Announcing the Release of Allyssa's Magical Spyglass!

I am so very excited to announce the release of my latest children’s book. This story has such a great message. Allyssa's Magical Spyglass tells the story of two troll brothers, Barklee and Norris.  The brothers can only see thins from a negative point of view. They live in a forest near Allyssa, the unicorn. Allyssa can see all the beauty around her.  Withe the help of Allyssa and her magical spyglass, the brothers learn to appreciaste the forsest and the beauty it holds. We all know people that look at the world as if their glass is half empty when they have so much beauty around them.  I love the message in this story.

The Allyssa's Magical Spyglass is now available on Amazon.  Hope you enjoy! 

Curious as to where I am with my book writing and what I currently have published?  Well, here you go!

Currently for sale on Amazon:

The Colorless Forest – about a squirrel, a bird and a monkey that live in a forest with no color. As each animal open their eyes, a new color is revealed. In the end, the forest is full of color.

Hanna’s New Skill – Hanna the hippo searches for a skill suited for her. She tries out many skills with the help of her animal friends, until she finds the skill just right for her.

The Answer Box – Zen the yellow lab has a dream of having someone to play ball with. Billy Beauregard, has the same dream.  With the help of a genie in a box, they find they can get what they want if they just keep their dreams in their thoughts every day.

At the drawing board:

Allyssa’s Magical Spyglass – I am getting very close to the completion of this book. I am hoping to have it on the shelves by early August.  This is about two troll brothers, Barklee and Norris. They live in a forest where they see nothing but clouds, mushrooms and rain. Allyssa the unicorn lives right next door and sees all the flowers and rainbows instead of the gloom.  She helps the brothers look beyond the mushrooms and rain to see the beauty around them.

In the lineup:

Gracie Needs Glasses (title may change). This story has been written and waiting to hit the drawing board.  This story is about a cat named Gracie and a dog named Lucy that live in an apartment in the city. Gracie only sees what matters to her, Lucy helps her see more. 

Here is a little excerpt:

Lucy said, “You can’t look at the world from only one view.

There are others living all around you.”

“Moving and playing in different ways,

it is like we live in a giant maze.”

Gracie is now so happy, and truly understands

how the world is full of others, not just her demands.

The moral of this story, if you wish to discuss,

is that we all have different stories we carry with us.

So be aware as you walk down the street.

You don’t always know the story of the people you meet.

What’s Next?

Next story subject is swirling around in my head.  Possible quote I will use for this next book “Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right”. Possible characters a Pelican and a Dolphin. I’m thinking beach or ocean setting.  Stay tuned, because this can change!

Ongoing Marketing: Marketing is the hardest part!! Not my thing, but I am passionate about my books and really want to share them!

Can you help me market my books? 

Like my Facebook page - Karin's Children's Books and share with your friends! 

Do you already have one or more of my books? I would love it if you would write a review on Amazon. 

Tell your friends about my books! 

Need a gift for a birthday party or baby shower? Books make great gifts! 

Stay tuned much more to come!

Currently at the drawing board (or kitchen table) working on my next book.

Looking for some feedback on some cover ideas.

Which cover below do you like the best?

(While you wait patiently for this book to come out, check out my latest book 

The Answer Box, available now on Amazon.com)

Cover A

Cover B

Cover C

Cosmo, My Inspiration

Cosmo (Kramer), my yellow lab, was the inspiration for the character Zen in my latest book.

Labrador Retrievers, the definition of knowing your bliss.

Check out my latest story of Zen, the yellow lab, and Billy Beauregard.

The Answer Box available now on Amazon.

And now for your viewing pleasure, Cosmo's Bliss:

Announcing the Release of The Answer Box

The Answer Box, now available on Amazon.com!

Purchase Now On Amazon.com!

Click HERE For more information and a little sneak peek inside the book.

Find your bliss

Find your Bliss.

My next book, book number three, will be available very soon. It is in the final proof phase. I will be announcing the release date later this week.

This book is another illustrated, rhyming children’s book, just like my other two. I used an inspirational quote as the subject of the story, just like the other two.  The quote I chose for this book is one that I truly believe in. “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls” – Joseph Campbell.

What does this quote really mean?  To me, it means if you keep your mind open and fill it with your thoughts and dreams, the universe will find a way to unite you with your dreams, your bliss.  I also feel that knowing your bliss or even knowing what bliss is, can be difficult to define.  For me, it is something that you love, something you can lose yourself in, something you can find a lot of joy and happiness in.  If you have that passion, if you really want it, the universe will unite you with your bliss. 

What is your bliss? Do you have something you can define as bliss? Drawing and writing these books is bliss for me and also an example of this quote in action.   On January 1^st, I began writing things down that would fulfil me, what would make me happy?  One of my items was to find a hobby, something I felt passionate about.  I didn’t know what it would be and just started jotting down thoughts on a daily basis. One of my thoughts was to draw, get up in the morning and before you start work, just draw something. I thought this would just be a fun creative thing to do.  One thing led to another, the universe began breaking down walls and leading me to my bliss…..my drawing.  Here I am 5 months later, getting ready to release my third book and loving every single moment of the process. It gives me great joy and happiness.

How does the quote relate to my next book? The next book is called The Answer Box.  It is the story of  a dog who has a ball he loves to play with.  He thinks he would have a lot more fun if he had someone to throw it for him.  One day while walking down the street, he runs into a big box full of all his dreams and wishes.  A genie pops out to tell him if he keeps all his dreams in his head every day they will come true. The Genie vanishes, leaving Zen, the yellow lab, alone with his thoughts. Billy Beauregard, the new kid in town is in search of someone throw his ball to.  He also runs into the big yellow box and has a similar experience as Zen.  Billy is also left by the genie, alone, with only his thoughts in his head. One day, Zen drops his ball, it rolls down the street right up to the feet of Billy Beaureguard.  The two become friends and learn that everyone has an answer box in their head and their dreams can come true if they keep them in their thoughts every day.

This may seem deep and a little magical, but the story is simple and tries to relay the idea to just keep dreaming and good things will come.  Find your bliss…… 

I hope you all enjoy my next book and I am very excited for it to come out. In the meantime, I am engrossed in my bliss and have begun illustrations for my fourth book. 

Do you see the rain or do you see the flowers and rainbows?

I have written my fourth story and I’m very excited about it.  

The title of this next book will be 

Allyssa’s Magical Spyglass.  

As you may know, I have worked on basing my books off of inspirational quotes. 

I am excited to announce my fourth book is based on the quote, 

“The Optimist sees the rose and not the thorns; 

The Pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.” 

- Khalil Gibran

This new story is about two troll brothers.
The brothers view the forest in which they live in a very negative way.
They are just not happy at all.
Alyssa, the unicorn, sees the same forest from a totally different perspective.
With the help of Allyssa’s spyglass,
the troll brothers are able to see things in a different light.

We all run into people that can only see the negative in their lives.
Many times, they are people who have a lot of good around them
and they choose to focus the negative.
Sometimes when we feel full of complaints
and negative feelings, it is good to just stop. 

Stop and look around you and take a look at all that is good.
When you start to focus on the good stuff, the positive stuff,
you may see that the good outweighs the bad.  

You can choose which way to view your life.  

Do you see the rain or do you see the flowers and rainbows? 

Allyssa teaches the troll brothers to see the latter.

Do you have a favorite quote? I would love to hear it! 

I'm always looking for new ideas for my stories. 

The Results are In....

The results are in for my survey "Which Zen is best".
Last week I conducted as survey to determine which version of
Zen the yellow lab I should use for my new book, The Answer Box.

AND THE WINNER IS....

drumroll

Exhibit B - Modified.

I redrew Zen with his eyes uncrossed and completed this page.

What do you think?

The page for this is mostly finished.  

Could be some tweaks down the road. But for now....

TA-DA!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Today's post is to give a shout-out to all the Mother's out there along with one particular mother, mine!  My mother is an amazing artist.
Because of this, I dedicated my last book to her, Hanna's New Skill. 

In Hanna's New Skill, Hanna the hippo is in search of just the right skill. She tries dancing, running, playing ball and swimming (without much luck).  In the end, she discovers she is really good at art.  My mother is the inspiration behind art being Hanna's skill.

I am very proud and inspired by my mother. She has produced a lot of beautiful paintings over the years.  We have several of them hanging in our home. Below in this post are a few I'd like to share with you.

We all have a skill of some sort that is our best. Does your mother have a skill or something you are proud of?

In reality, being a mom, is a skill of its own.  So, here is a shout out to all moms, and the number one skill of all.... being a mom. Happy Mother's Day to all the mommas out there in cyberspace and beyond.


My Mamma's Skill....(the unskilled photography, courtesy of me)

Which Zen do you like best?

I have been working on my latest book The Answer Box and ran into a little design question. 

I'm not sure which version of Zen, the yellow lab, I like best here. Thought it would be fun to get a little 'audience' participation going!

I'm trying to get the feel of a Zen looking a bit sad and lonely. He loves playing with his ball, but thinks it would be a lot more fun if he had someone to throw it to him.  This is page three, where Zen is looking longingly at his ball and dreaming of that someone.

Below, we have Exhibit A and Exhibit B. 

I really liked the sketch I did for Exhibit B, but it just didn't feel right after I colored it. Thinking this may be best drawn with his eyes not so crossed. (Exhibit B modified).

I am throwing these initial drawings out there for my viewing audience and fans for some input!!!

Once a winner has been decided, I will finalize this page. 

Until then, on to page four........

Cast your Vote now...which Zen will it be?

Click this link to cast your vote and help me out!!

EXHIBIT A - side view

EXHIBIT B - Front View 

What Medium to Use

 Getting started back on my third book requires me to reassess my materials.  This got me thinking about a new blog subject, What Medium to Use.  This was a big challenge for me when first starting out on my children’s books adventure.

Before I had a subject or knew what my story would be, I began drawing.  There was a big snowstorm approaching and I was at the local BJ’s stocking up on all that stuff you need when you may not be able to leave the house for a day.  I spotted a large pad of plain paper and a large box of assorted colored pencils. Perfect! I can purchase these items and start my drawing while snowed in.  This was the start of my book illustrating endeavor.

The snowstorm really never hit, but I began to draw with the array of colors in the box of pencils I purchased.  My first subject was dogs.  I was going to draw dogs, a yellow lab to be exact.  I drew several dogs using the pencils, each got a little better each time. However, I ran into an Issue, one of my fingers literally went numb.  I also was not feeling what I was using was quite right.  So I moved on and tried a few more drawing utensils.

Pastels, I thought.  My husband purchased me a pretty pack of pastel chalk.  I tried to make this work, but just didn’t either have the right paper or just didn’t know how to use these correctly.  I had also purchased some markers.  A pretty pack of water color markers on sale for use in coloring those adult coloring books. I think I was on to something here. I was having some success with the markers and was liking what I was producing. 

I decided to purchase a couple of higher end brush tip markers and give those a try and bingo, that was it. These were Prismacolor brush tip markers. The brush tip gave a nice smooth finish. I was able to blend them a bit to give some shading effects to my drawings.  I started with just a few makers, mostly shades of gray for my first book The Colorless Forest, where the first few pages were nothing but grey and white.  I slowly added new colors to my collection as I moved on through this first book.  The collection grew as I worked on Hanna’s New Skill. I now have a pretty good collection of markers.

I guess I have become an art and drawing geek, because I love just looking at the bucket of markers I now have on hand.  I'm now ready and fully supplied to continue work on book number three, The Answer Box, where the main character is a Yellow Lab.

Very beginning artwork (RUFF!)
Top: Pencils, Bottom: Water Color Markers

Prismacolor Markers (Much better)

Introducing Zen, the Yellow Lab.

I began work on my third book, The Answer Box.

The message in this book is really about keeping your dreams in your thoughts and they will come true.  Based on a quote I absolutely love, by Joseph Campbell.  "Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls."

The book is about Zen, a Labrador Retriever with a Yellow ball in search for someone to play with. Also in the story is Billy Beauregard, the new kid in town, also searching for someone to play with. The Answer Box, is a genie in a box who tells them to keep their dreams in their thoughts everyday. And, you can guess how the story happily ends.

First artwork is her now for you to preview...introducing...Zen the Yellow Lab......

Announcing the Release of Hanna's New Skill

Purchase Now on Amazon.com

Hanna's New Skill, now available on Amazon.com
This illustrated children's book follows Hanna the hippo 

as she searches for just the right skill suited for her.

Join Hanna as she asks for help from her animal friends.

Who will end up helping her? 
Charlie the cheetah? Peter the pup? Franny the flamingo?

Felicity the fish or perhaps Oskie the owl?

What will be her new skill?

Will she be a runner, a dancer, a swimmer, a baseball catcher or perhaps something else

Hanna's New Skill - Work in Progress!

I am super excited about Hanna's New Skill.  This story relays the message that everyone has a skill of their own.  I based the book of an Albert Einstein quote "Everyone is a genius, but if you teach a fish to climb a tree, they will spend its whole life thinking it is stupid."

I am having a lot of fun with this book.  For each skill Hanna tries to learn, I added a human quality.  Charlie the cheetah is wearing running shoes, Peter the pup with baseball attire, Franny the flamingo dons a tutu and Felicity the fish has on swim goggles.  You find Hanna, wearing similar attire as she attempt each skill.

I am happy to announce, the book is in the proof stage. We should see this book for sale April 2016.

Local Mention

I was thrilled to have my book mentioned of on the show Delmarva life during a segment celebrating local artists. 

Watch for it around the 1 minute mark. 

Behind The Story

A little background on my first book, The Colorless Forest  - 
I wrote the story mid to late 70's when I was a teenager.  I held onto my original story and drawings for all those years.  Fast forward to the year 2015, when I planted a seed in my head to illustrate and write a book. My goal was to come up with a story to send positive messages to children.  Many ideas were swirling around my brain, when I remembered the book I once wrote many years ago. I pulled it out of a box in the basement and blew off the dust.  The drawings were rough and the story was type written on strips of paper and stapled to each page.  But, I still loved the story and thought, this will be my first book!

The story teaches about colors and how you can make any color with the three colors red, blue and yellow.  It also met my goal of sending a positive message. It shows how color makes things beautiful and unique.  If everything was the same, it would be boring.  The characters in the book are a monkey, a squirrel and a bird.  I added a 'secret' frog to each page.  The frog is never mentioned in the story, but is on each page reacting to the events of the story.

After hours and hours of research, rewriting, finding the right medium and recreating all my drawings, I had a finished product. I am very proud of my first book.

Below are some before and after images of my book.  Notice the frog in the new version? 

Announcing the Release of The Colorless Forest

Announcing the release of The Colorless Forest. Now available on Amazon.com

This illustrated children's book starts out with some sleepy animals 

living in a forest that has no color at all.

A new color is revealed as the monkey, squirrel and bird each open their eyes. They discover that with three simple colors they can make any color they want to. They also realize how beautiful the world can be with the addition of a little color.