Loved, with a Love that Endures Forever - a step by step project by Sarah Anderson

"Give thanks to the Lord,

for He is good,

His love endures forever"

Psalm 118:1 NIV

I was given this stamp set as a rep for Creative Bea but it is one I would have purchased anyway. Hannah's sets are beautiful, designed here in the UK, and very useful for stamping bible art journalers like me!

The phrase 'His love endures forever' stood out to me.  It's a phrase that is repeated a numerously in the Psalms.  I frequently pray

"I pray that I (you), being rooted and established in love,

may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people,

to grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep,

is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -

that I (you) may be filled to the measure of

all the fullness of God"

Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV

because to be honest, I don't think I have grasped that yet, because if I had, I wouldn't worry about the many things I worry about ! (amongst other things).  So reminding myself, through verses elsewhere in the bible, about God's love, can only help deepen my understanding of His love.

I adore stickers, and love making my own.  The size of sticker I had in my craft room wasn't quite big enough for the whole phrase 'His love endures for ever' so I decided to go with one or two words on each one.  I know I'll be making more of these to put elsewhere in my bible!!

I used Distress Oxide inks but you could use watercolour paints (just paint them across your stickers with a paintbrush) or Distress inks.  I pressed the inkpads onto an acrylic sheet (or use an acrylic block or lid of a box, or a glass worktop saver) and spritzed with water.

I then 'smooshed' my stickers through the ink ...

.. and dried them off by rolling a kitchen roll over the top.  Some stickers had more white space than I wanted so I just dipped them back in the ink.

Using Distress Oxide Fired Brick I stamped the heart cluster.

I then added splashes of Distress Oxide Wilted Violet by pressing the inkpad on an acrylic block, spritzing it with water, picking up the ink with a wet paintbrush then tapping it against my hand over the stickers.

To add a single word to a sticker, I focused on just inking up one part of the stamp with my Versafine Onyx inkpad, then cleaned off any over-inking with a baby wipe.

The page I wanted to work on had something on the other side so I rummaged in my paper drawer and found some gelli printed deli paper (there's a previous blog post HERE on this) to add to my page

I tore a small strip, folded it in half, added glue stick then stuck it in the centre of the bible pages, using a ruler to make sure it sat right against the pagefold.

The stickers were added ..

..followed by some stamping (which could have been done before the stickers, but I had been considering handwriting 'Give thanks to the Lord, for', but I changed my mind!)  Stamping repeatedly, 'until the ink runs out', gives a variety of texture to the page, and stamping in black makes it stand out over the Deep Lagoon blue ink used in the background.

So there you go!  Praying that you will know His love, that endures forever; there is nothing we can do to stop God loving us, nothing!

Introducing British Bible Art Journaling Stamps - by Sarah Anderson

I am a regular contributor to Craft Stamper magazine but when the editor asked me to write an article for March I really wanted to ask if I could do a bible art journaling page.  That was very scary as this is a mainstream mag so I asked some close friends for prayer and they were all very encouraging.  

And so was the editor!  As long as the technique could be used out of a bible she was happy for me to do the article.

When the article came out last Friday it made me cry as they didn't just feature my step by step but included other pages from my bible.  My go to when I'm journaling is just my fine, black bic pen and occasionally some watercolour but that's not something you can write about in a stamping magazine!!  I also love to use deli paper, something I've written about on the blog before.

I love to stamp in my art journals and am thrilled about the recent availability of British bible art journaling stamps, thanks to the wonderful Hannah at Creative Bea.  It is brilliant to be stamping more in my bible!   

Firstly I thought I'd share again the benefits of deli paper.  It is very light and brilliant for covering up bleed through or mistakes.  The page on the left has bled through and I used deli paper on the other side.   The bleedthrough happily co-ordinates with the deli paper!

Painted deli paper also looks pretty as decoration for the edge of a page...

... and inspired by a page by Christy Fae I've cut it into mountain shapes.

Hannah has recently brought out a new set of stamps and I was privileged to get to play with them early.  I was keen to use the 'Calvary' set as much of my reading lately has been about our inheritance through the death of Christ.

If you're familiar with my bible journaling you'll know I enjoy reading a variety of translations and paraphrases.

All translations are influenced by the theology of the translator so reading a variety gives a better understanding of the meaning of the passage.  To me it's a bit like when you hear a preacher explain a verse or passage, but in a book!!  The Passion Translation's aim is to reveal the heart of God and His passion for us.  

Another favourite paraphrase of mine is Francois du Toit's Mirror which is translated "with the person of Jesus Christ Himself and His finished work as the proper interpretative lens".  

My journaling bible is an NIV, my 'go to' read but I love to add a different version in the margins in order to amplify the meaning.  My reading this morning was from James 4:8 which reads

"Come near to God and He will come near to you"

NIV

but it was the Mirror's interpretation that particularly spoke to me today so I added it to the margin.  

"Snuggle up to the warm embrace of God,

experience His closeness to you"

The Mirror

In Christ, there is no separation between God and us (Romans 8), absolutely none..... so He is as close as close can be.  I needed to remember that!