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Tag Archives: creativity
Wordless Wednesday: Be Of Service
Wordless Wednesday – Persist
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This blog post is a part of the following blog hops:
Happy Spring! Wordless Wednesday
Book Review: Got Luck by Michael Darling
Disclaimer: I was given this book for free in return for a honest review. This blog post contains affiliate links, see disclosure page for details
Title: Got Luck
Author: Michael Darling
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Crime
Publisher: Future House Publishing
Rating: 2/5 Stars
The Premise:
Police-officer-turned-private-investigator Goethe “Got” Luck is known for rolling with the punches and never taking anything too seriously. When he picks up a seemingly dead-end murder case, his life begins to take a crazy turn. Shot at, chased by people he has never met, and attacked by an invisible liondog, Got quickly learns that there is more to this world than meets the eye.
He discovers the Fae. The Eternals. They who dwell in the Behindbeyond. Once, they ruled over ancient realms, but over the centuries, their power dwindled. Now someone wants to restore their rule and subjugate humankind. All it will cost is thousands of human lives.
The clock is ticking. Getting the world out of this one will take a couple friends, more than a few well-placed insults, and a whole lot of Luck.
I became interested in this book, because the above blurb sounded like a pretty cool premise, promising a fast pasted, interesting story with a twist that is not your standard fair for a fantasy/crime novel. But sadly, I was disappointed. To be honest, I really do not like 1st person narratives. It is rare that books written in this particular form are something I can lose myself in, so I had a bias from the moment I actually received the copy. For a first person narrative to be great, I have to connect deeply with the main character, and that connection has to happen rather quickly, in order for me to see the story through their eyes and enjoy the view. That rarely happens.
But, because I have been proven wrong before, I stuck with it and read the book to the end. I was not proven wrong. The plot itself seems a bit confusing at first, not finding much flow until the second half of the book, by which time, I would have already stopped reading, would I not have made the commitment to finish reading the book. While the second half was a little bit more entertaining, it still took me longer than usual to get through, simply because I had to drag myself back to the story, rather than being pulled in. With the immense amount of competition of great indie fantasy Authors now available on Amazon, a novel has to be special to stand out of the crowd, and I am sorry to say that this will be lost in the shuffle. Not my cup of tea.
40 Things That Make Me Happy – And Why You Should Make a Happiness List, Too
There are times in our lives when trying to remember those little things we usually enjoy, becomes a difficult feat. May it be, because we experienced loss, are suffering from depression, going through marital problems or have financial trouble, a list of things that make us happy, can remind us of what we have, and help us for a moment to create a more hopeful state of mind to work from.
Here are 40 Things That Make Me Happy – No Matter What
- Hugs from my kids
- The excitement of my dogs, when I get home
- Coffee
- Thumbprint cookies
- Great, fresh bread
- the scent of rain
- Ducks upon a pond
- the sound of a horse breathing
- Drama television shows
- a good romance novel
- getting a text message from a friend
- online banking
- blog groups and link ups
- taking pictures
- designing/creating/working on a piece of my art
- warm socks
- flannel sheets
- hibiscus tea
- the sound of birds in the trees
- spring time
- black and white photography
- inspirational quotes
- flowers
- the theater
- a fresh, new notebook to fill with ideas
- typing “The End” after a long short story, or a book
- Jared Leto (yes, I am weird, lol)
- being “cleaned” by my cat
- A comfortable sofa
- Nutella
- a smooth-writing pen
- Irish Dance
- traveling
- German chocolate
- strawberry cheesecake
- Happy Endings in stories
- thick, white snow
- trees
- squirrels eating peanuts
- my dog barking in her sleep
What do you have on your list? Why not create your own post and share it with us in the comment section below!
Check out the following journals for your gratitude and happiness lists:
Flower Power, Ivy by Sophie Gamand
from: Redbubble
Nine by fioski
from: Redbubble
Caterpiano by Jorge Lopez
from: Redbubble
10 Minute Mugs
The following post is a guest post by Elizabeth, the Author, and Creator of the 10-Minute Mugs course.
Raise your hand if you like coffee? How about tea? Hot chocolate? Me, I’m a hot chocolate girl. In contrast, my husband can down a pot of coffee and 9:00 at night and go to bed shortly after. If you took a poll of your city, your state, or even your country, odds are good that a vast majority of the people would report that they drink some kind of beverage from a mug.
Not only am I a hot chocolate fan, I’m also obsessed with crafts. These two interests led me to one of my favorite kinds of projects: mug-making. It started with dotted Sharpie mugs. I made a mug for my sister-in-law and she loved it.
It turns out other people like mug crafts, too. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a consensus for how to make Sharpie mugs and thus was born The Ultimate Guide to Sharpie Mugs, a guide for others who wanted to create these mugs but didn’t know how.
And then came Marbled Nail Polish Mugs and How to Transfer a Design to Mugs. It was mug madness!
Out of this mug madness was born 10-Minute Mugs, an eBook devoted to quick and easy mugs that you can make yourself. I know, you’ve got to be thinking, “Can there even be any more ways to make mugs?”. Why yes, yes there can be. 10-Minute Mugs includes tutorials, tips, tricks, and designs to help you create beautiful mugs in a flash. While some of the mugs have been featured on my blog, there are three mugs that are exclusive to the eBook (and honestly, out of all the mugs I have made, I think these are my favorites.)
Glitter Mugs
Metallic Spray Painted Mugs
And if you’re not a designer or don’t have perfect penmanship? Never fear! 10-Minute Mugs has 18 downloadable patterns for your next DIY mug.
If you want to become a mug-making master, make sure to check out 10-Minute Mugs.
About The Author:
Elizabeth is the author of Destination Decoration, a crafting blog devoted to providing tutorials that make crafting accessible to all. Destination Decoration is a home to all things crafty, from woodworking to watercolor, from canvas art to Dollar Store crafts. Elizabeth is also a self-taught calligrapher and an eager and willing learner of all things hand-lettering.
Apart from crafting, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her husband and cats (though admittedly, she’s more of a dog person). She is an avid reader and to be honest, drinks more soda than she probably (definitely) should.
How To Get Started In Zazzle Affiliate Marketing
You probably already know how – at least in theory – to make money as an affiliate on Zazzle. But for those of you who are new to the website, allow me to share a quick recap of Zazzle’s affiliate program
Becoming a Zazzle affiliate is really simple. It takes only about 10 minutes to do and to learn exactly how to make money as an affiliate. Once creating an account with Zazzle – if you are a designer with this program already, you will not have to sign up again, you already get an affiliate account and number, automatically. But if you just want to sign us as an affiliate, you never have to design anything. Simply follow the prompts that Zazzle gives you, and visit their associate page, where you are is given a unique user code. Each time you share a product on the various social media outlets or via your own web page, using the share button that is a part of every product listing, your affiliate number will be automatically embedded, if you are signed in. That way you earn a 15 percent commission off any sale that is made through that link.
That is the theory behind It.
But like with everything else that sounds too easy, to be true, it is not that easy as it sounds.
First you have to convince people to actually click your links. That is the easiest part, as long as you are not spamming people. The second part is harder – to convince them to actually purchase the items or any item on Zazzle.
How do you do that?
There are quite a few ways you can convince potential customers to actually purchase an item on Zazzle. They are not limited to the list below, and with a lot of creativity, you are surely to come up with more ideas than I have listed, but consider this a start
1.You have targeted the correct audience. If you are trying to get people to buy pretty designer ties, and most of your audience and followers are women, you might get an occasional sale, but not too many. Know who your target audience is, know who your followers are, match the products you offer accordingly. The more niche your audience, the easier the sale.
2.You have established their trust. All of what you have to offer on your website or on your social media accounts are of high quality, and your followers know that they can trust your lead. Only then will they purchase from Zazzle via you, rather than some of the other print on demand sites, or simply Amazon.
3.You have a large enough following. Establish a base following first, before you are trying to sell stuff online. If no one reads, watches, or clicks on your stuff, simply because they do not know you exist, make yourself known first. There are a variety of ways to build up social media followings, and there are plenty of books and workshops on how to build your brand and yourself, some of which are available via CreativeLive.
4.You are very picky about what you share. Don’t just share any old product from Zazzle. Not all of the designs are high quality, and even if most of them are, sharing outdated, hastily designed, or poorly executed products will not get you a sale. Be picky what designers you work with.
5.You have established relationships with designers. Some designers offer an availability of custom orders. Know which designers go above and beyond regular customer service, and tell them that you want to promote their work. If you mention your particular niche – like for example, Yoga and Reiki Business Cards, and they already make business cards for other professions, they might take their time to create designs that fit your niche even better than before. That way you have always fresh content and both of you can increase your sales and profit. A win-win situation.
I hope this short overview was helpful. And as always, remember to diversify your passive income strategies in order to be able to make a living with your online adventures.
Blessings
Claudia
Reading And Taking Action
Many of us have a to-read list for the months ahead. But you merely read or do you implement?
To me, reading lists and book implementation lists are two different things. A reading list is a book list of stories I read to entertain me. They do not necessarily have to be fiction to do so but are more likely to be. Those are the books that I approach with a different mindset than those on my implementation list.
Now, what is an implementation list, and what are these books?
Those books are volumes that I read with the intent not only to learn from them but with the direct intent to take at least one of the points presented and to actively try them out. I seek out these books because I want to learn something, but learning is not enough, it is doing that creates the results. And because I am living in a growth mindset (more on that another time), I am approaching these books with the up-most intend to take an active part from the lessons held within.
For a long time, I was like many people I know – I read, a lot (okay more than the average person), but I never truly followed through on the lessons presented before me. It was easy to say how interesting a particular chapter was but was it enough to change what I was doing, or add a new active perspective into my life? Not really. The truth is, that I meant to take these action, but never followed through.
“Always strive to be better than you were yesterday.” – Tom Bilyeu
But I made a promise to myself that this is no longer an option. If I read a book that has repeatable actions within them, and that I chose to learn something from – may it be because I read a review, found them on a list of a person whom I admire (like this list by Quest Founder Tom Bilyeu), or because its premise leads me to believe that there was value within the covers, I will take at least one of those actions and practice them. Now, I am not expecting to do that if I find myself in the middle of the book and it does not resonate with me at all, of course, but I will do this more often than not, and because I am already picky about what I add on my reading list, which is ever growing, that should not be a problem. Which brings me to my questions for you:
Which book have you read in the last year, and actually implemented something from it – may it be in your personal life, or in your business adventures? What made you take these actions, and why did you pick up this book in the first place?
As we are approaching the middle of January, I am in the middle of implementing some of the goals I have set for the year. I have been lucky to have been encouraged to create some more motivational designs over the last few weeks, and I am especially happy about my notebook collection that ranges from themes of courage to sharing your thoughts with those you love. So check out my truly unique custom notebook collection here. Absolutely, a reason to be grateful.
It is my pleasure to serve you, so if you have any suggestions about notebooks and journals you want to see in the future, please let me know. I also accept custom orders – and can combine my art with specific messages for you. Simply drop me a line at claudiablanton@live.com or leave me a comment below.
Do It. Motivational Notebooks
I will not be stopped – Notebook
Mom, I want to thank you… Notebook
Meditation Journal
Soulmates – Romantic Notebook
Have a wonderful week!
Claudia
This post is a part of the following blog hops
Colds, Binge Watching And Tea
Disclaimer: The following post contains links to my own art, and affiliate links, which pay for my art supplies and design programs – opinions are my own.
Glad you called first before coming over for coffee, because I really do not want to give you the cold. I can send you some cookies if you like, maybe some thumbprint cookies? Those are my current obsession.
I am truly not used to colder weather anymore, after spending years in Florida, and while I hate taking time off, I know that sometimes it is better to step back, instead of producing mediocre designs. Okay, some of the stuff I made today was pretty awful, so I decided to binge watch stuff instead. The designs you see here today were made last week, so they are actually ready for public consumption.
No, I do not simply watched Netflix or Amazon, and ingest a few seasons of the newest thriller, or mystery (I cannot stomach most comedies out there), even though I was tempted, I thought I could, at least, watch something worthwhile. Hey, who says having a cold is an excuse to not learn something. As long as it does not require physical movement, and I have a hot cup of tea next to me, it is the next best thing to working.
If you have not checked out Creative Live and their live stream that features anything an artist’s heart can desire, then you have been missing out. You can watch the above-mentioned life stream, but also pick out some of the online lessons you have missed – may it be about photography or content marketing – by purchasing one of the episodes. I try to catch as many shows live as I can – but because of my schedule that is not always possible, so I am happy that they have that purchase option. Check out this wonderful creation by Chase Charvis
You might know about Quest – those bars that taste yummy but are really, truly good for you – but did you know that one of the owners of Quest has this amazing show that features the most successful and creative people on the planet? He interviews everyone from whom we can learn from – starting at Tim Ferriss, and Ryan Holiday. You should really check out this motivational tips and tricks. And eat one of his bars while you are at it. They truly are yummy!
Yup, that is one strange name for a streaming service, but they are truly unique and worth checking out, especially if you are into music. The creation of Jared Leto – yes, that Oscar-winning creative genius, Joker Madman Method Actor and Rockstar – with which he has managed to create a platform for interesting content from vegan cooking tips by Brendan Brazier (Thrive), to their shows, and behind the scene material to other artists and musicians like Linkin Park, Boy Epic and more. Totally binge-worthy.
What are your favorite streaming platforms, or youtube channels that you find completely binge-worthy? Which ones do you think I should check out?
Thanks for stopping by!
Claudia
The above post is a part of the following blog hops:
Gratitude And Tea
It is really cold out there! Perfect time to sit indoors, with a hot cup of tea, a couple of cookies and in front of the computer, contemplating.
I am always contemplating on what-to-do-next. While this habit leads me to be goal oriented, it also has the downfall of creating anxiety, especially when not everything goes they way it was planned, or when the list becomes so large that it is overwhelming.
So taking my time to stop, make myself a cup tea, and focus on gratitude is not only a good idea but a necessity. Exactly that concept of mindfulness and the fact that I need to be mindful in order to function with clarity changed the direction of the book I am working on. Which brings me to the first thing, I am grateful for – the progress I am making with my tea book.
Working title “Happy Tea”, this book demanded to take on a different direction this week, completely unexpected. I thought I would write a book featuring tea traditions, rituals and recipes, but the Universe had something else in mind. Instead, I will focus on the mindfulness of tea, the connection of this beverage within meditation, gratitude and positive living. It seemed like this aspect of tea would serve you better. There are many wonderful books out there, who focus upon the technical aspects of the subject, so I can focus on this direction.
Another thing I am grateful for is the holiday season is almost over. Yes, celebrations are nice, but they also mean extra work, so I am looking forward to having more time to write.
I am grateful that my daughter gets to see Star Wars with her boyfriend tonight. I am not a fan, but they are, so I am happy for them. I am sure they will have a great time.
I am also grateful for the decorations I have been seeing in the neighbourhood.While people do not seem to decorate as much here as in Tampa, the few who have did a great job. Almost made me want to join in. Then I looked at my to-do list and decided to just enjoy everyone else’s decor instead.
What are grateful for this week?
How do you deal with the holiday stress?
Blessings!
Claudia
This blog post is a part of the following blog hops:
Avalon-Media - A LifeStyle Blog 
