Mail Box Gifties for the Queen !

One of the best things about this time of year is how fun it can be to go and get the mail from the box each day. Instead of the usual bills and ads, there are often extra gifties and cards in there that make the day extra special.

Well, Monday was a Bonsai ! day in my mailbox ! Feast your eyes on the gifties all sent to little old me !!!!

The main box was from one Queen to another, from Kate at Queen of Creativity.

I was lucky enough to win her giveaway for her 100th post as the Queen a little while back and she sent me this incredible box full of collage goodies from her own stashes !

Look at the gorgeous face that she painted on the brown paper wrapping on the box! Believe me, I was very careful when removing it so I could save the beauty !

She added some other wonderful details to the package, all custom made with me in mind !

Love that !!!!

And inside was a ton of wonderful collage elements of all kinds ! Hand made papers, pages from old books, decorative napkins...

and some really really beautiful spray paint papers made by the Queen herself.

Thank you so very much, Kate, for all the wonderful pieces ! It made me so joyful to open the package and also to dream about where the magnificent stuff is going to go in my art making ! So much fun !

Along with Kate's gift in the mail was an envelope from WI from my dear blogpal, Beth.

A little while ago she presented some new wonderful creations that this incredibly talented lady has come up with on her blog- a series of gorgeous cards combining beautiful words and her own beautiful designs.

Well my sweet friend sent me a bundle of the cards that I just adore !

I can't wait to send them out as little bits of love to important people in my world. Thank you so very much, lovely Beth for sharing your sweet gifts with me !

And last but not least, I received a perfectly crazy, slight risque card from one of my blogpals who I am so enjoying getting to know better, Susan Sager Brown at Brokn Heart Art. I love Susan's irreverence and her open-heart and her hilarious sense of humor. Brings out the more edging side of this Queen which is fun. Plus she always has yummy eye candy on her blog every month !

Here is a little detail from her

card designed by her with that great edginess I so admire :

Imagine this image and some words about Ed's mistletoe and where he like to hang it ! ;)

Love it ! Thanks, Susan, for keeping me on your mailing list for Christmas giggles this year !

So it is Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 and I would like to take this chance to wish my sweet old friend Suzanne a happy birthday !!! She hit a big milestone today, and she has done it with some soul searching, with an eye towards living the rest of her life in some new and richer ways, and with a ton of humor which makes it all go down a little easier !!!

I love you Suzy, and happy, happy 50th Birthday !!!

This one is for you !

Happy Tuesday, Beautiful Ones ! I hope you find some gifties in your mail box today too !

100th Post !!! " Let Them Give Thanks !" Give-Away

Wow ! I started this blog in March of 2008 and I have reached the 100th post marker ! How cool is that ! It seems fitting that I reach this milestone on Thanksgiving Eve. My blog and my Blogland Friends are among the things I am very thankful for this year. I have found an outlet for my creative juices. I have found ways to spread some extra Queenly love around my world. I have found a community of artists and creative people who are encouraging and positive, as well as fun and inspiring. This blog has been a truely great experience for me so far and I am happy to celebrate it's 100th post in style !

So here's the give-away plan ! I will be giving away 1 item from my Queen of Arts Studio Etsy Shop !!

Any item that the winner chooses!

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post, telling me one thing that you would like to receive from the shop and why.

David will pick a random name from the hat for me and I will announce the winner on Monday, December 1 st in post #101 ! Yay for give-aways !!!

I am looking forward to the next few days. Turkey, Thanks, talk, wine, etc ... at the Father-in-laws tomorrow. Then my buddy Suzanne is coming for a girlie weekend at my house ! Chick talk, some craft store shopping (not on Black Friday though!), and cozy friend time will be the order of the weekend ! Yippee ! Like I said, so much to be thankful for !

I wish you all lovely moments of joyous gratitude this Thanksgiving ! Cheers, my Friends !

My Blond has More Fun !

So usually I have photo posts of my favorite redhead, Miss Katie Cupcake :

(okay - had to slip one in - taken at my sister's place last weekend - Kate 6 1/2 months old)

But today I thought I would share some shots of my favorite blond, Miss Chica :

Today's trip to Hampton Beach, NH was all about Absolute Labrador Heaven ! The beach to run on, the ball to chase, and the waves to play in :

Oh yeah...and my favorite humans to splash on when it's time to shake !

I said, absolute Labrador Heaven !

There was a little time left over for some rockin'...

("Rock My World" rocks left on the shore wall - seaside love to share...)

David, Chica and I took the advice from one of my rocks on this Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day and decided to :

We did ourselves proud ! A truly beautiful day.

In some other exciting news, Sherry from Esprit d'Art included one of my necklaces in a Treasury on Etsy !!! Check it out here. My first treasury !!! Thanks for much for including me, Sherry !

Missed a Photo Shoot and I've been Tagged

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WILL BE NO OCTOBER PHOTOSHOOT BECAUSE YOU FORGOT TO CHARGE YOUR CAMERA BATTERY ???"

So I returned home yesterday after the lovely weekend in Montreal and Mont Tremblant. I have very few photos to show for my time away. One reason is I was just into spending time with my peeps. A second is that when I was ready for a photoshoot at the cottage when the light was beautiful and the fall colors were spectacular, I found that my battery on the camera was dying and there is no electricity up there to plug my charger in. So this is the only photo of Miss Kate I took during the month of October ! She looks so incredulous, that little pumpkin head ! I had promised myself to do a photo shoot of her every month for the first year of her life at least but Month 5 is a bust ! At least we had a super smoochy, super sweet visit !!! I love that Baby Girl !

Our Canadian Thanksgiving was fine and rustic as we had a sit down dinner for 14 people at the cottage with no electricity or running water. The turkey and all the fixings cooked in the propane oven (courtesy of my sister Natalie and her man Dave, and especially stuffed by my Uncle Charlie) were delicious as were My Aunt Lise's Apple Crisp and the birthday cakes ! The best part was just all of us being together and hanging out at our special place ! So very much Thanks going around there !

So while I was away, Sandy at My own 'lil world tagged me. It was her first time being tagged and it is my first time too. A bunch of tag virgins around here ! If you are not a tag virgin, if you are tagged out, or you are saving yourself for just the right tag, that is okay with me ! No hard feelings for not joining in here, but you know that I am going to play along !

Sandy told me to post 7 random things about me and then to tag 7 more blog friends so here goes :

1. I am half Russian (my mom immigrated to Canada as a child) and half French Canadian, but my mother tongue is English. (I am bilingual in French and English but only know a few words in Russian).

2. My favorite color is green - even the kick-ass laptop I bought from Dell a few months back is lime green.

3. I met my husband David at a Halloween Party which also happens to be his birthday. I was dressed as a fortune teller and he was dressed as a judge.

4. I read Tarot cards (though I am rusty right now - it has been a while) but only as my alter-ego, Marina, a Russian gypsy woman.

5. I can touch the tip of my tongue to the tip of my nose. I have a short philtrum I guess (look it up !!!!) !

6. I have been on TV three times in my life (that I know of !) : once at age 5 on a local 30 minute Montreal kids show called "Magic Tom", once at 29 on CTV Nation News for a story on teaching learning challenged kids, and once just last year on a local Manchester show called "New Hampshire Chronicle" where the paper craft studio I teach classes at (Talk Paper Scissors) was featured as a new business.

7. My favorite time of day to walk around the neighborhood is evening (especially in Fall) when it has just gotten dark so I can peep in windows and see how people decorate their homes and where they eat dinner.

That random enough for ya ?

Here are my 7 tagged friends :

1. Sherry at Esprit d'Art 2. Carolyn at 8Golden Paws, 3. Lesley at Funky Art Queen

4.Paula at Little Scraps of Magic 5. lulu at my pink turtle 6. Jennifer at The Stumbly Diva

7. Kathy at Love Letters

No longer a tag virgin !;-) Glad to be back home in blogland after a nice time away ! Happy Wednesday !

Birthday Wishes Come True

BIG Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful Blogland birthday wishes ! I feel so very, very blessed !

Yesterday was a good day ! It started with a mushy card from my hubby, you know the kind that makes you tear up ? I think a mushy card is a must from your hubby, and my man never fails to delivers, whatever the celebration! The absolutely gorgeous fall day (75 degrees and sunny in New Hampshire in October is a gift all right !) was filled with little treats from friends, great emails, sweet phone calls, a little birthday shopping and the grand finale - a trip to Hampton Beach to watch the sunset, the moon rise and to collect some more rocks for a little project I am working on....

Here's some shots from our time (all of them taken by the hubby man himself )...

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire

Ta-Da ! The Ocean !!!Only 40 minutes from my house !

I quickly took off my shoes and ...

put my toes in the water...about 55 degrees I would say !

(Nice feet shots by David, don't you think ?)

Here's a gift I found for myself - my heart rock !

So what did we do at the beach ? We watched the moon rise over the waves:

We smooched a little :

We played a little :

We took some arty photos as per my requests:

and we gathered enough rocks to fill my bucket :

(my bucket at home on my desk this morning- ready for some paint and some love

All in all, the evening was a perfect way to celebrate the Queen's birthday !

See the happy, happy Queen :

The Kim Birth-Festival continues this weekend as we head to Montreal and to Mont Tremblant for Canadian Thanksgiving and family celebrations. The weather is supposed to be fantastic all weekend - a kind of Indian Summer up there ! It should be beautiful all around. In spite of how scary and unsure so many things are in this world, we still have so very, very much to be thankful for ! So I am off to count my blessings...

Have a great weekend !