For the wings of a dove! by Claire Graham

Life's quite stressful at the moment, juggling my children having different Easter holidays, stress at work, new responsibilities at Church, a poorly child, not enough sleep and a whole lot of negative self talk has honestly left me feeling like I want to run away... and don't even get me started on politics and the scary state of the world.  My best friend and I often joke about wanting to run away and join the circus, but frankly it's quite an appealing option at the moment!

I came across this verse earlier, whilst wallowing in my self pity. "Oh that I had the wings of a dove! That I would fly away and be at rest" (Psalm 55:6) and it was perfect! I loved the idea that I'm not the only one who's ever wanted to run away from it all. King David, super important, amazingly spiritual King David wanted to run away from it all too!!

So... first I used my trusty liquitex matt gel medium and a foam brush to prep the page (the yellow and red are bleed through from the next page.) And blasted it with my heat gun - it only takes a few minutes and for me is well worth it! 

Then I watered down some acrylic paint with liquitex matte medium, it makes it more translucent, but as I added more and more layers with a makeup sponge the text became harder to read anyway. I don't mind too much if I can't read the text, I have lots of other Bibles and phone apps that I can read an obscured passage in! I added some patterns through a stencil as well. 

Then I drew a little bird - i used my pigma graphic pen as it draws well on top of acrylic- and painted that in contrasting colours... the dots were added using the wrong end of a paintbrush! 

and lastly I added the text of the passage...

I found it amazingly comforting to dwell on the fact that I'm not alone with how I'm feeling, that it's OK to want to run away but also that like God walked with King David in his stressful times with him he's walking with me (and you) too.

step by step to an art journaled page in my bible - by Sarah Anderson

The Message version of Jeremiah 31:36 shows God telling the people of Israel that He's "never quit loving them" and to "expect love, love and more love".  I wanted to reflect this on the page with lots of hearts and splashes of pink.  Splashes like this though soak through to the other side of an unprepped page!

I always work on a pile of cheap copier paper when I am journaling and end up with lots of scrap paper full of patches of colour.  This is thin enough to add to the margin of your bible with a Pritt stick, and covers up bleed through.

I used a cosmetic sponge to add more colour to the page from my inkpads..

 ..and then added more through a stencil.  I have a good collection of Ranger Adirondack ink pads which I used for this but they are being discontinued now.  Other dye inkpads, or Ranger Distress inkpads would have worked just as well.

This page in Jeremiah is full of promises of hope and restoration and is a call for Israel to trust in God.

I was thrilled to bits when I found these stamps by Clarity at a stamp show but Hope has gone missing (I use it a lot!) - it's ok, all hope is not lost...

..I got out my trusty Big Shot and created a new stamp with sticky backed funky foam and my Tim Holtz alphabetical die.

Apply the letters to a piece of corrugated cardboard and you can make any words you like into stamps!

Stamping once for the main effect, then stamping in other places on the page without re-inking gives a layered effect to your work.

I highlighted some of the key verses using my watercolour palette and added some splashes of paint.

I love the effect that using a regular biro has on thin paper - adding a lot of texture!  So I used my trusty fine Bic pen to write out the verses

.... and added some doodling with coloured pencils, and painted in some flowers.

By choosing to work on the back of a page I'd already journaled I found a new passage to read and meditate on!



Sarah :)