Day 17 Item 5: $20 Gift Card to The Elegant Elle

My lovely friend Kami has donated a $20 gift card to her ETSY shop, The Elegant Elle!

Her items are absolutely BEAUTIFUL and I know you will love what she has to offer!

About Kami:
I am a 27 year old artist from "flyover" country (i.e. the Midwest). I love to craft and create. Art has always been my passion whether in the form of music or creating art with my hands. I am the wife of a fantastic man and the mommy of the most beautiful little boy and fluffy puppy.

The Elegant Elle came to be when I fell in love with the beautiful headbands and floral hair accessories that I would see celebrities wear in magazines. I couldn't afford the $100+ price tag of the accessories they wore, so I decided to come up with my own. The hair accessories I made were intended to be worn by just myself, I had no intention of selling them. Soon my friends, family and strangers were complimenting my hair accessories when I wore them out and wanted to know where to get them! That is when The Elegant Elle was born ~ I wanted to share the beauty I created with others. I feel sexy, flirty and romantic when wearing one of my hand crafted pieces and want other women to feel the same way.

The Elegant Elle was Featured in November 2010 on West Michigan's FOX 17 News as an Outstanding Artist.

Day 17 Item 4: 2010 National Champions painting

"Family" member* Nita Vick has donated a beautiful painting honoring the 2010 National Champions, the Auburn Tigers.

From Nita:
I am a huge Auburn fan. My parents raised me right. My Dad was the manager for Auburn's 1957 Championship Team. During the weeks leading up to the recent national championship game, I thought a lot about what I could paint for him after the big win. I wouldn't paint it ahead of time for fear of jinxing the win. Everyone knows how superstitious sports fans are. By the time the game was over and Auburn had finally won, I knew exactly what I wanted to paint. This is a painting very similar to the one I painted for my Dad.

It features Aubie standing over the Oregon Duck. He has successfully "duck" taped him and has a hand full of duck feathers. It also features the Eagle pulling a banner proudly declaring Auburn as National Champions and the game score. I would be proud to donate this item in memorey of Kenner Vaughan to help raise money for tornado relief. He was my Dad's youngest brother. He passed away on May 2, 2011 from injuries that he suffered in the tornado in Hackleburg, Alabama on April 27, 2011. He was a kind, funny man. We miss him dearly.

___


Courtney and I are so sorry for your loss and know that Kenner's memory will live through this painting.




*If you're not an Auburn fan, we consider ourselves a family. Anytime you go outside of the state and hear a "War Eagle" you never feel far from home, no matter where you are.

Day 17 Item 3: Signed copy of Diana Spechler's Skinny

Diana Spechler has donated a signed copy of her novel Skinny

About Skinny:
In the aftermath of her Orthodox Jewish father's death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann finds herself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop binging, she abandons her life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-loss camp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor Sheena, the self-aggrandizing camp director Lewis, his attractive assistant Bennett, and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by a captivating mystery: her teenage half-sister Eden, whom Gray never knew existed. Now, while unraveling her father's lies, Gray must tackle her own self-deceptions and take control of her body and her life.
 

Diana Spechler is the author of the novels Who By Fire (Harper Perennial, 2008) and Skinny (Harper Perennial, 2011). She has written for The New York Times, GQ, O Magazine, Esquire, Self, Details.com, the Wall Street Journal online, Nerve, Glimmer Train Stories, Moment, Lilith, and elsewhere. She received her MFA degree from the University of Montana and was a Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University. She teaches writing in New York City.

Day 17 Item 2: signed ARC of Small Town Sinners

Melissa Walker has graciously donated a signed ARC of her upcoming novel Small Town Sinners.

About Small Town Sinners:
Lacey Anne Byer is a perennial good girl and lifelong member of the House of Enlightenment, the Evangelical church in her small town. With her driver’s license in hand and the chance to try out for a lead role in Hell House, her church’s annual haunted house of sin, Lacey’s junior year is looking promising. But when a cute new stranger comes to town, something begins to stir inside her. Ty Davis doesn’t know the sweet, shy Lacey Anne Byer everyone else does. With Ty, Lacey could reinvent herself. As her feelings for Ty make Lacey test her boundaries, events surrounding Hell House make her question her religion.


Melissa Walker is a writer who has worked as ELLEgirl Features Editor and Seventeen Prom Editor. All in the name of journalism, she has spent 24 hours with male models and attended an elite finishing school for girls in New Zealand, among other hardships.

In late 2008, she launched I Heart Daily with fellow ex-ELLEgirl Anne Ichikawa. It’s a daily newsletter about likable stuff.

Melissa lives in Brooklyn and has a BA in English from Vassar College. She would tell you her SAT scores too, but, you know, the math part was hard.

She loves meeting teenagers, and is game to speak at your library or school about writing, books, fashion, magazines or pop culture (but, you know, in a smart way).  

Violet on the Runway, Violet by Design and Violet in Private (Penguin), are a trilogy. Lovestruck Summer (HarperTeen) is a beach read full of indie rock and cowboys. Small Town Sinners (Bloomsbury), the story of a girl who wants to star in her Evangelical community’s Hell House production, is her latest novel.

Small Town Sinners will be released in July 2011.

Day 17 Item 1: Signed book of Poetry by Jessica Bell

The talented Jessica Bell has donated a signed copy of her poetry book, Twisted Velvet Chains.

Jessica Bell is a literary women's fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter who grew up in Melbourne, Australia, to two Gothic rock musicians who had successful independent careers during the '80s and early '90s.

 

She spent much of her childhood traveling to and from Australia to Europe, experiencing two entirely different worlds, yet feeling equally at home in both environments. She currently lives in Athens, Greece and works as a freelance writer/editor for English Language Teaching publishers worldwide.

Jessica has published a book of poetry called Twisted Velvet Chains, and her debut novel String Bridge, will be available 1st November, 2011. A full list of poems and short stories published in various anthologies and literary magazines can be found under Published Works & Awards.

From September 2012 Jessica will be hosting the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus.