Note: If this newsletter doesn't display in its delightfully colorful formatting, you can view it on the Web at www.artellawordsandart.com/ARTELLAGRAM-4-24-09.html. I want to extend my deep appreciation for everyone who wrote me after last week's Artellagram, prompted by the most powerful question I've ever answered: "What would you dream to do in your life if you knew you could not fail?" It was wonderful to hear from so many of you and to see what a difference that simple question is making. This week, I was reflecting on our unfortunate tendency as humans during hard times, whether economic, emotional, or physical, we sometimes tend to lose our capacity to dream and hope, most often rationalizing that there is no "time" for anything but work and worry. But I have come to believe the exact opposite is true. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and so it stands to reason that right now, in a time where it feels like there is so much necessity, that there has never, EVER been more potential for true, passionate invention. I know when I think about the most challenging times in my life, I am able to see how much I learned from those challenges, and how the difficulties really propelled me to take action and make changes in my life that ended up being extremely positive. I imagine you have several experiences like that in your life, too – times when you were really able to take a difficult situation and alchemize it into something very meaningful and important. One of the most inspiring movie lines ever for me is from the movie Braveheart, when Mel Gibson’s character William Wallace is awaiting certain death, and slowly reassures the woman he loves in his delicious Scottish accent not to worry for him, since “Every man dies.....not every man truly LIVES.” It’s a real wakeup call, especially when we are in the midst of challenge, to focus on what we are REALLY called here to do on earth....not just to be born and die, but to truly come ALIVE! I have come to learn that it is the challenges in our life that provide us with the most rich opportunities to come alive, and to be alive ultimately means to change. Life only ends when we stop changing. The changes don't have to be big, epic, sweeping life epiphanies suitable to become major motion pictures :-). They can just be small, simple changes in the way we live our lives more fully, authentically and joyfully. In reality, it’s actually the very small changes that we make, which all add up to navigate the course of our lives, just as small change of nickels and dimes eventually all adds up, monetarily speaking. Very often, our most meaningful and significant changes actually arise from our being truly challenged. And since obstacles and challenging circumstances will always be around us, we might as well receive something from them -- some change :-) -- in return. I wish you a week of fierce courage and even more fierce silliness and joy, with a truly brave heart and a child’s spirit of wonder, to not only boldly meet your daily challenges head on, but to walk away from them more ALIVE than ever. For those short on time, to simplify this week's Artellagram, here are some "quick links" to the highlights in this edition. You can simply follow the links that you're interested in and go directly to that section. New Pilot Group Announced: Make Change With Your Muse! Make The Change Instant Rebate Luxury Membership Update Creative Cartography Coaching New Payment Plan Option For The Complete Idealist's Blissness Camp Join the Artella Affiliate Program Becom Part of Artella's Team! In the Studio with Dr. Niama Williams Creativity Tip: "Dreamy" Art and Writing Quotz Crystal™ 1. New Pilot Group! I'm particularly delighted to announce the brand new Pilot Group for our newest e-course, Make Change with Your Muse!: Mixed Media Art Projects to Attract Prosperity and Change in Your Life. With all that’s going on in the world these days, it's time to release our stresses about money, and instead bring in our joy. As so many have learned by now, we ATTRACT more of what we ARE... so if we stress and worry, it becomes that much more difficult to get anything but MORE of the stress and worry we are putting out. We may not get prosperous overnight, just because we say a few positive things, but the fact is, it's only WHEN we are positive, full of gratitude and joy, that we can be in a place to receive more. The science behind this is extensive, but even old-fashioned common sense tells us that if we want something to change for the better, we BETTER change something! Make Change with Your Muse! combines an actual, real, hands-on kit of world coins and vintage art supplies, with an energizing, inspiring collection of lessons to take you on an unforgettable journey, as you create beautiful art projects with world coins, while completely changing the way you experience prosperity and abundance in your life. Get more information and sample lessons, here. As always, we are introducing one single Pilot Group for this program. From now through May 3, you can enroll in the Make Changes with Your Muse Workshop Pilot Group and save $20.00 off the regular price of the course in exchange for your feedback on the experience. Read more about the Pilot Group, here! 2. Make The Change Instant Rebate! We added an additional coupon code to our list of this month's Artella YOUpons. It's called the "Make the Change Instant Rebate" and you get to pick your choice of our most inspiring, step-by-step e-courses, and save $25 instantly when you checkout. See the list of eligible e-courses, here! 3. Luxury Membership Update! It's come to our attention that some of our Luxury Members have not been receiving the weekly emails with all your goodies. We're working hard to get to the bottom of the problem, but in the meantime I just wanted to let you know that if you login to your Member Profile Page, you can access archives of ALL the emails that have been sent out in the archives section in the lower-left corner. So if you've not been receiving your weekly emails this month, please feel free to check the archives, or login to your Cabin portal page, so that you don't miss any of the goodies! This week I announced the dates for the first live gatherings for the Art Journaling, Blissness, and Digital Art Memberships, which are happening next month. I can't wait to connect live with Members in these fun, inspiring ways! If you're not a Luxury Member, you can get more information about all of the Luxury Memberships, as well as the Artella Land Complete Access Pass, at this link. 4. Creative Cartography Coaching in full swing! After taking some time off from individual consulting to be with my baby son, I’m once again offering consulting for individual project development. Have you ever just wished someone could hand you a literal map...with all the steps and paths mapped out to get directly to your creative dream? That’s what we do in Creative Cartography! Here are a few comments from people I’ve worked with: "Marney is brilliantly intuitive, a gifted business visionary and immensely skilled at distilling information and creating growth in every direction. I have the highest regard for her services and totally recommend her." - SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), PlanetSARK.com "My personal creative cartography map is jam packed with all of my dreams, action steps and resources. Being a very visual person, I find it incredibly helpful to see my dreams in a map format! Marney went above and beyond the call of duty during her phone call with me. Her enthusiasm was positively infectious. I truly felt as though she was on "my team" and had my best interests at heart. During the phone call I sensed that Marney intuitively "knew" what I wanted. Like an alchemist of old, she has the ability to mine through all of the jumble of ideas and desires in order to extract the "gold". Thank you Marney for giving me some clarity around my artsy business!" - Violette, artist and author of Journal Bliss After hearing from you about your dreams and goals, I work with you to create a map for how to get from here to there while keeping you really inspired and creatively passionate as you do it! Since creative folks are generally very visually oriented, I also follow up your session by designing just for you a Customized Creative Cartography ActionMap, based on your own journey, and completely customized for your personal goals. This is fun and artsy on the outside, but ultimately a very valuable and resourceful visual map that you can print out to guide you on your journey and keep you inspired along the way! If you take a look at the links above and feel that Creative Cartography Coaching is something that could help you, you can email me directly at marney@artellaland.com, I'd love to work with you! :-) 5. New Payment Plan Option For The Complete Idealist's Blissness Camp! You can still join the awesome group of creative folks who are taking part in The Complete Idealist's Blissness Action Camp! We've now added a payment plan option, plus you can also save $25 with the Make the Change instant rebate mentioned above. And when you sign up, you instantly receive recordings of the teleclasses, instructions to join the popular and inspiring online forum, and access to download all the materials, so even those who can't make the phone calls haven't missed a thing! Because of its popularity, we've decided to make the Blissness Camp forum a permanent part of the Artella Café, only open to Blissness Campers, to serve as a nuturing and inspiring hotbed of ideas and community that I and other moderators will continue to remain a strong part of. Here are a few comments from Happy Campers :-) Thank you so much for all of your sharing and caring. The workshop last evening was spectacular. This is all so wonderful. I love the forum posts too, just so filled with inspiration.Thank you for this opportunity and for sharing your wonder. I am working a lot in the Action Guide and the extreme and beautiful positive outlooks you share. You are a truly magical soul and I am so very grateful I have this opportunity to learn from you! - Midge Everything in the Blissness Camp speaks to Me and where I am. at last, I feel connected in to a place where I might fit in somehow. – Sue Thanks for putting your great advice and information out for us all. For the first time, I really feel like this time I will be successful. - Beth WOW, Marney – the Action Guide is fabulous and way more than I expected! This is an absolute gift at this time in my life and I want you to know how much I appreciate it. I have a head brimming with ideas, now. Thank you for being such a great inspiration in my life. - Darcy In the Blissness Camp, Marney inspires and motivates me to take action. She inspires me in so many ways that she is potentially unaware of. Her wit, charm, caring, course work, action-oriented, follow through, love, fun, ideas - Ashley So if you read through the series description and the power-packed FreeBees list, and you get that deep-down excited feeling about what is truly possible, then I hope you'll take advantage of the few days left to use the $25 savings and join us. If you think that the Blissness Action Camp is what you need to finally make a living doing what you love, it would be great to work with you and your wonderful creative "blissness"! 6. Are you an Affiliate, yet? Have you been wanting to bring in some additional income? If so, you'll be very happy to know that Artella's New Affiliate Program is finally here! After many of your requests and over a year in the making, Artella's Affiliate Program is ready to help you start earning income, just by spreading the word about Artella. The Artella Affiliate Program is free, and within a few minutes, you can be ready to actually start earning real income, receiving 25% commissions, one of the highest commissions available online. Get all the details about Artella's exciting Affiliate Program, here! 7. Interested in Becoming Part of Artella's Team? If you're interested in becoming part of the amazing Artella Team, check out this post in the Artella Cafe 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! Our feature this week is with Dr. Niama Williams, whose inspiring books of poetry grace the virtual shelves of The Shoppes of Artella. I know you'll enjoy getting to know "Dr. Ni" a bit better! Artella: What do you do to overcome or get past artistic blocks? Dr. Ni: There is no such thing as an artistic block; no law says we are to create art or writing all of the time. One could say that I have an artistic block in terms of painting, but I know that I do not: what I have is fear of robbing my brother and so I choose not to paint right now because I choose not to have an ugly battle with fear right now in an environment that is not conducive to my winning that battle. I know in what environment I will free to paint, and it is my obligation TO MYSELF to get myself to that environment when I want to be serious about painting. In my more "daily" talent, writing, I am not writing ALL of the time. There is promotion time, advertising time, networking time, time for family and friends, time for phone calls and socializing; I am never blocked. When I encounter resistance from the Universe, I know that it is a sign that I need to either look at what I am doing, look at it from another perspective, or drop what I am doing and see what is on the other side of the battle with fear I am engaged in. You can read the rest of Dr. Ni's interview, here See Dr. Ni's 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. ART TIP OF THE WEEK: Well, since I've been talking about making changes and following your dreams in the last couple of Artellagrams, one of the Muses from Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Workshop, has been tugging at my sleeve saying "I want to say hello!" Her name is Zzzzz Muse, she is works as a Demonstrator for Living in Dreams. :-) When designing this Muse, I wanted to create a dream-like feel to the piece, so I printed the focal image on tissue paper to give that ethereal, gauzy quality that dreams often have. See complete instructions for creating this piece, here! WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: People often ask me which issue of Artella has been my favorite, and I have to say that Artella issue 7, The Dreamworld is the one that has the most personal meaning for me. While working on this issue, I discovered that dreams are such rich territory for writing! Writing from the point of view of being within a dream is a magical experience, because you can really let go of reality and just allow words and images to dance together in new ways. If you've never written from within the dreamworld, give it a try. You can start by writing about one of your own dreams, and then go on to creating new tableaus from within the dreamworld, where metaphor and symbols are the new reality. Writing from within a dream is a very rich experience and I encourage you to give it a try! This Quotz Crystal™ is a high-resolution jpeg image, suitable for printing. Print it out and hang it up to remind you to truly LIVE! ~Making small change, Marney Artella Founder, Mango Lover, Hula Dancer Artella Land ~ the creative isles of words, art, and spirit Artella PO Box 6211 Kamuela HI 96743