Today we welcome guest blogger Adel Otto who is sharing her beautiful Bible art journaling.

Does part of your personal mission statement include “Love my family. Live my faith” ? As a scrapbooker, it can be easy to use your creative energy and talents to record lovely colourful memories for your family. I began to wonder how I could use those same gifts to grow in my faith and start living it. I happened to stumble across Facebook and Instagram communities with the hashtag Bible Journaling. These ladies (and a few men) were using their creative talents to dive into the Scriptures to apply color, lettering, scrapbook supplies and mixed media. By using my Bible as the journal, every page has multiple points of inspiration for art journaling. I dabbled, and then dove in. The saying “I was created to create” took on significance as I used my creative energy to study the Scriptures in a new way.

One way to begin with this spiritual art form is to create colorful tags that can be attached to your Bible page with washi or paperclips. You could add a Project Life card with washi to fit with the theme of your favorite verse. If you need more room to express your learning, you may want to use a larger “tip-in”.

Where I once took studious notes (which I never read again), I considered adding color to the margins of my bible. I used colored pencil crayons, gelatos, and watercolors. Bibles have thin pages so you may want to test your wet mediums on one of the publisher’s extra pages. You may want to consider treating your pages with a matte gesso or matte medium to stop color bleed through just as any other art journal. Now I can’t stop looking at the verses that have been highlighted.

This art journaling in my Bible was calling me to try even more techniques. Who doesn’t love hand cut letters, rub-ons, or all kinds of scrappy ephemera? It could all find a home in the margins of my Bible. My Bible was getting used like it hadn’t been in years.

Art journaling in your Bible might be peaking your interest, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you want to investigate how the Scriptures use a key word like peace. Use a search engine and type in peace Bible verses. Many possibilities will be generated so take one of the passages, look it up and start adding color to your margins. Maybe you just sang a soul-stirring hymn or contemporary song at your Sunday service. Match the lyrics to a verse you already know or maybe the Bible app you have on your smart phone has a search feature.

There are so many things to try. You may love acrylics or modelling paste. Maybe your favorite way to add colour is to use a mist. Don’t e-cut leaves make you think of Psalms 1? Pass the Modpodge!

Most people are using a “single column journaling” Bible. I just happen to be using my 20 year old study Bible with wide margins which usually gives me lots of room for color. If you don’t mind using an opaque gesso, I have found Parallel Bibles and other Study Bibles have an abundance of room when you are willing to cover a portion of the commentary. There are times when your visual image needs a two page spread so let your creativity soar.

I hope this post stirs something in your heart and that your mind and hands see the possibilities of bringing colour to the Scriptures like never before.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful art journaling, Adel! We are inspired!

Adel Otto     Edmonton, Alberta

I’m probably a Canadian memory keeper just like you: a dark roast coffee drinker, Netflix voyeur , a teacher, a wife, and a mother to four teenagers. My memory keeping style is “pretty storyteller”, so I like to capture adventures, transformations, celebrations and now art journaling in a lovely, bright and layered way. I can be found sharing on Instagram : @aottocafe and at my blog “Studio Latte”: www.adel-otto.blogspot.ca