Moments Inked: Bible Journaling In Your Planner

[Second post today. For Reverse Confetti's October Release countdown,

scroll down or click HERE.]

Hello, friends! It's been a while since I've done a planner update. I'm really excited to show you how I've been inspired to do some Bible journaling in my Moments Inked 2015 Memory Planner by Papertrey Ink. 

Have you seen how popular Bible journaling is right now? I love it, BUT ... I do not need another crafty outlet, I really, really, really don't. We'll see if a journaling Bible makes its way to my house eventually. In the meantime, I thought I'd incorporate some Bible journaling into my planner. After all, decorating the margins of my planner is a lot like decorating the margins of a Bible. 

I began with the blank column on the weekly spreads. Each week, I'm adding a weekly memory verse using verse from Oak Tree Community Church's 52 Bible Verses to Memorize.
(No affiliation, just found this Scripture list by doing an online search.)

I've been interested in calligraphy and lettering since I was in middle school, so most of my verses feature a lot of hand-lettering, like this one:

Behind the verse shown above, I've sponged on a branch pattern by using the Branching Out die-cut negative as a stencil. 

I re-positiond the stencil in two more locations on the spread and lightly inked the branches again in Spring Moss.

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If you're reluctant to try the whole hand-lettering thing, you can computer-generate your text instead. I chose to run the text vertically for this longer verse, but you could also format it for a horizontal orientation, with just a word or two on each line. The best thing is you can use the large rectangle die from  Moments Inked: Boxed to cut your print-out so that it fits perfectly in that blank box.

I decorated with images from Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk.

TIP: My kids will have Columbus Day off, so to highlight that day, after I die-cut the Scripture using the Moments Inked: Boxed die, I used the negative of that die-cut as a stencil and sponged some Aqua Mist onto that day's morning and afternoon boxes. Just a subtle way to highlight that day.

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If you like the idea of hand-lettering, but don't like your hand-writing or aren't sure how to get the look of different "fonts," try typing out your verse on the computer first. Play around with mixing and matching different hand-lettered fonts, and then copy that look into your planner. You can find all kinds of good fonts by searching for free chalkboard fonts or free handwritten/handwriting/hand-lettered fonts. They're perfect for this type of project. 

Here, the words "first," "all," and "you" are inspired by the Return to Sender free font, "God" is inspired by Simon Script, and "added" by Lullaby.

I stamped the pretty florals from Twig Wreath in colors to coordinate with the September color scheme.

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For this week's spread, I just did my own thing with the lettering. The leaves and acorns were all stamped with images from Quilted: Autumn.

The darker ink colors do show through to the back side a bit, so if that bothers you, either use lighter colors, stamp off once before stamping in your planner, or wait until the beginning of the week to decorate, so that you're already finished with the week before. (Keep in mind, though, that the first weekly spread is on the back side of the monthly spread.)

Here's a look at my October monthly spread, where you can see how the stamping shows through a little. 

Not related to Bible journaling one bit, but here you can also see how I added some Halloween decorating to the monthly spread just for fun. The tombstones are from Haunted Headstones. The green is just sponging.

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You can also look through your stamp stash and pick out individual words that fit with your Scripture choice. On this page, I stamped the word "peace" using a tag image from Minute to Make: Holiday Tags 2, then finished the verse with hand-lettering. 

To add color, I stamped a leaf from Quilted: Autumn, two horizontal lines using an image from the Moments Inked: Planner Banners stamp set, and a heart from Choose Joy. The pumpkins along the bottom were stamped using the masking technique with images from Pumpkin Patch. I got a little smudge on the Monday page, so I covered it up with a pair of die-cut clouds. 

I love all the color!!

Also, be sure to check your stamp stash for Scripture stamps that you can use in full.  Papertrey's Light of Life, for example, is perfect! 

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For this one, I typed out the words "commit," "trust," "shine," and "dawn" in Simon Script on the computer and used them as a guide for the hand-lettering. The rest was just me doing my own thing.

The heart at the top is from Choose Joy, and the sun along the bottom was sponged using a Scene It: Skyscapes sun rays die-cut negative as a stencil.

I used a blender pen and ink pads to add yellow to some of the words and blue to the doodled banner.

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Here's another example of combining a stamped word with hand-lettering. The word "joy" is from Enclosed: Bell. I embellished with greenery from Minute to Make: Holiday Tags 2 and two bluebirds from Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk.

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If you're a Moments Inked planner user, surely you've noticed the wide open canvas on the monthly divider tabs?

I've been wanting to decorate those pages ever since I got this year's planner!

Once again, I hand-lettered the verse, then sponged on some warm orange tones, and added two gold leaves that I die-cut out of the Luxe Gold Adhesive Sheets using one of the Leaf Silhouettes dies.

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Bible journaling in my planner has been fantastic for me in so many ways:

1. First of all, I have these verses as reminders and inspiration throughout my week, and that makes my heart happy. 
2. Second, the process has also re-kindled my interest in hand-lettering. I've signed up for a free lettering class, added a few lettering books to my Amazon wish list, and now follow scores of lettering artists on Instagram. The weekly columns are perfect little canvases to practice on, too. If I don't like how a verse turns out, I only have to look at it for a week! 
3. And third, the stamping! I love looking at each new verse and thinking of ways I might be able to incorporate various stamps and dies.

Let me know if you'd like to see more of my weekly verses and monthly divider pages in the future!

Thanks for visiting,