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For each petal on the shamrock this brings a wish your way. Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day. ~ Irish Blessing I have a real soft spot for shamrocks. What could be better than adorable little inch-sized emerald packages of good luck? Whether or not you believe that something tangible like a clover can bring you good luck, I think it's important for creative people to remember that luck can play an important role in the creative process. While any creative process requires work, it's often easy to get so bogged down in thinking too much and trying too hard, that we forget to just let loose and let serendipity play a role in our art. Here are a few fun suggestions for bringing more good luck into the creative process: Turn it upside down. Take whatever piece of art or writing you're working on and turn it upside down, and work on it a bit that way. Squint and see if you see some different images, patterns, or words that you hadn't noticed before. Spill something on purpose. That's right . . . as you're working on a project, spill some paint, or glitter, or grape juice. Then incorporate this "happy accident" into the final project. Trust random gifts. Open any book to any page and point your finger to a random word, and then make yourself incorporate that word in your creation. Type a random word into a search engine and see what Web site it brings you to . . . and then use that Web site, whatever it is, as inspiration for your piece. Embrace the ephemeral. I find that incorporating tidbits of vintage ephemera, like the treasures you find in Artella's $1.99 Vintage Ephemera Market, is a great way to bring all kinds of happy coincidences. There is a kind of magic that happens when you're working with authentic pieces from the past. Old photos, postcards, papers, buttons, patterns, game pieces . . . they seem to whisper little messages to you about where they have been and what they know! Take it to bed. Think about a creative project as you are going to sleep. This is a brilliant time to open up free, non-linear thinking. Wander. Create without ANY plan whatsoever. Instead, open yourself up to the labyrinth of twists and turns that offer themselves during truly spontaneous creating. Luck is believing you're lucky. ~ Tennessee Williams

1. Artella's Lucky Shamrock Sale! From today through St. Patty's Day (March 17), save 33% on downloadable items from Artella Land! This 33% coupon applies to over 100 products, including: All Artella e-courses! All Artella eBooks! All Artella Recorded Workshops & Seminars! All Digital Altered Books™ Supplies! All Artellabets alphabets! All downloadable Collage Kits! All downloadable Image Packs! All issues of e-Artella! Through March 17, simply add any items to your shopping cart as usual, including items not on sale above, and when you check out, enter the coupon code: LUCKY08 and 33% will be automatically deducted from all your purchases in the above categories instantly. 2. Free Event on Digital Altered Books™! Digital Altered Books™ are the latest phenomenon to hit the creative world. On this coming Monday, March 10, I'll be presenting Digital Altered Books™ Revealed, a free online workshop to show you all about this brand new art genre that merges the fascinating process of altering beautiful vintage books with the creative ease of digital imaging technology. You will not only get loads of tricks and techniques for Digital Altered Books, but will also come away with some goodies, so you can start experimenting, yourself! Space is limited, so sign up here, soon! And speaking of Digital Altered Books™, we've just posted 10 new books: Digital Vintage Books #21-30, bringing out total up to 30! You can interactively flip through the pages of all 30 books, to pick the one that is perfect for you! 3. NEW! Easy Access to New Goodies in The Artella Cafe! -- Did you know that, every single week, you can get a bouquet of free Artella goodies, just by voting for your favorite artworks in the Creativity Contests we post in the Artella Cafe? And you get even MORE good stuff when you actually share your own art in the contests, too! Now, participating in our contests and challenges is even easier, because we're posting the new "Contest Hot Links" on the right-hand sidebar of the home page of the Artella Cafe. So at any time, you can simply go to the Artella Cafe home page and look to the right-hand sidebar to see a list of all the available contests that are open for entering and open for voting. Happy creating! 4. Artella Cafe features interviews with Eric Maisel! -- There's always something interesting going on in the Artella Cafe, and this week we've been featuring interviews in blogs throughout the Cafe with renowned creativity author Dr. Eric Maisel. See the interview schedule here. If you do not yet have a blog in the Artella Cafe, it's easy to start one! All Membership Levels get a free blog with their Member Ship Cruise Cabin. Get Member Ship information, here. If you ARE already a Member, login to the Member Ship's Link Lobby with your username and password to sign up for your new blog. Join our community of creative bloggers like "Copper Cat", who recently shared the following about her Artella Cafe blog: "The fact that I have someplace to go daily and talk with other artists, listen to them, see them, and have feedback is wonderful. I fully expect that Artella's offerings will draw more and more talented people like the ones I've seen here, and be a refuge from the noisiness of the world around us." A little hint: if you already have signed up for your blog but you're having difficulty getting started, you can download my "Blog Customization and Design Webinar" for a tutorial on how to design and customize your Artella Cafe blog so you love how it looks! 5. Attention Luxury Art Studio Cabin Members! By now you should have received the most recent Studio Art kit, "Gentle Men". Be sure to submit any artwork you create with this kit by March 15 to participate in the next Studio Art contest! If you did not receive this kit, let us know so we can get it to you right away. Our kit coming this month is "Grandma's Attic", which will be our greatest celebration of vintage ephemera, ever! If you're not a Studio Member, you can sign up today and get the "Gentle Men" kit immediately, and then get the "Grandma's Attic" kit when it comes out later in the month! Each and every kit is overflowing with artistic inspiration and design elements you can find ONLY at Artella. And while our Studio Kits are available here in the Artella Storefront, if you receive them as part of your Luxury Art Studio Cabin Membership, you also get all the other juicy benefits of Membership, like a free blog AND a free personal art gallery in The Artella Cafe, a subscription to The Artella Daily Muse and unlimited access to the thousands of freebies aboard the Artella Member Ship. Get all the info about Studio Membership, here! 6. Ready to sell your work? You've probably seen the wonderful artists from The Shoppes of Artella showcased all over Artella Land lately. Just as we hoped, these new featured spots are really boosting the sales of these artists! One of our artists, Nici, wrote us to share: "It has been very gratifying to participate in the new Artella Shoppes Program. Not only do I have an increased number of sales, but my work is featured in many creative ways in the online community, which really helps me 'get myself out there'! The real pleasure comes in knowing every sale I make makes a difference to others; it is deeply satisfying to be able to say my art is able to bring someone happiness, but also can give back to the world in its own small way." Well, these efforts are all part of the Artella Shoppes Artist Co-Op Program, a one-of-a-kind, true community for artists and craftspeople selling handmade goods, providing opportunity and exposure that can't be matched anywhere else, on- or off-line. Take a look at the highlights of the Artella Shoppes Artist Co-Op Program here! Even if you are not yet ready to list your products, you are still welcome to join this supportive community of artisans while you prepare to sell your work. Sign up to get your invitation to join the new Shoppes Sellers' forum in the Artella Cafe, attend next week's online monthly gathering of Shoppes artists, receive valuable coupons for Artella products, and more! 7. Interested in working for Artella? If you're interested in becoming part of the amazing Artella Team, check out this post in the Artella Cafe for details. Aloha, Marney Artella Founder, Lucky Girl, Lover of the Color Green Artella PO Box 4418 Kamuela HI 96743