Documented Faith - Encourage
I have had many requests to do a process post about how I put together my Documented Faith journal each week. It was a cloudy dark day when I took many of these pictures so some aren’t up to my standards but I thought I would give it a shot anyway. Please be kind and bear with me as I learn to do posts of this nature. I have tried to find most of the supplies for you in case you want to duplicate or fall in love with something in particular. Most of my layouts can be altered to suit the supplies you have on hand. I am a firm believer in God showing up BIG when we dig through what we have. Also, please note the links to supplies at Amazon are affiliate links. That is...if I figured out how to do that properly!
Stephanie Ackerman and Documented Faith have been a huge blessing to me this year. I love to start each week fresh with a new layout and a focus on truth. I always begin by pulling a “theme” from my supplies. It usually starts with a beautiful piece of paper and then I pull stickers, washi tapes, journaling cards, die cuts left over from other projects, and scraps of papers. It’s always fun to treasure hunt in my stash for inspiration. I usually don’t use everything I pull out (you will notice this in my pictures), but I love how each item inspires and guides me
This week I started with a polka dot navy washi tape from Michaels and the beautiful paper you see on the right hand side of the planner. I cut the theme paper 5 x 8 inches, rounded the corners, and glued it down, adding polka dot washi tape over the edge. The washi tape on the left side was already in place from the prior week. I decided to use my Sizzix Big Shot and Tim Holtz Alterations die (listed below) to cut the focus word, “encourage” for the month out.
I used Daily Flash Deep Sea “Shop Front” stickers from October Afternoon for the days of the week. I love to pull out one of the colors in the layout and watercolor ever other day with a light wash. I use very little water in my brush and load it with the custom color I mixed to match the paper. Watercolor does very well when the page has been reinforced on the opposite side with paper glued down (for example next week’s layout will be on the opposite site of the beautiful paper this week). To finish the week off, I used Prismacolor Premier pencil in Indanthrone blue to make the lines in between.
Once I have the bones of the layout done, I play with the prompts that Stephanie provides to us. I like to read the scripture she gives us in several versions. I especially love the Amplified Bible because words just pop out at me. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 in the Amplified reads:
Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another
and edify (strengthen and build up) one another,
just as you are doing.
I decided to cut “edify” and “build up” out of papers that coordinated with the scripture card Stephanie provided for us. I used the same Alterations die (listed below) I used for the word “encourage.” and glued the words on top of a die cut from an old book and stamped “&” in the middle. After that I trimmed down Stephanie's scripture card, rounded the corners, and adhered it with washi tape. I still needed the days of the week on the calendar side. I ended up hand drawing number with a fine point pen and coloring them in with a Prismacolor Premier colored pencil in Process Red. I added a few fun printables that I cut out from Illustrated Faith and the scraps from trimming the scripture card. I like to have fun prompts and bits of color scattered through the week.
And there you have it, the creating process for me is very organic. Sometimes, I love what I finish and sometimes I learn new things. It's always good. I learn by making mistakes and trying new things. Throughout the week, the journal sits next to my area where I do devotions and I jot down significant events or scriptures I feel God is speaking to me that day. It has been such a gift to see this planner grow into such a fat little book filled with testimony, memories, and God’s faithfulness. May He bless your creativity this week!
dwelling in creative grace,
amy
Supplies
(links to Amazon are affiliate links)
Navy Polka Dot Washy Tape - Michaels
Tim Holtz ALTERATIONS Bigz XL BLOCK TALK LOWERCASE
Sizzix Scallop Circles Framelits
Daily Flash Deep Sea “Shop Front” stickers from October Afternoon
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils - Process Red and Indanthrone Blue
Kaisercraft Clear Stamps - Calendar
What are affiliate links?
Affiliate links are links to help get you to supplies I use in my art or I think may be of interest to you. If you purchase any item through these links, I may receive a small commission on the purchase which helps me keep my blog up and running. Using these links does not affect the purchase price of the items. Seeds of Creative Grace is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
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