Craft Hoarders February Blog Hop

Welcome to the Craft Hoarders Anonymous February 2016 Blog Hop! My blog is the first blog in the hop! After visiting me, hop over to Debbie Seyer's Blog next! For the full list of Bloggers, see the list at the end of this post! Keep an eye out for Bloggers who are giving away Blog Candy!

Many of you may have heard of art journaling. If you have not, do a search on Pinterest to see many fine examples. I have never done art journaling, because I simply have ZERO artistic talent. I cannot paint or draw or sketch or watercolor or accomplish any other fine art technique! Recently I have been seeing another form of art journaling called Bible Journaling. I have been fascinated with this form of Bible study! Once again, I've never tried it because...saying I stink at art is just harsh! (For some wonderful examples of Bible Journaling, click HERE.) 

After speaking to my (very artistic and very smart) daughter about this, she gave me some tips about giving Bible Journaling a try...BEFORE diving in head first and spending a lot of money on supplies I may not need! Which brings us to the Hoarders portion of the show. I wanted to buy a NEW journaling Bible...but my daughter pointed out that I have quite a large collection of Bibles on hand already...and why not experiment with one of those FIRST?!  

I ended up choosing to use this devotional Bible that I purchased in 1997 (it has the date inscribed on the inside cover). I bought it for use in a Bible study, but I soon realized that I did not care for how the Bible was structured. It mostly sits on a shelf with all my other translations and commentaries and Bible study guides and the children's Bible, etc. and so on. I cannot throw it out. Which means I feel some warmth about using art journaling techniques with this Bible. (If you are squeamish about using a Bible, use a journal or a notebook or even an old commentary or study guide.) 

The next part of the Hoarders show is that I already have tons of art supplies: colored pencils, pens, markers, watercolor paints and pencils, gelatos, inks, and more. (My daughter said to "step away" from the "Bible journaling pen set that I had in my Amazon cart!) I have everything I need to start journaling...except the talent for drawing and hand-lettering.

But, do NOT despair! I also have a VAST collection of stamps, including an impressive hoard of Scripture stamps! I also have access to a computer where I can type up Scripture in cool fonts to trace or paste into my journal. If all else fails, there tons of things for free or to purchase online! Including this NEW line of stamps at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps! 

My next hurdle was to pray about WHY I want to tackle Bible Journaling. If it is to have a pretty Bible...well, I should just buy an illustrated Bible and be done with it. If it is to color while I meditate, then THIS Bible with pre-printed line art may be more my speed. My main goal with this process is to memorize more Scripture. I am a very visual person, so perhaps, illustrating the verses may help me learn. I have a list of 52 verses I wish to learn. I am curious to see if Bible Journaling is the way to do it!

The first Scripture on my list is Isaiah 40:28. I looked it up in my "real" Bible to read and study. I then found the passage in my "journaling Bible" and marked it with some colored pencils. What I took away from the verse is that God is the Creator God...that He will hold up, not only us, but the whole of His Creation! If He can do THAT, why worry?! (Reflection on this one verse was a very rich time for me...one verse! I know, God is good!)

I decided to illustrate the verse with the stamped image of the earth. I colored the image with pencils, just a very simple illustration. As a companion to the Isaiah verse, I love Psalm 46:10 - I love it so much that I have two stamps with that verse! I stamped the verse in blue ink next to the earth. One thing about the devotional Bible is that it has a lot of....devotions, meaning there is space for me to put art that does not obscure the Bible passages. 

I am not sure if you can see it, but I also stamped a cross over the earth, using a pale gray ink. To remind myself that God is in control of the WHOLE earth. He made it all.

The second verse I wanted to illustrate is Genesis 1:1. I die cut some clouds out of scrap paper to use as templates, and then I sponged around them with blue ink. I stamped the earth again with blue ink, and while the ink was still a bit damp, I smudged it with a sponge...to illustrate that the earth was formless in the beginning.

Psalm 150:6 is a great companion to what I was feeling after studying Genesis 1:1, so I stamped that verse in pink. I used a PITT artist pen to trace over some of the letters.

For my last page, I turned to one of the devotions next to Psalm 30:4-5 and decided to do a color illustration of fruit and flowers. When I think of  God "rejoicing" I always think of his Divine Creation and how He must love us to give us such beauty to look at! 

I stamped the image and then colored it with pencils. I love the look of the text peeking through the color. 

I still don't know if Bible Journaling is for me...or if I want to purchase a journaling Bible or just a notebook...but I did love working on Scripture memorization while playing with art supplies! My daughter cautioned me against getting hung up on the art and the process more than the Word. She knows me well, and her mature faith is wonderful to behold! 

Thanks for visiting this month! Now hop on to Debbie Seyer's Blog!

Make sure you visit all the ladies in the group. They have some AMAZING projects to share. A few of the gals may have Blog Candy to give away as well! 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Hop List:
Gloria Stengel (you are here)
Debbie Seyer
Jacquie Southas
Tracey Sabella
Donna Idlet
Bonnie Garby
Wendi Robinson
Teresa Horner
Barbara Rankin
Karen Zueger-Brownell
Marisa Job

Colored pencils: Prisma
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Colorbox Chalk Ice Blue, Colorbox Pigment Midnight, Cupid
Pen: PITT
Stamps: JustRite, Papertrey Ink, Verve, Our Daily Bread Design