Unleash Your Creative Genius and Become a Self-Published Author or Artist with Blurb Books

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Ever had a great idea for a book but didn’t know how to get it published. Maybe you create amazing recipes and food photos, or want to put all your best sketches or stories together in a permanent binding. Or how about turning your pet photos into a children’s book!?! Talk about a cool DIY project! Check out this self-publishing success story for some more great ideas and inspiration on how to get started:

Blurb author Kal Barteski is a maker extraordinaire whose creativity knows no bounds. She’s a working designer, painter, storyteller, book creator, TEDx speaker, and calligrapher who can now add “video star” to her resumé with this Blurb book-maker profile. Watch the first installment in the new Canadian Author video series with a look at Kal’s creativity.

No doubt you’ll be inspired to make your own book with Blurb. 

FREE Kindle Book for Kids and Dog Lovers: Baby Saves Christmas

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Baby Saves Christmas Free Kindle Book

Hurry on over to Amazon and snag this FREE Kindle book, Baby Saves Christmas, while it’s 100% OFF. Baby looks a lot like Daisy, don’t you think?

Remember that you don’t need a Kindle device to take advantage of these freebies that I often share with you…download them to read on your PC, iPad, Smartphone or just about any other web-enabled gadget! You can get a Free Kindle Reading App for your device.

Just make sure to get it quickly, since they don’t stay free for long. Once you own it, it’s yours to keep and read whenever you have time! I’ve been building my reading library with free book offers like this one! Just be sure you see the $0.00 when you order, just like this screenshot I made for you here:

free kindle book

If you like free Kindle e-books, be sure to browse the list of Top 100 Free Kindle Books for more!

FREE Book Download: Shelley The Lifeboat Labrador – For Kindle, iPhone, PC and Other Devices!

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Snag a freebie and read this heartwarming true story of Shelley The Lifeboat Labrador – a True Salty Dog Tale, as she accompanies her owner on adventures at sea and on shore during his time working for the Shoreham Harbour R.N.L.I Lifeboat Station (like the Coastguard Rescue in the USA)! This eBook can be downloaded for FREE ($3 regular price) and is readable on your computer, iPhone, other mobile device and Kindle. You can download FREE Kindle Reader Apps here.

Wordless Wednesday: A Book for Daisy!

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Daisy got a new book from Grandma and Grandpa

 

eager to check it out!

 

 

daisy reading from cover to cover

 

nap time for daisy

 

My February Christmas or “How HomeGoods Rescued Woof Woof Papa From the Dog House”

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In a slight departure from my usual pet deals posts, I have the BEST story about AMAZING Customer Service I’d like to share with everyone! We are all typically so quick to complain when things go wrong or we have a problem with a product or company, that I really want to give KUDOS and let everyone know what an excellent experience I had with HomeGoods recently!

If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen some tweets about my recent disappointment over not getting a certain snow globe I wanted for Christmas. We are on a bit of a tight budget and don’t really buy much for each other…mostly just for rescue pup Daisy, the nieces, our new nephew and other close relatives, but I saw it while we were out shopping and REALLY loved it. I’ve never really cared about snow globes one way or another but this one just seemed special and living in Florida, I thought it would bring a little bit of Winter we’ve been missing since moving down from up north several years ago.

tweet about snow globe

It wasn’t an expensive request, but apparently dear hubby wasn’t really paying attention, or I didn’t make it completely clear to him just how much I wanted it. I don’t think he realized that it was a SPECIAL, Limited-Edition Snow Globe produced once a year to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Charity, and just figured it would be there when he got around to going shopping. Like most hubbies, he tends to put off shopping til the last minute!

day after Christmas Facebook plea

So Christmas came and went with NO snow globe under the tree. Hubby realized I’d seriously wanted it and started calling around. I took to Twitter and Facebook in hopes that someone would spot one somewhere!

HomeGoods was kind enough to check around and tweet back with some suggestions of stores in my area that might still have one in stock, but after several more calls we gave up. All hope was lost. There was not a single St. Jude’s Snow Globe anywhere to be found! These things happen and I tried not to be too hard on my hubby but he still felt bad and I was still teasing him about it until about mid-January.

THEN, a couple days ago, completely out of the blue, I got an unexpected message from HomeGoods on Twitter…talk about Following Up! I honestly figured they’d given up on me and my snow globe drama. After all, it wasn’t their fault, and I’m sure they are busy with more important things! They’d really tried to help but I never expected to get this DM from them almost six weeks later:
homegoods dm about snow globe
WHAT?!? After doing a little Happy Dance, I messaged them back with an OMG, a THANKS, and my address. I wasn’t exactly sure if they really meant they were sending me THE Snow Globe, or just felt bad that I didn’t get my Christmas present and were sending me something similar. Well, today I got my answer…don’t know how, but they found one and here it is!
My Snow Globe Christmas in February

So, that’s the story of how I got my Christmas present in February! I just want to say a HUGE Thank You to HomeGoods for this thoughtful gesture! It really means a lot that someone there took the time to make this happen!

To express his gratitude for being rescued on this one, Daisy’s papa is making a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Fund in appreciation! St. Jude is the children’s medical charity that the snow globe was designed to benefit and thanks to donations and special product fundraisers like this one, St. Jude families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and no child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay. They also conduct research that leads to pioneering care and treatments for childhood cancer and other deadly diseases. If you would like to support their work, you can learn more and make a donation to St. Jude here!