Abide In Love

To our theme this month, Love.

From I John 4:16, teaches--"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him".

Doable way to live oh Valentine Peeps!

February Theme - LOVE

I am a firm believer that love should be practiced and celebrated everyday, not just on February 14th, but the hopeless romantic in me pledged this creation.

I am just CRAZY in love with this little "mini-me". I decided to scan this LO instead of photographing since it was nightime and I didn't want to wait for morning light. So...the picture cuts off the layout which is 9x9, but you get the idea!!



Hope Valentine's day was nothing short of wonderful for you all.
~artist jen

My 2008 Word Play

Understanding the human condition as needing the closest form of love possible. . .I have chosen intimacy. For me, this year is more of the measure of my soul than the tasks ahead. I confess, decades of complicated fears & less than perfect heart, I'm looking to be straight as an arrow to those I spend time with on this journey called 'life'.

The Reality is, Praise God, for my wonderful life.

**PURSUE**

New Year.... New Goals...Always persuing....

I have to be honest...I have a ton of irons in the fire right now....teaching, state standards, lesson planning, gymnastics 10 hours a week, Justin's community service at the library.....6 hours a week, the start of highschool baseball, and the "need" of just keeping it all together.

I joined Teresa McFadden's Winter Bella challenge to help me jump start this new year...and so far so good. She encouraged us to "engage" in our word for 2008 and to "create" a sign for it. I loved creating mine so much that I also created one also for my mom whose word for this year is "Family" and one of my assistants at school, whose word is "Focus."

For me, my word is PURSUE -
1.to strive to gain; seek to attain or accomplish (an end, object, purpose, etc.).
2.. to proceed in accordance with (a method, plan, etc.).
3.. to carry on or continue (a course of action, a train of thought, an inquiry, studies, etc.).
4. to practice (an occupation, pastime, etc.).
5. to continue to discuss (a subject, topic, etc.).
6. to follow:
7.. to continue; go on with (one's course, a journey, etc.).


It encompasses so many different meanings for me; health, God, education, career, family...the list is endless...the word means so much.

Word for 2008 {jen}

We three have chosen a word, a single word, for the year. One that we can focus on, work at and grow with. I have selected flourish for a couple of reasons....1. it sounds so classy and seductive...2. the definition and 3. I have been doing this more and more to my work lately.

flour-ish (flur'ish), v.

• I. To flower or bloom; also to grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant; hence, in general, to thrive, do well, or prosper (as, an age when art and learning flourished; "The stars shall fade away, the sun...Grow dim...But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth," Addison's "Cato," v. 1); to be in it's or one's prime; often, of persons, to be in the most successful or effective period; also, to add embellishments or flourishes to writings, letters, etc.; make fanciful strokes with a pen or the like;
• II. To cause to bloom, thrive or prosper; also, to adorn with decorative work or design, color, etc.

There were a lot of challenges for me in this layout; I enhanced the photo of me digitally, combined my love for high-contrast, word collage and dictionary pages and used my word as the title focus.

Wow. I guess I have already begun to flourish.

Happy blooming to you

~artist jen

rain

I am so inspired by the rain today! I brought my camera along my travels, because I knew I'd find something to photograph. I am going to try and keep my camera charged and on my hip so I can capture something inspirational to share everyday! This may turn into my next layout....



Here's to today and beautiful rain.
~artist jenny

travel logs (redefined)

We make adventures with our kids in our motorhome. Yes, we are RVers! I love being confined to an enclosed area with all of us, it's a great instigator of quality time. I started a written journal to document our trips together. Well, I eventually chucked the boring black pen for colored pencils and before long craved to embellish the pages with stuff...anything to add texture. Then the lightbulb flickered...I bought large tags and started to created individual travel books. Now I grab inks, fibers, doo-dads and any other goodies relevant to the trip and take it in the motorhome to journal while on the road. I also include trip-specific things like postcards (cut to the size of the tag), maps, business cards, cut-outs from brochures and anything else I can get into the little journal. I use wallet size photos and doodle my heart out...the art possibities are limitless! The collection of travel photo journals are growing and displayed in a basket in my living room.

I made the cover of the French Camp tag book free-hand since this is where I am finding my own unique style. I doodled and used colored pencils, ink, stamps, embroidery thread and covered it with a glaze for thickness and protection.

may you have fun travels through '08

~ artist jen