So then what?

HI!

I sure hope you are having a great week so far. 

I am!

I wanted to take a moment and thank my friend Charlene for the additional info and confirmation about my little plant.  It's called Elephant Food and it really does only need to be watered once every 3 weeks! Thanks Lady!

So, May 1st I started a new study on The Psalms.  I'm kind of doing it on my

own, but I'm also using the commentary from FB Meyer and finding it very helpful. 

I usually just do study groups so this is a little different for me. 

But here's the problem. I have already journaled several of the

pages in my Journaling Bible in the Book of Psalms. So then what are you supposed to do? 

Well, this is what I did. I got several Moleskine note books one

lined and the other blank. Of course, I decorated it.  That's how I roll.

So now if the page in my journal bible is already illustrated for the Psalm I'm studying,

I can supplement it with my Moleskine. 

Here's an example of how I do it.

This is my illustration for Psalm 1. 

I am giving an illustration of the versus 3-6.

What I am trying communicate is that (as a tree) when your source is plentiful and steady, 

your roots will be deep and strong.  Helping to withstand strong storms.  

If your roots are depending on scarce sources of nutrients your roots will

be shallow and wide. Prone to wondering. 

Knowing that my plentiful and steady source is God, his word and prayer, 

I want my faith roots to be growing deep and narrow.  

That's what I'm working on. 

Hello! 

Happy Friday to you!

I wanted to say something about bible journaling. 

I have already shared the why and how here.

Now, I want to talk about something else. 

Every time I chat with someone about my journaling, I always hear the same thing!

"But I'm not artsy." or "I could never learn to draw like you do."

And every time I hear that I say the same thing. "You don't have to

be able to draw." 

 I always mean it. 

While these are a few of my favorites, I didn't start out doing pages like these. 

Some of my first pages are very much "not pretty."

These are after some practice, and a lot of trial and error. And the truth of the matter is I have 

no art training, at all! Its just something that I discovered that I really enjoy. 

And obviously the more you practice the better you get.

But the reality is that, if you want to journal,  you have to start. And you need to start somewhere.

If I'm perfectly honest, I would tell you that I wish I didn't have those "experiment" pages in my 

bible. But then I wouldn't have spent that time with the Lord in his word and I truly believe that he has blessed my time that I spend in the bible. 

So let me show what I'm talking about.

Here are a few pages that I did using only my old scrapbook supplies. 

This page (which I love) is nothing but scrapbook paper, (cross) Stamp (the wood grain background) and stickers (crown, roses, and letters) 

This one has some simple lettering but the heart is a stamp, the parenthesis are scrapbook elements, and the black stripe with polkadots is washi tape. 

This one is the most simple one yet... a sticker and washi tape. 

I hope this helped to take some of the fear out of Bible Journaling.  Remember, we all want 

beautiful pages, but that isn't the reason that you start bible journaling. Its to study His word and life and to try to be more like Him.

Bible Journaling Part 2 .... The Tools

Okay! You asked for it.... 

This is my post about the tools that I prefer for bible journaling. 

Before we get started: I just want to make it clear, I'm not

an expert, artist or theologian. These are just some insights 

into what I have tried that has worked. And a lot of what you see

in my journaling are concepts that I got from bible studies. So don't be thinking that 

I'm so exceptionally smart. I'm just making notes so that I can remember later.

You should know that I have had some epic fails to, trust me! 

To name a few:

The brush pen - LOTS of people use it but I can't figure it out to save my life. 

Watercolor paints - Bleed  through and cause the paper to wrinkle beyond belief.  

(My bible is not like the newer journal bibles that have the onion paper. Mine

are much thinner.)

Micron and Sharpie - bleed through

So these are techniques that I have gone back to and 

like best. 

Let's get started, shall we?

Here is a recent entry from a study that we are doing in Philippians at my 

church on Sunday mornings. 

Adopting a Christ-Like Attitude means Serving, Sacrificing and Glorifying God. 

You'll note that I misspelled glorifying in my bible (sigh). Oh well, it happens. 

By the time that I noticed it, I was in the ink stage. (ugh!)

Note to self: there is no spell check on the page. 

So that's the finished product.

Let's step back and have a reality check. Okay, NO JUDGING!

This is actually what my craft table looks like in mid project.

I think I saw a pin on pinterist "I craft, therefore, I hoard."

It applies.

It's true, I like having all my stuff out and available. 

I also like a work lamp. It makes seeing the pencil marks much easier as well as doing shading.

Here are the my favs:

a soft lead pencil (alway draw as lightly as you can)

a polymer eraser (because it seriously removes all pencil marks)
a Uni-ball Signo 207 ultra micro pen
a Uni-ball Signo 207 micro pen
a ruler
And
a pencil sharpener

Lined paper is handy to use under the page to keep your writing straight.

I also like to use color pencils alot. For me the Prismacolor brand is best but 

Crayola works well too. I have tons of them in as many colors as I can find.

I recently purchased some watercolor pencils and a blender that 

I'm anxious to try. It's supposed to give you the look of watercolor

with the convenience of a color pencil. We'll see. 

Washi tape is also a very fun element to add your page.

So I'm a beginner and I'm looking forward to learning more techniques.

I hope this has been helpful for you.

Let me know if you want to see more bible journaling.

And of course leave me questions... I'll try to answer as best I can. 

Have a great week!

BIBLE JOURNALING

Hey there!

Happy Sunday!

Just thought that I would pop in and show you some 

Bible Journaling that I did in Jonah.

I can't believe how often I have read the story of Jonah and the whale and missed the 

whole point! God wants everyone saved. YES! EVERYONE!

Whether we think they are qualified or not! 

That means that EVERYONE I see matters to Jesus!

I'll say it again...

YES! EVERYONE!

Jonah is little book with a lot to say!