Introduction & Testimony

Good Morning!  My name is Jamie McNamara and WOW what a humbling experience this has been, being asked by Korin to guest create for Creative Worship.  I am truly honored.  A little bit about me- I am a stay at home mom of 3 kiddos, Regan is 14 a freshman and a swimmer, Brenna is 11 and a competitive cheerleader and my son Everett is 10 plays competitive soccer and LOVES yo yo's!  My husband and I just celebrated our 15 year anniversary!!! Praise God!

My Bible journaling journey began in August 2015 when I committed to an organized Bible study.  I had recently been through one of the lowest points in my life and was coming up on the year anniversary of hitting rock bottom.  I suffer from severe depression and anxiety and in Sept. 2014,  I was hospitalized for wanting to take my own life.  Fast forward to August 2015, the Bible study I finally said YES to had been recommended by a friend 2 previous times/ years prior, this was the 3rd.  I believe in all my heart this was God reaching out to me & I was finally listening!  To familiarize myself with the Bible, I started looking into Bible journaling.  This has been the greatest gift God has given me, on this journey of faith.  Bible journaling has strengthened my faith & brought me closer to God than I ever have been.

I recently met a member of this community, she happens to live here in Denver, we got together to journal.  She strongly felt I should get my story out there and share- I now believe God speaks to us in ways we may not understand but we need to LISTEN.  I am listening and putting it all out there!!!

The two pages I am posting today were completed using Creative Worship stamp sets: His Book & Perfect Faith (also pieces of Amazing God & Decorative Banners). 

I am at a point in my life that I want to follow God blindly in faith and truly accept that His plan is infinitely bigger than mine could ever be. That being said- this journey I am on is a new one and I have A LOT to learn! Who better to teach me than the Lord himself? This page started out COMPLETELY different than how it turned out- this was such a frustrating page for me. What I learned is when in doubt: use acrylics to cover up mistakes 😊 I also learned that perfection is impossible, sometimes you have to go to plan B and even though this isn't my favorite page I can still find things I love about it! The tab is my fave! So with all of that said- I believe God lead me & taught me a thing or two.
His Book

When you're examining your conscious it can be a pretty fearful place to be.  During this time of Lent it is what I am doing- the thing is, I shouldn't be afraid.  Fear takes us to places that God does not want us to be.  God wants us to know we are loved unconditionally and forgiven- even when we have a hard time forgiving ourselves.  My depression and anxiety is the scariest place for me to be, I carry a lot of guilt with it and I can get sucked in and feel trapped.  When you've suffered for so long it's easy to let fear take over.  It is during these times I have learned to look to scripture.  How wonderful is it that God has our back and that we can trust that our Faith can be bigger than our fear?
Perfect Faith

If this post speaks to one of you, and touches you in a way to inspire & uplift you- I am doing God's will.  Much peace and love be with you all!

Love,
Jamie

Faithful God & alpha stamps!!

I'm super excited to share my love for the new alphabet stamp sets in our shop! I've got a great collection of alpha stamps and this Cold Coffee Alphabet is perfect for Bible journaling. The size allows you to get a 3-4 letter word in the margins and these chunky letters will make your words stand out on the page!

This creative worship page was done in Deuteronomy chapter 7. I invited a small group of friends over & we all made this page together. We each used acrylic paints for a fun, bright background and personalized our margins using hand-lettering and lots of clear stamps. (Our What's Up? set made an appearance in a few of the pages!) Acrylic paint makes for a great background because it helps prevent bleed through by serving as a buffer between your pen or ink and the other side of the page.

And my finished piece of creative worship......

To Prep or Not to Prep??

It's a question that gets asked all the time when it comes to worshipping creatively in your Bible. Should I do something to prepare my page first? What is gesso? What if my pens or stamps *gasp* bleed through?!

The answer is one of personal preference. I'm not a professional artist but I have created at least 100 Bible pages. I don't prep my pages. At. All. And I'm going to explain why. (I'm also including the fronts & backs of some pages so you can see what non-prepped pages look like!)

Reason #1: this Mama just ain't got the time! Seriously. It adds several steps with applying, waiting for the medium to dry, and cleaning your application tool. When I'm spending some precious time worshiping creatively, I just want to dive right in & spend as much time interacting with the Word as possible. 

Reason #2: After using a matte gel medium to prep about a half a dozen pages, I found that it was more trouble than it's worth. It did prevent bleed through, I'll grant that. It left a slightly slick surface that was *not* friendly to erasing whatsoever. (And this girl knows how to work an eraser!) It would smear my black journaling pen too. That was the most frustrating part that after all my heart went into this page now the words were smeared. (I know other people have experienced the same.)

And as for bleed through? I just deal with it. Paints (the ones I use) do NOT bleed through. When a pen or stamp happens to, then I just use paint or an embellishment or a cardstock journaling spot to cover that up.

And if YOUR pen does bleed through? If YOU make a mess of the backside of page? Don't let this trip you up. Satan is looking for ways to deter you from enjoying your time with God and this is the perfect way for Him to do it. We all want to create something beautiful, but ultimately the goal is *worship* and for our hearts to grow in faith, not a museum-worthy work of art.

Again, it's really just personal preference and this is just what I do! Your mileage may vary. ;-)

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!

Introducing Creative Worship

Thanks for hopping along with us for the Creative Worship Blog Hop celebrating the launch of our very first bible journaling kit!

I am sharing two pages with you today featuring our Lovin' God's Word kit. Don't forget, it's only available while supplies last or through February 11th, whichever comes first.

Please visit the rest of the Design Team blogs found below. They have outdone themselves with all their wonderful creations! :)

Blessings in your creative worship,
Korin