Columnist Muriel Stevens: Easter basket shopping? Hop to it

Wednesday, April 5, 2000 | 9:12 a.m.

Wandering through Cost Plus and JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts (both in Best of the Boulevard center on Maryland Parkway), I was overwhelmed by the vast array of materials available for making up your own Easter baskets. Long before the holiday arrives you can create original baskets geared for a child of any age, or adult.

At Cost Plus they have an amazing array of baskets, candies, cookies and all sorts of foodstuffs and gift items geared to the holiday. Shop slowly here. It's so easy to miss the little things that make an Easter basket special.

A large bag of Ghiardelli milk chocolate squares wrapped in blue, pink and lavender foil is a terrific buy at $6.99. The bag is chock-full and would be a colorful addition to any basket.

Cost Plus is not a craft shop, but it does have lots of artsy-crafty stuff, housewares, food, coffee beans, china and crystal, tableware and an ever-growing selection of wines. Of course, there's much more, all at moderate prices.

JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts: This is another "much more" store. All I wanted was a skein of yarn when I went there this week. Instead I left there with a bag bulging with various glues, a number of art repair items, a small bag of clay used to fix chipped flower pots, and colored pipe cleaners that I use to secure flowers and such when I wrap packages. None of this I really needed, but JoAnn is an irresistible store.

Abloom with fake flowers, tons and tons of them, and bunnies and baskets, this is a good place to start looking for goodies to put into an Easter basket. JoAnn has all the basics, but the candy selection is not as good as at Cost Plus. Of course, that's only if you're looking for Easter things.

JoAnn stores have a vast selection of fabrics, trimmings, sewing and embroidery and craft materials. The store also features how-to demonstrations showing how to use the things you buy. On Saturday, 11 a.m., the featured demonstration will be stenciling a spring basket. Buy a basket and paint it with custom stencils.

Also available at the stores are catalogs with the creative class schedule. There are classes on everything from flower arranging to faux finishes for walls and furniture. There is a mostly moderate fee for each class. Class size is limited. The most popular, like the faux finishes, fill up fast, so be sure to sign up early. Check out, too, the Saturday series for creative kids. Youngsters love these activities.

Happy Birthday, Post-it: Twenty years ago a 3M scientist in St. Paul, Minn., was researching adhesives when he discovered an unusual one that stuck lightly to surfaces, but did not tightly bond. "What could we do with this?" he mused. Elsewhere in the city a colleague, Art Fry, needed something to keep his place in his music book (he sang in a church choir). Bookmarks kept falling out. "What if I coated one side of a paper with an adhesive that would stick lightly, but allow me to reposition it?" he wondered.

Back to the 3M lab for Spencer's earlier creation he went. Success didn't come overnight, but by 1980 America was covered with Post-its. Wonderful story, wonderful product.