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però, ti ci stai mettendo d'impegno! potresti addirrittura aprire una tua linea di moda o un negozietto... un aris shop! :)

Una vera meraviglia!

...Chissà!
:) è un po' tipo una sfida con me stessa, per migliorarmi sempre ;)
Grazie lillo
smak

Grazie Elena...
mi ci è voluto un sacco di tempo a farla, ma il risultato direi che è buono ;)

Фантастика!
Какое многоцветие!))))
Арис, дорогая, БРАВО!
Малютки восхитительны! ВСЕ, без исключения!))))

Dorogaja moija Jatka, spasibo :) ja rada blagodarja tvoim slovam, zdes' sejchas =&:44 utra, ja vsju noch rabotala i sejchas lozhus' spat', i zavtra... poslednjaja maljutka!!!! Potom otdochnu nemnozhko ;P

che poesia, aris, è splendido! i papaveri sono i miei fiori preferiti, insieme ai tulipani. un bacio grande.

Нет слов!!! Восхитительно!!!

Grazie Valentina, anche io adoro i papaveri... come credo si veda :)

Tari spasibo :)

Back atcha, Lo. :) I have always loved prayers flags. xox Pam

To you too Lolo!
The flags are lovely; I always wanted to do some for the yard, but never quite knew how to secure them that they would not end up in the next State....

XXOO~~
Anne

to you too Lo, am enjoying coming to find these words on saturdays.

Sending Easter and Spring hugs! Prayer flags are so wonderful.....

Drive carefully!

Love.

♥ LS ♥

same to you dear lo. love prayer flags :)

your card is very lovely!

Love your Saturday snippets Lolo. Great quote.

Happy spring on this April showers day

I like the prayer flags and also Thich Nhat Hahn's peaceful approach to mindfulness. Even if they are two different types of Buddhism. :-)

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

oh this series!

i probably drive you crazy with all my (exciting) suggestions but i can't help seeing these glossy cards i can shuffle. i want a set for my friend clara's christmas present.

&hearts:
your pal
kj

lo, forgive me please if you have 137 comments from me. that##$@@!!blogger. i tried to delete all these comments but that ##$$%%^^blogger kept making me sign in and never helped. baaaaah!

(sorry pumpkin)

love
kj

Lo, KJ.....I just returned to comment on our both using "Blue Butterflies" today.....and I see all these posts (ostensibly from KJ)....but, we ALL know it weally was Emily Wabbitt having a laugh!!!!

Wuv,

♥ Wrobin ♥

I wish you peace and happiness this weekend and every weekend too Lolo.

What a beautiful and peaceful card! Have a lovely day Laurel!!!

Thank you Lolo...hope your Easter was all you wanted it to be.
xoxo

My heart is warmed by this. thank you & BIG hugs!

Beautiful snippet. Hope you had a good holiday, too.

Super snippet! Hope you had a lovely Easter.

I will look forward to seeing these illuminated quotes illustrated by you. Ilove those light bulb moments.

I love lighbulb moments too - and this is an excellent one!

Love,

♥ LS ♥

It's brilliant Lo, you really have a great idea here. I'm looking forward to seeing them all!

My lightbulb needs changing - lol! I'm glad you had a moment, and that you're being so creative! xox Pam

lovely idea, I hope you sell tons.
xoxo

You are very clever and this is indeed a lovely idea...and lovely card. Happy sales to you!

Great idea and they look wonderful in your Etsy store!!!!

I love light bulb moments as well. I have them in the middle of the night or very early before I get up......

Finished studying, Henny will come now any moment and have to go to bed early.......

Well all is under control here ;)

I love this quote Lo! It is so true!

♥♥♥
>M<

YAY RAH Lolo!!!!
I'd like a light bulb moment.
I think I'm stuck with the kind that was on Beavis and Butthead...the slow "Fzzzzzt!", a moment of dim shine and then pffft. OUT.
Still, yay rah!!!

XXOO~~♥
Anne

I love that quote by Shenai you have on your header...it feels so right!

I want a light bulb moment and I know when I'm ready, it'll appear. Hard to accept, that...

In the meantime, I love yours! Can't wait to see them...Easter is coming up!

Lightbulb!
Decals on Paperclay hanging plaques.

Hurray for Lo!

what i think is so totally cool about this layout is the white background. it works perfectly, like the scent of clean sheets on the clothesline.

i am super duper proud of you lo.

love
kj

Wonderful idea! I'm sure they will do very well in Etsy. I especially like this one. Always liked that quote.

Super! These little cards are a great idea!

Love it!

This is so lovely Lucy! The exhibition is going to be amazing, I can't wait to see it!

Thank you lovely lady! I can't wait to see YOU! :) xxx

Hi, Lucy! I noticed you were a new follower to my blog so I wanted to thank you and let you know I really love your work. It is been so refreshing poking around you blog. I am a huge fan of your color sense and look forward to seeing more from you. Good luck in all your creative endeavors.

Wonderful, Lucy! I love that there's so much interaction between your characters...super piece I must say! I'm sure it will shine in the exhibition!!

Hi Lucy... thanks for following us! So excited to have found you... you have amazing illustrations, they are so cute... love them all!

Your illustrations are so sweet... great job with colours!! =)

I have one manuscript that's died and been reincarnated a few times. I just love the idea but haven't quite found the right way to tell it. But a few weeks ago, I got a teeny tiny burst of inspiration that made me look at the project in a whole new way, and I started writing it all over again. Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective to breathe life back into a seemingly dead idea.

In my own writing, I really try to focus on what my characters might say or do in a particular situation. I try to imagine them eating breakfast in the morning and what kind of conversation they might have.

I am so excited to read this book. It sounds so powerful! Thank you for the chance to win. :-)

This was so beautiful, I cried a little. Inspiring, completely...

I loved your butterfly story! It's amazing how resilient creatures can be. The story I've just finished needs SO MUCH WORK. A big part of me just wants to shove it in a drawer and forget about it forever. I think I'm going to do that for a while, but I hope that maybe in 6 months I can pull it out and bring it back to life.

What a great story! Sometimes we just need to have the faith and confidence of children. Anything is possible to them, and why not?

I thought my first book was dead, but just recently I've started a new draft with new life. The characters were there, but plot not so much. It's fun to watch its wings slower twitter and hopefully come to life by the time I've finished. It's a lot of work, but very satisfying.

Oh, yes! My current chapter book began as a PB. I loved it. I queried it. And queried it. And queried it. DEAD. When I began blogging seriously and found some CP's, I realized it was meant to be a chapter book. What a difference. Two years later, I have just begun querying again.

I love the butterfly story! That's beautiful!

I have a dead book that I actually pulled out last night. I rewrote the opening chapter and I'm kind of excited for it again. We'll see...

Such an amazing story!

I tend to think my books are dead around the 40,000 word mark--I'm not quite sure why. When that happens, I grab a journal and start writing things down, stream-of-conscious. I write down questions I have about the plot, how I could improve it, etc., and I usually discover a plot twist that makes me more excited to keep writing. It's a weird method, but effective!

Wonderful post!

I actually felt that way about my book that is currently on submission. I set it aside and started working on somethign else. Then one day I went back to it. I can't explain it, but I finished it, then found my agent. So worth it. Sometimes I think you have to take a step back.

OMGoodness, that was so awesome!

I was feeling like my current wip was dead, and got a comment from a reader that changed everything! Go, inspiration!

Oh, gosh, Yes. Sometimes it just needed a totally new vision and voice to come alive.

Oh my, I think I teared up there for a few minutes...what a great story! I have my current WIP that I'm about ready to throw in the towel on. But maybe now I'll give it another chance. Maybe it's not quite dead yet...

What an inspiring post. I'm actually working on a WIP I put away for a little over a year because I just felt I didn't know where the story was going anymore. I just died in my heart, but recently I went with my family to a midevil fair and all kinds of ideas started to come to mind. I could even hear my main character whispering in my ear what changes needed to be made so her story could come to life.

I love that video--your daughter must have been so excited!

I don't know if my book has ever been dead so much as seriously injured. Revising/rewriting helps. :)

You know, I don't know that I've felt something was dead, but there have been times where I almost wished it was because the amount of work required to fix the problems seemed overwhelming. But I love this analogy. Absolutely brilliant.

Best post ever!!!

I've got a first novel that I've put away. But, I got some great editorial feedback on it, and I know it can be fixed. Maybe I'll pull it back out. Someday.

sf

A little faith and patience. Something to remember, for sure. I love that video and the hope. Thank you. (Don't enter me, cuz I just won a book from you and don't want to be greedy) :)

It's taken me over 6 years to finish revising my manuscript enough to feel like I can submit it and enter contests. I can't count the number of times I've thought it was dead or me as a writer. Somehow I always have come back to revising it and felt better that maybe there's a chance.

I wouldn't give up on your manuscript forever. Maybe another one will be your first book and this one will be looked at differently later. You never know. That's what I'm hoping if I can't sell my book now. I'll start on something else & save it for later.

And thanks for paying it forward. I so appreciate it.

Great post and awesome comments...very inspiring! Sometimes it takes someone else looking at our work for us to see that it is revivable. (Thanks Sharon McPherson for the CPR for my pb...)

Thanks for the lovely story and the links, Shelli. :)

Yes! My current wip almost got tossed. But I pulled it back out and took another good look at it. I'm revising now. =)

Shelli, you made me cry. Oh, goodie. Seriously. I was cut off from all my blogging buddies all day. My internet died! I was shocked at how lost I was without all of you. I'm so glad I was able to stop by today.

For me: the breath of my daughter and a dear friend breathed new life into my current manuscript. They are life.

Great post, great contest.

Other people have told me my book was dead, and deep inside I knew it was too, but I refused to believe it or accept it. I'm not going to admit that its "dead" until all the roads of publications have put up big STOP signs

Oooh the book sounds cool ! Please enter me:

I'm 14. And my friend got me to to do NanoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month). And so I started a book I've really wanted to write for a long time. I got maybe bout fourteen thousand words out in that month (didn't reach my goal), but then I stopped. So yes, my book died. But then a few weeks ago it magically came back to life when I came up with an idea for a really cool part of my book. I had no idea what I was doing, I think I was hanging with my friends and listening to music. So I thank that song that got me going again !

Thanks for the contest!

~Alison
lostinbelieving(at)yahoo(dot)com

I almost gave up on Evangeline, the novel I would desperately like to be my "debut novel". I'd received too many rejections, and I thought it was time to move onto something else.

And I did move on. I moved on to another story. This story wasn't really any better plot-wise, but I learned a lot about voice and style while I was writing. I applied these things to my old manuscript, which helped, and revamped the plot. It's still not perfect, but it's much closer to being my "debut novel" than I thought when I almost trunked it last summer.

I'm glad I didn't abandon it, but I'm also glad I took a little hiatus from it to work on my craft.

Great post.

Oh Boy I am having a moment like that now. Instead of giving up I put it to rest, start a new project, then go back to the old one after a couple of weeks.

Beautiful post! I actually got teary eyed at the video.

I finished my first novel-length ms in 2006. After a dozen queries, I put it aside because I felt there was something wrong with the book but couldn't identify what. So I wrote another ms, and another, never forgetting my first "dead" ms.

Two and a half years later, I rewrote the book, transforming it from historical women's fiction to a contemporary YA, keeping those elements that were nearest my heart. Finally, the book felt "right." That ms got me an agent.

As we go into a second year of subbing to editors, with yet another ms, I'm grappling with many days when my writing dream seems like the poor butterfly.

And then I read a post like yours and feel a sparkle of hope again. Thank you.

Ooh, definitely one of two things: new eyes, or time in the dreaded drawer. It's amazing what a break-up between your WIP and you can do :)

Marissa

YAY for tough butterflies! And YAY to your darling daughter for not giving up!!!

\o/

A great post. Thanks. Was definitely in need of a butterfly today :)

It has happened to me a few times, but usually a good night of sleep solves it. I get a lot of ideas from my dreams!

A manuscript that was in the drawer has new life because of a workshop at the SCBWI Winter Conference. I started working on it again and my critique group got excited about it with me and now hopefully the story will get a second chance.

Love the butterfly. You saved it by moving it to the sun. It was recharging it's batteries! Sometimes I worry that my book is dead even while I'm working on the edits from an editor! That inner critic can be so brutal. But I love the idea of moving the butterfly to the sun and letting it soak in the light...

So inspiring! Thanks! I'll remember this.

LOVE that image. How amazing--I bet your daughter was thunderstruck!

Such a beautiful story! I love it. I love happy endings. I'm a sucker that way. Thank you for sharing and I'll keep it in mind whenever things get tough.

That made me teary eyed (in case it wasn't obvious, I'm a total sap!)

I have one dead book... maybe. It's the ms I had nearly finished when I thought "maybe I should try & pub something one day". Since then I've learned so much!! The ms has changed drastically (and been cut in half). It's marinating right now - I don't think it fits in today's market. I'm thinking on it for a bit :)

Thanks for that excellent story! Just what I needed to hear right now.
I had a picture book manuscript I'd submitted to several publishers with nothing but rejections. I mentioned the story to someone in my writer's group and she said, "I never thought that was your best piece." So I shelved it. Then one day I ran into a fellow writer I hadn't seen in awhile and she said, "What ever happened to that snail story? That was always my favorite."
So I took it off the shelf,realized I do love it, worked on it a bunch more and I'm now submitting it again.

很棒的分享~如有打擾之處,敬請原諒！........................................

I've never had a manuscript die. I've given up too soon because I've not known what to do, but it hasn't been dead. Some of them sit waiting for me to come back to, but most are happy to have been what they were for me. There are two such stories, one from last year and the other from ... 04? at least, that have melded in my head into my current WIP.

It's never been the stories that have died. I have been too unskilled to finish them.

What a beautiful story! My daughter and I went through something similar with a baby Robin when she was about eleven. Chirpy survived miraculously and even went back out into the wild. Every Robin my daughter and I see reminds of that miracle.

Dead manuscripts? Oh, yes. I have a drawer full of picture books, including some that made it to aquisitions before being turned down for whatever reason. You are inspiring me to take another look at them.

And my finished mss? It's been dead to me more times than I can count. Usually every time I realize the story is bigger than my talent. Every time that happens, I step back and return to my worksheets to break things down into component parts and focus on what's wrong and why I'm overwhelmed.

If all else fails with a manuscript, I add more obstacles for my protag. I am so abusive to my characters, I should be arrested!

Again, AWESOME story. Thanks for the inspiration and the kick in the pants.

Martina

aww... that sweet butterfly was beautiful! What an inspiring post, shellibean!

wait.are you sure those weren't just deathly twitches?

:)))

I've never thought that one of my books was dead per se, more like stewing in a dentist's waiting room, trying to figure out an excuse to leave, even though they know they have to get the work done so they can keep that beautiful smile!

xoxo -- Hilary

What an awesome story, Shelli! Thank you for sharing it!
I've not yet thought anything was dead, but there is one ms I wrote that needs some serious reconstructive surgery. But I have a hard time giving up on anything.

This was such a beautiful post. I sent it straight away to my good friend who has been feeling low because she hasn't been getting the response to her queries that she was hoping for. But she only just started. I sent this post to her to encourage her to keep going!

Wow, what an awesome story.

I haven't had a dead manuscript come back to life because my manuscripts don't die so much as I lose interest in them. Or I used to, years ago. These days it seems that when I start writing a book, I finish it.

Sounds like a wonderful weekend. Nothing better than time spent with friends. Love the collage, nice balance and great combinations. Beautiful !!

What I think of when I see this is the process of knowledge and aging, and ultimately the spirit flying away.
It is a good feeling, not something morose but mor about the utilization of the time we have to learn, to pass that on, and then us passing.
But I'm a verbose artist.....what do I know??? LOL!! ;)
Nice piece!

XXOO!!
Anne

Lo, sounds like you, KJ, JB AND Stella had a fabulous weekend!

I love the fact you all "tackled" collages....

Ok - you asked for an interpretation, so here is mine:

This a LIFE collage....the two girls are full of youth, dreams, plans...the elder - a life realised, goals met (or not), but wise and full of peace. The rocking chair - home, hearth, calm...the Butterfly - release, freedom to move to the next world, fly high, seeking stars and eternity.

Both you and KJ did stellar work....hope you both can persuade JB to reveal her collage too.

Sending you many hugs and love,

♥ Robin ♥

Anne...I love your interpretation!
Thanks for taking time with it ;)

Robin...beautiful interpretation!
I'm glad people are seeing what I saw after I made it.

I'll reveal my interpretation sometime later.

And yes, the weekend was wonderful, but short :(

xo♥

What this says to me? The older woman is our mother. The two young girls represent what I've always wanted with my sister but have never had.

Sorry to be so bleak, Laurel.

Annie

I see the aging grandma not sitting in her rocking chair but out in the world mentoring these two young girls.

i really love what you all have to say! I usually don't comment/respond on my own blog but this calls for it. And it's fun.

Annie...if bleak is how it makes you feel that's okay. It pulled something out of you. That's what it's meant to do. I'm sorry you don't have a relationship with your sister though. That has to be hard. ♥

Suki...nice interpretation! If this had been the size of a 'youknowwhat..SC' I would have put it in my deck ;)
Thank you ♥

It was hard not to read the other's first-but I didn't peek.

I keep thinking of the concept of the all knowing infant...that all knowledge is within us, and we are probably closer to that as children because life strips away what we know from within and replaces it with a lot of other crap.

Dealing with various aches and pains the rocking chair is quite ominous to me-the butterfly mitigates that. Leave the body and be free? If that were really the case, we'd all just dive off cliffs like lemmings!

Wouldn't it be funny and ironic if we lived to be 100's of years old, died and found out there was a big party going on in the afterworld that we'd been missing all this time?

Debra Kay...I'm glad you're not a lemming! Your interpretation is intriguing. I do want to live to be 100 if I can do it with grace and good health. The party can wait, I'm in no hurry to get there ;)

I would have loved to see the collage you would have made. We really missed you and Mim.♥

i see the eternal mother in the grandmother, and the passing on of her wisdom to her gradndchildren, the circle of life... and the rocking chair signifying that we all get to it in the end, rocking rocking waiting for our end... a wonderful image and i am sure a wonderful weekend.

my comment?

it's great to have a friend you love and can count on and laugh with and create art together and know there will be more moments and times when all is right with the world....

i can never spell adroygne correctly. but you know what i mean. she looks like that, wise in her masculine/feminine age and bearing. what intrigues me most is the rocking chair. it glows. i think it offers wisdom to the young and old of us. i think that wisdom is about gently swaying to and fro.

i love that you've put this up for interpretation. i love your blog. and lo, girl, i love you.

xoxo
kj

This just tell me that the young learn so much from their elders...knowledge is flowing out in the form of the butterfly...reaching goals and new heights with information (and love and support).

I really like this collage card. It has a positive message (to me), and makes me think of my father, who is deceased...but his whole life was devoted to education of himself and others!!!

Hi Laurel - Glad you had such a fun weekend! Your collage is beautiful - I particularly like the colours you've used. I'm afraid my interpretation is a little bit sad! I see that old lady in the sunset of her life remembering her younger years spent with her best friend who is no longer around. The empty rocking chair belongs to the friend - the butterfly represents her departed friend's soul.x

I've so missed checking everyone's blog! You've got some great posts this past week. I love the animals cuddling (or not) and your Earth Day post. Here I'm thinking sisters comfortable in the love of a grandparent, spending lazy days visiting them in the summer and the memories of the porch which runs the length of the house was beautiful....I put more into it than you portrayed, but that's what it made me think of.

It looks to me like BFFs were gathered together and they talked about everything.(two girls reading big books) Reminiscing about people of the past during some of the conversaiton (old person in background) Having the best of time, excitin (sun)yet a most relaxing time (rocker). It makes me feel good. Wish I could have been there.

Soulbrush...the passage of wisdom, I love that.♥

Julie...Elders are so cherished and respected in some cultures (as they should be.)I'm glad this brings back nice memories of your dad.♥


Caroline...Wow, I had never thought of the two girls as friends. I love that! And what I read from it when I had finished was the same interpretation you had for the sunset and the butterfly being a departed soul.♥

KJ...how could I have overlooked your comment? Jeepers!

I'm looking forward to more art days at either place. It was just what the doctor ordered. The whole weekend was!

You're not the only one who thought the elderly lady was a man. I think that's wonderful! That way she can represent all elders ;)

I know you like the rocking chair. I think it's secretly because you watched me shadow it ;)
Has the butterfly grown on you?
Maybe just a little?

I love the friendship we've formed and the fact that we bought it into the flesh, into 2 dimensions. There are so many dear bloggers I'd love to do that with!

That said, I love you too KJ.
You're a dear and true friend.♥

xoxo
Lo

Before I read anyone else's this is mine...Gramma sitting in her rocker reading to her grands. Lovely image.
What does it mean to you?

The older woman is holding the cherished aspects of her younger life (the two girls )close to her heart...The empty rocking chair to me signals someone is missing...someone who shared a kindred spirit...a kind of "front porch friend" one could spend hours in silence with just breathing the same air and still end up feeling a great intimate experience was shared. The older woman is alone now...except for her vivid memories. The butterfly is her touchstone to them...an element of hope. Whew!

Well,the first thing comes to me seeng this great piece is LOVE!This collage is full of Love!