Step by Step to making a Joy Shaker Pocket by Sarah Anderson

I adore glitter, and shinies, and fell in love with the idea of joy shaker pockets after seeing them on Celeste's Instagram @precious.to.me.  These little packets of sparkle fill your bible and/or planner with happiness!

I've put the first joy shaker pocket I made with this verse, which I've written as a prayer, in Romans, and used glittery tape to attach it to the top of my bible page.  So how do you make them??

The first thing you'll need is a cellophane packet.  I used this packet from some adhesive gems I purchased but you could use one from a greetings card, stamp set or a cellophane CD cover.

Cut a piece of coloured card to fit inside the packet.  I used card I'd painted, sprayed, stencilled and stamped on both side.  You could also use double sided scrapbook paper.

I stamped the word 'joy' on the front in black ...

..and repeatedly in aquamarine on the other side.  By stamping until the stamp runs out of ink (rather than inking the stamp each time you stamp) you get added texture as the word lightens.

Slide the stamped card into the pocket ...

... and collect together a selection of 'shinies'.  I found the glitter in Poundland, tiny star confetti in Tesco (other supermarkets are available!) and star sequins in Rymans.  In my first shaker pocket I used sequins from Hobbycraft.

Fill your pocket with a selection of glitter and sequins ...

... and seal with glittery tape.  I found this in Tesco (other supermarkets are available!) in the gift wrap section.

I added this shaker pocket into Nehemiah.  I journaled this page last week and whilst I was adding the shaker pocket decided it needed some sparkle so added some Stickles.  This is a glue containing ultra fine glitter and is one of my favourites.  You'll find it in Hobbycraft.

I hope this has inspired you to fill your bible with glitter and shine, and hunt out those verses about joy.  And I pray that our God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I can't - by Jane Butcher

I can’t draw like Deborah, I can't paint like Gill, I can't use mixed media like Sarah, I can't source things like Pam, I can't worship like Ben…


It's a wonder I can drag myself out of bed in a morning!

But, I can draw, I can paint, I can use mixed media, I can source things, I can worship; like me, and that's good enough because God made me. He gave me my skills, talents, interests, He gave them to me to use as only I can!

I wrote this poem many years ago, I hadn't been a Christian for very long but I already felt somehow inadequate when I compared myself to others.

“Oh to be a trophy of grace.”

Oh to be a trophy of grace,

To come in first in life’s long race.

Not relegated to runner up,

Slinking home with a tarnished cup.

To be held in esteem by all and sundry,

Surely a goal to be aimed for one day!

Glowing with health and blindingly good,

Reflecting the light as all trophies should.

How I'd hate it, how I'd fail,

The very thought turns my flesh pale.

Not for me such dizzy heights,

Living each day is enough of a fight!

My name won't make the glory roll,

No mention in dispatches or meritorious scroll.

But I don't care, I’ll just do my best,

I'll leave such striving for all the rest.

If someone told me to “come forth my child”,

I'd probably come fifth and drive them wild!

Still, it takes all sorts as you'll agree,

And there's room in the world for more like me.

I don't want much, my needs are few,

My family, my friends, more people like you!

So, here is one failed “trophy of grace”

Who has finally come to know her place!

There is one thing we all need to know, God made us, God loves us, we are His unique creation and the things we do and the way we do them are pleasing to His eye. Every moment we spend in His presence, in prayer, silence, reading, worshiping, praising or journaling blesses God.

Many people have shared the need for us to stop comparing ourselves to others, many more will do so in the future. Let's just for a moment imagine our lives as being a piece of a jigsaw, the last piece of a jigsaw. To complete the big picture only our shape will fit, with all its curves, bumps and sharp edges. We don't stand alone, neither do our strengths, weaknesses, gifts or talents.  We are created to take our place in the big picture, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Without us the big picture is incomplete!

Behold the Kingdom of God - by Ben Butcher

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing this journal page come to life on Saturday and Ben kindly agreed to share it with us.  IRL it is full of sparkle too - Sarah

"This is one of my favourite verses Luke 17:21 behold the kingdom of God within you it reminds me that God's kingdom is coming closer and that Jesus is coming to gathering his children and take them up to his father's house in heaven in the future. 
This picture I journaled today shows the gateway towards the eternal glorious city of God inside the city and has so many rooms .
The ladder resemble climbing towards our new home and take our place in the golden thrones which has our names written on the colours I picked resembles what heaven looks like red gold orange and browns." - Ben 

Be Like Jesus - by Deborah J Gregg

I just love how God loves to surprise us!

He always manages to catch my breath with the unexpected, out of the blue, jaw dropping twists and turns that He brings my way.

When we walk in step with the Spirit, it's a remarkable adventure.

When we step out in faith, we know He's gone before us, He goes behind us and is right there with us.

This has been a rather remarkable week!

Last Sunday, when I was washing the dishes I was just thinking about the 'be like Bill' meme that everyone was sharing on Facebook.
I just felt God reminded me that we should be like Jesus.
And the idea came, to draw a stickman picture, with simple words of truth. After 20 minutes (of mostly deliberating about the wording) it looked like this:

After a quick prayer, I posted it first in our lovely Bible Art Journaling UK Facebook group to 'test the waters', once I could see that some of my friends here liked it, I felt just about brave enough to share it in a couple of other Christian groups - 'Captivated' for Christian women in the UK and 'Journaling Bible Community'.

And that's when it took off...literally. I mean, it went viral!

I was looking at my iPad and the 'like' and 'shared' notification counter was literally going ping!ping!ping!  All evening! And for the next few days, this simple picture has been sharing the simple gospel truth around Facebookland, Instagram and Twitter, I mean it even has a hashtag! #belikejesus. At last estimate it would be at least well over 100,000 likes and shares. Not that I'm counting ;-)  but I have to admit that it was surreal and extraordinary and completely unexpected. I am just so humbled that God would use this simple sketch in this way.

And I particularly love that he used the most simple thing I have ever drawn. When I think about the hours and hours I've poured into other Bible Art pieces, artwork and journaling, but no, it's the stickman that gets His message out there! :-) I mean, I didn't even do any proper hand lettering on it! But isn't that just what God loves to do? To use the most ordinary for His extraordinary works.

So looking back, I remember that on that particular Sunday morning I had specifically prayed for opportunities, whatever they may look like, and also I put on my shoes of the gospel of peace and I prayed that I would not be ashamed of the gospel. So I'm thankful for a very surprising answer to prayer - He is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine! And I'm looking to continue to follow His direction, to make the most of every opportunity.

All for His glory!

Let's be like Jesus.

P.S. Please feel free to share this 'Be Like Jesus' picture on social media, use in churches and outreach, copy into your Journaling Bible, and it’s fine for general reasonable use, without any copyright or acknowledgement needed. Just please don’t make or sell stuff with this image without asking me first. Thank you!
Image & design (c) Deborah Jane Gregg 2016

Perfect Peace - by Sarah Anderson

 I have admired this effect on a number of bible journaling pages on Instagram and decided that my declaration of peace page in John 14 would suit it perfectly.

I dip into Steve Backlund's book 'Declarations - Unlocking your Future' a lot!  Through attending therapy, after experiencing depression a number of years ago, I am now much more aware of the negative thoughts I have a tendency to listen to, and am making a conscious effort to now listen to the truth.  It's transforming!

I wrote out my notes, declarations, reference and date in the margin with my favourite pen - a fine Bic..

then used a flat brush and my Winsor and Newton watercolours to add patches of blue around the margin.

I continued adding a range of blues and a purple until I was happy with the effect - a simple but very effective way of adding colour to a page.  And for those of you who would like to know about bleedthrough -

None there :)  The photo was taken immediately after adding colour to the page so it will smooth out after being in a closed bible for a while.  I rather like the crinkly pages though :)

I'd forgotten I'd written this in my bible, in early January apparently, and used it again this weekend as part of our Creative Worship service at church.  It's not that we're not creative in other weeks but once a month we dedicate a whole service to an idea we explore creatively.  This week we asked people to bring an empty wine bottle to church as we were considering Song of Songs 5 from the Passion Translation which talks about Jesus' enjoyment of each one of us like this -

Jesus, your Bridegroom-King, says to you:

"I have gathered from your heart...

I have tasted and enjoyed my wine within you"

Imagine enjoying your favourite drink, whether it's a hot chocolate with marshmallows, cold elderflower cordial, or a large glass of wine - that's what Jesus is like, and more, with you!  

Sadly I forgot to take a photo of the finished wine bottle (It has been gifted to a friend who needed to hear this too!) but we gave everyone a large label to put their declarations of who they were on (and a sticky label with the Song of Songs verse for the back).  I chose to write a declaration of peace and after writing out the declaration from Steve's book, wrote my own around the edge.

And yesterday I was sooooo chilled despite some difficulties at work :)

The Colouring Craze - by Sharon King

Ever since I was a small child I have loved colouring. One of the favourite presents I received every Christmas was a Platinum Colouring set that my Aunt and Uncle gave me every year. I used to love spending Christmas Day afternoon, sitting at the table colouring.

Over the last year Adult Colouring Books seem to be everywhere and there seems to be so many different ones available.

I was spending time colouring long before the craze took off.

I have discovered that colouring is a great aid in my prayer time, over the last three years I have coloured in many pictures, nearly all of them with a Bible Text or some words of Spiritual encouragement. As I have coloured I have discovered that it helps me to focus, to spend time with God in a very special way.

I am one of those people who cannot draw, well at least that is my opinion!!!! So I thank God for the many talented artists who have been willing to share their work in such a way that encourages and helps me.

I first discovered Lindisfarne Scriptorium about 4 years ago when I visited the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown. It was there I purchased my first colouring book. Mary Fleeson is a talented and God inspired artist who uses her art to bless others. Here are some of the pictures that I have coloured in over the last few years.

Some of her pictures are really intricate, and at times are challenging, but isn't that like life,there are times when things can be challenging and we need to persevere.

Others contain prayers, which as I have taken time to colour them in, the words have been digested into my heart and soul and have become so meaningful.

Some her pictures allow me to just praise God for who He is,

The above picture is one with words and a pattern, because the pattern is very involved it is still a work in progress!!! Just like our lives , they are works in progress with God forming us into what He wants us to be. Placing everything in its right place, filling our lives with colour and detail.

Sometimes we are not sure which way we should go or what we should do. Once again a prayer that I could use and pray through.

The Magnificat.

Sometimes as I am colouring God speaks to me in a very special way. This was one such occasion, I was struggling to work out the best way to go with a situation I was facing. As I prayed and coloured God reminded me that He was with me in the Mess. I didn't have to struggle alone because He was surrounding me with His love. He was enough in every situation. So I annotated the picture to remind me of this.

All of these pictures come from the book below by Mary Fleeson called Multicoloured Prayers, you can purchase this through Lindisfarne Scriptorium.

In my next blog I will share some more books from them.

So, let me ask you a question, when did you last colour a picture.?

Can I challenge you to experiment in your prayer time. I am not saying this is right for everyone but it works for me.

As I colour I listen to the devotion from the Pray As You Go App, as I listen to the Bible Reading, I colour, and as I colour I consider what is being read, and the thoughts I have help me to pray in a more detailed way.

Why not give it a go and see what you think?

Finally I would like to share with you a picture I did a couple of years ago.

I pray that though this coming week you will truly appreciate the God colours in your life and be willing to share those God colours with others.

My Bible Art Journaling Journey - by Lori Weeden

This week's blog post is by the lovely Lori Weeden, who is sharing about how she got started with Bible Art Journaling, and what it means to her. Enjoy and be blessed by some of her lovely artwork! 

About a year ago whilst studying my Bible, I wanted to write down scriptures on love in a way that was easy to remember and that helped me to meditate on them. I wanted to make the scriptures more memorable by decorating each one on different pages. Not long after I started to decorate some pages, I spoke to Deborah Gregg at a Come Closer meeting and she shared her Bible Art Journal with me which gave me more inspiration to continue being creative with the scriptures. She held a workshop at her house and explained what Bible Art Journaling was all about and tips about how to use different mediums to create your art work.

By doing Bible Art Journaling, it has helped me enjoy studying the scriptures in a different way and be more focused on them. It has also drawn me closer to the Lord. There has been many times where my artwork has helped minister to others, so it is doesn't just bless me but helps bless others too.

Thank you so much, Lori, for sharing this with us! If anyone else would like to contribute to our shared blog, do get in touch with Deborah Gregg, Sarah Anderson, Jane Butcher or Sharon King - we'd love to hear from you!