I want to thank everyone who came by my blog and commented or liked my showcase of things found at a Michaels Arts and Crafts store last month. I was pleased to be able to finish the challenge on time this year and it was a lot of fun. I was also a little afraid that it would be boring but it seems to have sparked some inspiration in a few people to check their local Michaels for things they would not have done before. Now if I can just get Michaels to give me a kickback, it would be perfect, right?
In case you missed an installment or want to see something again, here is a recap of my Blogging from A to Z of Michaels Arts and Crafts store:
A – App
B – Baking
C – Candles and Clearance
D – Drawing
E – Events and Classes
F – Floral
G – Glitter and Glue
H – Home Decor
I – Iron On
J – Jewelry
K – Kids
L – Lighting and Liquitex
M – Miniatures and Missions
N – Necklace holders and needlework
O – Organization
P – Picture frames
Q – Q-Line
R – Ribbons and Rocks
S – Scrapbooking
T – T-shirts
U – Unique and Unusual
V – Velcro and Vases
W – Wedding and Washi tape
X – X-treme, X-acto and X-tras
Y – Yarn
Z – Zentangle, Zippers and Zots
In addition to my recap, I have to put a shout out to several new people I met along the A to Z this year:
Leanne from Cresting the Hill – She blogs about midlife and the empty nest.
Wendy at Wendy’s Waffle – She wrote about sports, the usual and the unusual.
Trudy at Reel Focus – She had a great movie game where you were to guess the title from the tagline.
Deena at Deena’s Days – She was great with Elvis as her theme.
Sue at Sue’s Trifles – Her A to Z was about occupations.
Jeanne Bryan Insalaco at Everyone Has a Story – I thought I knew a thing or two about Nancy Drew until I started reading her A to Z.
My friends from previous years:
Jacqui Murray at WordDreams who talked about the different genres in writing. Jacqui, in addition to being the inspiration for my A to Z theme, was also the 100th follower of my blog! Thanks Jacqui!
Patti at Scarlett 79 who shared great movie quotes.
Erika at Dorky Mom Doodles who doodled her way through her past.
Cathy at Curious as a Cathy who used her iPad to create some really neat sketches.
Iain Kelly at Iain Kelly Writing who took us on a trip through Europe.
Deborah Weber who gave us wonderful new words to learn in her manifesto.
Joe Owens at Fiction Playground who wrote a great detective story.
and we can’t forget the founder of the A to Z and his wonderful assistants:
Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out who talked about cleaning the clutter.
John Holton at The Sound of One Hand Typing who played his word games again.
J. Lenni Dorner at Blog of Author J Lenni Dorner who once again gave us a thrilling tale of speculative fiction story of life on another planet.
If I’ve left anyone off my list, it was not intentional. There were hundreds of participants again this year and while there were a few minor glitches with linking some of the days, all in all I thought things went very smoothly. Of course you can’t visit everyone every day and there are probably many more blogs I would have enjoyed reading so I’m thankful the lists are still available. There is also the Road Trip starting on May 23 which should be fun.
Just a couple of things I tried this year and felt that they really helped was to get a draft post started for each letter, even if I didn’t have the pictures or even the writing done. There are a few paragraphs at the beginning and the end of every post that were the same so by having those things in place at the start made it much easier when I got down to putting the pictures in and writing the story. The next thing was to start this recap post at the beginning of the challenge as well and then each day after I officially posted my letter, I would link it here that way once the challenge was done, all my links would be ready and I would just need to add the fluff. It was also nice to see the number of draft posts I had start to decrease as the days went on. When I was down to 3 to 4 drafts left I knew I was gonna make it!
Did you have a good time with the A to Z? Do you have your theme for next year yet? Any bloggers out there I should immediately go check out? Any tips you want to share? Let me know.
from Blogger http://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2018/05/blogging-from-to-z-2018-reflections.html
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Janet's Smiles 
Janet, thanks for stopping by and reading my Nancy Drew. It’s great to check out your list of bloggers, and thanks for adding me. I somehow hadn’t added you, but since I’ve added a few that I missed mentioning. I see a few on your reflection post I’ll be checking out… it’s fun to go and read everyone’s and then you find another blog to read. Now, what will we blog about next year? FYI… they’re filming a new Nancy Drew movie… and in my mothers’ hometown in GA. I can’t wait to come back and be around for the filming. I’ll have more to blog on. LOL
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Loved your Nancy Drew information. I’ll have to go back and read the ones I missed since I didn’t catch you until halfway through. That’s one of the things about the A to Z always someone new to find. I’m still trying to think of something for next year.
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I have a few ideas, I usually keep them written in my A To Z notebook do I don’t lose track. Nancy Drew got her own notebook of ideas, scribbles and notes. I’m sad to pack her away but I still have ideas for her as I just found out the new Nancy Drew movie is being filmed in my mother’s town in GA so I’ll be here to visit for most of the filming. I’ll be blogging on that!
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Congrats on getting through the challenge again! And thanks for the mention 😀
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Thanks. Gotta include all those who make me laugh!
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Yay me! (as the 100th follower). I can’t wait to see what you write each week!
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Thanks Jacqui! I’ll try not to disappoint!
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Congrats on successfully completing this year’s A to Z challenge! I too enjoyed seeing my drafted posts decrease in number as we got closer to the end. Weekends In Maine
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I enjoyed seeing Maine! Thanks for stopping by!
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I did the same thing as you – a MUST with two blogs participating. I set up all my drafts first. The GoldenDoodle posts were easier to do, the hardest part of those was finding photos that worked. LOL!
Although not a crafty person, I really enjoyed following along and will hang on for the ride!! Thanks for a great job done!
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Thanks Donna! You are crafty with words!
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Great reflection, Janet. I don’t consider myself an ‘Arts and Crafts’ person (I wish I was)! Still, your posts gave me much inspiration of things that I could do with the help of Michaels (conveniently, there is a store located near me)! Congratulations and see you again on The Road Trip….if not sooner!
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Thanks! Can I use your comment to send to Michaels? Maybe they’ll consider featuring my posts on their site or something.
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Yes – please, please do. I will be visiting Michaels (on Vancouver Island) this week, and it is truly because of your posts!
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Congrats on doing the challenge. I’m glad that you had fun doing it and that you met some new-to-you bloggers. Planning for next year yet? 😄
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Yes, Ally, got any theme ideas?
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Good job and great tips if I ever decide to participate.
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It is a lot of work but very fun and informative. There are a lot of interesting blogs out there.
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