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