Came & Saw

Lately, I've noticed a theme going on with where God is leading me in my daily bible reading and other studies.

Come & See

It was in John as Andrew encouraged his brother, Simon to "come & see" this man he had met.  Then Jesus said when they asked Him who he was (where he was staying), "come & see".  Joshua told the Israelites to "come & listen" to what God had told them to do.  And today, Queen Sheba said that she didn't believe how wise and great Solomon was until she "came & saw" for herself.

There are some things that you just have to "come & see" for yourself.

I think Creative Bible Study is one of those things. 

When I try to tell people what I'm doing with my bible, they don't really "get it" until they see if for themselves.  I'm so excited that the ladies of my church are going to get to "come & see" for themselves during a retreat we are hosting in August.

I decided to snap some pictures as I was doing my creative bible study this morning since I was playing with lots of mediums.  I was focusing on the reading from 2 Kings 10:7 where Queen Sheba visited Solomon.

I knew I wanted to do something with paints or stamps and since those might have a tendency to bleed through the page, I first prepped the page with a thin layer of Gesso (mine was not clear, but that is on my shopping list).  Then I sponged some distressed inks onto the page, starting with the blue, yellow and finally the cream.

 

 

I was really pleased with how this turned out, but realized that what I had in mind was going to take more room than just the journaling column.  So I added more gesso and the inks again.

I dried with a heating tool between applications.  My idea was to draw a pair of old glasses, the round rim kind, and put the words "came & saw" in the lens.  I laid out all my stamps and used some tape rolls as the circles for my glasses.

 By laying out the stamps first and then pressing the mounting block directly onto them at this point, I have the placement exactly as I want it.

 I had to use some of my pens to touch up where the stamping didn't completely ink well.  I used the silver sharpie very lightly on the lenses and I did some highlighting with the paint brush and the paint pen.

 Here's the final picture of the page.  I added some arrows and leaves for extra fillers and color.

God calls each of us to encourage others to "come & see" what He is doing in our lives.  I've started a Facebook page related to just Creative Bible Study.  Come & See!