Deadline for the March 09  session LVS Blog carnival is fast approaching!  The deadline to submit your blog post is 4/8/09. This carnival is open to all LVS students, staff and alumni.

The theme this session is “If I knew then, what I know now…”. Your submission can be a new or previous blog post that tells us something that you learned the hard way or maybe just a lot later in life. Share your wisdom, your wit and/or your humor with us! Full details about this session’s blog carnival and submission instructions.

Want to get a sneak peek at one of this session’s submissions? Check out 10 Life Lessons.

To get a better sense of what the finished carnival will be like, check out last session’s blog carnival on Inspiration

I am excited to see what you submit!

If I knew then, what I know now… is the topic for the next Blog Carnival for LVS students, staff and alumni.

How many times have you said “If I knew then, what I know now…”?

What have you learned that has made your life so much easier, more efficient, more fun or more fulfilling?  What do you want to tell the world about, so they can avoid some of the frustrations or heartbreak that you have endured?  Please share your wisdom and inspiration with us!

How it works

1. Publish your art and/or writing to your blog or web site.
2. Go to http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_6139.html and submit the URL of your work by April 8, 2009. In the remarks section, please indicate if you are a LVS student, alumni or staff. It is also a great place to summarize your post. You can type in a sentence or two to introduce your post or I can write the introduction for you.
3. On April 10, a list of all the submissions will appear here with a brief a description.
4. Check out the informative and entertaining art and stories of fellow LVS Staff, Students and Alumni  that will be posted here.
5. Post a link or story on your own blog or website about the carnival, letting your readers know about your participation. This will allow them to peruse the carnival submissions and visit the blogs and web sites of your fellow participants. It is a great way to be discovered!

Tot get a better sense of how it all works, check out last session’s blog carnival entries on Inspiration.

I am really looking forward to seeing your submissions!

Welcome to the February 7, 2009 edition of LVS Online students, staff and alumni Blog Carnival on Inspiration.

Participants were asked to share art their art and stories about inspiration. Submissions are categorized into Art, Classes, People and Poem & Stories. This edition of the carnival addresses sources of inspiration as well as our struggles to find inspiration. I invite you to visit the links here to find inspiration and to offer inspiration to others. Although submissions are no longer being accepted for this blog carnival, you are encouraged to share your own inspiration links and stories in the comment section.

Art

Karol’s post reminded me of my own iris inspiration on a wintery day years ago.

Karol Grace presents Longing for Spring posted at Three Dog Studio Art and Photo Journal.

Barb shares with us how a photo, a quick snapshot of a moment, inspired her to create a painting that told the story.

Barbara Hartsook presents Painted for Story… People Photo Inspires an Oil Painting on Canvas posted at Over Coffee…, saying, “People photos inspire stories, which I like to paint. This one is Kali at the Beach, and the story is “Just a Moment to Myself, Please.” I am a student in Bean Fairbanks’ on-going Blogging Studio.“

Adele shares how her childhood inspirations have evolved online

Adele presents Inspiration: Nature, Art, I Ching and Internet posted at I Ching Meditations, saying, “When I am inspired I draw that person, place or event into myself and then expel it out, like the act of breathing, involuntary and necessary for life”

By duty or design, how does inspiration strike you? This is the question Val addresses in her post on how inspiration personally evolves for her.

Val P. presents Inspiration posted at CorelDRAW Classes @ LVS Online.

Inspired by a student’s art, this LVS Teaching Assistant takes the subject matter and makes it uniquely her own.

Sliloh presents Wine and Cheese posted at Sliloh’s Rambles, saying, “Good art and good conversation really bring my creative muse out.”

Elaina shares some of her students’ art work with us.

Elaina Moore-Kelly presents Inspiration! posted at Corel Painter Classes, saying, “My students are my inspiration. They work so hard and are so happy when they “get it”. Teaching has become one of the most important things in my life and I love doing it.”

See how the inspiration and education Tina acquired at LVS Online, took root.

Tina Katnich presents Tina Louise Photography: Timothy & Jessica’s Wedding – Santa Barbara posted at Tina Louise Photography, saying, “I am an LVS alumni member. LVS got me started with digital photography when I began taking photoshop classes, and then I even took an html coding class! I received such inspiration from the classes I took I started my own wedding photography buisness! I love making magic with my camera and it all started with LVS from home! Check out my work! I’m even doing destination weddings now!”

What do you want to make today?

Many Creative Gifts presents Ain’t He Cute?! posted at Many Creative Gifts — “be thoughtful”, saying, “Not an article — just a picture of a cute crocheted axolotl that I created in response to a request. But, I hope it will inspire others to explore their creative possibilities.”

This is a late addition to the carnival but I included it because Ellen share lots of her tips for finding inspiration for art.

Ellen presents Art – Inspiration from Books and Elsewhere posted at Ellifolks: Bears, Critters and Stuff.

Classes

One outline, three apples…

Elaina Moore-Kelly presents What can you do with Painter? posted at Corel Painter Classes, saying, “I’m an instructor for Corel Painter at lvsonline.com I wanted to use this blog page to give my beginning Painter students an idea of how versatile the program can be.”

Kat shares with us how getting expelled started a whole new career and a myriad of relationships.

Kat presents LVS Online Classes Inspires Kat posted at LVS Online Classes, saying, “I am partner and instructor at LVS Online Classes. My association with LVS Online is definitely the source of much inspiration. . . .to work and continue to learn; to meet new people and experience new challenges; to remember that standing up for what’s right always pays off in the end; to live each day to its fullest; and, finally, to stop and smell the roses!”

Kat’s second post talks about how Flash has inspired her and her students.

Kat presents Flash Inspirations posted at Flash Classes @ LVS Online, saying, “We teach what we teach because we enjoy the topic we are instructing and enjoy sharing our knowledge. Our real reward comes from our students journey in learning and the appreciation that is shown on completion.”

People

When I am asked why I blog, I think of Chester and how instrumental his blog was in raising the money and support to care for him as he battled Glioblastoma

Bean presents Priceless posted at Healthy Chester, saying, “I think this post so eloquently illustrates how humor and love inspire us to live despite desperate obstacles.”

A story of one teacher inspired confidence to pursue artistic inspirations

Hillary presents Inspiration — My Story! posted at Digital Art Classes, saying, “I carried that finished oil home that night and carried it with me all around the house, totally disbelieving that I had created something I was proud of”

Sliloh challenges us and inspires us to recognize our own interactions.

Sliloh presents Are you a great mind? posted at Sliloh’s Rambles, saying, “Great minds discuss ideas…..and ideals too I think.”

Poems & Stories

Valerie casts an inspiration incantation for her readers.

Valerie Beeby presents Magic! The Spell of the Purple Owl posted at Valerie Beeby, saying, “This poem is actually part of a children’s fantasy novel I never published.”

My patio pots look much better now, thanks to the inspiration that I received in this post.

Carol presents Inspiration? posted at All About Daisies.

This post is for ‘fabricohlics’ everywhere. My garage and closets would look very different if I had this!

Deb Hamele presents The ?UFO Club? posted at Blue Barn Farm Blog, saying, “This is a story about the “UFO Club” which is a group of quilters who help inspire each other to finish their quilts.”

How do you handle inspiration block?

Marilynn presents If you could have just one . . . . posted at Marilynn’s Antics.

Adele shares her personal I Ching on inspiration

Adele presents What does the I Ching tell me about inspiration posted at I Ching Meditations.

A tale of canine motherly love.

Rainbow presents The White Love posted at My Beagle Blog.

That concludes this edition of the LVS Online Blog Carnival. Although it is too late to be included in this blog carnival, we invite you to share your own stories of inspiration here in the comment section.



Submit your blog article to the next edition of lvs online students and alumni using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

The deadline for the Inspiration Blog Carnival is 2/3/09. Submissions have been trickling in slowly and I am opening that there will be a last minute rush.

Many of my students have told me that they feel overwhelmed by the topic and/or the lack of time in their lives to create a new inspiring post. Creating a post specific for the Blog Carnival is just one way of participating.  I bet that 80% of the students who tell me that they don’t have time or know how to tackle the topic, already have inspirational posts on their blog! One of the cool things about a Blog Carnival is that it can  serve as a directory, a central gathering place for readers find a group of articles on their area of interest.

In the blogging classes, I am always stressing to my students the need to provide content and a service to their readers first and promote your blog second.  A Blog Carnival is an excellent way to provide content to your readers and you provide a service by providing your readers an  easy access to other articles of interest. By doing so, you also end up promoting your blog and carnival participation opens your blog up to a new audience.

The form to submit your blog post is here.

LVS Online students and alumni are invited to submit their artwork, poetry, stories and other writing to the LVS Blog Carnival on Inspiration.

What inspires you? Do you have a story about a person, event or class that inspired you?

Where do you go when you need inspiration? Do you have a favorite place that you visit or a practice to help you find inspiration?

Show us the results of your inspiration!

How it works

1. Publish your art and or writing to your blog or web site.
2. Go to http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_6139.html and submit the URL of your work by February 3, 2008. In the remarks section, please indicate if you are a LVS student, alumni or staff. It is also a great place to summarize your post.
3. On February 7, a list of all the submissions will appear here with a brief a description.
4. Check out the inspiring art and stories of fellow LVS Staff, Students and Alumni  that will be posted here.
5. Post a link or story on your own blog or website about the carnival, letting your readers know about your participation and the inspiration that  found here. This will allow them to peruse the carnival submissions and visit the blogs and web sites of your fellow participants. It is a great way to be discovered!

I am really looking forward to seeing the submissions!

The theme for the 2008 World AIDS day is leadership so I decided to show some leadership and start a Blog Carnival. The Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune students are learning about Blog Carnivals right now so it seemed appropriate. Blog Carnivals are kind of like a magazine, bloggers submit their articles on a set topic to a publisher and their articles are assembled into an issue with notes from the publisher. The word carnival comes from the fact that in most carnivals, different bloggers take turns hosting the carnival, like towns used to do.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has impacted most of us in one way or another over the past 27 years. Although we have made a lot of progress since the first World AIDS Day 20 years ago, there is a lot more work to do in terms of prevention, awareness and treatment. Read more about the Bloggers Unite for AIDS blog carnival at  and you can submit your articles and artwork at the Blog Carnival clearing house

This is an excellent opportunity to promote your blog, learn a new blogging skill and more importantly, address a important public health issue. In addition, unlike most blog carnivals, there will be prizes available.