Illustrated Faith | Evelin Tee

I have a little surprise for you! A TUESDAY guest, how much fun is that?! Evelin is an artist through and through so when I saw that she was enjoying journaling in her bible I knew I had to ask her to guest here! With fingers crossed I waited to hear back and HERE SHE IS TODAY!!! *happy happy dance*!!

Instagram | Evelin T Designs

Evenlin is using the NIV Note-taker's Bible 

Thank you Shanna for this opportunity to share my journalling bible pages. I have been following Shanna on Instagram for a while now and when I saw her posting about journalling in her bible, I was intrigued. I love that idea! I have always kept my bible pristine and I don't even underline anything in it, although I did keep separate journals for it in the past. I just thought a bible should be, you know, clean.. :) and that it was also just too precious to doodle in..

But creating art has always been a part of me (I illustrate custom watercolor family portraits, greeting cards, calligraph and bind handmade books.. among other crafty endeavors) and seeing how that can be combined with studying His Word is really that motivating factor for me to find the time and delve more into His Word. I also feel that it would be great for my son to read my thoughts that I journaled when he is old enough and would make a great keepsake.

To be really honest, I struggle to find the time to read the bible sometimes. It's like, I want to read it but 'things' will always crop up at the time that I want to sit down and study His Word. I needed a push and this was it! I find myself looking forward and making sure I have no distractions, even if it meant reading and journaling in the middle of the night!

I like to embellish my pages minimally with stickers, splatter of mists and random little embellishments just to make it colorful. And I love to journal so you can see lots of writing and doodling on my pages :) 

I have also created a downloadable digital pdf and svg file of my illustrations and calligraphy "His Love Endures Forever" that you can purchase at a special price of $0.99 until Oct 6th (usual price $3.99).

Thank you Evelin,  I LOVE your printables they are just so soft and BEAUTIFUL!!

If you have any questions about using a journaling bible or want 

to see more check us out on Pinterest or Facebook! See you there!

go.be.inspired.

Shanna

The Underground, don't let your box ship without....

Did you guys pick up some amazing goodies to go with your Underground kits?! I was out of town for reveal but was looking around tonight and wanted to share a couple goodies I think would work fun with the kits!

Guys. A roll of KRAFT tags with adorble GOLD details and AMY TANGERINE!? 3 of my favorite things = PERFECT addition!

Purple is a hard color to find, and so HOT right now. This is ink is PERFECT for your fall projects!

It's always tea time stamp set. I LOVE 2 set stamps and I have to say Deb made me fall in love with this adorable set, I cant' wait until it arrives!

Deb adorable card - tea time - 

Kings Cross

One of my favorite add-ons this month is still available. I thought this would be one of the first ones to go with those OUT OF THIS WORLD rub-ons, adorable stamp and FUN stickers! I created one of my favorite projects this month using it and can't wait to use the rest!

Alaska 6x12 Project Life Insert

Can't wait to see what you do with these beautiful kits!

go.be.inspired!

Shanna

Illustrated Faith | Greta Sutherland

Today I feel like stepping aside and allowing Greta to take it away because she says it just beautifuly, she honest, she open and she true....

BLOG | SHOP | IG | FB | TWITER

Hi. My name is Greta and I am a recovering Perfectionist.

I blame this solely on my nearly perfect mother, exceptional younger sister and the fact that all of my friends are of such above-average caliber, that I am left in jaw-dropped awe.

Wait. What?  I'm not the only one who suffers from this???

As a means to overcome my perfectionistic tendencies, a handful of years ago I began to feverishly pursue the liberating world of Perfect Imperfection.

Let me explain...

My hair is purposefully messy and stick-uppy.
My humor is purposefully laced with self-deprecation.
My home decor is purposefully chipped and distressed.
Everything I hang on the wall or create on a page is purposefully asymmetrical.
When I sign a greeting card, I generally sign it crooked.
My clothes involve varying levels and layers and my photographs are purposefully off-center.

As a paper arts instructor, I always began each class with the admonition to the students to release the impossible concept of Perfection and embrace the freedom of Imperfection. Don't begin a project with the perfect idea of how you want it to turn out. Give yourself lots of ways in which you can hide your imperfections. I have many escape routes! My designs usually include a 'shaky' outlined frame and I go over my handwriting a number of times to throw off the viewer's eye from seeing anything that's 'not-quite-right'.

Writing | While many doodle with abandon and draw with ease, Bible Journaling - for me - has been about the writing. Many years ago I learned that the best way for me to figure out how I feel or think about any given subject, is to write it out. It's how I solve questions and confusions in my mind. I place my fingers on the keypad and out come the timid thoughts I didn't realize were lurking somewhere around the corners of my mind and heart. For me, Bible verses cannot sit still on a page - they need to get up and dance. That rumba happens when I've spent time with a verse, done some creating around that verse and then I turn to my blog to write out my thoughts surrounding that particular passage. All of a sudden a myriad of disjointed thoughts begin to come together to form a complete understanding. Bible Journaling feels as if my love of writing, my love of art, and my love of God all came together and had a love child. I have attended church all of my life. My mind tends to go into the "yeah, yeah, yeah...I know this Scripture" mode when I read familiar verses. Bible Journaling has allowed me to slow down and live with the verse for a little while longer. It orients my thinking into a position of openness, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me in new and alternate ways.

Sharing | Show and Tell is a significant part of who we are as Creatives. When we share our projects with others, we are establishing a sense of belonging. A sense of community. When you write and create with an authentic voice, other Imperfectionists will be drawn to your vulnerability. Man, oh man, do I know how scary that process is! But the times when my heart has connected with another's heart - bam! That sense of connection is a beautiful and God-annointed rush.

The Journaling Bible Community Facebook group has been our shared way of establishing a new community of fault-laden humans, bonding together to engage our creative passions but mostly to say, "Hey. I get it. Let's do this together."

Stealing | In Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist, he talks about the process of 'stealing'. Nothing is original. "What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original." You might see this as depressing or as a reason to give up. Instead, use the theory of French writer, Andre' Gide: “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again." Stop trying to create something from nothing. Embrace the influence of others - copy, copy, copy, copy and at the end, you will find yourself and your style. Consider your Bible Journaling artwork as a 'cover band' for the artwork that you admire in others. Besides, some of us need to hear a truth many different times and in many different ways before it begins to sink into our understanding. (Greta says to herself.)

As I look through the entries in the Facebook group, I see a plethora of different kinds of people. It seems just about every walk of life is present in that group. What I also see is a group of extremely brave individuals. It takes a great deal of courage to create something and then put it out there for others to see. You hope they will be encouraged by it or challenged by what you've written or created, but a part of you will always cringe and want to 'Delete Post' as soon as it's live. The fear you're feeling is coming from Evil Perfection Brother. His other brother, Imperfection, is telling you that you are giving something genuine from your heart and allowing others to join hands with you in your spiritual journey.

Perserving | What legacy am I leaving my children and grandchildren? I lost my mother 5 years ago to Alzheimer's. There is nothing more precious to me than finding her handwriting...on anything! Her beautiful penmanship is a culmination of who she was. It is exact and precise. The letters are perfectly formed, looking just like the cursive letters that spread across the tops of so many elementary school classrooms of years past. She was an English teacher who believed that by following the rules of proper grammar, one could present a document to the world that was complete and comprehensive. Her handwriting was all of that.

Her treasured bibles are filled with margin notes - many times sections of songs or poems like the picture above: 'But I am here, in a world of sin, Saved by his grace divine, to testify that this same Christ, Has changed this life of mine.' Sometimes I notice just one word underlined in her Bible and I find myself wondering what it was about that word to which she felt a connection. I wonder what it was that was going on in her life when she felt compelled to underline that particular word or phrase. When people write in their bibles, they are revealing just a glimpse - a snapshot - into their thoughts at a given moment in time. Do not allow Perfection or Fear to rob your family and friends of that still-shot window into your life, your struggles, your achievements and your heart. Pick up a tool of choice and write/create/doodle/think out loud on a page. It's not just a testimony to those of us reading your creations in 2014. It is a testimony to all that will come behind you that God readily uses Imperfection. He steps into our weak places and creates His mission.

"Come unto me."
Not - get your act together then come unto me.
Not - go buy that new set of paints then come unto me.
Not - make sure your pages aren't bleeding through to the other side then come unto me.

Just, come unto me.
All who are weary...and I will give you rest.

I have 3 of these handlettered 8x10" prints from my online shop, Scottie Girl, to give away. I will draw the names on Friday, October 3, from those that leave their name and email address (so I can communicate with you about where to send your prints) in the comments below.

Go be brave.

Go be faithful.

Go be willing.

Go be wonderfully and beautifully imperfect!

Thank you so much Greta for sharing your heart!

- Shanna

Reflect Sunday | Illustrated Faith

Good morning. I might be a bit long winded this morning so grab a cup of coffee and sit with me. Can I just be totally open and honest with you? You guys BLOW my mind. The faith radiating from this group astounds me. I have been at a conference this weekend called the Influence Conference, and it is a Christian conference that focuses on how we are using our influence in our online communities and I have to tell you, so many people came up to be and talked to me about the WORK you guys are doing in here. Tina came up to me and shared with me how this is changing her walk with God, and her husband's thoughts on it, I really could not have said it better so I wanted to share a blurb from his blog

"When a translator converts the Bible into a new language, it opens the Bible to a new group of people and that’s amazing. There are very few Christ followers who would complain about that because it expands the influence of Christianity.

Have you ever thought that a translation isn’t the only way to expand the influence of God’s Word? There are so many more ways to expand the influence of God’s Word using creativity."

I keep going back and reading it over and over again because it is exactly how I feel and he said it so beautifully! Thank you for sharing that with me Tina!

My thoughts and prayers were with this group all weekend. One thing that really sat on my heart was that GOD wants us SIMPLY as we are. He doesn't need us to make things PRETTY or wait to start until we have mastered hand lettering, or until the perfect stamp comes. He wants you to come ALIVE TODAY. Don't wait to be "pretty" for God, he wants us right where are at, HOT MESS and all. If you feel like this process is pulling you closer to the word and your relationship with God just DIVE in, don't wait. There was a time that I would not have even brought my bible with me, but during this trip I couldn't get to my bible QUICK enough! That has never happened before... EVER and I don't think God was thinking "oh my that washi really wasn't what I was going for" . ... your love letter to God is beautiful just the way it is.

With all that being said I needed to ask myself what I was holding back until it was "pretty enough" "good enough" "ready" and so I wanted to share that with you today. I am starting a website dedicated to this, so we can all have a central place use as a resource. It is still in the baby stage but why am I holding this back from you when you guys are my partners in all this, and can lift it up in prayer. I am sure you have seen me tagging things with ‪#‎illustratedfaith‬ and now you know why!

So this Sunday I want us to just peel back what we are HOLDING back. Let's share our authentic place, put it out there! Get vulnerable, get honest, get WEIRD! Wherever you are with God TODAY is exactly the place to start! Trust HIM, go with HIM, BE with HIM. The dreams you have for yourself have no comparison to what he has in store for you so let it go to HIM!

Love you guys and thank you for all you do! xox

Verses: Ephesians 2:4-5: 1 Peter 5:6-7: Psalm 86:15

go.be.inspired.

Shanna

Underground | The digital shop

It's no secret I love all things hyrbid so the digital shop is one of my favorite things at Studio Calico each month! This month is just so much fun! I decided to base a template off one of my layouts from last month and let me tell you .. I had a BLAST creating it and even more fun using it!

This is the layout I made using the Poet Society Kits

This is the template I made using the layout as inspiration

And here is the layout I made using only digital items from the store! 

I ended up using it for a 6x12 project life insert and it turned out to be the PERFECT intro to my Alaska photos. I like that it is a little sneak of what is to come! A couple of the items I loved using included (but of course not limited to) 

Hello Forever printables, let's face it these are just so much fun and I use them ALL.THE.TIME!

Hello Forever's printables, because.. EPIC!!

All the stamps this month are so much fun but I am pretty sure I am going to OVER USE that stitch stamp, I LOVE it so much. Sooooo let's just make a little deal, like a code word when I go crazy with it mmmkay? How about "Ohana" because family reminds you when you are going CRAZY over STITCH! ;) 

go.be.inspired.

Shanna

Underground Sneaks

It's time for October sneaks and let me tell you the October kits from Studio Calico are the perfect way to kick off fall! They have some fun fall touches while still being super versatile! I wanted to share a couple quick sneaks with you guys today!

If you aren't already signed up for the kits, now is as good of a time as any! The October kits would be the perfect time to kick off your subscription with Studio Calico. 

Have a wonderful day! 

go.be.inspired. 

Shanna

Illustrated Faith | Martha Bonneau

Happy Tuesday! Sorry I am running late with this post,  I ran into a couple technical issues!! Today I have an amazing guest to share with you! Martha is someone who I have admired outside this journaling bible community. Her eye for graphic detail draws me RIGHT in! So when she got involved with this I was just over the moon!! 

Follow Martha on IG

(p.s. isn't she the cutest!?!) 

When Shanna asked me to share my journaling Bible pages and a little bit about my process my immediate reaction was “of course, count me in!”.  As soon as I hit send on my email, the doubt started to sink in.  Until a year and a half ago, I could count on 1 hand how many times I had entered a church.  Religion was not a part of my life growing up.  I am extremely private (despite my tendency to over-gram on IG!) and it is not a part of my life that I have openly shared with others until I started my journaling Bible.  Would what I had to share have validity in the eyes of those who were so much more seasoned in their journey with God?  Would I use the right terminology, phrasing etc.?  I then remembered that my journey with my journaling Bible started with casting off fear so here I am, sharing a glimpse of my newfound relationship with His word through my journaling Bible.

I first sought out a church almost 2 years ago about a year after adopting our daughter from China.  She was the reason I wanted to find a church to attend.  I know that there will come a time in her life when she questions why she had to lose her birth family, her culture, the country that she was born in and so much more to become our daughter.  You hope and pray that your love as a parent will be enough, but I wanted to lay an additional foundation of love and support for her.  She not only needs to know how much we love her, but how much God loves her so I enlisted the help of a friend to help us find a church. A friend who lives out of state who I met through scrapbooking several years ago.  A friend who gifted me with a Bible several years ago that had sat on a shelf untouched. A friend who knew me well enough to know what my comfort level was and found the perfect church for us.  Almost 2 years later what started as an effort to support my daughter has in turn been of great comfort and support to me as well.  That surprised me as I am fiercely independent to a fault.  “I’ve got this” “I can do it myself” “Don’t worry, I can handle this” were my mantras, but as a first time parent to a child from a hard place who had lost everything I started to realize that maybe support wasn’t such a bad thing. To quote Gru from Despicable Me “light bulb!”  During all of this, my Bible that my friend had given me had moved from the shelf to my nightstand and then to the drawer of my nightstand where once again it sat untouched.  And then I discovered Shanna’s journaling bible on Instagram and once again “light bulb!”  The disconnect fell away instantly!  I express myself best through visual means, I am not a talker…at…all, but give me stickers and pens, and pretty paper and I am in my comfort zone.  There was no hesitation, I dove in immediately and found an immediate connection to the process and more importantly, His word.  

The first few pages I completed focused on letting go of fear and trusting Him.  The first page was for me, to help me trust in the process and let go and realize that “He’s got this” as opposed to “I’ve got this”.  My favorite page so far has been the one I completed to commemorate how far we have come with our daughter.  I never documented any of the hard stuff we went through during the first few months as a family so by journaling in the margins of John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear.” and John 4:19 “We love because He first loved us.”  I was able to celebrate that we had come through on the other side solidly intact as a family by the grace of God. 

As a paper crafter for several years, I already had most of the supplies on hand to get started, the only investments I made were a journaling Bible with margins to work in and a couple of Frixion erasable pens.  My go to supplies are die cuts, letter stickers, rub-ons and stamps,  along with my favorite tools which are my small scissors and Tiny Attacher.  I keep everything in a small basket on my scrap table along with my notebook I take to church with my sermon notes.  I now actually take notes and feel so much more connected to each week’s message!

I cannot thank Shanna enough for sharing her process and her heart with us.  She is so supportive and generous with her time and resources and is fostering such a wonderful community through the FB group.

Thank you so much Martha for sharing your heart in a way that so many of us can relate! You are such an inspiration and I can't wait to see what you are up to next! Martha was sweet enough to provide this drop dead GORGEOUS printable for all of you today!!!

See, I told you she was amazing!!!

 You can check out more of her designs at her store, Panda Eight. 

Thank you so much Martha!

For those of you new to the journaling bible idea I want you to know that I am working on a FAQ, getting started post but wanted to point you in a couple directions to start, first off a lot of us are using the ESV journaling bible, and have recently fallen in love with Writing in the Margins (which puts into words exactly how I feel!), and we would LOVE to have you join us in our facebook group!!

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I have and show Martha support for sharing her heart today, it's not easy but so important! Have an amazing day!

go.be.inspired.

Shanna

Bringing back the salad bar!

Remember in the 90's there was salad bars all over the place? I am sorry but I love a good salad bar, where did they all go? One night this summer I made a BIG ole salad with all my favorite things in it. I was so excited to sit down and eat it with my family for dinner. To my surprise I looked across the table and saw two NOT so happy faces. My kids picked through the salad finding the few things they liked in it. At first I was kinda upset. I told the kids that they needed to do a better job eatting veggies and making sure they are "eating the rainbow". We have always served veggies with dinner, we don't force the kids to eat all of it but they have always been required to take a "no thank you" bite if they don't want to eat something. I was frustrated because I made this beautiful salad and the kids weren't having any of it.

Then something clicked.

be the change source 

I made a salad with all MY favorite things. Let's put this in their hands and allow them to make a salad with all of THEIR favorite things!! I do our grocery shopping once a week and I decided instead of leaving all the salad fixins in the bags etc I would chop them up and have them all ready for salad and put each veggie in a mason jar. Now whenever we have salad for dinner or salad as a side I pull out all the mason jars and everyone in the family can make a salad they will eat and LOVE!

Some of our favorite things to include are carrots, radishes, bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, chickpeas, olives, peas etc. I just shop the local farmers markets as well as our grocery stores for fresh veggies that look yummy! If the girls are with me I have them pick out whatever they want for the salad bar as well! 

We also make some little pinch bowls with other fun goodies to add to the salad as well that might not save as well in mason jars. Some of our favorites are: salami, dried chickpeas, nuts, sunflower seeds, avocado, crouton, etc. Just throw whatever you have in the pantry and fridge that looks yummy! 

Needless to say my kids happily (well unless Addison just got home from a playdate and is super tired) make their salads and *gasp* even eat them before the rest of their dinner!! #saladbarfortheWIN! 

I thought I would share this little tip with you all just incase any of you are struggling with getting your kids to eat more veggies!! Thanks for stopping by! See you soon! 

P.S. upon looking amazon for mason jars I ran across these adorable VINTAGE inspired jars, how cute are they? Picking up some now, you can never have to many mason jars!!!

go.be.inspired.

Shanna

Workspace Wednesday

Hiya! I am sharing for workspace wednesday over on the October Afternoon blog! 

go.be.inspired

Shanna

Journaling Bible | Bonita Rose

Happy Monday! Please welcome Bonita to my blog today! I will never forget when I woke up one day to a flood of comments from Bonita, she had just discovered the process of using a journlaing bible to a creative way and you could tell she was EXCITED!!! That fire has only gotten brighter so of course I had to ask her to join us as a guest!!

I stumbled upon the #journalingbible community one day on IG. I was browsing images and suddenly saw someone's page I really loved. I saw their hashtag on IG and clicked on that. Then it seems like I went down the rabbit hole! I read all of Shanna's posts on her blog, and that day, ordered myself two journaling bibles, one single column, the other double column - so I would have one each to one day gift to each of my two daughters. In the meantime, I had fun getting messy with color in one of my older thrift store Bibles, so much fun! 

My relationship with the Lord hasn't always been front and center in my life. I was raised in a home an only child, with parents that didn't believe in God and hardly ever took me to church. The stories in the Bible, the great message of salvation - I only learned many years later as an adult in my 20s, after going through a lot of pain and heartache in my life. A relationship with Jesus was what I was looking for. And as you know, our Lord never disappoints. My Savior has always been there for me after that. Always. 

I've always been creative, and always loved to write. And yes, I love lots of color! I blogged and wrote my heart out before blogging was even mainstream. I started paper-crafting when my first daughter was born, over 21 years ago. And I've kept up with it. I have 12x12 albums for each of my daughters, as well as now, I devote about a 1/2 hour/week to work on my Project Life pages. For me right now, that's doable. Everything else I play with and create -- is purely for fun. And I love that! 

The Lord has done so much in my life. A few years ago, my hubby and I were praying to one day move from the frozen plains of ND to somewhere warm and hopefully, coastal. It was always a dream. It's amazing what the Lord does in your life when you truly seek HIM with your whole heart. God gave us above and beyond what we could have asked or even hoped for, and now, my husband, our dog and I are living the beach life, on the sands of the Atlantic Ocean in FL. We moved here in 2012. Every day, I am more than thankful. God is alive. I see it every day. In so many little things.

Pairing my creativity with my faith and my personal walk with the Lord is  something that feels just so natural to me. I've always been an encourager, and always tried to uplift and encourage and empower others. I love to inspire, so what better than to inspire them with the life-giving Word of God? I am thankful for this community of people that love the Lord and want to shine their creativity for Him. 

In everything, may our God  be praised. 

Jesus, may You be glorified in all I do. 

Today, I'm giving away a Gift Pack of some of my favorite items from my Etsy shop: some painted deli paper strips, some painted tip-in cards, some Artsy Bits, and a pack of my Artsy pages! If you leave a comment here on Shanna's blog with your email address, I'll pick a name to receive ALL these goodies next Friday Sept 19th! 

In the meantime, dig into God's Word and enjoy your creative time with Him. 

Find more from Bonita here: blog | IG | Pinterest | etsy 

Thank you Bonita for sharing your heart with us today!!

go.be.inspired.

Shanna