More Scripture Journaling

I discovered a method for introducing visual images into my Bible study last year around this time, and my version of "Scripture Journaling" was born.  As I mentioned in my original post, I use some of the structure and symbols from Sketchnotes to organize my thoughts about the Bible passages I am reading. 

Recently, I began reading through the Bible along with Courtney over at Women Living Well.  We started in the Book of Esther in September, then jumped into some letters from Peter and John in the New Testament.  When she headed into Genesis in October, I decided to pause and go back to Peter and John's letters, taking some time to re-read them and "scripture journal" about them.

I started with this:

I use the New International Version as my preferred translation.

Then I moved on to this:

I use the SOAP method to write out notes during my Bible study.

And then I come out with this:

A finished page in my visual scripture journal

I enjoy the final result of my scripture journaling efforts; simply put, the pages look neat!  But the real value in putting them together is in looking closely at the Bible passage and determining how the ideas relate and how they can be represented both visually and with words.  Then, when I go back and read the Bible chapter again, looking at my journal alongside it, I can better understand the scripture and what it is saying to me.

A closer look at part of a page about 1 Peter 1

Still in 1 Peter 1, verses 10 through 14

As I've delved more deeply into the idea of scripture journaling, and added more and more pins to my Scripture Journaling Pinterest board, I have discovered that I am far from alone in introducing symbols and images into my Bible study.  There is even a Facebook community for our Journaling Bible Community, which I am just beginning to explore.

The whole journal page for 1 Peter 1:10-22

The whole journal page for 1 Peter 1:24-2:7

Here are some additional sites that I have discovered where people are putting their own twist on scripture journaling:

Not Just Any Bee:  Doodle Art Blog http://polly-wollydoodle.blogspot.com/
Scripture Art Journal:  http://scriptureartjournal.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Ackerman Designs:  http://homegrownhospitality.typepad.com/
The Red-Headed Hostess:  http://theredheadedhostess.com/

I'll share some other links in future posts on this subject!

 

1 Peter 2:5 is the source of the name of my women's ministry group:  Living Stones!

My scripture journals use very simple pictures to make their point!

To see all the posts I've written on the subject (only four total, so far), please click here.

Favorite Projects of 2013

I spent some time last night going through my blog posts from the past year, giving myself a chance for a little retrospection.  I thought it would be fun to collect some "blog favorites" over the year to share with you.  Today, I am highlighting some of my favorite projects from 2013. 

I didn't keep up with my Christmas in [Insert Month Here] series as faithfully as I had hoped, but it did yield a few project favorites that I will be doing again.  Besides finding ways to reuse all those Christmas cards, which I enjoy doing every year, I also really liked the patchwork/collage effect of the paper stockings I made back in September. 

I gave several of my acrylic and ink painted glass Christmas ornaments as gifts this year.  The results are so varied and unexpected that I can see myself making more just to see how they turn out.

Before I learned proper bookbinding techniques at the CREATE art retreat this past summer, I made these adorable little raisin books using electrical tape and rubber bands.  I've made tea box books, too.  My next books will be from soap and butter boxes with some proper stitching, so stay tuned!

One of my very favorite projects this year has been carving my own rubber stamps.  In fact, I am considering a major rubber stamp carving project for this next year, which I'll tell you more about soon!

Some cute little "object stamps" that are perfect for mail art

The silhouette stamps are some of my favorites!

Though the tag and clipboard stamps are right up there, too!

I'd like to try some more houses on a hill to perfect that design a bit.

And, ah, the Dennison label-style stamp!

More house stamps...I can't resist!

I really enjoyed learning a gesso resist technique from a Claudine Hellmuth video that created the designs on these hearts back in February.  I have whole books full of paint techniques I haven't tried; hmm....I may have to work that into my plan for the new year, too!

Scripture journaling was another new project I tried this past year.  It's hard work to translate Bible passages into visual representations!  It is such an effective way to internalize the message of the Scripture, but it takes real discipline to stick with it.

Learning some of the symbols, fonts, drawings and designs associated with Sketchnotes has been a fun part of the project, and applicable to other drawing and note taking projects besides just scripture journaling.

I absolutely loved the birdhouse charms I made from a kit from Heather Alexander last month.  I ended up giving a couple as Christmas gifts, and have several more on my craft desk, half-made.  My husband noticed that the wooden crates our clementines come in have triangular wood pieces that could be trimmed to size for additional roofs.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!





And, of course, throughout the year, my love for collage and mail art continued.  My glue stick and sewing machine continued to work overtime to create postcards for friends and just for fun over the months. 

from "Finally!" post in November

Paper scraps, fabric, postage stamps, rubber stamps, stickers, decorative tapes, buttons, ribbons, photographs, text pages, postcards, musical scores, vintage documents, book illustrations--all were pressed into service for collaged mail art through the year.

from "Feeling Stitchy" post in October

 

from "Stitchy Vintage Collage" post in October

 

from "More Mail Art & a Giveaway Winner" post

from "More Mail Art & a Giveaway Winner" post

And finally, I continued creating Zentangles this year, even taking a workshop on the subject at a local arboretum.  The tangled borders on the postcards below were a great exercise in various tangle designs.  With six or seven Zentangle books on my shelves, I'll be revisiting this calming drawing practice again in 2014!

Going back through my blog posts gave me a chance to review my projects, my excursions, and the swaps and challenges that filled my creative year.  I'll be back with a couple more retrospective posts, and some creative plans for 2014 very soon.

Wishing you all the best for these final days of 2013!

More Scripture Journaling

I seldom read a book without a pen in hand.  Most of the books I read include ideas and quotations that I don't want to forget once I've reached the final page.  I have always been a note-taker, and I find that writing things down helps lodge information in my brain, in addition to providing a written record I can consult later.

Because the Bible is such an important text to me, you can be sure that I have logged many, many pages of notes and verses and reflections and lessons as I've worked through its books.

Recently, as I shared about a week ago, I have added a visual element to my note-taking.  I have been doing a new form of scripture journaling that challenges me to collect and organize information and ideas, and to represent them visually by how I arrange them on the page, or the sketches and doodles I use to express them.

I work very diligently to make sure that each part of the chapter is represented, and if I can't think of a way to express it visually, then I write the verse down as a quotation.

After completing a page for 2 Corinthians chapter 4, I worked backwards and completed pages for chapters 3 and 2.  My goal is to complete a page for each of the book's thirteen chapters, but I will give myself permission to start working on whatever we are covering in my Bible study by the time I get there so that it remains a help to me rather than a burden.

I even threw in a little decorative tape for my notes on chapter 3; I'll have to explore a little more of that to dress things up a bit!  (Everything's better with decorative tape, don't you think?)

I've only completed three note-taking pages so far, but have found it to be a very effective approach to studying the Bible.  It has helped me to complete my pages after having a conversation with my Bible study group.  That way, I can use my own reading, a reading of a written commentary, and a Bible study discussion to inform my decisions about how to represent the ideas.  I also continue to collect ideas and examples for my Pinterest board called "Scripture Journaling" to help me with future pages.


I would love to hear from you about how you have used your creativity or artistic expression to complement your religious or spiritual life.  They are such obvious companions, it makes sense to bring them together for a fuller expression of each.

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Come back by soon, because I am heading to the Allentown Paper Show again tomorrow, and will be sure to return with lots of amazing paper loot to share with you in a future post!  My husband suggested that I look at all the postcards, postage stamps, books, and documents that I already have in order to figure out what I really need.  Once my laughter died down, I asked how much money I can withdraw from the ATM on a single day.....

Scripture Journaling

I have discovered a way to introduce my "creative side" to my interest in daily Bible study.  Somewhere in my Pinterest wanderings, I ran across the concept of SketchNotes.  As I explored additional links, I found all sorts of people engaged in scripture journaling, using a combination of words, images, symbols, and designs to reflect the meanings of the Bible verses.

When I first decided to try it for myself, I used 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, which was the focus of my Thursday morning women's Bible study group at the time.  All I knew when I started was that I wanted a banner across the top, sections divided by solid and dotted lines, and an image of jars of clay.  Beyond that, I had some creative figuring to do!

I began a Pinterest board entitled "Scripture Journaling," where I pin sources of symbols and drawings, and examples of other people's sketch notes from their scripture studies.  I also do Yahoo searches for things like, "drawings of strength" or "symbols of God's glory," and I get all sorts of ideas for images to use in my notes.  You can see by the page included here that it's not all about drawing, but rather about figuring out how to organize and arrange the content of the passages.

I have found that the great value of this kind of scripture journaling is the actual process of creating the pages.  While I can certainly review the text by looking over my notes, I really internalize the message by working through the creative process of how to represent it on the page.  I have to really dig deep to be sure that I am linking ideas accurately, and truly representing all that is there.

I have continued scripture journaling backwards through 2 Corinthians, and have notes for chapters 1 through 4.  I plan to then work forward along with our study, until I hopefully have a set of visual scripture journaling for the whole book.

I will confess that every time I sit down to do a new chapter, I am convinced that I will not be able to figure out how to represent it in visual notes.  And yet every time, once I stick with it for awhile, the representations develop across the page, and I find the process very satisfying, both to my need for creative expression and my need to spend time in God's Word.

I invite you to give this process a try for your own spiritual and creative practice.  I will share the pages I have made for other chapters in 2 Corinthians in the coming days.