Peter Kater #NewAge CD #Giveaway

The LOVE Essentials include an autographed copy of Peter Kater's Grammy Award nominated LOVE CD, plus 3 very special products created to enhance your listening experience.  The CD liner notes share Peter's thoughts about the meaning and inspiration surrounding each of the songs, which explore the many subtleties, joys, vulnerabilities, excitement, fears and deeply transformational qualities of our most essential and powerful emotion... LOVE.

♥  LOVE Essential Oil Blend: Peter worked with renowned essential oil specialists atVenus & Vetiver , to create a sensual scent that works for both men and women. It is also perfect for massage when added to a base oil of your choice. This LOVE Essence contains the purest extracts of frankincense seratta, jasmine grandiflorum, bitter orange, blue tansy, neroli bigarade, and lemongrass in a small light-proof bottle. (15ml)

♥  ChocoLOVE Chocolate Bar: Peter’s favorites – dark chocolate, hazelnuts, and toffee with a touch of salt – come together in a sumptuous and consciously-sourced gourmet chocolate bar, custom-created by Peter and the premiere chocolate company ChocoLOVE. 

♥  Pure LOVE Light Candle: Scent-free and packaged to travel to exotic realms, this clean-burning soy candle provides soft, sensual light for the most relaxing times. It also melts down to a body butter or massage lotion as it burns!

 The Love Essentials will arrive in attractive & eco-friendly packaging!

My Thoughts

I'd definitely love to be Peter Kater's Valentine. He knows what a girls wants, especially this girl. His gift set is filled with all my favorite things.

First, he has created his own blend of essential oil called Love. This blend of Jasmine, Blue Tansey, Bitter Orange, Neroli and Lemongrass is the perfect way to set the mood. Just add a few drops to your diffuser or add a pinch to your laundry, and you'll definitely be in the mood for love. 

Next, Peter brings us the ChocoLOVE Chocolate Bar, the key to an woman's heart. This dark chocolate has hunks of hazelnut and toffee with just a touch of salt, making it the perfect combination of salty & sweet. 

The Love Light Candle is sure to spice up your Valentine's Day. This scentless candles turns into masasge oil as it melts. I practice Reiki and hollistic massage and have lots of experience with different oils, so I know this hot oil is something extra special.

Last but not least, we have Peter Kater's Love CD itself. In the gift set, the CD is signed by this fabulous artist.  If you're a fan of piano music, you are sure to fall in LOVE with this CD. Even though there are no words, the music speaks to you and fills you with emotion. The light chords have the power to both arouse and relax you.  Combined with this full set of romantic gifts, this beautiful CD is the perfect way to help you fall in love with your partner over and over again.

The  Giveaway

One lucky winner is going to receive a Peter Kater's Love CD!  To enter, just fill in the Giveaway Tools form below. This giveaway will 2/25/16 and is open to the US only. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to the sponsor for offering this fantastic prize.

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Mearra – Selkie from the Sea CD - Review & #Giveaway

Linda Marie Smith
Mearra – Selkie from the Sea

 The ancient Celtic legend of the Selkie, a mythical seal with the mysterious ability to metamorphose into a human being, is the setting for Chicago-based singer/songwriter Linda Marie Smith's fourth album, Mearra – Selkie from the Sea, to be released in February 2014.

With a genre-crossing vocal style that encompasses a folk/rock sensibility, Linda Marie Smith's music is romantic, soulful, earthy, and mystical, with lyrics and melodies that weave colorful stories of curious places and intriguing people.  Linda has been compared to the likes of Christina Perri, Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, and Sarah McLachlan.

An enigmatic and bittersweet story of love, loss, and transformation, Mearra – Selkie from the Sea begins with Mearra, a young Selkie maiden, falling in love with Ian, a lonely fisherman entranced by her beauty.  Mearra bids farewell to her life in the sea, marries Ian, and starts a family.  However, at the end of seven years, a Selkie must return to her watery cosmos.  The sea inexorably calls for Mearra's return.

Mearra – Selkie from the Sea transports listeners, inviting chldren and adults alike to use their imaginations as they enter an enchanted world that has inspired writers and composers like Yeats, Synge, and Arnold Bax for centuries.  The highly evocative "Ian's Song" sets a mood of Celtic mystery.  "Mearra" follows, and the listener is swept up in an expansive cloud of orchestral colors created by strings, percussion, and synthesizer that conjures images of sea, sky, and wild, rocky coastline.   "All This and More" delivers a change of pace with something of a Nashville country sound, which effectively introduces a human element into the watery, mystical world of the Selkie.  The jazziest number on the album is "Heaven Knows," with its upbeat rhythm set by piano, concertina, and enthusiastic hand clapping.

Immersed in music since childhood, Linda Marie Smith turned her attention to songwriting as an adult, and, in 1998, released a self-titled debut album, followed two years later by a second album, Blame it on the Moon.  Linda's first multi-media show, the critically acclaimed The Triumph of Artemisia, premiered in 2006, as did her album by the same name.   Her current project, the multi-media experience Mearra – Selkie from the Sea, forms the basis for its accompanying album, produced by Rich Rankin at Mosaic Music in Chicago.

Honored by the Billboard Songwriting Contest, Linda Marie Smith's music has also received recognition from the Illinois Arts Council in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts.  In addition to recording and performing, she teaches at Chicago's famed Old Town School of Folk Music.

Mearra – Selkie from the Sea will be available online at CDBaby.com and iTunes.  

   My Thoughts When I sit down to work on a novel or even a blog post, I love to have music in the background. It has to be something soothing and uplifting. I am always on the lookout for new artists, and I was really excited to discover Linda Marie Smith. Her style is a combination of rock and folklore that is right up my alley. This particular CD derives from the Celtic legend of the Selkie and appeals to me even more. What makes the CD truly unique is that in addition to beautiful vocals and stunning instrumentals, including strings, percussion and synthesizer, the songs are telling a story. You journey with the young Selkie maiden Mearra as she falls in love with a mortal. Follow the tale through the heights of their passion to the devastation of Mearra's return to the sea.  Every song on the CD was written and performed by Linda herself, and listening to it is truly a magical experience. Anyone who enjoys new age or Celtic music is sure to love this masterpiece.  The Giveaway  One lucky winner is going to copy of the Selkie by the Sea CD!  To enter, just fill in the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway will end on 2/15/13. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Open to the US only  Thanks again to  Linda Marie Smith or offering this fantastic prize.  a Rafflecopter giveaway
  

  

Music to Write By - Gary Stadler's Fairy Night Songs

When I sit down to work on my novels, I like to have some music in the background. This not only helps to block out the sound of  my kids running around and fighting in the background, but can also help keep the inspiration flowing. Everyone has their own taste in music, but for me, there is one CD in particular that I almost always listen to when I'm writing. Its a CD that is filled with the kind of magic and enchantment that I try to get across in my writing. That CD is called "Fairy Night Songs" and was composed by the amazing artist Gary Stadler.

I came across Gary's music completely by chance. Or maybe it was divine intervention. I was looking for songs with my name in them, and one of the songs that came up on Napster was  "Laura's Hill".  After listening to a clip, I knew the CD had to be mine. That was more than five years ago, and it is still my favorite music.  The CD offers beautiful melodies composed and preformed by Gary with the late Singh Kaur providing vocals that are so inspiring you may think the fairies themselves are singing just for you.

You don't have to be a writer to appreciate the otherworldly aspect of this music.  Anyone who loves the world of fairy will fall in love with this CD.  Listening to it is like lifting the veil that separates our world from the world of magic. Each song brings you deeper into the fairy realm, and this is what helps to make  imagination take flight.  I can, and have, listened to this CD thousands of times and it never loses its mysticism. Check out the video below to hear a small sample of what "Fairy Night Songs" has to offer.

You can learn all about "Fairy Night Songs", as well as Gary's other CDs on his website, Heart Magic. "Fairy Night Songs" was one of his earlier works and since the last time I checked, I see has has a few new releases which I definitely intend on purchasing! For anyone who loves fantasy, new age music, or anything mystical, Gary Stadler is an artist you just can't pass by.


                       ***Please note I received no form of compensation for this post***