The Allison Show

Studioahimsa specializes in stationery and (limited edition) prints. Linocut is their specialty. They love creating paper goods w/ 100% post-consumer recycled paper !  All jewelry and paintings are now on  http://twobearsoneheart.etsy.com Inspired by Canadian and other landscape, animals, and nature generally, we strive to respect all living things. Based in Vancouver, Canada , studioahimsa is the joint creative venture of Tazim and Greg.  All envelopes, paper and cards in our greeting cards and letter sets are 100% post-consumer recycled!  What is your educational and/or artistic background? We both have a background in Art History. Greg has a background in graphic design and Tazim has a background in interior design. What are your hobbies? We enjoy travelling, hiking, reading, watching movies and creating.  Where are you from?  We both grew up in Calgary, Alberta Canada but have lived elsewhere, as well.  What was the main inspiration for your shop?  Canadian and other landscape

 To me!!!!!     I turn 29 on Monday, January 31st.  So to celebrate,   I will be doing a week long giveaway extravaganza!! You can win stuff for you, the kids, and maybe I'll even throw in a surprise or two. Giveaways: **  $50 GC Just Paper Roses {this one is more for Valentine's Day but I always get Valentine's Day gifts for my birthday since they are so close so I added it. } **  Thirty One Insulated Tote ** Chalkboard Tee **  SHMILY Coins **  2 Jumbies

Happy Birthday to me!!!  The first present {a Thirty One Tote} goes to Melissa N!!!  She said, "follow you on FB."   She has been emailed and has 48 to respond. 

I first saw  Jumbies a couple of weeks ago in an auction to benefit Coupon Mom of 2 (3)'s daughter who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  I thought they were so cute so I showed the kids the pictures of them.  Not once or twice but once  a day.  LOL  So when I got received the opportunity to review them, I knew the kids would be so excited!!!!!!!!!!!   In case you don't know what I am talking about here is their story.  " There were more babies being born than ever before. The storks had to deliver them from shore to shore. There were baby elephants, bears, dogs, and cats. They had tigers, skunks and even baby bats! You could also find raccoons, deer, mice and whales. There were camels, sharks and dinosaurs with long tails. There were koalas, kangaroos and chimpanzees. The storks had all kinds of fish and even bumblebees ! They had to deliver them in the north, south, east

I bet you are thinking what the heck does SHMILY mean?   See       How             Much                      I                       Love                               You. Here is the SHMILY story "My grandparents were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they had met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word "SHMILY" in a surprise place for the other to find.  At one point, my grandmother even unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper to leave "SHMILY" on the very last sheet. There was no end to the places "SHMILY" would pop up. Little notes with "SHMILY" scribbled hurriedly were found on dashboards and car seats, or taped to steering wheels. The notes were stuffed inside shoes and left under pillows. "SHMILY" was written in the dust upon the mantel and traced in the ashes of the fireplace.   But there was a dark cloud in my grandparents' life: my grandmother had br

Jacob is totally into clothes.  Even though he is only almost 5, he picks out what he wears everyday.  He has tons of shirts and he is always changing his mind on which one is his favorite.  That is until we received the Chalkboard Tee!!!!!!!! Chalkboard Tees are shirts that actually have an area where you can draw with chalk on.  The chalkboard part is not thick or heavy.  It is just like a regular silk screen design would be. Jake is very sensitive to tags and certain material so I was kind of worried that the chalkboard would bother him but it didn't bother him at all.   He loves it.  He knows how to write his name so he loves to write it on his "tie".  LOL The black tag on the bottom left is actually a CHALK holder.  How cool is that??? Chalkboard Tees sell for $25 on their website.   One lucky reader will their very own Chalkboard Tee!!!  Sponsored by Tomoson.com Open to both US and Canadian residents. How To Enter: Mandatory Entry: *Head over to  Chal

Have you heard of Thirty One Gifts ?  I had but really had never looked through the catalog or given it too much thought.  I knew they did purses and bags, and that they offered personalization through embroidery when you bought something.   When Charlene Richards contacted me about doing a review/giveaway I was so excited!! The first thing I did was read through her whole site so that I could learn ore about this company. Here is the back story on Thirty One.  "Our mission is to celebrate, encourage and reward women through offering quality products and an outstanding opportunity to become successful business owners. We have seen this mission played out across the years in the individual lives of so many women who now have their own “Thirty-One Story”. Our products are exclusive to Thirty-One and provide style and convenience at an amazingly affordable price. From our key product line, to our “direction” line for teens, or our uniquely crafted “31kid” line for childre

Want to give your Hunny something unique and different this Valentine's Day??  Then you have to check out Just Paper Roses .  They actually have tons more stuff than just Valentine's Day Gifts.  They have gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, Sweet 16, and even gifts for him.  One of my favorite Valentine's Gifts of theirs is the toilet paper !!  We received a roll and Hubby and the kids could not stop laughing.  It says I love you from top to bottom!!  The toilet paper itself is nice and thick like the Super Thick brands. They also have a great selection of anniversary gifts.  Hubby and I were married 10 years on Dec 26 and we got a super cute aluminum rose.  Why aluminum you ask??  Why that's the 10 year gift material.  I had joked that I was going to buy him a can of soda!!  This was much better!! Just Paper Roses will make any holiday or celebration more fun and the recipient feel more special and loved. Do you want to feel more special and loved? 

  Growing up, Leslie Tentler had a big imagination and a gift for writing. As an adult, the Gwinnett County resident now has a three-book deal with MIRA Books. MIDNIGHT CALLER, her debut mass-market romantic suspense novel, will be available February 1, 2011 , through online booksellers and bookstores everywhere.   MIDNIGHT CALLER is the first in a series of romantic thrillers penned by Tentler and based around a fictional unit of the FBI . Two additional books in the Chasing Evil trilogy will be released in 2011 and 2012, respectively.    Prior to signing with MIRA, Tentler worked as a writer and editor in public relations in metro Atlanta for nearly two decades, specializing in high technology and non-profit healthcare clients. Her first fiction manuscript won multiple Romance Writers of America chapter contests, including Georgia Romance Writers’ prestigious Maggie Award of Excellence.   MIDNIGHT CALLER centers on the chilling obsession of a sadistic killer, the handsome fe

Shannon at  For My Sweet Daughter is my newest sponsor for the Hand Made with Giveaway event.  Remember it takes place Feb 2-6.  Here is some info about her {in her own words!!} I am a wife of 10 years (this July) and a mother to a smart and beautiful 18 month old daughter. I started making jewelry because I needed a creative outlet. I have always crafted and needed something portable and creative to help me unwind at the end of the day. I went to a handmade jewelry party at a friend's house and thought "I can do this" I never intended to make it a business but I couldn't keep everything so I started selling my pieces at the salon I do nails at. While I was pregnant I was very sick so I couldn't make jewelry or even read a book. I missed it very much and as soon as I could I took my beads out of storage and jumped back into creating with both feet. I started  My Blog in 2010 and opened an etsy and zibbet store. I also held my first jewelry party

As most of you know I am opening a Cupcake Bakery The Crazy Cupcake in the next couple of weeks.  Back in Dec we were interviewed for our local paper The Herald & Tribune.  New cupcakery to satisfy more than just a sweet tooth .  Well today we had our second interview with The Johnson City Press!!!  We were interviewed for an in newspaper magazine called For Her.  They have a column called I'll Have what She's Having where they go to different restaurants and bakeries and try their desserts.  So we had to make cupcakes so they could sample them.  This newspaper is also bigger than the Herald Tribune so I hope it really helps to get our name out there!! They sent out a photographer to take pictures of the 5 kind of cupcakes I made.  The article comes out the end of Feb!!  I am so excited I can't wait to open!!!! We are waiting on a few things and then we will be all set.  Unfortunately we have gotten TONS of snow since last Wednesday so that is making it hard to get t

Shari is my newest sponsor for the Hand Made with Giveaway event.  Remember it takes place Feb 2-6.  Here is some info about her {in her own words!!} I am a wife of 8 years to a wonderful hubby, and mother of 3 boys aged 4, 2, and 10 months (will be 1 March 2nd), and servant to 2 male cats. Yes, I am the lone rep of the female gender in my house. I started knitting at the age of 12 when I was taught in Crusaders (think boy scouts for Christian boys and girls offered through the church). I never really did a lot with it, but would pick up the needles all the time. When I got married I started knitting more because my hubby would be doing fix-it projects and wanted me to come talk with him. So I would take my knitting. I started selling it because 7 years of his projects has produced a lot of items sitting in my house. She has some super cute stuff in her etsy shop The Knit Wit by Shair .  She has hats, baby blankets, coffee cozy, headbands, and doll blankets.  Here i

Title: Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go Author: Lucille O'Neal and Allison Samuels Publisher:  Thomas Nelson Published: March 30, 2010 ISBN: 159555307X Summary: "Lucille O’Neal shares her public battles and personal struggles as a young, single mother of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. Lucille O’Neal would one day have it all, but not before fighting the public battles and personal demons that would threaten to shatter the very foundation of her life while taking their devastating toll along the way. Over the past 16 years, Lucille O’Neal has become one of the best-known mothers of a celebrity athlete. But behind the scenes, the mother of four has her own story, at once heartbreakingly familiar in its pain and yet wonderfully inspirational in its outcome. In this memoir, O’Neal candidly describes the pain of being an outcast and the stigma of becoming an unwed, teenage mother. Most interestingly, she candidly shares another side of fame and fortune—a side ra

You might have seen my post on Monday about the I Heart Faces weekly contest.  Well it was decided that the winner will be picked by votes.  So I was wondering if you would help me out and vote for Cody of you think he has the Face of 2010!!  All you have to do is visit I Heart Faces and vote by clicking on the photo you like.  You can vote up to 5 times (for different photos).  We are number 40 so please go vote!!!  Thanks!!!!!!!!

I Heart Faces does weekly photo contests and each one has a theme.  I did one of their weekly contests way back in like Spring 2010 but when I saw the theme this week I knew I had to do one again.  I cannot resist this kissy face!!  He didn't even know I was taking pictures of him when he did it. There are already tons of AMAZING photos posted so you should go check them out!!

On this second day of the new year, I decided that I wanted to write down my resolutions and goals and plans for 2011. Normally I am not that into resolutions or writing my plans and goals but this year I have so much that I want to accomplish and I have a set deadline in sight.  I turn 30 on Jan 31, 2012.  In just over a year!!  I have a kind of mindset about where I should be and what I should have accomplished by this HUGE (in significance) age. So I want to make sure that I am exactly where I want to be (in life and physically) when I celebrate the big 3-0. {In no particular order} ~~ Start (and almost more importantly complete) a 365 photo project.  I decided that since we are opening The Crazy Cupcake in Jan 2011, I would concentrate my 365 project on cupcakes.  But then {on second thought} when I think ahead to say tomorrow and the knowledge that I probably won't make any cupcakes, I realize that I will be able to get creative with my project.  Maybe I could shoot baking

Happy New Year!!  What better way to start the new year than as a winner of an awesome giveaway.  The winner of my Ready Leash giveaway is #32 Kelly Ann!!  She said, "12/28 tweet http://twitter.com/cstironkat/status/19777560174919680."  The winner of my Roundabouts Cupcake Sleeves is #57 Adriane!!  She said, "I like the Ice Cream Cone kit!" The winner of the book The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams is # 17 Robin.  She said, "I follow you on facebook." All 3 winner have been emailed and have 72 hours to respond or random.org will choose new winners.  Thanks to everyone who entered and Happy New Year!!!