Grace

grace (grās)
n.
1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.
2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.
3. A sense of fitness or propriety.
4.
a. A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.
b. Mercy; clemency.
5. A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.
6. A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.
7. Graces Greek & Roman Mythology Three sister goddesses, known in Greek mythology as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who dispense charm and beauty.
8. Christianity
a. Divine favor bestowed freely on people, as in granting redemption from sin.
b. The state of having received such favor.
c. An excellence or power granted by God.
9. A short prayer of blessing or thanksgiving said before or after a meal.

Yes … all of that and so much more … my ‘one little word’ for 2016 is actually a fully packed concept loaded with meaning and I’m excited to see where it will take me this year.

Just a little one …

Today I wanted to keep it simple … and I guess this verse supported that. Sometimes it’s important to just be still before God … and to keep things balanced. This is not just about the art experience … it’s a God thing … and sometimes sitting still and quietly colouring is all that is needed to gain focus and listen to Him.

Also … Psalm 37 is a favourite and there are lots more verses there I’ll likely want to focus on in days to come.

Starting to remember now …

Easter Sunday … he has Risen!

Today I remember about distress inks … they seem like a good ‘dryish’ type colour that can go over the whole page without making it hard to read the words. I just need to be careful about not scrunching or ripping the page as I use the foam applicator to blend the inks.

And I find washi tape and little project life arrows. And I realise that this process would be 100 times harder if I had come to it straight from my lumpy bumpy super layered scrapbooking style. After having a year or two of Project Life style scrapbooking experience I’ve somehow become used to using flat stuff. I intend for this bible to last a year or two … so I’ll need to be careful about how much extra ‘stuff’ I add to each page, otherwise it will end up with closing issues.

I also have another dilemma … this time being that the verse I want to highlight actually starts on the other side of the page … that’s where the arrows came in.

Here’s the other side …

Note those distress inks bleeding through in the darkest areas … I guess that just gives me a starting point when I eventually come back and do something more on this page.

The next page.

This is the part where I wake up on Saturday morning to find a whole heap of new instagram followers … and I realise how big this thing is and how God really is doing a new thing all over the world. And that if I’m going to use hashtags like #illustratedfaith and #biblejournalling people will actually see what I do … and now I’ll have to do more! Feeling the pressure just a little …

Today is also the day I discover a little app called Vrsly … which is basically daily word art. Today’s being that little quote ‘Oh death where is your sting.’ So that’s where I went in my Bible … and on discovering more art supplies I end up using gelatos with stencils, and background stamps, and coloured pencils and glimmer mist …

I also find my first dilemma in that there’s another verse on this page I want to journal … I guess you could say this is my ‘verse of the year’ … the bible verse that goes with my word of the year … I couldn’t ‘not’ journal it. I guess if I was short on time I could have left space and came back to it later … but I had time, and I had the need to play and so I did.

This is where I also discover my first bleed through to the next page … not too major … just the two larger drops of blue glimmer mist … something to note … but not a problem, I’m sure they’ll blend right in when I eventually do the other side.

The first page

So … Good Friday morning … the perfect time to experiment with this new thing.

I was reading in Isaiah 53 today … as others posted similar verses on Facebook and Instagram I was drawn to that idea of ‘by his wounds we are healed.’

Now the pages in this Bible are not quite as thin as regular Bible pages … but still it’s not like working on a real art journal. I decided to put a very light layer of white gesso over the margin (it helped to soften the lines a bit too) then I coloured with gelatos … I’d forgotten how satisfying they are to blend but did have to be careful when adding water … the page wrinkled a bit on the other side but it’s not too bad … and they worked well for highlighting verses too.

I painted some words with a fine brush and india ink then tried to write the rest with a fine black sharpie … only the sharpie didn’t want to write on the gelato background. I ended up using a coat of mod podge which seemed to help once it was dry … a lesson in patience right there!

A new thing …

I’ve discovered a new fun thing … thanks to instagram, and in part, pinterest. Funny how those two things +Facebook are responsible for the ceasing of blog updates … and yet, here we are back again blogging because of them.

If by chance you’re still following from back in the good old days of scrapbooking … big waves, it’s nice to ‘see’ you again. But I do apologise if this ‘new thing’ is not ‘your thing’ … I’ll understand if we part ways here. It’s just that while instagram is fabulous for sharing pictures and joining likeminded communities it just doesn’t seem like the right place to actually say all the words I want to say.

So here it is … illustrated faith or bible journalling … whatever you want to call it, basically it’s art journalling but directly into a bible. It’s captured my imagination, it’s got me excited about creating and the best bit … it’s got me closer to God … it’s exciting, God is doing a new thing in me … and it seems, throughout the world as the idea catches on.

I’ve gotta say … at first this seemed pretty ‘bad girl’ … my bible is special to me, it’s treated with respect, it’s God’s word after all. Up until now I’ve always taken notes and doodled in a notebook and kept my Bible clean. I had to really ask if this was okay … making art in and on God’s word … what does God think about that? But once I’d seen the idea I just couldn’t get it out of my head (that’s usually a God thing right there!) So I did some research, read what others are doing, seeing it as worship, as a way to dig into the word and spend time meditating on it … doodling is very conducive to meditating I find … and it makes so much sense … to be able to highlight a verse right there in the bible rather than copying it out into a notebook … why did I not think of this before now?!

So … only thing for it … I HAD to get a suitable bible. So I searched for journaling bibles and wide margin bibles and eventually came up with the one in the picture above from Koorong. A few short days of waiting and finally it was here just in time for a long Easter weekend.

More Making …

This time Mum’s Mother’s Day present.

 

I bought this kitset vintage wardrobe at Wellington Paper Arts last year … one of those things I could see lots of potential for but put away for one day when I have time …

Turns out time is kinda hard to find with things like this but needing a gift for Mother’s Day was motivation to give it a go.

I decided to cover all the bits with paper, then sand and ink the edges … about halfway through that process I realised it may have been easier just to paint it … guess I was just impatient to get to the pretty stage.

Then it was just a matter of going through all the various drawers and containers in my craft space to see what I could find to fill it up with … a bit of vintage stuff I’ve been collecting over the years, a tiny kewpie doll I found recently …

Very pleased I found an appropriate use for this vintage ribbon that says To Mother, with Love.

And some of the smallest wooden cotton reels I seem to have collected.

Oh and also glad I’ve finally found a use for that big pink flower … it was way too big for a scrapbook layout but has been floating around my desk for quite some time.

 

 

 

The Best Things In Life Aren’t Things

Another reason to pull out the paper and glue again … this time a sketch from Once Upon A … Sketch and some extra photos I forgot to put into my January project life pages.

I like this sort, a sketch, a theme AND a requirement to tell the story. I thought this photo taken on our wedding anniversary back in January was a suitable tie in to theme ‘The best things in life aren’t things’

I found I had more to say than would fit in the usual manner on the layout so I’ve written around the edge of the page.

It seems I’ve taken a lot of sunset photos this year … I’m wondering … are the sunsets particularly more beautiful this year … or is it that I’m just noticing them more?

The sunsets we see from our house have a new addition to them … maybe that’s what’s making me look twice.

Those sticks on the top of the hills … are actually huge wind turbines and they seem to be multiplying … each day another one appears.

Up close they look like this …

Actually that’s not really up close … up close you can’t fit the whole thing in … if you look carefully to the left at the base you can see a person standing on the ground … that gives some perspective to the giantness of these things.

But … in my sunsets they are just sticks that look slightly wrong along the tops of the faraway hills.

 

 

Jot – Mood Board

I guess there’s no better reason than a scrappy challenge to update this old blog!

I’ve been doing a bit of creating lately … and got particularly inspired by this mood board from Jot Magazine … mint and vintagey … don’t mind if I do!

Most of my memory keeping this year has taken the form of project life style but I had this funeral program which I wanted to include so I took the opportunity to make a 12×12 layout … I sewed up a plastic pocket to slip it in and then added a few pretty bits inspired by the mood board.

And then , because I needed another 12 x 12 layout to go on the other side of the protector I pulled out even more minty goodness from my supplies and put this together.

It’s funny how my newer, most exciting bits and pieces are actually project life cards and fairly flat embellishments … it’s a good thing they work just as well on this kind of layout as they do in little pockets.

It’s easy to see why I got so inspired by the mood board when you flick through my 2014 album … it seems I kinda like that look.

Settling into this project life style I’ve decided to add a few extra bits and pieces but still trying to keep it fairly simple so that it gets done.

And another double spread. This one showing some of my Sydney adventures from back in April.

And that’s not all … I’ve been doing lots more creating … so no doubt there’ll be another blog post before too much longer. Quite like how creating and blogging go hand in hand … it’s good to be doing both again.

Excuse the dust and cobwebs …

… seems this old blog has been a bit neglected lately. I’d like to say it’s cos I’ve been out enjoying Summer … but it’s currently wet and cold … I have the heat pump on and am getting over a horrible chesty cough … I don’t know what happened to Summer.

 

However, moving on … the big news is that Jessi is now 10. We’ve had a lovely weekend of celebrating … was just unfortunate about the weather … there’s nothing like having the piñata hanging from the lights in the middle of the lounge instead of safely outside where we planned it to be!

It was a bit of a 1 Direction themed party … just the traditional party games and a cheats cake with a printed edible image and simple party food.

 

We picked up one of these for her …

She’s been begging for a small pet for quite some time … we eventually realised she wasn’t going to give up and so Theodore has joined the family.

We had an extra cake for Church morning tea …

… and then after Church she had this done …

And that’s how 10 happens in our house.