Note: If this newsletter doesn't display in its delightfully colorful formatting, you can view it on the Web at www.artellawordsandart.com/ARTELLAGRAM-10-10-08.html. In times like these, daily inspiration is important but let’s face it – it doesn’t necessary help personal economics. That’s why, as Congress introduces the 700 billion dollar bailout bill, we’re introducing Artella’s 70% Bailout Thrill!, in an effort to make it possible for everyone to receive inspiration by enrolling in Artella’s flagship creative e-courses at 70% off! And unlike lots of congressional bills, Artella’s offer has no porky catches or strings attached. You can get the rest of the details in the news section as you read further down below. October is a busy month and also happens to be Artella’s birthday month, two times over! Artella began six years ago, in October of 2002, and we launched both our Studio Collage Kit Memberships and The Artella Daily Muse newspaper two years ago, in October of 2006. We started The Artella Daily Muse because we wanted to provide an alternative to the mainstream news, where creative people could go to get a wealth of daily inspiration and information about what interested them the most. The small but amazing team of editors that has run the Daily Muse for two years has worked hard to present the interesting, fun content that has continued to make the Daily Muse the only daily creativity newspaper in the world! With the current state of the economy, positive and uplifting news is now more important than ever. Just as FDR started his famous fireside chats to buoy people’s spirits during the 1930’s, Artella wants to do all we humbly can to boost spirits and give positive inspiration to people each day. We may not have 700 billion dollars to hand out, so, beginning today, we’ve decided to “free the presses”, and make The Artella Daily Muse free for everyone! Opening up the Daily Muse as a free newspaper for everyone also creates great opportunities for the exciting new additions and features we’re planning in the coming weeks for Artella Membership as your Creativity Cruise Ship expands! If you're in a hurry, here are some "quick links" to the highlights in today's Artellagram. You can simply follow the links that you're interested in to go directly to the relevant information! In the Studio With Chris Tessnear Creativity Tip: Gratitude Garlands NEW! Artella’s 70% Bailout Thrill! NEW! Collage Kit Specials NEW! Artella Daily Muse free for all! Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Art Journaling Pilot Group! What's New In the Artella Cafe? Sell Your Work With Artella Join Artella's Team Quotz Crystal™ In difficult times like these, it is so important to remain grounded and connected to the things that truly nurture your spirit. The art and devotional booklets by Shoppes of Artella Artist Chris Tessnear celebrate the beauty that is all around us. As Chris herself says, “An artist always keeps their eyes open and looking for something new in something familiar.” I hope you enjoy this interview with Chris in the Artellagram's new “In the Studio” Feature. Artella: Where do you get your ideas for your art? Chris: Ideas for my art come to me from nature, symbols (like crosses, vessels, trees, and moons), treasured memories of my family and friends, and my faith. Simply sitting, quietly in the woods, sends my mind spinning with ideas, visions of color, texture and words of solitude. Sketching simple patterns on a scrap of paper speak to my creativity. Themes are used over and over. I never tire of finding new ways to recycle old themes. Pushing ideas to the limit is my way of growing and getting more ideas. I may leave a theme or subject for a while but I always seem to drift back. As long as I have explored these same familiar images I am never at a lost for art projects. Find what you love and express it with your creativity and do it again and again. Ideas beget ideas. Artella: Do you believe that artists need to have training or classes in order to create quality art? Chris: No. Who's to say what quality is? Robert Henri said, "Use the ability you already have and use it and use it and make it develop itself." As I began to study art on my own and through local classes and workshops I discovered I loved more variety in art than I ever knew. If you have some skill and level of ability, a creative spark, and a little time you can produce quality art. Classes can help you learn techniques and become proficient in various media but practice and dedication is what makes you an artist. It was a long time before I could say "I am an artist." I felt that since I didn't have an art degree I must not be real but an artist is one who makes art. If you practice your skill on a regular basis, you will improve, gain confidence and become quite proficient. The quality of art you create is entirely up to you. It relies on time, effort, and dedication. Join a local art group, attend local classes and workshops, find an artist who will allow you to look over her shoulder and before you know it, you will be an amazing artist and someone will be asking your advice on how to produce better art. Believe in yourself and you will find the quality will be there. The key is to always be a student in art. Learn from the bad art you make and grow from the good art you make. Read the rest of Chris' interview, here! See Chris' beautiful products in The Shoppes of Artella, here. If you want more artist interviews from Artella, take a look at our eBooks Artist Profiles Assembled and Artist Profiles Assembled, Vol 2, and and look at the "Ask the Artist" column every single day in The Artella Daily Muse, our daily online creativity newspaper, now open and available to everyone! ART TIP OF THE WEEK: One of the e-courses on sale as part of Artella’s 70% Bailout Thrill is The NEW Wealthcare™ Program. Included in Wealthare™ is The Gratitude Garland™, which guides you through the process of creating a very unique kind of art journal as a way to cultivating creative gratitude. This has been one of our most popular e-courses, and was even featured in Somerset Studio Magazine. While the full e-course provides specific prompts, lessons, and an abundance of pre-sized clip art called “Thanks-Clippings”, the concept is simple enough that anyone can try it. For 30 days, simply create a daily small journal entry on a strip of paper, reflecting your gratitude through art. At the end of 30 days, you’ll have a beautiful garland, and you’ll have experienced the joy of creating small daily works of art that celebrate your blessings. WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:You can create a Gratitude Garland using only writing, too. Write your blessings on strips of paper, each day trying a different style. For example, on one day you might want to try writing a short poem. On another day, describe the blessings of your day with a rich metaphor. On another day, re-write song lyrics to express your thanks. Sign up for the full Gratitude Garland e-course as part of The NEW Wealthcare Program, saving 70% off! 1. Artella’s 70% Bailout Thrill! – We know that these are times when you need to not only be inspired creatively, but you might also like to bring a bit more income into your artsy-patchwork pockets. :-) So whether you interested in using art projects to draw more abundance your way, or in starting or expanding a creative business, Artella’s 70% Bailout Thrill is our small way to help make your dreams actually become a reality. While congress has their 700 billion dollar bailout bill, we’re introducing Artella’s 70% Bailout Thrill, an unprecedented opportunity where anyone can enroll in Artella’s flagship e-courses at 70% off. For the next 7 days, we will take 70% off the following ecourses that all are designed to help you create more personal prosperity. You get to use your 70% discount on your choice of any and up to all 4 of our most acclaimed flagship courses ever: The NEW Wealthcare Program: Radical Reform for Right Livelihood of Creative Spirits combines our four highly popular e-courses that center on art projects and personal prosperity, presenting them in a new, expanded way that is ideal for artists and creative souls! Now presented in a stunning, gorgeous layout with hours of audio recordings, extra bonus clip art, and other goodies, Wealthcare™ is geared directly for creative people who have very specific blocks related to mindsets like the ”starving artist", "starving writer", or "starving healer" mentality in our society. Wealthcare combines the spiritual end of attracting abundance with practical tools that are especially suited for people who enjoy expressing themselves through creative art projects, gracefully stepping away from the "serious" side of metaphysical practices to delve into the playful aspects of creative life transformation in a spontaneous, boisterous, and often downright silly mindset. Enroll in The NEW Wealthcare Program now, at 70% off! And, if you’d like to focus on using your creativity to bring in some extra money during these times, this timely, unprecedented 70% sale on our flagship programs for creative entrepreneurs makes it easy to finally make your dreams a priority! Artella started as a small dream of mine, and through the years, I’ve taught myself how to make it succeed. Save 70% off the following courses that I designed for creative people to follow their dreams and do exactly what I did, too: Create Your Own YOUniversity (aka YOU * U) –Artella’s groundbreaking, comprehensive program that offers everything you need to know to develop, write, facilitate, and market your own teleworkshops, e-courses, and eBooks! Enroll in YOU * U now, at 70% off! The YOU * U Masters in Marketing Program – A rigorous, step-by-step program that can be used by absolutely anyone who is ready to set specific financial goals and grow her business to meet them. Enroll in The Masters Program now, at 70% off! The BusinessBlitz Intensive: Maximizing Limited Resources to Blitz Your Business! – An incredible virtual workshop that’s indispensable if you are starting or building a business. It focuses on giving you creative solutions to maximize your resources, and finally be able to spend more time creatively exercising your strengths, and significantly less time drowning in tasks that drain your energy and take you away from creating. Enroll in BusinessBlitz now, at 70% off! 2. Collage Kit Specials! Great news! The listings of our downloadable collage graphic kits have now been updated to include great sample images of what has been included in each kit, PLUS photos of sample projects that have been created with these kits by the talented artists in the Artella Community! There are now 24 artistic kits available, in every theme imaginable, and each one is overflowing with artistic goodies for digital and paper artists, alike. Best of all, in keeping with Artella’s bailout plan we have placed them on a special sale this week as well! If you’ve been waiting to dive in, now you can at our lowest price ever: Buy 2 or more Studio Kits and get them for only $7 each! Simply select your kits here, and use the coupon code: STUDIO7 when you check out. This coupon expires in one week. Here's a recent comment we received from Tara: “There are a lot of downloadable kits out there, but nobody has better value than Artella’s Studio Kits…not even close! In terms of both quality and quantity, Artella wins, hands down. And the animated interfaces for each kit are unparalleled…I’ve literally never seen anything like them, anywhere, it makes the kits even more enjoyable. It’s so extremely creative, and so, well...Artella!” - Tara Douglas-Smith It’s true – we often hear that people enjoy our animated interfaces as much as the actual Kit contents! And you also may be interested in joining the Member Ship with a Luxury Art Studio Cabin, which includes a monthly Collage Art Kit, in addition to access to the Artella Member Ship. If you sign up now, you’ll receive the “School Days” kit instantly, and you’ll also receive the next kit, “Wonder the Sea”, later this month. Click here for more information. 3. Artella Daily Muse now free for everyone! Now everyone can read the most positive, creative news in the universe every single day, for no charge. Simply go to www.artelladailymuse.com to start getting inspired! And if you’d like to receive the free Daily Muse Teaser, a brief daily email with a “teaser” of what’s in the day’s Muse, you can sign up for it, here. To make this new launch even more exciting, we’re introducing some new changes in the Daily Muse this weekend, including a brand new daily column of digital art tips, and the return of the Artbituaries column on heritage and vintage art! 4. Artella’s New Art Journaling Pilot Program Continues! There’s still time to sign up for the Pilot Group for our much anticipated new art journaling course! Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Workshop presents a friendly family of 26 Muses who are ready to lead you through a fantastic art journaling journey of self-discovery, inner healing, sacred inspiration, creative fun, and all-around better living! Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Workshop has a little something for everyone. The writing side of you will love the thought-provoking and inspiring gentle writing guidance from the 26 Muses, while the artist in you will enjoy diving into the art techniques that accompany each lesson. All you need are your dreams and a desire for making all you can out of life; your soul will do the rest as it is stirred by these inspiring Muses and the vibrant energy that they bring with them! Until October 14, you can enroll in Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Workshop Pilot Group and save $15 off the regular price of the course! Learn more about the Pilot Group, here! The AlphaBetter Muses can't wait to play with you! From the Asymmetrical Muse, who champions lopsided living…to the Zzzzz Muse, who lives in dreams..these dandy gals are ready to motivate you to embrace your creativity fully and create the life of your dreams! 5. What's New in the Café? If you haven’t been to the Artella Café recently, we hope you’ll drop by! Here are just a few ways to play: Enter one of our many contests to challenge yourself and get great prizes, just for entering! You can find links to all the current contests in the right-hand sidebar of the home page of Artella Café. Right now there are give contests open for entering, including a challenge to do something creative with an empty tissue box! Vote for your favorite in our contests and pick up some great gifties! Again, you can find links to all the current contests in the right-hand sidebar of the home page of Artella Café. There are currently three contests open, and free prizes for voting in each of them. One of the contests presents an assortment of truly breathtakingly-beautiful Digital Altered Books™! Join in one of the many writing challenges in the Word Playground forum! Sign up for one of the exciting art swaps posted in Swap Central. Get ideas from hundreds of artworks in the Art Galleries! Get inspired when you browse the blogs written by the enchanting folks in the Artella community. Get your own full-featured blog and personal art gallery when you become an Artella Member. 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 their sales! All these efforts are all part of Artella's Shoppes Artist Co-Op Program, a one-of-a-kind, true community for artists and craftspeople selling handmade goods, providing opportunity and exposure that isn't matched anywhere else, on- or off-line. The Artist Interview you read at the top of this Artellagram is a good example of the dedicated exposure we give in support of our Artists in the program. 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 Café, attend our 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 Café for details. We're rolling out some exciting new features in the coming months and would love to bring a few more wonderful, creative souls on board! This Quotz Crystal™ is a high-resolution jpeg image, suitable for printing. Print it out and post it somewhere to remind you that even during hard times, the positive spirit can prevail! ~Sending you 7 billion good wishes, Marney Artella Founder, Mango Lover, Hula Loricer Artella Land ~ the creative isles of words, art, and spirit Artella PO Box 6211 Kamuela HI 96743