A couple weeks ago as my husband and I made the long drive to visit my family for Thanksgiving, we sat reflecting on the year and all of the things the Lord has taught us. We both tried to sum it up in one word or phrase, mine was “slow down”. Slow down from my busy check list, slow down from trying be perfect in every area of life, slow down and enjoy my friends and family even if there are dirty dishes in the sink, slow down from trying to rush into the next stage of life. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a planner, an organizer, and a perfectionist. I always want everything in order, everything done to the best of my ability, and to make sure everyone else is happy along the way but the Lord has been beckoning my heart to just slow down and seek Him this year. Oh how sweet it is to rest in His presence to to let the rest of life fall second!
With that reflection still fresh in my mind, starting the Naptime Diaries Advent has just been so refreshing to remind my heart again to slow down and make room for Jesus this season. One of my favorite entries so far talked about how Mary, in the midst of the hurry and the hustle of pregnancy (oh girl, I can relate right now!) and preparing for a new baby, she’s recorded as treasuring up these things in her heart. Instead of getting lost in the chaos, she still took time to treasure the Lord and the ways He was at work. I spent the next couple of hours mulling over the idea and thinking about how I wanted to illustrate that verse in my Bible. I had the perfect idea and was ready to grab my Bible and my camera and write an awesome blog post about treasuring the Lord deep in my heart. I grabbed my Bible, flipped to Luke 2, and found this…
Well there went all my perfect plans! If you’ve had your Journaling Bible more than a couple of months, you’ve probably had this happen too but that doesn’t mean you have to stop working in the same Bible. Get cozy and I’ll share with you how I still illustrated this verse on an already painted spread of pages!
A couple of weeks ago, Bailey, one of the other girls on the creative team, posted on her Instagram about using the packaging from stamps to make clear inserts. This is why I love being part of such a creative community! I never would’ve thought of such a great idea, but that’s exactly what I did. I actually used the packaging from one of my sticker sets, snipped it up a little and got to work.
I planned out what I wanted to write and started adding the letters backwards – from right to left – to make sure they fit well on the sheet. The added bonus of working on a clear surface is being able to make sure the letters are lined up straight. I laid the sheet right on top of the text in the advent devotional as a ruler when I added my stickers to make sure they were in straight lines.
Since Sharpies seem to be the only pen that will dry on the plastic, I used a gold Sharpie to add the verse reference and taped the plastic sheet in with washi that would blend in with the background.
There you have it! A quick and easy way to still work on a page that is already painted or illustrated on. I love making do with random scraps around the house so I just loved Bailey’s idea to use the packaging from stamps or stickers. Even better, it’s a perfect example of slowing down and not needing perfection, even on such a small scale. I might have had a perfect plan of what I thought the page would look like and the things I was going to share with you, but look how much more fun this turned out to be! If I can learn to embrace the much bigger curveballs of life and take time to treasure the nearness of my King, then my heart can truly rest even in the hustle and hurry of life in this season.
<3 Jess
Gold Sharpie
This is a wonderful combination and layout!