Word of the Year or not!

Happy New Year

I have been choosing one word for the year for a while now.

Over the years since 2011 I've chosen
Restore, Focus, Present, Participate, Thirst, Purpose, Connect, Gratitude/Thankfulness, Commit/Commitment, Walk, Intentional and More.

Looking back, many of the same things to focus on each year, come up time and again whatever the focus word.  In fact when I look at what I wrote for {More}, I could use most of it again this year with one or two tweaks!

So what's the word for 2023?

At first it was going to be {self-care} but I like to find quotes and Bible verses and really didn't think think there'd be many appropriate scriptures.

Then I thought maybe I could use the word {Balance} - as in a well-balanced physical, spiritual and creative life.  Basically self-care then!!

Then I moved onto {Identity} because as I told you I have signed up for the Essence of Identity Course.  Also Identity in Christ is a key foundation of my church and is the current teaching series.

However!

I am also very aware that I get really excited about having a word for the year and do lots of work towards it.  See my posts for {More} and More Planner Stuff.    However by June if not April or May, my focus has waned and the last 3 months of the year I'm hard put to remember what my word is/was.

I was having a Facebook Messenger 'chat' with my friend Mary about it saying 'I have wondered about having a different word for each quarter'.    She suggested 'Maybe you could have an overarching word - self care or balance - for the year. Then have a focus word for each quarter that could line up with some of the areas you want to focus on'.

Mary told me that she had signed up for Ali Edward's One Little Word workshop because it provides structure.  I haven't done OLW since 2017 but thought I would check it out.  It has changed since I last took part.  Ali has brought in a team to help her and the participants.  So I thought I would give it a go.

This video is a helpful introduction if you've never chosen a focus word for the year.

As I write this in 2022 I'm still no nearer choosing a word although one or two are bubbling closer to the surface.  And it's 2023 tomorrow!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Identity: A Work in Progress

Today is my last post about my Identity art journal.  The final post on the Identity blog can be found here.

To complete my journal I stamped hearts on the flap and wrote the six key Identity themes as an I am statement.

Originally with the centre section of my journal I was going to make a pocket to put my notebook in.

However I realised that instead of making a cover for the notebook I could use the folded paper.

I opened out the cover and measured where the middle was along the fold and cut a short hole for a ribbon to go through.  I did this on the right and the left of the middle page.

I put the ribbon through and to make sure it stayed still I put some double sided tape behind it.

Then I sewed the first page in.  I tucked the page into the cover making sure it sat tightly and clipped the pages together.

I measured where I wanted the holes to stitch through.  I put one in the middle and then measured 1.5 inches and put a hole and then another at 3 inches from the middle on each side of the middle hole.  I pushed the needle through all the holes in the page I was sewing in and then put the cover back round and went through the holes again to put the holes in the cover.

I used embroidery thread to sew the page in.  I started in the middle hole from inside the book.  Then went through from the outside in on the next hole up and from the inside out for the top hole.  Then from outside in on the second hole down.  Take the thread past the middle hole and put the needle from the inside out through the hole below the middle and back in from the outside on the lowest hole.  Back out through the hole nearest the middle and back through the middle hole.  Tie the ends together.   This video shows you the sewing although this lady started from the outside.  You can choose whether you start inside or out - just start with the middle hole!

To fix the notebook into the journal I put strips of double sided tape.  I took the tape off the back, covered the back with glue from a gluestick including over the tape and stuck it into the folded page.

Then I did the same with the front of the notebook.

 I put strips of double sided tape on to the back of the folded page with the notebook stuck inside.  Again I took the tape off, covered the back with glue from a gluestick including over the tape and stuck it into the cover of the journal.

Here is the journal closed up with the ribbon around it.

Here is a video of my completed journal.

Thank you so much for following along with my study of Identity.
Bernice

Identity: What about my limp?

Today's title for the study of Identity was 'What about my limp?'  This was the final session of the study.

I started with answering the questions in my journal.

This page is the folded page for the middle of my art journal.  I stamped the word restored down the inside of the flap.

I put a strip of washi tape down the lefthandside of the page.   I stamped a large heart and used sticker letter to make the word relationship.  I used a stencil and a distress ink pad to put the swirly pattern.

I wrote Psalm 23 verse 5 around the inside of the page using The Voice version.

I coloured the word restore with a red Glaze pen.  I did 3 coats to make it look more like I had enamelled it.

Come back to see how I assembled my journal.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Identity: Ambassadors

Today we find out how we are Ambassadors of Christ.

Here are my journal pages.

In my art journal I borrowed an idea from Valerie Sjodin.  She has done an amazing adoption certificate in her Identity journal and it inspired me to do a certificate as the 'papers' that Ambassadors present to the Head of State of the host nation.   I did mine on the computer, cut it out and glued it to a piece of patterned paper before gluing it into my journal.  I used some narrow Washi Tape as the border.

I didn't like how stark the white paper was so I inked over it with Distress ink.   I stamped the crown with gold ink.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Identity: Heavenly Citizens

Today's theme in our study of Identity is being Heavenly Citizens.

I journaled my answers to the prompts.

I'm happy to leave space in my journal so that I can come back to it and write more when I wish.

In my art journal I did a simple page.  I wrote the word everything across the page with a Distress Ink Marker pen.  Then I went over it another twice using different coloured pens.

I used stamps of feet to tread on the word.

I drew the border lines and squiggles.  Then wrote the Bible verse under the word.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Identity: Royalty

Today's theme in the Identity study is Royalty.

As before I journaled my answers to the prompts.

Then I turned to the art journal.  I sponged distress ink through a stencil.  I stamped the crowns with black Archival Ink and then drew over the black lines with a gold pen.

I stamped the word royal and the border all with black Archival ink.

I used some small letter stamps to stamp the words. 

I drew over the word 'royal' with a silver pen and coloured the jewels in the crown with glaze pens.  I love these pens because when each coat is dry you can go over them again building up layers that look like enamelling.

And here are my three pages side by side: Recreated, Sonship, Royalty.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Identity: Sonship

Sonship is the subject of today's study in Ephesians.

Here are my journaling pages.

It wasn't obvious to me what to do for the creative response in my art journal. I kept thinking about the verse: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  I often use butterflies in my art to represent freedom and/or change.

I tore a page out of the Bible that I bought for just such a purpose (from the dollar store when I was last in the US) and found some bits of paper in my scrapbooking stash.  I tore the papers and layered them up.  I tried them out in different places before gluing them down.  The 3 butterflies in the middle look like those ones that the Victorians pinned into cases.  I put the other butterfly flying freely.

I wrote the freedom verse around the edge of the page and the verse from the talk 'I have called you friends.'

Here are the two pages together.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Identity: Recreated

The title of the talk on Identity today is Recreated.

I did my journaling first.

Then I turned to my art journal.  I felt the page was very orange so I added some pink to it.

In a sketchbook I found a page I had already painted.

  I cut a piece of the paper and wrote the verse on it in white.

Then I turned it over and with two sizes of hearts that I had cut out from scraps of paper, I drew 10 large and 5 smaller hearts.  By  drawing them on the back you are not concerned with the placement of the hearts and it's a great surprise when you've cut them out and you turn them over.

Here they are.

I stuck the hearts down as flowers on my page. I drew in the stems and drew round the petals with a black pen.  I drew lines and squiggles to make a frame.

I finished the page by writing recreated in the bottom corner.

I got my inspiration from this which I saw initially on Pinterest.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Identity: in Christ

After the introductory talk, In Christ is the first of six talks on Identity.

As before, I answered some of the questions in my notebook.

In my art journal I wanted to do something about being wrapped in a cloak as though wrapped around by Christ.  But I couldn't think how to do that and I don't draw people in my art journals!

It came to me that I could use the same sack images from the Crisis page but have them black - filled with the rubbish from my old life and put them at the foot of the cross.  I drew this out in pencil on the next page in the journal.

I coloured in with water soluble coloured pencils and went over the colouring with a water brush.  I used a silver pen to write the words on the sacks.  I wrote the word forgiven with a black pen and drew round the letters with the silver pen.  As I was using the silver pen I realised I was wrapping the word. So without thinking about it I had managed to wrap Jesus round my life after all.

I drew the dashed line in turquoise aound the page.  Here are the two pages togther.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice