5. Enthusiasm

As we are enthusiastically completing the weekly prompts and adding to our boxes of bits and pieces, here is the next word on our miscellaneous journey …

en•thu•si•asm (ĕn-thū'zē-ăz'em)
n. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.

I find enthusiasm so infectious. The passion and devotion that grip some is inspiring and contagious.
Is there anything you have boundless enthusiasm for?


I decided that 'enthusiasm' should be bursting forth ... so I have the word and some synonyms opening up from the front of the card.

Have fun with it,

4. Journey

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.

The prompt this week is 'journey' and I have included the above quote by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Do you find the anticipation of the journey half the fun or do you look upon a journey with slight trepidation? Do you like to have everything planned or be open to follow interesting paths as they arise, to meander a little into the unknown?

A journey can be a physical voyage as well as a metaphorical one.

I hope you enjoy this - here is the front of mine:

Yvon's progress ...

Yvon e-mailed me about her cards and with her permission I am putting it here...

We've just been away to Portarlington for a few days so I did my card there. As I had my pencils etc. with me I did it in sketch, though I have cheated and purchased large print cards to give me more space to work with. Just a minor deviation from the plan!!!! I did write some key words together for the front of my card, and illustrated it on the back; something like this:

Written word and spoken thought...
Easy conversation...
Lemongrass and lavendar...
Country homes and coffee...
Open fires and laughter...
Moggie on the mat...
Everyone sit back, now...

Relax!

Well, that was it anyway. I put a little saying on the bottom that I made up myself because it was something that does relate to being at one in my own space.

"Let everything take the time it takes."

There is an explanation to that but I won't get into that here.
Anyway, now I'll have to see what I can do with my name, or at least my spelling of it.

Till next time,
Yvon

Your phrases are so evocative Yvon, thanks for letting us know of your thoughts.

I have been to Yvon's home on many occasions and it is very welcoming and the "Everyone sit back, now... Relax" is so apt!

As it turns out Mary and I are also using slightly larger than normal cards ... there may be others?

3. Me, myself and I

This week we’re going to explore a little more of whom we are as individuals. We all have a name, a factual history that is often detailed on official forms and there are aspects of our personality revealed to family and friends, but who are you?

The (e-mailed) poetry activity may help as you think about this huge question …

You may like to include a photo of yourself as a child. Have you changed or are you still essentially the same?

We are all interesting and complex and as many of us don’t know each other I thought you might like to share something of yourself so we may get to know each other a little better - remembering this site is a public space.


I have done the ‘poem’ but decided to think of myself at about age 8. Along with a photo taken about this time I included the word ‘proficiency’.

Being proficient is a little known detail about me …
Throughout my schooling I received only one book award and it was in grade 2 for ‘proficiency’. I was thrilled to receive the award but had never heard of the word before. My parents told me it meant I did good work and it was only when I decided to do this card I actually looked up the meaning:

proficient adj ~ (in) skilled, expert; proficiency n ~ (in) being ~

I like this meaning and am letting all know that I am ‘proficient’. Not in anything in particular mind, but skilled in general.

I think it ages me though. How many grade 2 students receive awards for ‘proficiency’ these days?

I do feel very honoured to have received this one and only award.

Weeks 1 & 2

Well - here are my first 2 attempts! Sorry, haven't figured out yet how to rotate!

Welcome: This is based on a design I found for a doormat. I love Charles Rennie Macintosh and this design is in a similar style to some of his stuff.

Name: As a Christian, I love my name! By putting the Saltire as the background, I acknowledge my Scottish roots, whilst the flag also contains the St Andrew's cross, therefore acknowledging my Christian heritage too!

Kirsty

2. Your name

The task this week is to take one of your cards and ‘creatively’ write your name.
You can do this in any way you like – use calligraphy, collage, paint or draw it. Once I attended a dinner where the author/illustrator Shaun Tan was speaking and he suggested writing your name using a standard font in a fresh, new way - like using a mirror image of a letter, or placing it upside-down or cutting it in half and have the top as the bottom.

You could include the meaning of your name, the version you prefer, or a ‘nickname’.

How important is your name to your identity?

Have fun with it and I’m looking forward to seeing your ‘creations’.


I ended up putting Kathy on the front and various versions on the back. These included different ways I was taught to write - printing, italics and modified cursive - as during my schooling I wrote my name, 'Kathleen', in all of these scripts. I tried Shaun Tan's idea and I also accidentally moved one letter to make 'Athyk'.

I pondered how I gladly changed my surname when I married as my husband and I started a new family - is my name linked to my predecessors or descendants? Maybe I should use both.
Does it matter? Would I really feel any different being called something else like 'Athyk' rather than 'Kathy'?
How meaningful is my name to who I truly am?

1. Welcome

“Small cheer and great welcome make a merry feast” SHAKESPEARE

Welcome to you all! This is the first prompt and it is ‘welcome’.

Welcome to 2008, the New Year and all it has to offer; welcome to this little community and the friendships to be made; and welcome to the exploration of our world through our thoughts and creativity.

Welcome …


*For this first card I sanded and painted one side, then pasted, stamped and wrote on it. On the back I glued on a piece of scrap paper and wrote about what makes me feel welcome. I then placed it on a page of one of Belle's board books to photograph it - hence the blue border.

I hope you enjoy your creative first step.