Christmas deals and steals: Somebody stop me!

I. Love. Michael's.

My post-Christmas shopping experience yesterday just wasn't quite satisfying enough, so I ventured out again today in search of more sales. Hobby Lobby is usually my go-to store for crafts and decor in general, but I had already been there (plus, they're not open on Sundays anyway). So, I decided to see what Michael's had left over, and I totally hit the jackpot. Why do I not go to this store more often?!

They still had a pretty decent amount of holiday merchandise to peruse through (all 50-70% off!), and I was there for a good hour and a half, filling my cart with goodies. I could have come away with so much more, but I had to stop myself at some point. Let's just say it's a good thing they don't make their carts much bigger. Check these out!

36" Wreath - $9.99

I plan on sprucing this up with ribbon and maybe some ornaments, and then hanging it above our garage door next year. (Who am I kidding? Hubby will be the one to hang it. :)

As you can see, Phoebe wasted no time hopping in the middle as soon as I put it on the floor; she loves laying on our stuff and being contained in small spaces... ain't she cute?

10" Jingle Ball Wreath - $5.99

I'd love to eventually get a big mirror up on our empty dining room wall. If and when that happens, it would make the perfect canvas for this festive little wreath. (Unless I get ambitious enough to make an Eddie Ross ornament wreath.) I really love the look of wreaths hanging by a wide ribbon on the front of a mirror.

Plastic Craft Ornaments - $0.39 each

I envision these filled with faux snow and maybe some strands of tinsel or ribbon swirled inside. Easy DIY ornaments!

Ceramic containers - $1.79 each (!!!)

They had a bunch of cute containers that were all 70% off. I so badly wanted to snatch up ALL of them, but couldn't really justify that. So I settled for these two lovelies, which have just the right amount of glitz & glitter.

Potpourri Vase Filler - $2.99 and Christmas Raffia - $1.19

Perhaps I will put the vase filler in the above containers??

12" Glass Candle Holder - $5.49 and 14" Glass Candle Holder - $6.49

I think I'm most excited about these beauties! The shiny, silvery/gold design is going to look gorgeous with a little tealight glowing inside! They'll get along very nicely with my tabletop trees, too.

After I dragged myself away from Michael's, I decided to stop at Dollar General just to see what bargains they had. There wasn't much that caught my eye, except for these:


 Mini ornaments - $0.50 each and Tinsel strands - $0.50

I'm not sure where I'll put the mini ornaments, but I know I'll find a place for them somewhere! (I may use the little light bulbs as charms on gifts I wrap.) As for the tinsel, I'll stuff it inside the clear ornaments from Michael's.

Wow - that was exhilarating! I'm so excited about all of these finds, not to mention the money I saved! I felt that our holiday decor (aka the "Christmas corner") was a little weak this year, because we haven't really accumulated that much yet. This is definitely going to help, though.

Better yet, I just learned yesterday that they're going to build a brand new Michael's only a couple miles away from us! Woo-hoo!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Christmas 2010!  :)