Back to Back Issues Page
Articulation ~ Oct 21, 2005 ~ Artella's Birthday Gifts for You!
October 20, 2005
Hi ~

If your email program does not display this newsletter in its proper colorful formatting, you can view it on the Web at www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/ARTICULATION-artic-10-21-05.html.


SPECIAL BIRTHDAY INVITATIONS


October is Artella's BIRTHDAY month, and we've got two big birthday celebrations to announce!


Artella is three years old! The Artella Web site first premiered on October 9, 2002, and the first Articulation newsletter was released on October 29, 2002. See the Artella News! section below to read about our 2-for-1 OcTWOber-Fest Sale that we've launched to celebrate our Birthday month! And not only does this special issue of Articulation celebrate three years of fantastic Artella-life, but it also happens to mark our 100th Art-Splash! See the Art-Splash section below for instructions on how to play to our "Art-Splash Birthday Bash" and win birthday gifts for yourself! Thank you for making the last three years WONDERFUL!

There's another Birthday Party taking place on SATURDAY: the Benevolent Birthday Giveaway, an event that celebrates both the birthday of BenevolentPlanet.com and National Make a Difference Day. We're offering a huge collection of thank-you gifts, valued at hundreds of dollars, to every single one of you who orders the book, The Difference a Day Makes: 365 Ways to Change Your World in Just 24 Hours, from Amazon.com on this Saturday, October 22.

This book, written by BenevolentPlanet founder and my good friend Karen Jones, is one of the most powerful books I have read in the past several years. Please take just a minute to listen to Karen read the introduction to her book (look for the purple audio player in the yellow box at this link. I guarantee you will beinspired to see artful altruism in an entirely new...and DOABLE...way!

And there's ANOTHER great offer for EVERYONE! If you want to learn more about the book before buying it, or if you already own this phenomenal book, EVERYONE is invited to join Karen and me as I facilitate a lively, interactive "Ask the Author" telegathering on Saturday (October 22) from 1:00pm to 2:00pm Eastern Time.

Information about both the Benevolent Birthday Giveaway, and the "Ask the Author" telegathering can be found at

http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/benevolentbirthday.html.

I can't think of anything that I'd like more for Artella's Birthday than for The Difference a Day Makes to find its way into as many hands and hearts as possible on National Make a Difference Day.



Midwives and Magic

Those of us who attended Artella's WildChild Wisdom Weekend a week ago are still reeling from the amazing time that we had together. It was a wonderful journey through time, friendship, and creativity. We'll be posting photographs and stories on the Web site soon, so that you'll be able to share in a virtual retreat experience.

One woman called the retreat "a birthing experience". She said:

"I was drawn to come to the WildChild Weekend because I wanted to let the little kid inside me play. But the experience ended up being more about birth than about childhood. My creativity has been re-born and in the short week since I've been home I've literally given birth to so many ideas. I guess they were always there but now they are seeing the light of day."

With the birthday celebrations of Artella and Benevolent Planet this week, I'm aware of how important it is to honor the birthings of our creative projects. Here are a few suggestions of ways that you might honor the "birthday" of a creative project:

  • Buy a beautiful candle to keep in your creative space as your "birthday candle". Light it each time you begin a work session on your project.
  • Send a birth announcement to your friends, announcing your new project (You might want to send our "Baby Dreams" eCard, shown on the right of the second row on http://www.artellawordsandart.com/free-ecards.html)
  • Ask a handful of friends to contribute a small amount to your to your Birthday fund, and buy something special for your project, i.e., a journal, new file folders, etc.
  • Take yourself on a Birthday adventure outdoors. Pick up items that catch your eye – a leaf, a shell, a lucky penny. Put them in a special place, where you can cherish them as birthday gifts from the Universe!
Marking the "birthday" of a creative project sends a message – to our subconscious minds, to our friends, to our inner critic – that says "this is important to me!" It allows a natural opening for ritual, which joins spirit and practicality in sisterhood for optimal creative success. It recognizes the bittersweetness of labor and delivery, and it provides a natural timeline for tracking progress. It also can reduce overwhelm, making the beginnings of a project feel joyful and fun instead of draining and dreadful.

Finally, the wonderful thing about creating a ritual surrounding the birth of your project is that you can continue it on each subsequent anniversary -- be they yearly or monthly anniversaries -- to continue the sense of magic and mystery and expansiveness of what you have birthed into being.

I succeeded in simply attending at the birth of all my works.
– Max Ernst

The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire, before art is born.
~Auguste Rodin



THIS WEEK'S ART-SPLASH & BIRTHDAY CONTEST

Yes, it's TRUE! This week we present is our 100th Art-Splash! It's called BirthWings and you can view it at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/artic100.html.

To celebrate three amazing years of words and art, we've put together the "Art-Splash Birthday Bash", where you go on a scavenger hunt to find clues hidden in the 100 Art-Splashes in the Art-Splash archives!

Go to http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/birthdaybash.html, where you'll find the list of Scavenger Hunt questions and full instructions on how to play, and the prizes you can win. Play the game to take a fun trip down memory line, and perhaps to be inspired with an Art-Splash or two that you've never seen before. Happy hunting!

Finally, I'd like to express my thanks, on behalf of all of us at Artella. YOU truly make Artella what it is: a rich, compassionate community whose collective creativity keeps soaring to new levels and touching people all around the world! Thank you, and Happy Birthday!



ART TIP OF THE WEEK!

Why should babies have all the fun? Give baby blocks an artful makeover! Go to a craft store and get some unfinished wood blocks and decorate them in any way you please! Use rubber stamps, paints, fabrics, fibers, and more! Create sets with matching themes or color schemes. Add alphabets to spell out artsy words. For inspiration, take a look at these sample photos from a class taught by Michelle Ward (one of my favorite artists), which incorporates wax on wood blocks.



WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK!

If you are working on characters in a short story, novel, or even a character-based piece of poetry, for an interesting twist on your characters, try writing about the occasion of their birth. How long were their mothers in labor? What quirky things might have happened? What did the birthing room look like? Who was present? Paint the scene, in all its detail. You may never end up using this information, but it does present a unique biographical angle that often is overlooked, and could even uncover some subtle information related to character patterns or traits.



Artella News!

Now it's easier than ever to get Artella news several times a week in the Artella News Blog (there's just WAY to much to include here!). And what's more…with almost every post, there's a BlogJog "sneaky" Special hidden in the post, which is a sale or freebie that's listed exclusively in the blog, and only for a few days. So check the Artella blog for full Artella News!

Quick Links to our NEWEST, HOT items:

  1. 50% Subscription Sale Expires SUNDAY! Our Dreamworld Reverie sale, with which you save 50% on Artella magazine AND get to select your own Gift Pack, expires at midnight this Sunday, October 23!

  2. Our Biggest 2-for-1 Sale, ever! How else could we celebrate our birthday month than with an amazing sale? OcTWOber-Fest lets you buy 1, get 1 free on Artella's most inspiring products!:
  3. Artella introduces Art Supplies! You heard it here, first! We are now carrying art supplies in the brand new Art Supply General Store! We proudly introduce Artella Catalyst Collections...Collage Kits That Make Art Happen™. These one-of-a-kind, exceptionally unique collections have FREE SHIPPING and right now, you can buy 1, get 1 free sale as part of our OcTWOber-FestSpecial! Stock up on holiday gifts OR stock your studio! For every Collection you buy, you can select a bonus Collection at no charge. If you purchase any 2 kits, you select 2 more for free...AND you get a free eBook on top of that.Come see the Catalyst Collections!.

  4. New to Digital Art? Come to Artella's Q3 on Starting Out in Digital Art, a fr-ee teleclass presented by Zura Ledbetter and myself on Monday, October 24th at 8:00pm! This is part of Artella's new "Quintessential Questions and Quests" Series. Space is limited so reserve your spot at www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/ecourse.html (click the icon that says "Gratis Art" in the upper-left corner)

  5. The SPACE CRAFT Adventure is Back! The most creative Chat Room game on the Net is back, this time with a Halloween twist! Major Marney's SpaceCraft Adventure….The Halloween Edition is Tuesday, October 25th, at 8pm in the Artella Chat. Details at www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/space-game.html.

  6. Our newest featured artist in The Shoppes of Artella is Glenda Miles! Glenda's delightful Wishing Wands and Wishing Stix enchanted everyone at the Artella retreat – every single retreat participant was drooling over these artisan pieces! Grab yours at www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/GlendaMiles.html!

  7. Welcome to our newest staff members! We're proud to welcome Chantal Simon and Kim Fyler to our Artella staff team!



ARTFUL, HEART-FULL LINKS!

  1. In the last Articulation, we mentioned Julie Isaac's Web site, A Passion for Peace, which encourages us to use our creative gifts to express our highestdesires for the planet. However, the incorrect URL was given; you can find A Passion for Peace at http://www.apassionforpeace.com/.

  2. The Color Museum offers anything and everything about color - a wonderful site to explore.

And remember, if you love finding great places on the Internet, you don't know what you're missing if you don't get our LinkLatte emails, that come to Artella Members every single day!


~blowing out candles,

Marney K. Makridakis
Artella Founder/Editor

p.s. Don't forget to celebrate the Benevolent Birthday on National Make a Difference Day, THIS SATURDAY! Buy The Difference a Day Makes on Amazon.com to receive hundreds of dollars in gifts...and start making a difference!

Keep It Coming! To ensure delivery of this newsletter, take a minute now and create a contact in your email address book for Articulation@ArtellaWordsAndArt.com.

If you don't, your Internet Service Provider(ISP) may block delivery.
Back to Back Issues Page