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.

Can You Knit a Marshmallow Today?

This is City Bakery on 18th Street and yes, those are marshmallows hanging from the ceiling.  I got some nice comments on my heart marshmallows so I know people love 'em and City Bakery is hosting their 18th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival TODAY, Thursday, 2/18 with unlimited hot chocolate and hot chocolate themed knitting workshops for the price of a ticket, wow!  You can read about the event on Grub Street, where Chef-Owner Maury Rubin says that "knitting feels like hot chocolate".  I agree! and thanks to my friend Jenny for reminding me about this.

It's sponsored by some of my favorite yarn shops in the city: Downtown Yarns, which I also mentioned here and Purl Soho (there's the ad for the event in the window):

They also have Purl Patchwork, a fabric store!

I have a work thing and can't make it to the event tomorrow, so I bought a few ginormous chocolate chunk cookies on my way home, but if anyone goes let me know how it is!

From the bakery I also had some other errands to run:

I stopped by Anthropologie (love the sweet clothes, charming fabrics and dishware and the Mistral soaps, even though I just made some of my own).  Hey, is anyone watching Man Shops Globe on the Sundance Channel about buyer Keith Johnson's adventures procuring product for the stores?  Also got some wool for a present at Lion Brand Yarn (which I heart! as I explained here).

The bunch of ribbon is from Paper Presentation: an incredible store that I could get lost in for hours.  I heard about it from awesome prop stylist Leslie Siegel.  Seriously, check out her portfolio: it's amAzing!  Those are also some little pink pinking shears up in the pic.

I passed Cupcake Cafe and even though I posted about Valentine-themed store windows yesterday I just have to include this since I love how happy the polar bears are with their treats.

When I finally got home my sweet friend She Crafty had sent me Making Candles & Soaps for Dummies.  I've been experimenting with both lately and need some pointers, so I can't wait to dive into this book and see what I can do to improve. 

She Crafty's profile pic is her adorable French bulldog, Crumpet (love her name!)  One of my all-time fave movies is Best in Show and on Monday night a Frenchie named Bru won best in the non-sporting group (first time for this breed!) at the Westminster Kennel Club 2010 Dog Show.  Go, Bru! and thanks again, She Crafty!

Valentine's Eve Arrangement

I've always had a soft spot for carnations.  When I was little my Dad bought me a carnation corsage every year for the father-daughter dinner and I was hooked.  Would you believe that last night I carried home 2 bunches of flowers, 4 pink glass votive holders, 3 bottles of wine, 1 12" lucite tray, 1 can of pear juice and 2 5-pound buckets of glycerin melt-and-pour soap?  All in one box!  But more about all that later...

Here's a window of roses in the Flower Market area on 28th Street in Chelsea.  So beautiful, but we're close to the ultimate flower holiday so they were over $35 a bunch, wholesale.  I headed to G.Page, a vendor we use almost every day at work.

I got two shades of pink carnations because I was inspired by this Martha Stewart arrangement from 1-800 Flowers; the ribbon is from Kate's Paperie. 

I clipped a few to make little ribbon-wrapped bouquets for some of my co-workers, including Michel, our Pastry Chef who took a break from making this heart cake:

to carve this heart form out of Oasis Brand Floral Foam, which you soak in water so it can feed the flowers when you poke them in (thanks, Michel!)  Oh, and this is where the lucite tray comes in, I put it underneath in case there was any leaking.


I only snipped my finger once (ouch), then wrapped the bottom with more satin ribbon

and added some white stones

and tealights

and then it was done.  And I had a few flowers left over for a desk bouquet.

Michael's Haul and Martha's Craft Sale

[source: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia]

Right before Thanksgiving I picked up the December issue of Martha Stewart Living and got inspired: time to get creative again.  After many attempts were refuted by work and guilty pre-turkey-day trips to the gym, this week I finally trekked up to Manhattan's first Michael's craft store!  

For 2 hours it was like being back in my little hometown again (and 15 years old, with so much more free time). 

And Martha has a whole line of beautiful craft supplies sold there: glitter, paper punches, scrapbooking supplies, ribbon...very exciting.

And even more so, Martha Stewart Living is having a holiday craft sale today, December 5th!  I've been struggling with the crocheted snowflakes on their website.  I asked a salesperson at the otherwise lovely Purl Soho shop if he knew what crochet cotton was and all I got was a "no, I don't" and that was it.  Humpf.  I soldiered on and bought a ball of lovely, soft, snow white Rowan 100% cotton and it was all going so well in Pattern 1 until it came to "8 ch???s".  

I tried to wing it despite the typo, but ended up at the end of one tip, not knowing how to get back into the center.  Hm, Martha what did I do wrong? 

Well, I'm still really looking forward to the event, maybe I'll get even more ideas.  Such a short month: Christmas is less than 3 weeks away!