Land of the Free

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

Independence day is right around the corner and has me contemplating what it means to have freedom and to be free. Freedom in the dictionary is described as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint, or the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. As a Christian I feel so blessed to have the gift of freedom from sin. I don't have to listen to the taunting and whispered lies in my ears. Christ willingly gave himself as a sacrifice so I can experience freedom.

This page was a little of a challenge as I originally used StazOn ink on the back side of the page that bled through. I used a little white acrylic paint thinly scraped across the page with a paint card to easily cover and create a blank canvas for me to create on. Instead of using colored inks I used my big brush Pitt pens to color and stamp the images onto the page. Combining the star and stripes stamps I was able to create a abstract flag at the top of the page. I filled in my titled with hand lettering and tiny alpha stickers. The seamless bunting was created by inking all but the knot on one end of the banner then re inking the stamp and realigning to create the swoop. After the ink on the bunting was dry I went back with the same red and blue Pitt pens and filled in the triangles to match the page.

This fantastic set 'Free Indeed' can be purchased HERE along with many other beautiful versatile sets. Keep your eyes open for next months new stamps....you will not be disappointed!

Hugs and Prayers,

Jenn @creativegurl85

Beauty in the Cross

Hello friends! I pray you all had a blessed Easter weekend. I am still on a spiritual high from Sunday, so I thought I would share the page I created to remind me of Easter Sunday this year.

I Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you."

I was scrolling through Instagram the other day when this quote hit me right between the eyes... 'by dying He destroyed our death, by rising again He restored our life.' Wow that somehow clicked and I knew it had to be in my Bible. The image of the cross is often associated with our Saviors suffering and can seem cruel, ugly and harsh...and it is but it is also beautiful. That unfinished cross finished and sealed our destiny, those ugly nails secured our hope, and that harsh crown blossomed into glory. Only Jesus could take a horrible, tragic death and after three days bust out with new life! I hope these feelings never stop overwhelming you!

I began this page by using some washi tape to create a masked off cross on my page. Then I went in with my watercolors and painted flowers and foliage. I am seriously in love with the new teeny alphabet stamps in the new April stamp release...I have a feeling they will find themselves on many of my pages. I used those stamps along with a little brush lettering to recreate the quote I mentioned earlier. I added a few white gel pen accents in the lettering and flowers and a smattering of washi, puffy hearts, and wordfetti.

Father, fill our hearts and overwhelm us with your love for us. Thank you for taking such a ugly, harsh event and creating the beauty of eternal life with you. Help us walk a little closer to you everyday and share the incredible joy we have in you!  Amen!

Hugs and Prayers
Jenn @creativegurl85

Grow in Virtue

"So don't loose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus." 

2 Peter 1:5-8 (Message Translation)

The latest printable devotional is so amazing this month! Stop and go pick it up right now HERE. I loved reading and studying all the scriptures Diane used this month! I was so inspired by the oncoming season of spring and the changes and growth that need to take place in my own heart. 

I used the Skinny Minnie alpha to stamp out part of the title and added a personal touch with some hand lettering.  I had a little space at the bottom of the page that perfectly fit the prayer Diane wrote at the end of the devotional. Next and finally I chose to doodle some floral swags and roses around the page to accent the verses and fill the page with color. A splash of watercolor, a few squiggly lines from my black artist pen, and a few accents from my white signo gel pen and the page was complete.

This was a wake up call to me...maybe this is just the reminder you needed today. Take time to grow, spend time in the word, praying, worshiping, and meditating. Your time will always be rewarded. Praying you all have a blessed week!

Hugs and Prayers,

Jenn (@creativegurl85)

Mercies & Mustard

I am not a morning person.

Not even close. 

A few months ago I was aboard a long early morning flight - very early - and I had the opportunity to see the sun rise. I have probably seen only a handful of sunrises, and generally only will volunteer to get up that early if I am going to Disneyland. But let me tell you, seeing a sunrise from an airplane is an incredible sight. Being able to see a very looong horizon lit up in a rainbow of colors is seriously awe-some. As I was looking at the morning sky, I saw a full rainbow (ROYGBIV) stretched across the entire length of the horizon. As I saw it, I started thinking about how God covers the earth with rainbows constantly...morning and night...day after day...reminding us that he is covering us with His protection, peace, and love. 

His mercies are new every morning.

I added this art in my Bible in Lamentations 3:22-23, where it says (ESV):

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness. 

(Lamentations is previously un-journaled for me, so this is a perfect fit for the current journaling challenge in the Creative Worship Bible Journaling group on Facebook.)

You may have seen this one in progress over on my Instagram feed. After I put down the initial color background, I added some washi tape, stamping, and hand lettering. The stamps I used are from the Cold Coffee Alphabet set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.


Since I had the paints out, I decided to do a little painting in my other journaling Bible. I also used the same Cold Coffee Alphabet stamp set for the word "mustard" here.

I have seen where people will add a mustard seed to their Bible pages, but didn't have mustard seeds, so I went with a mustard-ish paint color and a tiny mustard-seed-size dot with my Sharpie marker.

I added a few details with a white (extra fine) Sharpie Paint Pen including some tiny polka dots on the stamped letters.

Thanks for stopping by today!

As always, you can find all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling (and a full list of supplies that I have used) on my blog here.

My Cup Overflows

Hello! 

It's Tifany from Ink Blots by TRD and I am back today sharing a Bible art & journaling page - this one comes from Psalm 23:

When I first saw the new Fill Me Up stamp set from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps I just couldn't help but think of Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd,

I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths 

for his name’s sake. 

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 

I will fear no evil, 

for you are with me; 

your rod and your staff, 

they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me 

in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil; 

my cup overflows. 

Surely your goodness and love will follow me 

all the days of my life, 

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord 

forever.

(Psalm 23, NIV)

It is such a beautiful, peaceful, comforting Psalm. For the past little while (or maybe more like a year) it seems like things have just not slowed down. In a way that is such a blessing...and in other ways I feel a bit like I am drowning. Either way, we are so blessed and my cup truly is overflowing. 

Praise God!

As always, you can find my full supply list and all of my other Bible art & journaling posts here.

His Name

Happy Friday- Jamie here!

What a week it has been, I finally feel like I am coming up for a bit of air.  I don't know about you but when I get stressed out or feeling overwhelmed I often forget that I have someone I can lean on.  The Faith Journey I am on is a very new journey for me and often I have to be very mindful about it.  It doesn't come naturally to me- I wasn't raised in a Christian home, I wasn't raised reading the bible or hearing and learning scripture.  I didn't grow up singing worship music, knowing hymns and having the ability to quote verses from the Bible.  So everything I am doing now, as an adult, is all very new to me.   The comfort level I have between the Lord and myself isn't where I ultimately want it to be.  I often question it and wonder where my place is within this life.  I know this is for now, not forever.  So this journey of faith I am on is a learning process and one I am embracing with a full heart.

Because this week was a struggle, I started in on my typical self destructive spiral of feeling down and doing a little bit of wallowing in self-pity.  I even canceled a Bible Journaling "date" with a friend of mine from Bible study.  How could I not be up for Bible Journaling?  And then I sat down that day, alone, with my bible and really started thinking about my post for this week.  The stamp set I wanted to use is called "His Name" (it should be released next week by SNSS) as I read different verses about all the names we call God, I asked myself "how did I not know all of these names for our Lord"?  That got me thinking about a couple verses I read that mentioned that He knows us each by name/ He has called us each by name.  Shouldn't we be calling Him by name?

During difficult times, and I know we've all experienced this, often God is silent.  We need to remember that even in His silence and even when we are having doubts or questioning- our God is a magnificent God and we can always lean on him.  I find, I tend to focus on what I need from Him, rather than what I am already receiving.  I need to remember that we have to have faith that he knows what is best for us.  I feel like I need to acknowledge Him the way he acknowledges us.  Shouldn't I be calling Him by name and assuring Him that he is mine just as much as I am His?

I wound up calling my friend, whom I cancelled on, and told her what I had come to accept and acknowledge.  I asked for her opinion on this post and she was in tears happy for me.  She said that God works in His time and maybe today was the day that I needed to be with the Lord alone.  Can I tell you how thankful I am for a friend like that?  One day I will, I promise :)

The verse I chose to journal this week is:
Isaiah 43:7 "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made"

 

To create this page I used the following:

"His Name" stamp set by Sweet' n Sassy Stamps - Will be released by the end of next week.

FaberCastell Gelatos Set - Brights  

Zig Memory System Writer Dual Tip Marker, Black

Uni-Ball Signo Broad Point Gel Impact Pen White

*I made the confetti tape with double sided tape dipped in confetti and stickers on my page tab w/ ribbon.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  Please take the time to make a special acknowledgement to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Creator, the Messiah, Father and King of Kings- call Him by name :)

Much love and blessings,

Jamie McNamara

IG @JamieJournals 

Trust, trust, trust.

Hello!

It's Tifany here from Ink Blots by TRD and I've got a few Bible art/journaling pages to share with you today.

The first is Isaiah 40 (focusing on verses 6b-8):

“All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

For this one I used two Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps silhouette stamp sets - Nature Silhouettes and Serene Silhouettes. Often times I just re-write a verse (or portion of a verse) that really stands out to me, and that is what I have done here.

And here is another one, taking the idea from Deuteronomy 4:29 - "But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Seek Him. 
Simple words, but I've got to be honest when I say it's not always easy to do or remember.
This one was created with stamps from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Seek Him stamp set.

This last page also uses the Seek Him stamp set and is inspired by the Lauren Daigle song "Trust In You".
When I think of trust, I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. Being faced with being thrown into a hotter than hot fire, they tell King Nebuchadnezzar (in verses 17 & 18), "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Sometimes we just need to hear it over and over - trust, trust, trust.

Although I had several problems with this page (lots of smearing and smudging), I still wanted to share it.

I hope these pages have sparked something in you and hope you have a wonderful day!

You can find a list of all the supplies I used and more of my Bible journaling posts over on my blog.

I'm not sure I'll be able to dry these tears.

Ever have one of those days where it seems nothing is going right, you've made a few missteps and then on top of it all the other shoe seems to drop?  These type of days used to bring me to tears, then to my pajamas & finally, to my couch for days.  Well ladies & gentlemen, I had one of these days yesterday- the difference is, rather than hitting the couch, I hit the Bible!

This week my kiddos are on Spring Break and in all honesty my days are just running together.  I mistakenly put my blog due date for next week and woke up in a panic when I realized yesterday was, in fact, my due date (the first shoe to drop).  Thankfully, Korin, being the amazing person she is- said no biggie go ahead and post tomorrow.  (Again, so humbled and honored to be a part of her team.)  Fast forward to the end of my day (and the proverbial 2nd shoe dropping):
As a mom of tween/teen girls, I keep very close tabs on their phones and social media happenings.  I CAN, WILL and DO at ANY TIME  pick up my kid's phones and go through them.  (As much privacy as I'd like to think they can be responsible for, I know they are children and need a 2nd set of eyes on what they are doing.)  We all make mistakes and it is my job to help them when this happens.  I digress...  While going through my 11 year old daughter's phone I found some pretty disturbing/ mean texts from a couple girls that are very good friend's of my daughter's.  When I asked Brenna what was going on with these messages she simply stated that she has been left out lately, is hurting and pretty upset about it.  She was told that she is not being included because she is not going to the same Jr. High school as the other girls and that these girls are wanting to get to know each other better- this no longer includes Brenna.  UGH- talk about a knife to my heart.  What is even more sad about this situation is this; I was asked by one of these moms to help her out so her daughter isn't home alone during break, due to her being out of town.  What has since happened, is her daughter "picking & choosing" who is helping her mom out, she is deciding who she would like to "hang" with.  This obviously doesn't include our family and our daughter. 

These two events really got me thinking- how can I become a person that can take a crummy day and situation like this and try and make the most of it.  How can I dry the tears of my 11 year old and lead by example, reassuring her things may be hard now but they won't be forever.  I used to be the example of letting it destroy me, stress me out and have anxiety over it for days.  I no longer wanted to be this person or this example to my daughter.  I want to teach her there is somewhere she can go to be uplifted- Of course I turned to my Bible.

John 16:22
"So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you."

I choose Joy.  I choose to remind myself and my daughter that God is Joy and no matter what happens He and I have her back at all times.  No one can take away our Joy- no matter how deep the hurt and pain- as long as we keep God in the forefront of our lives.  Personally, I have to remind myself that in God I can find all the joy, love, inspiration, support, wisdom, encouragement and words I need to get through times of sorrow.  I dedicate this page to my daughter Brenna.  Just like looking at her, when I look at this page it makes me smile and full of Joy!

This page was created using Creative Worship "Note This" by Rebecca Rios (will be available tomorrow-).

I also used flowers from the Free Printable to make my tab and add some dimension to the page.  Katch.me) 

The flowers in the margin were hand drawn and water colored.  (I created this page during a live Periscope @Jamie_Journals and it can be viewed for a few more hours.  If you miss it- all of my Periscope replays can be viewed on katch.me

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this blog- spending time getting to know me and letting me share with you this journey I am on.  It is definitely a marathon not a sprint!

Love, light and blessings!

Jamie McNamara
Instagram: @JamieJournals
Periscope: @Jamie_Journals

Great Reward

Hi friends! I'm so excited about this new blog & being able to share all of my creative worship ideas with you! One of the greatest blessings I have found about the Bible journaling community is the PEOPLE who are in it. Be sure to invite your friends here so that we can all enjoy not only inspiration, but wonderful company. Also, don't miss our Creative Worship Facebook group where you can ask questions, share your creative pages, and be encouraged!

I'm kicking off the sharing with this page I created with one of our newest releases! I was reading the end of Matthew 19 and was struck by the disciples questioning the high cost of following Jesus.

Everything is hand-lettered and I added a vellum tab at the top using our banners die set. The background was made with my trusty watercolor set. I love the way the yellows & oranges melt together. And isn't that heart banner just adorable??! Let me know if you have any questions!