#pippaversary

Remember May 6, 2014 when I became a published author with my debut YA contemporary novel Wish You Were Italian?!

Remember when I was too pregnant and lazy to organize a launch week giveaway?

Remember last month when I realized I still had FUN THINGS to give away just SITTING on my shelf?!

In celebration of the first anniversary of Pippa out in the world, I'm hosting a #pippaversary giveaway! Open until May 6, 2015. BUT FIRST, A HUGE GRAZIE to all of you for reading, reviewing, gushing, and supporting me and my little book! This dream wouldn't be possibly without each of you! Much love!!

PIPPA'S PRIZE PACK

(US only, but scroll down for international giveaway)

Remember when Morgan gave Pippa a journal filled with fun things to do while in Italy?

Morgan's red journal! 

Remember when author Lindsey Leavitt said:
“With Italy's brilliant landscapes, a main character you'll love from the first line and a new dreamy book boyfriend (he's mine!), WISH YOU WERE ITALIAN is a charming and addictive read. Devour this delicious treat like a double scoop of gelato.”

A hardback of Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt!

Remember when I listened to nothing but Mindy Gledhill's album Anchor while I revised Wish You Were Italian and therefore Pippa is walking the streets of Italy with those songs in her head?

A copy of Anchor by Mindy Gledhill!

Remember when I stumbled upon the cutest little Rome mug with a Vespa on it?

Rome mug with a cartoon Vespa!

This giveaway is open to US addresses only.

Scroll down for the international giveaway!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

SIGNED UK EDITION!

I don't want those of you who live out of the country to be left out, 

so this next giveaway is open internationally!
(open to U.S. and beyond!)

Enter below for your chance to win 

a signed UK edition of Wish You Were Italian!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to use #pippaversary on social media! 

Mangia gelato prima! 

A Class of 2k14 Giveaway for Teachers and Librarians!

The Class of 2k14 is having a BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY specifically for teachers and librarians!

If you are a teacher or librarian, CLICK HERE to go to the giveaway! If you aren't, fear not! We'll have more awesome giveaways for you soon!

Spring Cleaning Giveaway Hop - Four Books!

It's the first day of Spring! Already! To celebrate (and to help the spring cleaning efforts) I am a Reader, Not a Writer is hosting a giveaway hop!

Here are the four books I have up for grabs for one lucky winner!

-Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakely-Carthwright/David Leslie Johnson

-Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

-Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy #3)

-ARC of The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

ENTER:

2012 New Year Giveaway Hop!

I am number 171 on this gigantic giveaway hop! Special thanks to I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Babs Book Bistro for hosting!

2012! I don't know about y'all, but I'm pumped about this year. There's something about the even number that has such a nice ring to it! This is OUR YEAR, y'all.

Let's start the year off right, with a GIVEAWAY! I'm giving away my hardback copy of Julie Halpern's Don't Stop Now! I thoroughly enjoyed this fun story, and hope you will too!

From Goodreads:

On the first day of Lillian’s summer-before-college, she gets a message on her cell from her sort-of friend, Penny. Not only has Penny faked her own kidnapping, but Lil is the only one who figures it out. She knows that Penny’s home life has been rough, and that her boyfriend may be abusive. Soon, Penny’s family, the local police, and even the FBI are grilling Lil, and she decides to head out to Oregon, where Penny has mentioned an acquaintance. And who better to road-trip across the country with than Lil’s BFF, Josh. But here’s the thing: Lil loves Josh. And Josh doesn’t want to “ruin” their amazing friendship.Josh has a car and his dad’s credit card. Lil has her cellphone and a hunch about where Penny is hiding. There’s something else she needs to find: Are she and Josh meant to be together?

To Enter: *US only

SIGNED Forever by Maggie Stievater Giveaway!!

**** GIVEAWAY CLOSED **** 

Kristi is hosting a giveaway! Here are all the details!!_____

Recently Kristi *waves hi* had a chance to attend a Forever signing in NCand snagged an autographed copy for one lucky winner(click here to read and see photos from the signing)  Here's the prize:

Haven't heard of Forever (btw-where have you been???)

Here you go:

Goodreads Description:

The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater

In Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

All you have to do to enter is fill out the form and follow ONE of these blogs:

Kristi

booKrushed

Kristin Creative

Kimberly Franklin

Don't worry you over achievers out there!

There are ways to get extra entries!

If you're a  huge Maggie fan like we are, you can follow, tweet, and post to your heart's content, just make sure to include the links on the form when you fill it out. One form per person, so try to fit it all in.

CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT THE FORM!

Other cool Forever links:

Maggie's website

Maggie's blog

Maggie's Twitter (@mstiefvater )

Buy the book here

  

GOOD LUCK to you all and HAPPY READING!

CONTEST ENDS MIDNIGHT AUGUST 29TH
WINNER ANNOUNCED AUGUST 30TH

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to all who entered my giveaway for an ARC of THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE! 

The Winner is....

L. Diane Wolfe!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

:::throws confetti:::

Giveaway Alert!

Blogging superstar Carolina Valdez Miller is hosting a couple ARC giveaways! Definitely worth checking out!

Click here to visit her blog!

Giveaway! The Eleventh Plague ARC

**** GIVEAWAY CLOSED ****


A couple months ago at the Houston Teen Book Con, I snagged an ARC of Jeff Hirsch's debut, The Eleventh Plague. It doesn't release until September 1st, but you could might get to read it early because I'm having a giveaway!! 

From Goodreads:

The wars that followed The Collapse nearly destroyed civilization. Now, twenty years later, the world is faced with a choice—rebuild what was or make something new. 

Stephen Quinn, a quiet and dutiful fifteen-year-old scavenger, travels Post-Collapse America with his Dad and stern ex-Marine Grandfather. They travel light. They keep to themselves. Nothing ever changes. But when his Grandfather passes suddenly and Stephen and his Dad decide to risk it all to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down. With his father terribly injured, Stephen is left alone to make his own choices for the first time. 

Stephen’s choices lead him to Settler's Landing, a lost slice of the Pre-Collapse world where he encounters a seemingly benign world of barbecues, baseball games and days spent in a one-room schoolhouse. Distrustful of such tranquility, Stephen quickly falls in with Jenny Tan, the beautiful town outcast. As his relationship with Jenny grows it brings him into violent conflict with the leaders of Settler's Landing who are determined to remake the world they grew up in, no matter what the cost.

My thoughts:

What's so terrifying about this dystopian is how real it feels. Most are set so far in the future, or seem so far removed from reality, that they're just neat stories. But The Eleventh Plague feels like it could happen tomorrow. Hirsch's descriptions of empty highways, shopping malls with cars still in the parking lot, abandoned Applebee's, Starbucks, MacDonald's, downed planes, schools, AT&T billboards, etc., are just haunting. It's our world today, but a fraction of the inhabitants, no electricity, no government, no organization whatsoever.

Fantastic writing, great story! Stephen's journey is one any dystopian fan will enjoy.

What do you have to do to win this fab ARC?

Just leave a comment below with a way to contact you if you win! Easy as that!

 You'll have 48 hours to respond before I pick a new winner.

Extra entries:

+1 New Follower

+2 Old Follower

+5 for Tweeting (mention @kristincreative and leave link in comments)

+5 for blog post (link me!)

+1 Sidebar

Giveaway ends at midnight central on Tuesday, July 26th.

Alice Marvels Giveaway!

If you don't get your daily Alice Marvels emails, YOU NEED TO SIGN UP.

She has an awesome giveaway going on right now too! CHECK IT OUT!

Phenomenon of a Giveaway!

Liz at Cleverly Inked is hosting a seriously amazing giveaway for her birthday!

Head on over and CHECK IT OUT!!!

Birthday Banner/Button Bash Winners! (FINALLY!)

Sorry to have kept you all waiting!!  

The winner of a new blog banner is...

CATHERINE DENTON!

And the winner of a blog button is...

NICOLE DUCLEROIR!

I will email you, but I thought you might like to be surprised to find your name if you happened to check my blog first :)  

Congrats, ladies!!

Springtime, Photo Props, Winners, and Blog Hop Giveaways, OH MY!

Lots to cover in this here post!!  First... I can't believe it's spring already! This year is already flying by at warp speed--and the bluebonnets are blooming!!  Check out this little cutie I took pictures of today!

I was so excited to finally use one of my props I bought last year!  And he was only sitting on it for about 2 seconds, so I'm pretty proud of this one. haha.

Ok, I've been SO slow announcing the winners of my Birthday giveaway... and I'm SO sorry.  I am just having the hardest time deciding because all of your ideas sound fun.  But I've definitely decided to give someone a new banner, and someone a new button--so there will be two winners!! I'll try to have this figured out soon!!

And for those of you interested in snagging a SIGNED copy of Across the Universe by Beth Revis, head over to BOOKRUSHED because we are part of a super fun giveaway hop!  AND scroll down to a previous post to see about unfollowing/refollowing to correct our feed in your reader. We had some issues before, which have since been resolved, but it may require a correct unfollow/refollow from you if you were following us before the fix!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone--be safe!!

Birthday Banner/Button Bash!!

28 years ago today I came into the world, already curious--eyes wide, not even crying.  (Happy Birthing Day, Mom! ;) 

For my birthday festivities here at Kristin Creative, I'm hosting a the

BIRTHDAY BANNER/BUTTON BASH!

The selected winner will get a new blog header, Etsy banner, or blog button designed by yours truly!

Here is a sampling of some I've made:

Blog headers

Yes, I took the picture of this book myself--it took FOREVER!!

Yes, I drew this flower by hand on my Bamboo tablet--it took FOREVER hahaha. Not sure I will try something this intricate again!

Etsy banner

Buttons

To Enter:

Comment here with your email address (or email it to me if you don't want yours floating around), which you'd like to win, and a short description of what you want it to look like.  Link your blog if you want a header to your existing design so I can get an idea of the colors/vibe.  If you plan on redoing the whole thing in conjunction with a new header, we'll talk colors/vibe later.

Since I am a photographer, I am willing to take some photos and do effects to them to incorporate (books, architecture, plants, whatever), so if you have any neat ideas for yours if you win, tell me now!!

I'm going to pick a winner based off the descriptions of what you're looking for (to see what sounds fun, and also what I can handle!!) so be realistic and creative!

Deadline: March 6th

I won?! GET OUT!

Well, what a great way to start the week!  I just got today's Alice Marvels, and I won Alex Flinn's latest book, Cloaked!  I see that the reviews are so so, but her books read super fast, and it's free :) 

After my friend Heather (check out her blog if you haven't yet!) won Delirium from Alice Marvels the week before, I decided to give it a shot last week.  She really does choose by your answers and not randomly, so that sort of makes it even more fun--both in coming up with your answer, and with validation of your writing skills by winning :) 

The Question:

What fairy tale character would you most like to be and why?

My Answer:

Maybe it's the Sociology major in me, but Cinderella is one of my favorite classic fairy tales. The story really demonstrates that you can rise above your circumstances. She worked hard her entire young life, desperate for change but stuck in a loveless home. Enter the fairy godmother, who represents anyone in our life that encourages and inspire us to take risks. Our lives are what we make of them, and while our efforts might not earn us an actual prince, they will earn us a better life.  I'd want to be Cinderella because she has perspective. Often people who come from virtually nothing and become successful have a stronger outlook--they don't take anything for granted because they know what went into getting that success. They might even be kinder to those less fortunate, and who knows? They might be a fairy godmother for someone else.

Again I say, if you aren't entering anything, you definitely WON'T win ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Any plans? None here. We certainly don't need any little stuffed animals laying around the house, and I don't need the calories in the candy. We may go out to a nice lunch though (because we both work from home, and we don't like the evening crowd)! 

Give a Little... Get an iPad!

Or at least the chance to win one!

Anyone notice how this time of year especially, causes come out of the woodwork in effort to benefit from our swollen hearts?  Many of them worthy, this is true, but how many of us really take the time to think about the "least of these"?

My good friend--like the we were in each other's weddings type of good friend--Holly, has the biggest heart I've ever ever ever heard of.  She has an unparalleled passion for the unwanted children of the world who are continually overlooked due to circumstances they have no control over.  

In effort to both raise awareness and funds for the ones she's most passionate about, she's organized a fundraiser and ALL proceeds go to Reece's Rainbow, The International Down Syndrome Orphan Ministry. 

Every donation of $5 is an entry for the iPad raffle.

If you're interested in learning more and/or entering for the chance to win (helping the "least of these" in the meantime!), click this link to her blog, and there are boxes right up top--pick a category to designate your donation and click CHIPIN! (It accepts PayPal accounts!) 

Skip the fancy latte today and donate to a special needs kid instead.  

Who knows... you just might win a shiny new iPad!

I'd love to see her fundraiser surpass expectations!

If any of my followers donate, let me know, because I will smile--really big.  I may even post a picture of said big smile next week...... :)

Winner will be announced December 1, 2010!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK!

And the Winners Are........!!!

We have our winners of the signed LINGER bookmarks!! 

Congratulations to

Wulfluva!

and

Kimberly Franklin!

Email me at kristinrae023(at)gmail(dot)com, give me the address you'd like it sent to, and I'll get it right out!!

Giveaway Ends TODAY!!

If you haven't yet entered for your chance to win one of two signed Maggie Stiefvater LINGER BOOKMARKS, today is your last chance!!! I will be announcing the winners TOMORROW!!

ENTER HERE!

I met Maggie Stiefvater today!! And a Signed Giveaway!

Yes, yes I did!  Maggie, most known for Shiver and Linger, is in Houston today, and I was fortunate enough to meet this hilarious lady today at the B&N right down the street!!

She was a complete skit... I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her speak.  She was hilarious, and very inspiring to my inner writer.  I'm pumped that I just happen to have my critique group tonight!  

One funny story she shared, was that when she found out that she sold her first book, Lament, she was out in the driveway of her house and yelled "I SOLD A BOOK!!"  And her husband then yelled, "WE'RE BUYING A MATTRESS!!!"  (That's about all the money new authors get, apparently)  She went on to say that they still have that mattress that was "bought by faeries"!

Some fans brought in a whole stack of books--every book she's ever had anything to do with, I'm pretty sure.  But I just had my two.

And here I am with Maggie (and let me just say how excited I am that in 8 weeks, I will no longer be working in a cubicle, and health kick number 4 for the year will COMMENCE--goodbye ROUND face!)

I was also pleased to finally hear her name out loud.  From what I could tell, it sounds like STY-VAHTER. 

And now onto the Giveaway!!!  The lovely Maggie was kind enough to sign a couple of  bookmarks for my fabulous bloggers!!!  Aren't you excited?!  I am!

OOOOO AREN'T THEY PRETTY??? Don't you want one?!?!?!?! (I would have LOVED to give away a signed book, but you know, I'm a bit poor at the moment. ;)

Here are your options:

+1 Be a follower (this is your entry)

+1 Sidebar it

+1 Finish the following:

"I was a werewolf.  What other explanation was there?  My biggest fear now, was that on the next full moon, I was ... "

Deadline is a week from today, Wednesday, August 4th, at midnight!! (US only, sorry... I'm poor, remember?)

100 Followers?!

Y'all are so awesome. I love each and every one of you! (In a purely, non-freaky, bloggy way!)

And a HUGE thank you to Matt for being #100! I think Matt deserves a $10 Amazon giftcard!!! Yay for me, yay for you! :) Please email me at kristinrae023 at gmail dot com (EDITED - Apparently, I don't even know my own email address, and originally forgot to type the 023.... OOOPS ), and Amazon will email you your prize! Don't you just LOVE surprise blog giveaways! (It's my first one ever by the way, so, yay for you AGAIN!) I know, I know, a meager $10. But alas, the money tree is dormant for winter. Or... until I win the lottery.

Well, it's late, and I must prepare for tomorrow's Fanged Friday!

Announcements coming soon about an interview with a certain author (ahem, Jennifer Hubbard) of a certain book (ahem, The Secret Year) in just a few weeks!
Also, the big announcement for my 100 follower contest is coming soon! Sharpen your pencils! Or... clean your keyboards... cause it's gonna be FUN!