A Beginners Guide to Bible Journaling

Bible journaling. What is it? Well if you would have asked me two years ago I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. I hadn’t heard of it until I stumbled upon the hashtag (#ipaintinmybible) on Instagram. But once I scrolled through tens, maybe hundreds, of entries – I was hooked and I knew I had to give it a try!

A few things for you to know.

* There is no right or wrong way to journal in your Bible. You can do as little or as much as you want. Some people paint the whole page while others just write in the margins. I personally only work in the margins and I try not to permanently cover all the words to where I can’t read them. But what works for me may not work for you! Its a-okay.

* Bible journaling and Bible studying go hand in hand. When I journal, I am usually journaling a verse that stuck out to me while I was reading my Bible. More times than not, this verse also becomes my memory verse for the week! So it’s basically a win-win-win.

* This is between you and God. Don’t get caught up trying to make your page look just like someone else’s or trying to be perfect. If your mind starts to wander there, stop and refocus. Often times, I pray while I am painting or lettering on a page. This helps me to stay focused on what God is trying to speak to me personally and it helps remove the thoughts of perfection or competition.

Okay. Let’s get to it! The first thing you want to do is decide on the verse (or verses) of scripture that you want to focus on. I try to limit my focus verse to just one but if I want to remember other verses on the page as well, I’ll highlight them. (Instead of lettering them in the margin.)

Then pick your medium. 99.9% of the time, I choose watercolor. That’s because, it adds color to the page without completely covering the text. (see statement above 😉 ) You can paint the page with one solid color or you can play around with different colors and color schemes. Just remember to not wet your page too much or else it might rip!

*Tip: Slide a piece of cardstock, cardboard or watercolor paper under your page to keep your paint from bleeding through to other pages.*

After you’ve applied the paint, you can either wait for it to dry or use a blow dryer to speed up the process. (If you are as impatient as I am – use a blow dryer!) Once it is completely dry, you can start adding stickers, decals and/or washi tape to your page. I got these lovely triangle stickers at Hobby Lobby for like $1.00 because they were 50% off! Boom baby!

As you can see above, I also layered different kinds of washi tape above my stickers where I planned on putting down some sparkly letter stickers. Now don’t let the word “planned” stress you out. I am a planner by nature so I sometimes sketch out an idea before I start the page. You do not have to do this. If you aren’t a planner then great! You do whatever works best for you!

Then after you lay down your letter stickers (if you’re using some) just fill in the remaining words with a good pen or marker. I have a few favorites that are my “go to” utensils when I journal. Which maybe I will introduce them to you in a future post!

And that’s it! Bible Journaling 101. I hope those of you who have fiddled with the idea of giving it a try, finally take the leap of faith and give it a go. And when you do, if you post it on Instagram, use the #WLSpreadTheLovely so that I can see! I can’t wait to see what all you come up with!

Do you have any tips or tricks for Bible journaling? Comment and share below! I would love to hear them. I am always up to try something new!

Blessings!