Creative Worship: "In the Morning" Hymnal Journaling

In the morning when I rise / In the morning when I rise
In the morning when I rise / Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus / Give me Jesus
You can have all this world / But give me Jesus
And when I am alone / Oh, when I am alone
And when I am alone / Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus / Give me Jesus
You can have all this world / But give me Jesus
And when I come to die / Oh, when I come to die
And when I come to die / Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus / Give me Jesus
You can have all this world / But give me Jesus

Isn't that a beautiful hymn? Give me Jesus! Yes! The first printing of this song dates back to 1845 in a Methodist hymnal. However, the 1867 compilation Slave Songs of the United States includes this spiritual as a favorite among former slaves in South Carolina. I can easily understand the powerful words to this song strengthening and encouraging anyone going through a difficult time. When we seek Jesus first, in the morning, we'll be victorious over anything and everything we encounter throughout the rest of the day.

I knew I wanted to journal this hymnal page, but my first attempt was a FAIL! Well, nothing created in heartfelt worship is really a fail, but I was definitely not happy with the results. I didn't like how the lightly stamped words didn't stand out enough against the watercolor background. Nor did I like the placement of the words and image. So I set it aside for a day, and came back to it the next evening. Here's a photo of the first attempt.

First Page Attempt

I pulled out some white, yellow, orange, and red acrylic paint, because I knew that medium was heavy enough to cover up what I had previously done, but light enough to allow me to still see the score of the music.

Second Attempt

I created an ombre effect with the colors, and then, using the Good Morning stamp set, I stamped the words and images over the background. I added some paint to the sunrise image, and used a white gel pen to highlight the words and the sun's rays. I added white, orange, and red splatters, which made me think of droplets of sunlight. I added a tab made from washi tape and the phrase "Not today Satan" from the Faith Wordfetti stamp set. I finished it off with the some black and white washi (to help balance out all the color) and an orange puffy clip, which reminds me of the sun.