My word of the year in January

And yes I know it's February!

But I spent all of January fighting my word.  To find out how the word chose me you can read this post.

You may remember that I planned to do an art journaled calendar for each month through 2015 and this was my January calendar.

About 10 days into the month it became obvious that I wasn't going to fill in what had happened each day and after some thought I decided to give up on the whole calendar aspect of the journal.  I removed the flap attached to the right hand page so that the Thirst page would show.  I removed the 'flowers' from the left hand page.

I covered the page with gesso.

I added acrylic paint.

I thought that was too bright so I covered it with a light blue.

And as it was drying, wiped some of the pale blue off so that the layer underneath showed through.

I had a spare page left over from when I pulled pages out of my other Dylusions journal and fixed it to the left hand page with washi tape.  I had been using it under pages I was painting so that is why it has a stripe of blue acrylic on it.

I wiped two Distress Ink Pads over the page.

I tried blending the inks with a wet wipe which wasn't totally successful. Then using a blending tool I filled up the page.

I used a stencil to add the spray shapes.

I found some alphabet stickers and checked they weren't too big for the page by attaching them to a clear ruler.

I stuck them down.

One of the prompts for January in Logos365 was to make an acrostic.  I found words that matched some of my goals for the year and stuck down more alphabet stickers to make the words.

I found Bible verses that went with each word and printed them out.  I cut them up and inked the edges before sticking them down.

Here are the pages together.

I still have the pages to do under the flap.  I'll share those soon.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Journal Cover

I don't usually decorate the covers of my journals until they are finished but last week I was watching a Ronda Palazzari video on Creative Jumpstart and it inspired me to the cover of the Dylusions journal I am using for Take Me Deeper and Logos365.

Here it is in its plain state.  This is the version that is slightly bigger than 11x8.

I glued some wooden butterflies onto the cover.

I painted over them with gesso.

I applied various colours of acrylic paint with a dry brush.  You can see the scissors holding the elastic up from the book.

At this point I didn't like how bright it was so I brushed on a light layer of gesso.

I painted the butterflies with turquoise pearlescent acrylic paint.

After 2 days of looking for the gilding flakes I eventually found them and glued them to the butterflies.

I thought the acrylic background looked to matte so I put two coats of Gloss Multi Medium over the top although you can't really tell in the photo!

I don't think it's finished but I shall leave it now until inspiration strikes again.  It may be that I only add the numbers 2015 to the bottom left hand corner.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Starting work in my 2015 Journal

Regular readers will know that I am using a Dylusions Journal for a monthly calendar, my Take Me Deeper devotional and my word for the year.

I described how I prepared my journal here.

I started with the January calendar.   I found some scrapbooking cardstock and cut narrow strips.

I stuck the strips down on the left hand page and on the flap on the right.

I put some clear gesso through a snowflake stencil.

I used 3 colours of Distress Ink over parts of the pages and took the colour off where the clear gesso was.  This technique works better with spray inks!

Using a punch I cut 31 flower shapes and then stamped the days of the week.

I stamped snowflakes with Archival Ink.

I stuck the flowers down and wrote the numbers on.   There isn't much room to write something for each day but to me that's a good thing!

Take Me Deeper and logos365 don't officially start until January 1st but I thought I would do my main word page.

I started by putting gesso over the page.  When that was dry I scraped 2 colours of acrylic paint onto the bottom third of the page.   I pressed a spider's web stencil into the wet paint in the hopes it would dry to look like parched earth.

At the top of the page I scraped modelling paste through a raindrop stencil.  I put a thin coat of two tones of blue acrylic paint over it.  However I forgot to take a photo of this stage.  The cracks didn't show up very well when the paint was dry so I stamped on it with Sepia Archival Ink.

I printed out the word thirst and stuck the letters front side onto a page of a Bible that I bought from a Dollar Store for the express purpose of using it in  my artwork.   I cut them out and stuck them onto my page.  When the glue was dry I drew turquoise lines inside the letters.

I printed out the verse from John 4:13 and stuck it onto my page.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Take Me Deeper 2015

Take Me Deeper is a year long, weekly devotional hosted by the His Kingdom Come Community.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that it takes me a long time to decide what format I am going to use for any project.  I consider doing an altered book but discarded that idea.

While I was in the States I picked up this Strathmore Mixed Media book.

I thought I might use my Gelli plate for every page and looked at what size I could make the paper so that it would work well on my 10"x8" plate.

Then I realised that I didn't want every page covered in acrylic paint!  I'm very fond of white space.  Plus I thought I would go back to doing the Art Journal Calendar that is inspired by Kate Crane.

So I got out the Dylusions journal that I had bought for the Take Me Deeper project and then discarded!  Told you I had trouble making up my mind.

I plan to combine my TMD devotionals with my Logos365 word in the same journal.   I went through the journal working out where each month will start.

There aren't enough pages to do all I want.   Fortunately I had another Dylusions Journal.    I removed double pages from my other journal taking them from the middle of the sewn signatures.   I cut the fold off so that each added page is 8 inches wide.

I put washi tape down the side with the rounded corners.

I put the page with the washi tape under the page it is being fixed to and folded the tape over.

I opened up the added page and put washi tape down the join.

I needed one more double spread.

I put double sided tape around the edge of the back cover.

And stuck an extra page into the journal.

My plan is to put the calendar on the page on the left of the double spread and the front of the added flap.

My Logos365 work will be on the double spread that appears when I open the flap.


Here's the photo tutorial as a video.

For more details on Take Me Deeper and Logos365 go to His Kingdom Come.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

My word for 2015

I have been choosing one word for the year for a while now.  You can see my words here:

Restore 2011        Focus 2012

Present 2013        Participate 2014

I have used Ali Edward's One Little Word classes for these words but this year I am taking part in logos365.  Watch this video to find out more.


Logos365 is part of the His Kingdom Come Community.   Do check it out if you haven't already joined.  It's a really exciting venture and I am thrilled to be part of the Foundation Team that set it up.

So back to my word for 2015.

I downloaded the worksheets from the logos365 group on His Kingdom Come and read through them but didn't fill them in.   I prayed a bit and thought a bit and left it at that.   In the early hours of the next morning I was awake and I felt that God was telling me what my word should be.

When I've chosen words in the past I haven't really asked God for the word.  I have worked on the basis that if the Holy Spirit is living in me and the word that I have chosen fits with what God has been saying to me through the Bible, through sermons or through people praying for me then God was part of the decision-making.

Participate has been a great word for me through 2014.   The Documented Life Planner project served its purpose through most of the year.  I had put Participate or one of its synonyms at the top of every weekly page which kept the word in front of me.  I filled it with things that I had done and kept it up right through to October.  The last week that I filled in was week 43.

And then I started participating in setting up His Kingdom Come and working on Pause, Ponder & Prepare and getting ready to go to Florida and really taking part in my life.  Woohoo!   So I stopped living by proxy in my planner and got on with life.   Yeah!    And I had the best time with all the family in Florida but especially with Andy & Naomi and Roger.

 So 2015's word had been suggested and I wasn't enamoured.  Which is often an indication that actually I need to do something about it.   I thought about it - because that's what I do!

Then I had a look at the worksheets again and thought about the questions and thought about my answers.  I didn't write anything down - do you know that feeling about somehow you are more committed to something if you've written it down?  There's sometimes a fear in opening up even to yourself on paper.   Which is daft really, when you think about it, becuase you're writing down the thoughts in your head - which you already know!

So what is the word, you may be wondering?   Well, it's

Thirst 

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”   John 4:13

I'm not sure where this will take me in 2015 but I will be writing about it here.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

More exciting news

What word is God giving you in 2015?

His Kingdom Come will be leading our members in Logos365 during 2015.

His Kingdom Come believes that there is great power in the Word of God. Many people choose one word that represents what they want to see more of in their life during a year. There are websites and books dedicated to this. New Year resolutions come and go very quickly, but this process is allowing God to work in your life and for your focus to become His word for you that lasts an entire year in your life. People choose this word through thoughts or through a word occurring in their reading or devotion time that “speaks” to them. At His Kingdom Come we believe that God will guide us to what he wants to see more of in our lives during the year.

The logos365™ project is our way of finding your word through prayer, bible study and reflection. What do you do with your logos365™? You live with it, you invite it into your life, and you let it speak to you. You follow where it leads you. Your logos365™ is not some promise you will keep for the rest of the year to be better. The intent of your word is that it will become a part of your for the rest of your life. Your word builds upon each other each year, and springs forth from the places you feel you left off from your previous word. Each word you choose builds upon each other as God’s heart becomes embedded in your character. So, the question is

As you consider selecting a word for yourself this year, remember there is no right or wrong choice. Words like abide, abundance, obey, expect, prayer, surrender, delight, submit and listen can be a very powerful experience as you allow God to guide you in your word. This happens in your daily life, in prayer, relationships and bible study.

So how do you find your logos365™? Feel free to use the self- assessment tools posted at His Kingdom Come in the logos365™ group to help you identify your word and to set some personal goals around your word. If you have participated in a one word program before choose the logos365™ returning student worksheet, or if you are totally new to the process use the logos365™ new student worksheet.

To make logos365™ real in your life, consider keeping a logos365™ journal, or creating a scrapbook or a photo book. Keeping a journal throughout the year is crucial to making this word project not just a new year’s resolution, but a change in your walk - a transformation! If you are participating in the take me deeper process, then you can incorporate your logos365™ into your journal. If you are not participating in the take me deeper process here are some logos365™ suggestions.

Go deeper

Find out how logos365™ will impact your daily life

And draw you closer to the person God wants you to be

Will you walk out in faith with us in 2015 and live by your logos365™?

Come and have fun, faith and friendship for free at His Kingdom Come!

Join us at His Kingdom Come and sign up for the logos365™ group.