I had never heard of an ACEO until Etsy. Yes, my love – my current obsession – my Etsy.

What is an ACEO, you ask? It’s a work of art, and the only specific thing about it is its size. 2.5″ x 3.5″ to be exact.

Think baseball trading card, but for art. And you’ve got an ACEO. (It actually stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals).

So on Etsy you can google ACEO and get a plethura of images. There are all kinds. From vintage to photograph to watercolor to paper collage.

I hadn’t tried making any myself until now. I whipped a few up for a team challenge and found it to be pretty fun. It’s kind of freeing to be able to make ANYTHING. As long as it conforms to the size.

Even more fun than making my ACEOs, was looking what all the team members came up with. Talk about some inspired pieces! But don’t just take my word for it. Take a look at these gorgeous aceos here and some more Paradise Team ACEOs here. On the first page, I made the “Explore” aceo with the gold butterfly. On the second, I made the black jack Monaco aceo. With real money and all.

Enjoy!

I should have this stuff down. Like, I should KNOW this stuff. A couple years ago I was all over the social marketing thing. Not saying I did it to the extent I should have. But I knew what it was. I knew what I “should” be doing and I knew the sites that were out there.

I still have Twitter. And I am trying to get back into tweet mode. (I’m at @TinaMc – send me a tweet and I’ll send ya one back!).

I have Facebook. Which I sometimes think is the debil. (wink wink) I think it’s WAY too easy to get yourself in trouble over there with snarky comments, stupid comments or (insert your adjective here) comments.

But I’ve started my etsy shops (yes, plural) and it’s time to get the marketing wheels a’turnin’. And Facebook is good for marketing. (yes, it really is)

So maybe I could blame my squirmy wormy 4 month old, but creating my etsy business page on FB was a pain. Seriously. It should be easier. I felt like I was some idiot adult trying to re-learn how to ride a bike.

It hasn’t been that long. Yet I felt completely out of the loop. What apps should I pick? What pictures should I upload? Oh crap, that link to my YouTube includes my former biz videos…I don’t want those up there. How can I filter those out without screwing everything else up?

Stuff like that.

I feel behind the times. I should know this stuff.

Or I could just blame my baby girl. She was squirmy and distracting and loveable and drooling. (She really was – all of those).

Now…back to the FB page. And if you are interested, I’d love for you to “like” my page. Just click here: Beyond The Pen etsy Shop Facebook Page

So I have been fooling around with taking photographs for a bit. And I have found that I keep getting drawn to nature. Perhaps something about nature not talking back and fidgeting around (hmm, some day I may have to tell you about the yearbook photo shoot with all the brownies and girl scouts at munchkin’s school…that was, umm, an experience…).

So what’s a writer with a love of photography to do?

Make note cards, of course!

Then I get to write AND look at something pretty. Total score!

What with a new baby and all (how long do I get to use that excuse??) it took me awhile to get the cards done, take photos of them and upload them to my new etsy store: Beyond The Pen. (Yes, I used my writing biz name, because to me, it’s really just an extension of what I love to do.)

I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what you think. Yes, I can take constructive criticism.

But for your current viewing pleasure, I have whipped up a little video for ya!

Thank you to all who posted comments on the Spirit of the Season post! It was fun to read your comments (yes, Spike, I figured someone would have to comment on the “I’m easy” statement I made ) and I apologize for my postage budget not extending to our foreign friends…

So, the winners have been sent emails…if you see your name below but haven’t seen an email from me, then it means the spam monster got a hold of it. So please send me an email with your mailing address and I will get the book out to you in the coming week (words at tinamcallister dot com).

Drum roll, por favor….

- Rich: Beyond Booked Solid

- Alan: Power of Full Engagement

- Michaela: Credit Road Map for the Self Employed

- Sherry: Credit Road Map for the Self Employed

- Mary Jo: How to Start a Home-Based Writing Business

- Carrie: The Art of Abundance

- Brian: Desert Storm Diaries

In the spirit of giving and all that good stuff, I have some books I am getting off the shelves. I am a book lover (yeah, yeah, kind of obvious for a writer) and want to pass these along so you can enjoy the juicy book goodness!! They are all new and ready to be loved by a fellow reader.

The details: All you have to do is leave a comment. Short and sweet will do the trick. Even typing something like “Pick me!” will do. I’m easy. (Make sure you use a proper email address so I can contact you if picked). And you can leave your comments until December 22, 11:59PM EST. And yes, you can leave more than one comment if you have more than one email address. (Translation: you can leave one comment per email address).

Winners of said books will be picked by a number randomizer online. They will then be contacted to provide a mailing address. And the book(s) will be mailed via media mail. Please no overseas mailing addresses.

The books:

- The Credit Road Map For the Self Employed (this one I edited and I can’t say enough about the author, Patrick Ritchie, and how he’s able to take a pretty dry subject and make it interesting! And in his second book he gears the information to independent contractors and small biz owners. There’s a wealth of knowledge here and I’ve got two books to give to two lucky peeps).

- Beyond Booked Solid (this is the follow-up to Michael Port’s awesome Booked Solid book. Especially helpful to service providers!)

- The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal

- Desert Storm Diaries (my buddy Carlin Comm wrote this…a diary of his involvement in Desert Storm. Really neat stuff!)

- The Art of Abundance (a hardcover book full of phrases and quotations to keep you on that positive path. Just a good little book to look at now and again).

- How to Start a Home-Based Writing Business (sort-of self explanatory, huh?)

Whatcha waiting for? Go ahead and leave a comment! You’ve got ’til the end of the day on the 22nd!

Interested in learning a little bit more about ebooks? Wondering about the difference between a freebie ebook and one you sell? (Because there ARE differences!).

Well, here’s your chance!

As part of the Business and Learning Grand Re-Opening Extravaganza tomorrow, Thursday October 15th, I am presenting a webinar on the ins and outs of ebooks and how you can help them to market your biz and build your bank account.

I was honored to be asked to be a Team Leader on the site and would love for you to join me and the other Team Leaders tomorrow as we each present some really cool information to business owners and entrepreneurs such as yourself.

You can check out the full line up of webinars here and also sign up. It’s FREE and there will be giveaways such as coaching and memberships. So don’t  miss out! Hope to see you there!!

PS got an ebook question for me? Post it here in the comments or shoot me an email at words at tinamcallister dot com and I’ll make sure to address it during the webinar!

So you may already know that I am an Animoto junkie since I wrote all about it a few weeks back. I confess: I love Animoto.

It’s easy. It’s a complete no-brainer. You upload some photos. Insert some text. Pick the music. And let Animoto put it all together. Piece o’ cake!

But what if you’re just not sure what to say? Or what tact to take with your video?

How do you find the inspiration?

My advice: check out the music. Go to the Animoto music choices and listen. You only get about 30 seconds of music to hear each selection. But it’s enough to hear the emotions behind it.

Is it jumpy and fast? Is it slow and sad? Music evokes emotions in most of us (well, those of us normal humans, anyway) and the music can completely change the tone of a piece.

I am going to post two short videos. Same pictures. Same text. Two very different pieces of music.

(I was actually going to pick a classical piece to REALLY show a difference and then I stumbled across this piece called Funkasaurus…which I had to pick in tribute to the munchkin who loves dinosaurs).

Did you notice the differences? (Hopefully you did!)

Anyway, the point is that music can really inspire you to feel different things. So BEFORE you write the text for your promo video and BEFORE you decide on the pictures that will be floating around, listen to a bunch of music clips and see what hits you. You may go in a completely different direction than what you originally planned. You may decide to make multiple videos to promote your ebook – a different “feel” and a slightly different message to different target markets.

Let the music guide you and see what you come up with!

If you’ve looked at the recent blog posts, you know I’ve been bitten by the video bug. But I know not everyone is so rarin’ to go in front of a camera and record themselves. And that’s okay. Because with cool sites like Animoto – you can whip up an awesome little video in a manner of minutes.

You can register for an Animoto account for FREE. Yes, free. (We love free around here).

Here’s the lowdown on Animoto and the free account:

PROS: uh, did I mention it is FREE? It’s simple to use…takes only minutes of your time. Exports to YouTube.. You can share the video via email or use the code to embed it in your site. They have music and pictures available.

CONS: you will soon find out that 30 seconds is really, really short. And that it truly limits what you can pack into a single video. Also, while the music is nifty, there is little to choose from. So far, I’ve been able to find what I want/need…but I could see where I might want more selection. Big con – the pictures are less than desirable (to me, anyway) and slim pickin’s. The amount of text you can type is also quite limited. Kind of annoying for a wordy writer like me.

Seriously, though. I would give Animoto the big thumbs up for promoting an ebook, an e-report or your biz in any way. All you have to do is upload pictures, add some text, pick out some music and voila! Animoto does it all pretty much for you. And it ends up looking like a polished piece o’ work.

Here is one I made as a promo for the 28 Ebook Writing Tips For Parents (an e-report I recently released). I am embedding it using YouTube:

And here’s one I made in all of 6 minutes…using one of my own pictures, and then some royalty free pics over at stock.xchng. And this one is using the embed code from Animoto (so you can see the difference):

There are options for those of you who want to make longer videos. One is the all access pass for $30. This still brands the videos with the Animoto image, apparently. I’m going to try this out before moving onto the next option…which is the commercial use version. The plumped up biz account at Animoto will set you back $99 for 3 months, or $249 a year (thank goodness for business write-offs) but it appears there are a lot more goodies for you to work with when you go this route. As I continue to use Animoto and make various videos, I will be sure to give you feedback.

UPDATE: As of OCT 2010, this report is no longer available
Okay…it’s no secret I’m a parent (you can even see a picture of me with my little business assistant on the About Tina Page). And I love to work with parents. Whether they work part-time or full-time at a home business, I get a kick out of helping parents learn how they can use ebooks to promote their biz, build credibility, make money…and sometimes all of that rolled up into one!

So I whipped up a little e-report for the parents out there. Easy to read – 28 tips of ebook writing goodness.

And it’s free! Yippee!!

So go ahead and fill out the form below and you will get your nifty e-report via email (alas, after you confirm that you want it, because the Aweber peeps require such things).

Don’t see the form above? No, it’s not a magic invisible form. It means there are technical difficulties. Such is life. So post a comment to let me know if it’s missing and I’ll make sure you get a copy of the e-report!

Most of us embrace the milestones we hit in our lives. From graduating school to hitting a home run to mastering how to make an omelet…we have big and little milestones in our lives that we celebrate.

But what about business?

I’m not talking specifically about your long term dreams and goals (though achieving them is certainly a HUGE milestone and to be most definitely celebrated!!).

I’m referring to the everyday little things in our business. To find out more about why you should celebrate the little milestones, watch the video below….