The Sketchbook Project!

I just mailed my sketchbook project yesterday! This was one of the hardest years for me to come up with an idea of what to make, mostly because I have been sewing, and out of my normal growth. After much thought, I am very pleased with what I created this year! I look forward to bringing the kids to Brooklyn in the future, and letting them see what we made! Enjoy!

Bible Journaling- My process

Here's a bit about my journey.  I must preface this by saying that I am almost always the free spirit, go with the flow, "Oh, come on, just try it! It will be FUN!" girl.  I am usually working along side my mom who is hugely gifted in her artistic and creative abilities, but is always needing the rules and the boxes to keep everything in.

With that said, this was Hard for me to start.  It's hard for me to create "on command," and truthfully, I didn't know where to begin.

So, I began with my favorite verse. And paint. :D I feel comfortable with paint, and ever since the Lord brought me this verse about a month or so ago, I feel like it is our family's verse! It's what I want all of our hearts to be about, and this just sums it up! Anyways, more on that later. 

I wrote, I played with the lettering, and then I tried this:

I had seen a few people on the Facebook page do a house, and I thought, Hmmmmm, I can do that! So, I whipped out my Crayola watercolors, and went to town! (* I placed something plastic between the two pages because watercolors will bleed!)

That picture is not complete, but I will be finishing up the details later!

Ok, so I mentioned my Mom earlier.  These are some of her first pages:

Aren't they AMAZING?!  This is right up her alley!  She so clearly and beautifully illustrates the images that the Lord brings to mind through the Holy Spirit, and effortlessly depicts them on her pages!

After listening to the sermon that Shanna played for us at the Illustrated Faith workshop on Colossians 3, I was really drawn to verse 12 that says, " Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."
He also spoke about being Transformed into our new life that has the qualities, and The Lord spoke to me about how wonderful it is that he always makes things new!!!
And, here is my page!

I felt a little bit more comfortable working with mixed media, but I am still trying to find my groove in this whole thing! I will keep pressing on, and hopefully make some videos of my process!

Illustrated Faith

Hi, friends! I had to share about the most fantastic workshop that Mom and I went to this weekend!!! We had the joy and privileged of meeting and learning from Shanna Noel about Bible Journaling! I had run across this concept about a month ago, and as I was beginning to love the whole idea, I saw that Mare had invited Shanna to come to Indy!!!!

Whhaaaaaaatttt?! I couldn't even believe it because I feel like the cool stuff never comes here!!!

So anyways, what is this bible journaling I speak of?!  Oh, yes, of course. :D

You can check out all of the details at Illustrated Faith, especially the Questions page, but I will share the gist of it here with you :)

Illustrated Faith is about using the creativity that God has given you (even if you think you don't have any!!!- Yes, even YOU can do it!) to document what he is doing in your life IN His word!  By journaling, illustrating, or coloring next to or around the scripture you are not only allowing those truths to dwell on your heart, but leaving a legacy "to the next generation" of the amazing works that He is doing!!!

Yes, it's fun to use paints, pens, stickers and washi tape (oh, the washi tape!), but as in everything else, it is about GOD!!! It's a way to work through what the Holy Spirit is teaching you and remember the amazing things that God is doing for you and through you!!!

At the conference, Shanna gave her testimony and shared with us about how she began journaling in her bible. Next, she had us listen to a 15 minute sermon and take notes.  We were then given complete creative freedom to document what we had gotten out of the message!

We were able to try new materials, seek Shanna's knowledge and guidance, and get to know those around us!  At the end, each of us shared our pages.
You know what?  I later realized that each person held their page up for about 7 seconds, and then spoke the rest of the time about what GOD had spoke to them and how GOD was working in their lives at the moment!

How. Cool. Is. That?!!!!

So, thank you, Shanna, for investing in us, for being obedient and faithful to the Lord's calling, and for being so super fun and fantastic as to give us all this amazingly special treat!!!

Stay tuned to see more on my process and techniques that you might like to use!