Sunday, March 29, 2015

Office Wall Maker Over - Part 2


OK, so the painting has begun

I'm not sure if I should be scared or excited. LOL

I love painting and am so glad my son was helping me. When I paint I seem to make a mess. I must have a damp cloth with me to erase any mistakes. 
It seems, that, no. I can't stay within the lines...
LOL 


I did the cutting in and he filled in the middle, with a brush mind you, he didn't want to use the roller .


So now we sit and wait for it to dry.

*Sigh* really *rolling eyes* this is like watching water boil. 
...

Until Next week ...

Friday, March 27, 2015

Fun Drink Friday - Boston Cooler


BOSTON RULES!! 
ahem, sorry just had to scream that 

I saw this and thought, what the perfect Spring sipper.
Light and refreshing.

From our friends over at: The Midnight Mixologist

Enjoy responsibly!

C~

Coming in May 2015...
The 2 in 1 Other Kin release - Books, 1 & 2

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Office Wall Makeover - Part 1


   

The wall makeover has begun! And as you can see my little helper is rearing to go :-) He's sitting at my back as I write. Love my little red!!

So this is the wall in my office I've decided to add a little flare and make the office my own. These off white walls do nothing for my artistic or creative side. 

The function of the wall when complete is to be my plot board.
Where I can write my plot down (to get it out of my head) :-), Characters, Worlds and what ever else my story needs. 

My husband is going to be helping me by making me a black white board. That's right, it's a white board but black, I can write on it with neon erasable markers. *Squeal* 
 He liked the idea of a chalk board, but that's not me, I like white boards, and when I found the black white board on Amazon, he looked it up and said ... 'I can make that.' WELL OK :-) 
go for it hubs :-)

So this is where we are... my son helped with most of the painting :-) great kiddo I have!!


The soothing color I chose is 'Ash Violet' by Sherwin Williams.  

... Until next week ...  :-)


Friday, March 20, 2015

Fun Drink Friday - The Lady Edith

edith_2.jpg

Lady Edith
makes 1 cocktail

1 1/2 ounce ruby red grapefruit juice (fresh-squeezed!)
1/2 ounce sloe gin (see note)
Sweet roseƩ champagne, chilled, such as Ballatore Spumante Rosso
Add the grapefruit juice and sloe gin to a flute. Top with champagne. Stir and serve.
Note: Do yourself a favor and get the Plymouth sloe gin. If you can't find the Plymouth sloe gin (or another variety made with real sloes), I would recommend leaving it out altogether.
Courtesy of: The Kitchn
This drink was inspired by Downtown Abbey and while I have not had a chance to catch the program, this drink looks like a hoot :-)
Go read the blog at The Kitchn, it explains more about the drink and its creation.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Author Swag - The 'Swag' in the bag

Bing's Free to use and share commercially license

OK, so what Swag goes in the bag...
Anything you dang well want is how I see it.

The above picture is from the 2013 Oscars.

Ok, so most of us are not going to give away a bathing suit or velour robe, but as you see in the pic, there's nothing saying you cannot.

For my swag bag, I had very little author 'branding' supplies on hand.
I.E. Bookmarks, one of my books, pens with my website engraved on them, ect.

So what did I do ...
I went shopping. Now I have a budget I have to stay within, so don't let your swag break you. Just like any budget, STAY within it!!

My Swag included - 
* A leather bound journal
* A Yankee Candle Votive with a cute little votive holder
* A Yankee Candle air freshener
* Lindt Lindor Chocolates (3 kinds)
* Dove Chocolates (3 kinds)
* My business card - Autographed, One placed outside the journal held on by the band used to keep it shut and another placed in between one of the pages of the journal. (Just in case the other was misplaced ;-) )

What other authors had in their's:
- Bottle of Wine
- Their book - Autographed
- Chocolate, Mints & other candies
- Bookmarks
- Mug w/author book cover
- Tumbler w/author book cover
- Candle
- Another author's book from their publishing house in w/theirs
- Pens w/author's name
- Post cards w/author books, signed, blurbs, ect
- Gift card (visa & to a coffee house, Starbucks or Dunkin)

So you see it's what ever you would like to put in the bag that makes it special.

The guest who picked my bag told me the reason she did so, was because the 'journal' caught her attention and it was something she'd like.

Just remember to put some author branding in there as well that points would be readers to you ...
Anything with your name and website on it.

So what have I done to make sure I'm not caught off guard again.
I've ordered two of my books from my publisher, 
I've looked around for the best prices on pens, pencils, sticky note pads, ect...anything I can put my name and website on.

I mentioned some sites during my first blog about Author Swag named - Business Cards & Bookmarks.

Here they are again ...
 Remember some of these sites do more than paper, like pens, mugs, ect...

(They also do book marks.)
It took me a bit of searching on zazzle but if you type in...Author business cards, it should bring you to what you're looking for.


(They do plastic business cards and they look pretty dang neat too.)

(They do all paper products including booklets, flyers ect)

Other Swag - 






The possibilities are endless. If you have an idea of what you want in your bag = Google it. See if it can be 'personalized'

Wedding sites can be helpful as well. I remembered that when I was looking for items to include in the gift bags I made up for the attendees of my wedding, there were a lot of possibilities out there and some sites have items that 'can' be used for other events than weddings. ;-)


Hope this helped!!  


C. A. Salo
Erotic and Spicy Stories of Romance

The Minotaur’s Mate – Now Available