The Weavers: Bible Journaling 101

Bible journaling seems to be all the rage these days.

Everyone is doing it so of course I jumped on the bandwagon.

I was scared to start it.

I am not an artist by any means.

I mean I can't draw a straight line with a ruler.

Seriously.

I let my brother have all the artistic genes because I'm just a nice sister like that.

I think my fear was the same as a lot of people's before starting.

What if I mess up and ruin the page?

Well let me just go ahead and show you my favorite tool for Bible journaling.

A white eraser....and yes I think it's important that it is white. This minimizes any eraser residue left behind.

I have to admit I was still nervous even with an eraser in hand.

I'm a bit crazy about my handwriting and erasers.

I would rather just start over than to erase something. You can always slightly see what it is you erased.

I was the person in high school who would take notes in Physical Science only to go home and rewrite them so they were nice and neat. If you had Physical Science with Mr. Smith you know how crazy this is. We took PAGES and PAGES of notes each day.

Back to the topic at hand...

I want you to know you do not have to be an artist or even have beautiful calligraphy style handwriting to journal in your Bible.

Before buying anything I spent several hours looking on Pinterest at all the beautiful Pinterest-worthy pages and the supplies people used to create them.

As it is with most things, Pinterest can make Bible journaling seem like a daunting task while at the same time inspiring you to try it out.

Let me tell you what Bible journaling is not.

It is not about creating Pinterest-worthy pages with calligraphy style handwriting.

It IS about spending time with God.

It IS about mediating on the Word.

And that's what I remind myself every time I sit down to Bible journal.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

You don't need to be able to create a masterpiece.

You just need the right heart attitude.

Getting started doesn't have to be overwhelming either.

I started by purchasing a journaling Bible.

I did not do any research before purchasing this. I was in Barnes and Noble with a gift card (thanks Alexis and Waylon) and didn't want to wait. I got lucky. It seems like this is a popular version to use.

This was our last stop before driving home so I didn't get to go buy lots of fun supplies at Hobby Lobby.

My bank account is thankful for that.

It was late when we got home but at that point I was all excited so I drove to Wal-Mart for some basic supplies.

Twistable Colored Pencils....not my favorite. I definitely prefer just regular colored pencils, however these are nice for blending and shading.

Sharpie Pen Stylo...these are working great. They don't bleed through the page. I am excited about trying some different pens with different tips though.

Sharpie Highlighers....These work great and do not bleed through. I love having such a variety of colors. I'm making myself a key as I go....pink is to highlight verses specifically for women/wives, purple highlight's verses on God's character, and blue is for what my life should look like. As I continue to study and journal I will continue to add to this.

Pencils....I do everything in pencil first! And I typically do it on scratch paper before trying it in my Bible.

Watercolors...I used these on the first page I did. I HATE how it turned out. Maybe I'm just not skilled in watercolors but these did not work well for me. Not to mention they bled through BIG TIME. I will not be using them again.

In my research I read that the easiest way to get started is to pick a verse that you are familiar with but isn't necessary your favorite. You want familiarity so that you can easily envision what you want it to look like, but you don't want to pick a favorite because it might be very challenging to include everything that verse means to you.

This has been probably the most helpful thing I've read in getting started.

Here are a few verses that I have done.