Michael’s Blogger Event: Pics + Details!

When Michael’s Stores asked if I wanted to travel to Dallas to meet their team, craft some fun projects, and see upcoming products/trends, etc…I yelled “YESSS”. Of course I would love to! I have been working with Michael’s on styling their products (see my back-to-school + tailgate projects here) so I was thrilled to head out west to meet their team! We started crafting right out of the gate! Jo Pearson (Michael’s design guru + judge on TLC’s Craft Wars) crafted with us! She is absolutely phenomenal! I love her. She showed us this crazy tool called a “Crop-A-Dile” that can punch a hole through almost anything (even a penny). Crazy! This is where I got to meet up with the other bloggers too. Here’s my recap of the awesome trip…

 Here is the list of fabulous gals I got to hang out with..

Lorie Albright – be different act normal
Nicole Balch – Making it Lovely
Kathleen Barbro – Art Projects for Kids
Amanda Beyeler – Sugar Bee Crafts
Lisa Hauptman – Sweet Designs/Amy Atlas
Rayma Brady – The CSI Project
Laura Bucci – Laura Bucci
Rebecca Farrant – Infarrantly Creative
Amanda Formaro – Crafts By Amanda
Heidi Gustad – Craft Gossip
Amy Huntley – The Idea Room
Marie LeBaron – Makes and Takes
Amy Locurto – Living Locurto
Lori Tecler – Inking Aloud

 This isn’t the whole group but it’s a lot of us after dinner at SMOKE in Dallas! It was DELISH!

We also got to meet the CEO of the Craft + Hobby Assocation (Andrej Suskavcevic) who shared about a fun campaign they’re launching with lots of craft stores called Cre8 Time (creating time to craft). Here is a video about the campaign that will launch in January of 2013. So fun!

Here is a picture tour of my crafting time + browsing the show!

We got to play with so many fun craft items. We made jewelry and canvas boards. I loved the Recollections glitter (mine was “pumpkin” colored – perfect for fall decorating!).

One of my FAVORITE parts of the weekend was getting to walk through the Leadership Show (the first time bloggers have been allowed inside). It is the place where brands that sell at Michael’s display their products (including their new ones) to the Michael’s corporate and management teams. Upper left is the duck tape booth. They have adorable polka dotted duck tape available at Michael’s and you can make so many party items with it. Check out the decorated party cake and cake topper! And the hats! They even decorated cups, party horns, and made placemats – all out of duck tape!

Upper right is an amazing booth for all things crafty. Check out the paint globes that slowly dropped paint onto white ceramic shapes creating an absolutely amazing display. Everyone was totally WOW’d!

More browsing through the booths! I loved seeing the new Tacky Glue line, glittered spray paints, metallic spray paints (totally going to use this on some home items soon), and holiday decor trends! I was in HEAVEN!

The displays above are for the new Michael’s holiday decor that you’ll see in stores this fall! My favorite was the sparkle white (gorgeous) but I do love the traditional too (how perfect for a mountain Christmas)!

I loved this cute idea from the Michael’s team! Pin ribbons along a styrofoam ball and then wrap in cellophane for a decorative holiday “candy”! How cute would a big bowl of those look at a Holiday Candy Making Party?! Love it! This would also be cute for year-round candy parties!

I got to meet DUFF of Ace of Cakes! I was in total cake-loving heaven. We watched him use his Michael’s line of cake decorating products to decorate a gorgeous cake. I get to see him again later this fall for a fun conference, so excited!

The Martha Stewart line was *obviously* a total fave of mine. We got to see a demo of the new paint colors by Plaid! As if it could get any better, we got to bring home a huge tote of ALL the new products. I died. It’s sitting right here beside me and I can’t wait to craft with it! There is a new line where you can make “sea glass” looking crafts in just a couple of steps. I’m so excited – stay tuned to see my creations with this fun line!

The Sharpie booth totally ROCKED! All of us were loving it. They set out white sunglasses that we got to decorate with the Sharpie line (including the new brush-tip AND glitter Sharpies). This is SUCH a cute party activity or favor idea, don’t you think?!

Yes, you are thinking the same thing I’m thinking. Michael’s is getting WASHI TAPE!!!! I about died (especially for that kelly green chevron print). And the new glitter colors – amazing! I foresee a sparkly fall at the Whitmore house.

The new Scrapbook Pattern papers from Recollections look darling too! I like to use these for all sorts of projects from gift tags to backgrounds in my books (Push-Up Pops used LOTS of scrapbook paper backgrounds).

Before we left, the Michael’s gave us each a massive amount of goodies from each of their in-house brands. I died. It was shipped home (thankfully) and is currently all spread out in my office. I’m SO EXCITED to craft away and I’ll be sharing some of the projects I make with these goodies!

Thank you, Michael’s! {disclaimer: Michael’s was a fabulous sponsor of this trip! However, we were not required to post about our experience but I couldn’t wait to share my pics + trip with you.}