simple!  I also covered a couple matchboxes with glitter.

Finding the matchbooks was actually the hardest part, nothing in drug stores, restaurant supply stores, etc...Recently, The New York Times wrote about the resurgence in matchbox popularity as "a new old freebie" even though smoking isn't allowed in restaurants here anymore.  So, I finally walked into a famous restaurant not to be named, lest they be overrun with matchbox requests, and they were very accommodating and generously gave me 6!

I'm planning on giving these as Christmas gifts, but tested one out to make sure it didn't burn through the paper and it worked out fine.  Then I added a glass coaster and ribbon and voila: fini!

Amigurumi Turkey

Completed: Thanksgiving Day 2009. Pattern: from Lion Brand Yarn. Yarns: Vanna’s Choice Acrylic in Chocolate, Mustard, Cranberry and Honey, plus the black yarn I unraveled from a failed shawl.

I was totally amused by my very first amigurumi project. I swear I just giggled as I was crocheting it. And what better yarn to use around Thanksgiving than colors with food names?

Why take on a project when it seems like you have no time? It’s never stopped me before. Of course it caught up with me a little bit when I realized that I didn’t have black yarn for the pilgrim hat, so I sat in bed Thanksgiving morning unraveling a shawl that was completed, fringe and all, but which I’d never really liked and knew I’d never wear. The unraveling wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, I figured I’d just pull on one end and go, but instead I ended up with a lot of random pieces and a big pile of yarn.

On the train to my parents' house, I sewed the beak, wattle, drumsticks, wings and tail onto the head and body. And I got enough black yarn scraps to make the hat, complete with the gold "buckle". I think I’ll be making another amugurmi soon. Christmas is coming…