Laura Childs Gossamer Ghost Giveaway

Happy November! I hope you all had an absolutely fabulous Elsaween...err.... Halloween. I thought it would be fun to kick of November with a fantastic giveaway! j

Laura Childs is one of my favorite authors! She writes mystery series that are super fun to read, including the Carmela Bertrand Scrapbooking Mysteries! Carmela owns a scrapbook store right in the hub of New Orleans called Memory Mine. She and her best friend Marla, along with other area friends, celebrate the art and history of New Orleans, but often find themselves right in the middle of some pretty crazy things. And by crazy, I pretty much mean dead people. Yup. Murders. Carmela is known for her 'tendency' to look into these things a bit deeper, which can get her into a bit of trouble with her boyfriend, a local police officer! She and her best friend, and fellow local shop owner, Ava, are at it again in Gossamer Ghost. They find a local shop owner dead, and begin to investigate. Of course, it's Halloween in New Orleans, so it can be tricky to sort through the zombies and the genuine murderers!

Carmela's adventures are always a blast to read! Also, included in each book are scrapbooking and paper crafting tips and ideas AND recipes that are mentioned in the book! BONUS!

I have one hard cover copy of Gossamer Ghost to give away to one lucky reader! This giveaway is open to those in the U.S. only due to shipping costs. The giveaway begins 3 November 2014 and will close 9 November 2014. All opinions in this post are my own. Thank you to Nally Studios for providing this opportunity. Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Christmas Eve Giveaway! Guilt Trip by Laura Childs

Happy Christmas Eve!  YAY!!!  I have a super fun giveaway for you today!

Laura Childs is one of my absolute FAVORITE authors!  She writes a wonderful Tea Shop series, a fun culinary series, and, my personal favorite, a series of scrapbook shop mysteries!  I was recently sent a copy of her latest title, Guilt Trip, and I was NOT dissapointed!  

The main character, Carmela Bertrand, is caught in the midst of yet another scandelous murder investigation!  She quickly finds her self doing her own research whilst running her scrapbook shop, Memory Mine, all the while.  The characters are expressive, relatable, and totally fun!  I consider them friends.  LOL!  The story moves quickly and is easy to read with lots of fun twists along the way.  This is truly a pleasure to read.  Go make yourself a cup of tea, sit down and enjoy!!!

Here is a bit about the author: Laura Childs is the author of the New York Times bestselling Tea

Shop Mysteries, Cackleberry Club Mysteries, and Scrapbooking Mysteries series. She’s

been making scrapbooks, cards, memory boxes and collaged cigar box purses for 15 

years and describes her creative style as varying from conservative to funky. She’s also 

a believer that “the more layers the better” in her projects.

Yup.  She sounds pretty darned fabulous if you ask me!  :)  We could totally hang out.

I have a signed copy of Gilt Trip to give away to one lucky Just Jingle reader!  To enter, please check out the form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Martha Stewart. Love Her. Hate her. It's such a Struggle, really.

Okay, so I'm the first to admit that I'm simply NOT a Martha fan. (Martha, sorry if you are reading this...since I know you frequent my blog and all...since you know I exist and all...ye..ah...so anyway....) She's always annoyed the crap out of me with all of her "you MUST use the VERY BEST of everything...aka: you MUST be a multi-millionaire to craft, cook, OR decorate anything ever. Then there was the whole jail thing, which certainly didn't help any. HOWEVER, that all being said...I am unwillingly EXTREMELY attracted to her products! Seriously, folks! It sort of creeps me out. I don't like it, but what's a girl to do?

I LOVE her craft punches! They are simply awesome! I really WANT one of her screw punches, but they are ridiculously expensive, so I've never taken that plunge. I really like her labels and her stickers, and her stinking magazines, even! I now subscribe to BOTH MS Living AND Body and Soul! Yikes! What am I DOING??? At least I got those subs for free so I'm not feeding the monster or anything...which brings me to my point for today, anyway!

The Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts

Yes. It is a pretty book. No. I did not purchase the book. BUT...I did pick it up at the library last night. I picked it up, added it to my stack of books that I was getting and told my husband that I was curious since there was no way I was going to buy the book EVER.

Well, crud.

I like it.

A lot.

I haven't, obviously, done any of the projects yet, as I just picked it up last night, but I did page through it and there are LOTS that I would really love to do! Now, granted...being a Martha publication some of them require supplies that you can only get at 'specialty' stores if you happen to have an arm, a leg, and perhaps an eye to spare...or maybe your first born...you know how that goes...but there are other projects in there that are totally normal and reasonable and look REALLY STINKING CUTE! Now I want to make them.

Honestly, this book looks awesome and is so worth owning. I will try to get a project or two from it done so I can share them with you, but in the meantime, run to your library and check it out!

I also picked up a book to help me learn to knit. Now all I need is yarn. And needles. And some other stuff. LOL! OH, and I got Death Swatch by Laura Childs because I simply CAN'T wait until it comes out in paperback and I MUST read it now! I love her books!!!

So, what are your opinions on Martha? Do you love her? Hater her? Emulate her? Boycott her? I'm curious. Am I alone in my struggle?