It was an exciting day. I had scheduled with my mother-in-law, who works at Purdy's Chocolate Factory, to take us on a chocolate tour. This was my second time, but this time was summer and there were more of us in the group. My sister, her husband, her husband's brother, sister-in-law and their kids came along. My husband's auto also came with her daughter.

Before we actually went in for the tour, we all had to wear hair nets/caps for hygiene purposes. When we first got inside, we saw the mixing station with a huge bag of sugar and lots of butter. The area was quite warm because the butter was being melted. The big mixer mixes the chocolate cream; looks like a big cookie dough.






The next section is where the chocolate is moulded into shapes, and then glased with chocolate syrup. It was neat how the chocolate comes out and there was a lot.






mMmMMmmMm... Turkish Delight... and covered in dark chocolate



The kinds of chocolate syrup comes in dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate. My favorite is the regular milk chocolate.

Christmas chocolate was already being produced early because it sold widely during the Christmas season. Below are pictures of Christmas bell chocolates and wrapped in foil.





Here they are packing hedgehogs, another of my favorite of Purdy's.




The pictures below show the workers placing the assorted chocolates in the boxes/packages and weighing them. This is the "end of line packing". At the end of the tour, the kids got a bag of sample chocolates that the tour guide (my mother-in-law) prepared.





It was a fun experience! If you're in the area, come check out the store and if you're interested in the tour, visit the shop at ask one of the sales people.

Purdy’s Chocolates Factory store
2777 Kingsway
Vancouver, B.C.
V5R 5H7
Phone: (604) 454-2700

Follow @PurdysChocolate on Twitter.

Hi everyone! Winner had been announced for the 3KK pageview kiriban. Congratulations! There are actually TWO (2) winners.... yes, again TWO at the same time!

Thank-you deathangelpadma for the [LINK] to your screenshot.







And thank-you Pumpkinetics for the [LINK] to your screenshot as well.







If some of you've missed it again, you can still have a chance for the next 37,000 kiriban. There's only 2 more kiriban slots left!

Again, for the prize detail: Prints will be 8x10 high quality print, laminated, and double-sided (that means you'll get 2 of my artwork pieces).

33,000 kiriban Winner ~ shadeybabey
34,000 kiriban Winner ~ i-am-yaser
35,000 kiriban Winner ~ candymax & 1337drawinpLace
36,000 kiriban Winner ~ deathangelpadma & Pumpkinetics
37,000 kiriban Winner ~ [yourname]
38,000 kiriban Winner ~ [yourname]


Handmade Accessory Charm Giveaway
Besides the kiribans, don't forget that I have just posted a new contest. It is a giveaway for one of my handmade accessory charms. More details here.

JF2537FPKRV6

This contest is open to residents of US and Canada. I am hosting a giveaway here for your chance to win one of my handmade accessory/jewelry charm of your choice. The end date is August 31, 2010 at 11:50pm PST.

These are all handmade by me using Sculpey polymer clay and each are about diameter size of a penny. These can be used as necklace pendants, cell phone charms, earrings, etc. Includes lollipop charm and a 2" black mini dangle strap.

Mini Strawberry Cupcake Charm
Mini Chocolate Truffle Charm (choice of shapes: round or square)	Mini French Macaroon Charm (choice of colors: lavender purple, yellow, green)
Mini Rainbow Lollipop Charm	Mini Carrot Cake Charm
Mini Chocolate Cake Charm	Mini Ice-Cream Cone Charm

WIN IT

On your entry comment, please tell me which design above that you like to win. Winner will be chosen randomly via random.org.



Additional Entries
(Post in a separate comment for each additional entry.)

2) 3 additional entries - Follow me via Google Friend Connect

3) 3 additional entries - Follow me via Twitter @jennieyuen and comment your twitter username

4) 5 additional entries - Tweet about this entry: I am trying to win a handmade accessory/jewelry charm by @jennieyuen. See how you can win too: http://bit.ly/crJliw

5) 5 additional entries - Blog about this giveaway on your blog and comment with the URL

6) 5 additional entries - Join my Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennie-Yuen/10073313421

Thanks and good luck!

If some of you've missed the previous kiriban, you can still have a chance for the next 36,000 kiriban.

I am hosting a pageview kiriban via my DeviantArt account. I'm feeling generous and thanking those for showing support all the way. Anyone can participate. For your prize, I will be giving out a random print of my existing artwork if you get a screenshot showing my pageviews.

Prize detail: Prints will be 8x10 high quality print, laminated, and double-sided (that means you'll get 2 of my artwork pieces).

Ok, here I am trying this new app called Linky Tools. I saw this on a few other blogs and thought it was interesting so thought I'd sign up for one.

Anyway, this will be the list for August 2010 giveaways. If you have a giveaway contest(s) posted on your blog that ends in the month of August, feel free to link up here and let everyone know.

I have finally received my copy of CGWaves Publishing's SUPREME | Fine Art Exposure book that I have pre-ordered a while back. I was among the first to get a copy and was so excited when I opened it. The book is a hard cover edition with excellent quality matte print on the artwork of various artists from all over the world. It is a great artist's collector book.




At first, I was expecting a more bigger collection of artists and their art. With this first issue of "Supreme", I believe that the CGWaves team put it together very well. I would recommend this book to any one. If you are looking for other art books by CGWaves Publishing, they also have the Amazing Events issues.




I would like to give a big thanks to Fabio Caserini (aka Case) for the book and the hard work put into this project.

I really wanted to do another digital fantasy painting, but haven't got a chance to get around it. I apologize I haven't been doing much digital painting to share because those take more patience and time. Don't worry, I'm still working on one that I'll be sharing when it's complete.

Now, here's another polymer clay craft I recently created. These are mini Carrot Cake Charms. They can be used as necklace pendants, cell phone charms, earrings, etc. Penny-sized diameter.

Includes a 2" black dangle strap/cord. Available for sale at my Shop Handmade Store.

Materials used: sculpey clay, wire, pliers, acrylic paint

On your next travel plan, I recommend OneTravel.com for your one-stop travel deals, that include discount airfares, hotel rooms, rental cars, train tickets, vacation packages and cruises. OneTravel.com can help you find the best deals and much more. Check out their latest deals! Website: Cheap Airfare

Also don't forget to check out the blog and read travel articles from various bloggers. I would like to thank George Christodoulou for the guest blog spot and the opportunity to share my post with everyone. Read my guest post here.

FREE small iced-coffee from McDonald's. Offer is only good in British Columbia, Canada only. Coupon is valid from July 9, 2010 to July 23, 2010. Enjoy!

Dynex DX-PDVD7A 7" Portable DVD Player

I bought this portable DVD player brand new and not too long ago after that, it just stopped working. The power works, but the screen doesn't show anything nor the DVD would spin/play. The DVD player was never abused in any way. It's still brand new.

The manufacture warranty was only 90 days and the DVD player stopped working just a few days the warranty ended. I was not very happy with that. I ended up purchasing another DVD player of a more well-known brand.

I hope Dynex would extend their warranty to 1 year like the other brands. They are the only one with the shortest warranty period.

Once again I am hosting another pageview kiriban via my DeviantArt gallery. Anyone can participate. For your prize, I will be giving out a random print of my existing artwork if you get a screenshot showing exactly 36,000 pageviews. Just follow this link to my DeviantArt profile and check for the pageview numbers at the top.

If some of you've missed the previous kiribans, you can still have a chance for this upcoming one.

Prize detail: Prints will be 8x10 high quality print, laminated, and double-sided (that means you'll get 2 of my artwork pieces).

Please comment if you like to participate, and also so I know how many of you are interested.