Mixed Media Bible Journaling | Mark-Making Techniques | Psalms 23:3

Hi friend! I can’t believe this is my last post for the year! I’m excited for 2019 though! I was peeking ahead in the newest kit and the first devotional was actually my word and verse for the year. My word was “restore” and I’m gonna be honest, it was a tough year asking God why a lot. I felt like I was toeing the line between the narrow right path and the wide path… which is why I’m excited about my word for 2019… GRACE! He has restored my soul this year, but not in the way I wanted it restored. I had to make some big decisions for my family’s sake and I know they were the right thing to do… but they were hard. When you have spent so much time online and your kids say, “Mama’s always on the phone!” it was a big eye-opener. Restoring the relationship with my kids has been so fulfilling, however, I do miss my online tribe. While I miss my tribe, I don’t miss the numbers and influencer game that consumed me and took me away from being the mama I was called to be. Making those decisions were not easy, but I love how the Holy Spirit guided me in getting back on the right and narrow path. I feel guilty though, like I’ve left my tribe behind… and that’s where my word for 2019 came to me… “Give yourself GRACE, Heather!” I can’t wait to see where that leads me in 2019.

This new kit focuses a lot on mark-making, and Shanna had told me a couple months ago that I would LOVE it! She wasn’t kidding. I love mark-making, but I feel like it’s a real struggle for me to make little doodles of my own. How many feel the same way? I know I’m not alone so I thought I would share the things that I usually do for mark-making. There is so much we can work with just right inside this kit. I first pulled together some supplies like stamp inks, markers, and pens and then scraped a little paint around the page for a background.

STAMPS

Not gonna lie, this is my most favorite, which is why I use the Elements stamp set so often. I was ready for some more mark-making stamps to use. I’m loving the whimsical hand drawn hexagons and the outlines to match. I could see filling a whole background full of these hexagons, but this time I just stamped in odd numbers around where I had scraped paint. There are so many other mark-making stamps in this set from paint splatters to a giant cross, a doodled heart, and tiny dashes… have fun playing with them stamping all over the page. I used stamp ink for the hexagons but you can totally use paint or brush markers for stamping too.

EMBELLISHMENTS

There are always fun mark-making type paper pieces in the kits… these “washi tape” crosses are so fun. You could even make your own using your own washi tape. Enamel hearts/hexagons and puffy crosses are some other ideas that you might have in your stash that add some fun marks to your page.

MARKERS & PENS

This stencil ruler is seriously my new favorite mark-making helper. There are so many fun doodles to add to your page. Pick a few and just have fun adding them in different colors around your page. I used the plus sign to create little crosses all over my page, then I used the ruler as a line gauge for my journaling. I used to use the paint card to make my lines, but this stencil is a bit longer and fits better in the larger margins of the Illustrating Bible. I also used the star stencil to make stencils around my journaling lines and then used the exclamation point to make the three line markings around the page. There are is so much you can do with this, from creating scallop borders, to arrows pointing the way, to chevrons and triangles and rain drops…

To finish my page I journaled in the lines, added a date stamp, and a tab at the top. Do you feel like you can now do your own fun mark-making in the margins of your Bible? I can’t wait to see what you do!