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!

Technique Tutorial for Art Journaling or Bible Journaling

There are so many beautiful art journal pages out there and videos showing you "how-to" create or recreate techniques.  I'm still learning to do the layers of mixed media, but I am having fun with drawing and stamping.

I learned to do art while watching my mother and grandmother work with oils and with oils, you do a lot of blending, so I like to blend my colors to get just the right effect.  But with colored pencils and markers, even acrylic paints, that's hard to achieve sometimes.  I want my drawings in my bible journaling to be more than just coloring book pictures.  So I'm practicing and learning how to "blend" with colored pencils.  (My next project is to get colored watercolor pencils...but for now, I'm using what I have.)

Here's the page I was working on.  Below it is a video showing how I did this and even the problems I had doing it....trial and error are always the best teachers.

 

Link to Karla's Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher

I thought I would show a picture of the wall in front of my work-space and would you believe, that I found a set of small alphabet gel stamps that would have been perfect, but I had forgotten I had them.  So they will be added to my wall!

Hope this helps and encourages you in your bible or art journaling.

Adding Paint to Art Journal Pages

I'm still new to the whole art journaling craze, but I love it...okay, I'm obsessed with it right now.

For my journal I wanted to add some keepsakes that I've been holding on to and yet do something a little different with them.  So to the journal I go:

Keeping in mind, that the I'm using a repurposed blank bible as my journal, the pages are very thin and need to be prepped before I can add acrylic paint to them.

Using Liquitex adhesive (sorry the picture is blurry) I spread a thin layer of glue between two pages using a large paint brush.  Protect the other pages by putting wax paper under the pages you are working on.

 This gives a textured feel to the pages which enhance the look of the page when paint is applied.

 Using small dots, I put the paint directly onto the page (no gesso applied this time).  Then I smear it with a plastic gift card...used of course...get the gift first!

I dry it with my heat gun so that I can continue working on the page. 

 

This little card started the idea for the page.  It's been a long time since someone sent me a Valentine's Day card and it meant so much to me to be remembered by such a sweet friend.  The card is 3-D and has three layers of this cute little girl.  I pealed off the top layer, along with the cushioned tape for my page.

Sorry, I didn't take picture of this process.

 

After applying the pink and white paint to both pages, I added some tiny pieces of netting that I received some chocolates in from a lady at church.  I wanted to use it to add texture in the paint, but it was too small, so I just glued pieces on the pages.  I have this little stone that I've had for years saying "You're Loved"  with Romans 8:39 on the back.  I wasn't sure if it would be too heavy for the page or not, but it's doing just fine.  I tore a portion from an old, falling apart bible, of the Scripture and added it to the page.

 

I stamped some hearts, added a pre-cut butterfly and a heart cut from cardstock.  I painted the heart first with a deeper pink acrylic, wiped off the paint with a baby wipe, drew some outlines of the flowers and glued tiny red beads on the heart.  I hade to put the glue on pretty heavy for the stone and the beads.





 Here's the back of the page (two pages glued together).  No bleed through.

 

I'm pleased with the outcome and now I have a memory of several things on one picture.

The love of friends and the love of God.

Romans 8:39

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able

to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.