Wonderfyl Weekly Giveaway -- Innovative Stamp Creations

I am going to explain the wonderful giveaway first, then there is a long apology letter below. Not mandatory reading, but if you are wondering about my absence, it helps explain it! (Plus it was unbelievably cathartic to write it all down).

Today's Wonderful Wednesday giveaway is from Innovative Stamp Creations. The gorgeous rubber stamp sheet below will be sent to one lucky winner along with the card at the left.

The card was made using the Watercolor Resist Technique from the December 2008 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. I find these colors peaceful and serene, and they work perfectly with these pretty stamps, don't they?

If you like these stamps, make sure to use the code for the discount to Innovative Stamp Creations in my sidebar. Betsy has a whole slew of new stamps for you to ooh and ahh over!

To enter the give away for today, simply leave a comment on this blog entry telling me that you would like to enter by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, January 11th. No other entry methods will be included in the give away. If you email me to enter, your entry will NOT be considered a valid entry. When you leave the comment, make sure to put your NAME in the comment -- if you enter your comment as "Anonymous", I cannot give you the prize! Blogger does NOT record your email address for me, so you will need to check back to find out if you have won or include your email address in your comment so that I can notify you. A good way to do this is like so: phuntoon at optonline dot net -- it will help protect your privacy! I will have a random number generator pick one number from the comments to select one winner. Each give-away is separate, so to be eligible for a specific item you must enter that day's contest on the post where it is listed. Enter today -- good luck!

Okay... if you have time, here is my tale-of-woe:

My dear friends,
I must apologize for the lack of giveaways -- or even blog posts -- in the last few weeks. My life has been a comedy of extreme highs to extreme lows in the last three weeks. I went from the joy and wonder of the Christmas season to the depths of a roof-leaf, to the holidays, to having to put my faithful dog of 15 years to sleep. Throw in traveling for 5 days, company, and trying to paint a picture of complete normalcy for my kids sake, and you have a very insane person on your hands (that would be me!). Oh, did I mention that my emails were not working for TWO weeks? I was reading emails and responding to them, but I had NO IDEA everything I sent for two weeks was not delivered. It all appeared so normal!

Um, I have a newsletter to publish, so when I was not on the phone with Customer Support in India (with which company? You name it, I have spoken to all of them!) I am desperately trying to create a beautiful and rich newsletter document filled with all of the fabulous techniques we have in store for you for February. Keep your fingers crossed that I have fixed my issues (although I cannot access old emails or my email contact list).

And guess what? My 15 year old son just spent the evening (yes, tonight) in the hospital -- he was kicked in the head two times by two different kids at soccer practice tonight. By accident. He is the goalie on a high-level team, and they get aggressive. I keep asking -- "Why didn't they take him out of the goal when he was kicked in the head ONCE?" No-one wants to answer that. Thank goodness, he appears to be okay now. I suspect he will be home with me tomorrow, though : )

So, I have been out of touch. I know you forgive me. I haven't stamped in WEEKS -- and tomorrow I am promising myself to dirty my hands for a while!

My Best Regards for a Happy 2009.

The winner of this set is Christine O'Connor! Congratulations, Christine!

Wonderful Wednesday Giveaway -- The Stampsmith

Today's giveaway are two beautiful unmounted photo stamps from The Stampsmith.

The first image, shown in the card and on the left, is Grace Christmas. I find this image to be incredibly lovely! I think it is because the evergreen in the picture makes me conjure up the smell of pine -- it is a very happy and soothing smell for me.

When I was making the card above, I stamped her in black ink on glossy paper, then gently tinted the image with chalk. That panel is mounted on burgundy, then on a piece of pink/burgundy/green that was made using the Two-Toned Crunch Technique from the December 2008 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. That piece was mounted on a piece of stamped evergreen paper, mounted again on Burgundy, and embellished with ribbons and snowflakes.

The second image in today's giveaway, on the right, Is called butterfly kiss. I did make a card with this image, too, but it will be shown in the February 2009 issue of the TJ Newsletter, and I did not want to ruin the surprise!

For the giveaway this week, I would like to do something different. To enter, leave a comment, BUT tell me what Holiday item makes you feel all warm inside : )

You have until Sunday evening, December 21st, 2008, to leave me a comment. I will select a winner using a random number generator on Monday, December 22nd. Make sure to leave me your email address so that I can contact you. You many want to leave it in this format: p huntoon at optonline dot net -- that will help mystify those pesky internet bots.

Now, I am off to smell my Christmas tree~

Congratulations to Sharon Briss! She is the lucky giveaway winner!

Firecracker Designs by Pamela Giveaway

This great stamp set from Firecracker Designs by Pamela is our giveaway for today. Filled with gorgeous images, it is would be a great addition to anyone's stamp collection!

Enter the giveaway today:
To enter the give away for today, simply leave a comment on this blog entry telling me that you would like to enter by 11:59pm EST on Monday December 15th. No other entry methods will be included in the give away. If you email me to enter, your entry will NOT be considered a valid entry. When you leave the comment, make sure to put your NAME in the comment -- if you enter your comment as "Anonymous", I cannot give you the prize! Blogger does NOT record your email address for me, so you will need to check back to find out if you have won or include your email address in your comment so that I can notify you. A good way to do this is like so: phuntoon at optonline dot net -- it will help protect your privacy! I will have a random number generator pick one number from the comments to select one winner. Each give-away is separate, so to be eligible for a specific item you must enter that day's contest on the post where it is listed. Enter today -- good luck!

The winner of this giveaway is: Denise Denike! Congratulations, Denise!

Wonderful Wednesday Giveaway: Our Daily Bread Designs

Our Holiday Blogstravaganza continues with the second Giveaway this week -- for this beautiful set from Our Daily Bread Designs. This set (We Three Kings) was used to make the card above, that will accompany the set to the winner of the giveaway. The card uses the Color Pop Technique from the December issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter as the background, with a Torn Frame (December 2008) around the greeting.

Our Daily Bread Designs has free Shipping on orders over $50.00 for US residents (or over $70.00 for folks in Canada). Make sure you check out the new stamps, too! You can also purchase gift certificates with ODBD -- what a great Christmas Gift!

Don't forget -- Technique Junkies receive a discount on all Our Daily Bread Designs Sets -- Look in my sidebar for the coupon code.

I have been neglect in mentioning all the gorgeous Blogstravaganza artwork posted this week from our designers:

Jane Bosi on Jane's Addiction

Lisa Somerville at Splendiferous Creations

Shelly Hickox from StampTramp

Judy Jackson & Vada Schutz on the Design Team Blog

Connie Piotter on SoDak Stamping

Nancy Judd on Inkblocks

Kimm Bennington-Thompson on Artful Sentiments by Kimm

Hurry and enter the giveaway, though -- I am picking a winner by Thursday at midnight! To enter the give away for today, simply leave a comment on this blog entry telling me that you would like to enter by 11:59pm EST on Thursday December 11th. No other entry methods will be included in the give away. If you email me to enter, your entry will NOT be considered a valid entry. When you leave the comment, make sure to put your NAME in the comment -- if you enter your comment as "Anonymous", I cannot give you the prize! Blogger does NOT record your email address for me, so you will need to check back to find out if you have won or include your email address in your comment so that I can notify you. A good way to do this is like so: phuntoon at optonline dot net -- it will help protect your privacy! I will have a random number generator pick one number from the comments to select one winner. Each give-away is separate, so to be eligible for a specific item you must enter that day's contest on the post where it is listed. Enter today -- good luck!

The winner of this giveaway is Bobbi Nessly! Congratulations!

Another Great Giveaway! Innovative Stamp Creations

I know it is Monday, and not our normal Wednesday Giveaway time, but this week we are having THREE giveaways! Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Can't we all use something to bring joy to our hearts while we prepare for the holidays?


Today we are fortunate to have some absolutely gorgeous stamps from Innovative Stamp Creations. The stamp sheet I am giving away today is NOT Christmas-themed -- although I did use it on the card above! I thought it would be nice to have some non-Christmas stamps today to appeal to everyone, no matter what their religious beliefs. As you can see, these are gorgeous enough to pair with ANY other stamps:




This stamp sheet from Innovative Stamp Creations is called Artsy Victorian, and I have used the gorgeous swirl in the center for the swirl on my Faux Designer Paper card above. This is the most beautiful swirl -- I use it on everything!! The other stamps used on the card are from another new ISC sheet called Christmas Trinkets. The Faux Designer Paper Technique is featured in the December 2008 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter.

Hurry and enter the giveaway, though -- I am picking a winner by Tuesday at midnight!

To enter the give away for today, simply leave a comment on this blog entry telling me that you would like to enter by 11:59pm EST on Tuesday December 9th. No other entry methods will be included in the give away. If you email me to enter, your entry will NOT be considered a valid entry. When you leave the comment, make sure to put your NAME in the comment -- if you enter your comment as "Anonymous", I cannot give you the prize! Blogger does NOT record your email address for me, so you will need to check back to find out if you have won or include your email address in your comment so that I can notify you. A good way to do this is like so: phuntoon at optonline dot net -- it will help protect your privacy! I will have a random number generator pick one number from the comments to select one winner. Each give-away is separate, so to be eligible for a specific item you must enter that day's contest on the post where it is listed. Enter today -- good luck!

Congratulaions to Jennifer Willis, the winner of this giveaway!

Untraditional Poinsettias

Well, that is inaccurate. The Poinsettias are traditional -- the way I colored them is not! I wanted something more striking than basic red poinsettias -- so I chose to put some light colors on the dark paper. This uses the Faux Bleach Technique for coloring and the Torn Frames technique for the frame. Both are Techniques that can be found in the December 2008 edition of the Technique Junkie Newsletter.

This is one of those cards that looks 100% better in person! It looks garish here, but IRL it is elegant.

All Stamps: Rubberstamp Ave

Today's Blogstravaganza Players:

Lisa Somerville at Splendiferous Creations
Nancy Judd at Inkblocks
Kimm Benninton-Thompson at Artful Sentiments by Kimm
Jane Bosi on Jane's Addictions
Connie Piotter on SoDak Stamping
Make sure to check out their gorgeous work!

Wonderful Wednesday Giveaway - Clear Artistic Stamps

Todya we are fortunate to have Clear Artistic Stamps as our sponsor. Since we are still in the TJ Holiday Blogstravaganza, it is fitting to offer these adorable Clear Christmas Stamps:

It just so happens that these stamps are on Special, too -- check out the specials on the Clear Artistic Stamp Website HERE.

Along with the stamps, you will receive the card shown above, which features the Clear Artistic Stamp image layered over a piece of Feathered Tye Dye, one of the December 2008 techniques from the current issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter.

Playing in the blogstravaganza today are (note that some of these ladies actually posted yesterday or Monday -- I have had some issues here and have not been able to update my blog):
Lisa Somerville at Splendiferous Creations
Nancy Judd at Inkblocks
Kimm Benninton-Thompson at Artful Sentiments by Kimm
Jane Bosi on Jane's Addictions
Connie Piotter on SoDak Stamping

To enter the giveaway:
One entry per person, per give away, please. To enter the give away for today, simply leave a comment on this blog entry telling me that you would like to enter by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, December 7th. No other entry methods will be included in the give away. If you email me to enter, your entry will NOT be considered a valid entry. When you leave the comment, make sure to put your NAME in the comment -- if you enter your comment as "Anonymous", I cannot give you the prize! Blogger does NOT record your email address for me, so you will need to check back to find out if you have won or include your email address in your comment so that I can notify you. A good way to do this is like so: phuntoon at optonline dot net -- it will help protect your privacy! I will have a random number generator pick one number from the comments to select one winner. Each give-away is separate, so to be eligible for a specific item you must enter that day's contest on the post where it is listed. Enter today -- good luck!

Congratulations to Roxi Green, the winner of these great stamps!