Hey everyone! Tawni here, again. I’m going to keep things short and sweet for you today (I know! Shocking!) as I take you through part of my process for journaling in the Make Room advent devotional from Naptime Diaries.
As I’ve been going through this devotional, I’ve typically been underlining everything that stands out to me as an ah-ha! moment as I read it, and then I journal after I finish reading and underlining a page. Then at the end of each week, I go through each page and re-read the parts I had underlined, and I pull from those words to decorate either another page in a separate journal (like a blank Illustrated Faith journal), or I decorate the blank page at the end of the week in the Make Room devotional. This week I decided to decorate the blank page inside the devotional.
To start on a blank canvas, I usually go through my supplies and choose my color palette based on one favorite- or focus-piece. This time I really wanted to work around the Prince of Peace cut-out. I always pull way more supplies than I ever actually use, but I like to see all of my options, so my workspace ends up getting a little cluttered as I journal, usually. That’s okay, though! The mess is a blessing. Lately I’ve been using a lot of teal or mint and blush-pink shades, but I wanted to throw in some darker shades for this page too, and I wanted to shoot for a bit more empty space, or at least some uncolored space, to signify Extra Room.
Once I had all of my choices laid out in front of me, I chose to start by laying down a couple of journaling cards to give the page a pop of color.
I layered the card on the bottom of the page with cut-outs, washi, and of course alpha stickers, which I currently can’t get enough of. I chose everything based on how it spoke to me regarding the message I was trying to convey through my page, and of course based on color.
On the journaling card I placed on the top of the page, in order to convey the message of the page more directly, I used some alpha stamps to spell out Stop & Listen, and added some stamps from the Illustrated Faith Advent kit.
To add character to the black ink, I layered the alpha stamps with some teal ink, as well. Then, to add additional character to the page as a whole, without taking away from the Extra Room I wanted to signify, I drew some messy lines across the whole thing.
As I was creating this page, I was praying and meditating on the words from the Make Room devo that had inspired me, and was also reminded of a moment I had privately journaled about a couple of months ago: As I was setting up my planner for the next week in October, I was scheduling and making my endless list of things to do, and I was overcome by a thought that had come to me after I read Colossians1:17: Make room for HIM FIRST.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17 NIV
I don’t know about you, but I often have to remind myself to pray FIRST; to seek God FIRST; to FIRST make room for God, and then fill in the cracks with the rest of what life brings. I have to remind myself to not first fill my life with this-and-that, with priorities and to-do lists, and then give God whatever’s left over — I need much more of Him than just as “filler”. He is before all things, and I need to keep Him in His rightful place in my heart by being sure to make room for HIM before I make room for anything else.
When Christ is in the center of our lives — when we’ve made room for the Prince of Peace not only in our hearts but also in our day-to-day — when we remember that He is above and before it all, then everything else will fall into place and will be held together by Him, no matter how scattered and messy it all may seem to us or to the rest of the world.
Blessings, friends!
, Bella Blvd Tiny Text in Pumpkin Spice
, Micron Graphic pen (3) in Black, Pelikan black ink pad, Prima Marketing Journaling Notecards from the Creating in Faith Collection, Prima Marketing Chalk Ink in Teal Damask
