Day 2 of the Michaels Blogger Event started off early as we headed straight to the Michaels Headquarters. With over 1,065 Michaels Craft stores all over Canada and the US, it was really neat to visit the hub of “Where Creativity (really) Happens”.
Jo Pearson has been with Michaels for over 25 years. She leads the Michaels Creative Team. They had this cute sign up when we arrived. 🙂
While at the headquarters, it was neat to have behind-the-scenes access to the thinking and inspiration for Michaels products, stores and upcoming crafting trends. Learning about how they predict craft trends was the most interesting part to me. Trends in crafting come and go, and they have to constantly stay up on it.
We learned that Michaels has a bunch of “in house” brands. This was news to me. They basically have an “in-house” brand for almost every category of crafting in their store.
– Recollections brand – for scrapbooking
– Loops and Threads brand – for knitting
– Celebrate It brand – for party decor and cake and cookie decorating
– Creatology brand – for kids crafts
– Studio Decor brand – for frames
– CraftSmart brand – for general craft supplies
– Artists Loft brand – for professional painting
– CraftSmart brand – for general craft paint
– Art Minds brand – for mosaic making
– Ashland brand – for flower arranging
– Bead Landing brand – for jewelry making
It was fun to take a peek (and a pic) inside the room where the Michaels Creative Team gets to craft all day (and get paid for it!). 🙂 What a fun job that would be!
After we visited the corporate office, Jo invited all of us out to her home for lunch. Right off the bat we all fell in love with her darling turquoise trailer parked in her yard. It really doesn’t get much cuter than that!
Right in front of the adorable trailers, she has this giant tree swing that I just couldn’t resist. 🙂 I mean…c’mon…it’s pink! 
Jo’s home is amazing! I shared a bunch more photos below. It is like a museum of treasure. She could pretty much charge admission, and people would pay it just to take a peek inside. Out of each amazingly themed room in her home, her little candy store/ ice cream store nook, had to be my favorite. It has pastel polka dots all over the walls. It’s just adorable! (thank you Jo! For welcoming us into your home! We loved it!
After lunch, we headed to a Michaels Store. This store is one of their flag ships stores. It is brand new. It was a really pretty store to see.
We headed straight to the big craft room in front of the store, where they had some treats and 5 different craft stations set up for us to try out new products and (new to us) craft techniques.
1. Cake decorating
2. Foam Stamp making
3. Mixed Media Journaling
4. Jewelry Making
5. Card Making
Out of all 5 stations, I’d have to say that my favorite technique to learn, was the mixed media journals taught by Kathy Kromer. I’m excited to share more later on a few of the products we used for these.
Here is Jen and I at the cake decorating station.
Alison and Cindy at the card making table.
Amy Atlas had on this darling little dress that looked like splotches of paint all over it. Perfect attire for a day of crafting with Michaels (don’tcha think?).
Jen and Jen at the foam stamp making station.
Here is Amy’s art that she made at the mixed media table. Cute!
No blogger is complete without a camera, here’s a funny pic of us all snapin’ a few, because that’s what we do best!
It was a fun filled day that ended with a round-table discussion to provide feedback, share ideas and give perspective on Michaels and the crafting community.
back row: Kari – Amy – Jen – Ashley – Alison – Cindy – Kelly
front row: Amy – Jen – Kami (that’s me)
I was thrilled to be included with all these amazing bloggers. Thanks to everyone who made this trip so great
*In full disclosure, Michaels Craft Stores did pay for my travel and accommodations for this two day trip. I am in no way obligated to mention this event here, I just wanted to let Michaels know how much I enjoyed this event. All these opinions are %100 my own.
*Also thank you to the nice people at Empower Media Marketing who were so great to work with.
