It’s been almost two weeks since I vlogged about Bible Journaling and how it revolutionized my daily devotion time. In that time, I’ve made so many new virtual friends and found even more favorites to follow. I have been so inspired by the daily artwork shared and I’ve learned so much about how other artists spend their quiet time with God. I’m learning that something I used to find fault with is a shared problem among creatives and that I’m not the only one to struggle with being still and quiet.
I’m relatively new to Bible Journaling, but I’ve jumped right in with two feet. I saw a friend post a photo of her journaling Bible back in the fall and since I knew I wanted a new Bible for this year, I ordered one. In the beginning I was just journaling in the margins, but it didn’t take long to get into the groove.
We live in a tiny house and our dining room doubles as our craft room and my office/blogging territory. It is tough to keep all of our art supplies organized and to segregate what the girls are allowed to use from things that I keep for myself. We spent a little time over the weekend cleaning up and organizing a few things and I finally got my little desk in order. I thought you might like to see where everything was and how I keep it organized!
1 | My pretty Valentine’s Day tulips from Josh. They are still so gorgeous and the bigger and droopier they get, the more I love them!
2 | A few bags and expandable files to throw in my purse when I want to take things with me. The black and white file is from the dollar spot at Target and the floral bag is part of a 3 piece set I picked up at TJMaxx a few weeks ago. There are also a few Kraft paper envelopes that are perfect for cutting apart when I need a little tag.
3 | When I have design orders that are ready to be delivered, they hang out here. Right now all I’ve got ready for delivery are a few gift certificates for the girls at Spark & Arrow.
4 | Do you have Distress markers? I know you can get them at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, but I picked these up on Amazon. Be prepared, they aren’t cheap. I got this 12 pack for around $30, but I want all the colors. Somehow I have to figure out how to justify a hundred dollar marker purchase. These have both a fine tip and a brush tip and if you draw over them with a water brush, they act like water color paints!
5 | I have some old sewing machine drawers filled with metal buckets from the dollar spot at Target and that’s where I keep most of my supplies organized. These two buckets hold regular scissors, decorative scissors, markers and highlighters.
6 | This is the Bible I use. It’s the one column journaling Bible by Crossway. I’ve had several people ask about the size of the text, but I think it’s just right. This Bible is a little bulkier than usual, but I’m guessing the wide margins are to blame. The margins are lined, but the lines are super faint and don’t bother me if I decide to draw instead of write.
7 | Washi tape and baker’s twine. Need I say more?
8 | This is the bucket that the girls know to stay away from. In addition to an abundance of mechanical pencils, I keep all of my art markers and lettering pens here, along with some professional erasers and a pencil sharpener.
9 | The absolutely necessary iPhone 6 with a super cute (if I do say so) lock screen that I’m sharing with you at the bottom of this post!
10 | All the colored pencils. Give them all to me! The girls use the erasable pencils from Crayola, but my favorites are the Twistables. They stay perfectly blunt and are great for layering and color mixing. If you want to spend a little more and buy something nicer, I like these Derwent ones that stay tucked away in a drawer.
11 | The Erin Condren Life Planner. If you aren’t using this to keep your life organized, then you should be! It took me some time to get a good system going, but now I can’t go anywhere without my paper planner. I use the month at a glance spread to keep up with my editorial calendar and blog post to-dos.
12 | Stickers, tags and post-it flags go here. I use tags to journal on pages that are already full or have too much bleed through from the previous page. I usually find them in the dollar spot at Target (are you sensing a theme here?!) or at the craft store, but sometimes I make my own with scraps of paper and ephemera that I stash for later use.
13 | That little green gem is a notepad that I stole from Coach Daddy. He uses them for baseball because they fit in his pocket and they are waterproof. I like to take notes here for journaling later AND the paper is pretty enough that I might tape a few pieces inside my Bible at some point.
14 | I knew I would forget a number and I did — it’s way back beside #2. I couldn’t bear to move the numbers around and reorder this list, so try not to break out in cold sweats. It was touch and go for a few minutes over here. In that sweet lotus bowl (hello, thrift store) I keep business cards and tiny letter stamps that I got at (yep, you guessed it) the Target dollar spot.
See anything else you want me to talk about?
Here is a closer look at a spread from last week that I never shared. I was playing around with fluid lines of text and liked how simple this one was. I need to invest in some chipboard tabs or a tab punch, but for now, I just cut them out of Kraft paper and adhere with washi tape, when necessary.
See that little photo tucked away under my flowers? That is of us in the getaway car after our wedding. It is my favorite snapshot from the day!
A closer look at a few tags and labels in my stash. I’m looking forward to using that feather tag for Isaiah 40:31 – “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
Here are a few of my favorite go-to supplies. From left to right: Distress Markers, Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils, Martha Stewart gold lettering pen, Sakura Micron .05, Brush Pen, Target Mechanical Pencils and professional white erasers.
And because she’s adorable and takes many selfies with her pretty pink Instax, I couldn’t resist sharing this little viewpoint. That is my favorite family photo ever and I hang up finished pieces and works in progress on the twine above my desk.
Just in case you were hoping to actually *see* some journaling work in this post, here are my favorite two spreads from the week. On the left is the introduction to the She Reads Truth Lenten study. I used paint for the first time in my Bible and was pleasantly surprised with the result. It dried almost immediately, didn’t crinkle the pages and there was zero bleeding on the other side. I think the pen work even shows through less this way because it’s sitting on top of the paint instead of soaking into the paper! On the right is a little lunchtime devotion from Monday. I don’t listen to Christian music much, but I do find God speaking to me through all kinds of lyrics on a daily basis. I am quick to cry during a song! I heard John Mayer’s Belief on the way to work on Monday morning and couldn’t wait to find a passage to go along with it. This one from Romans really spoke to me ; “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15
I’m hoping to do a monthly post (at least) on my journaling journey and at some point I’d like to share some process posts so you can see how I’m creating these pages. Is there anything else you’d like to know?!And because I love you so much, here is a free iPhone wallpaper I made just for you! You can right-click and save to your desktop for later or save directly to your camera roll if you’re already viewing on your mobile device. This one is sized for the iPhone 6, but I installed it on my mom’s 4 and it fit pretty well there, too. Enjoy!
