My Journaling Bible

You can find my video for this process here on my YouTube channel.

I recently purchased an ESV Journaling Bible in Original Black from LifeWay. I'm still watching videos and trying to figure out how I want to prep and paint my pages, but I knew right away that I would want to decorate the cover. I've been doing a lot of abstracts, so I got some canvas paper and went to painting an abstract to use for the cover. I used Holbein Acryla Gouache paints (here is a good introductory video to these if you are curious) and Silks for this painting.

When I finished the painting I cropped it down, rounded the corners with my Crop-O-Dile corner rounder, and attached some flowers I painted with Dye-Na-Flo fabric paint.

Here's a good view of the cover. I secured the flowers and the cover with brads. I could have glued it down, but I ended up punching holes in the cover and adding this with brads. I know! I punched holes in the cover, I must be crazy, right? But if I ever want to change the cover this will make it so much easier, and I will be able to keep this one if I want to use it again. I used my Roper Whitney Jr 5 Hand Punch to make the holes on the cover and the painting.

I added some key charms (colored with Vintaj Patina) and beads to the original ribbon in my Bible. I put three keys, because I have always heard it death, hell, and the grave. But either way, in Revelation 1:18, Jesus says he was dead, is alive forever, and holds the keys to death and Hades. It is a thought that comforts me. So mine has three keys. Maybe the third one is to my heart!

Here's a picture of the other ribbons and book marks I made. You can see these in the video. I used ribbons, ribbon end crimps, and some beads and findings to make a couple of bookmarks, and made one out of the scrap I had left over when I trimmed the art for the cover. These are some of the beads I have been collecting over the years to make a special necklace out of, but I decided to put them on this ribbon instead.

Top view of all that bling. I take them out when I study, but I love having them there jingling and making all kinds of noise.

And here she is all dolled up with some journaling supplies: my Prima Watercolor Confections, Stabilo 88 liners, my .03 mm pencil, and a Micron pen. Now if I could just work up enough courage to work in it!

If you like the art, but don't have the paint or time to do one yourself, you can find a jpg of it here on Google Drive. Feel free to use it in your art. If you publish a piece made with this art, whether online or in print, please mention me, Shayna Butler, as a source. And don't be selling my file to anyone or I'll loose my mind!

Please follow me on Instagram @shaynabutler, and check out my YouTube channel for more videos.