If you are looking for some new ideas of fun things try in your Bible journaling, you have come to the right place!
Now, if you are anything like me, and are a bit of a perfectionist, these three things may be a little intimidating. Because all of these techniques cannot be 100% controlled. You have to kind of fly by the seat of your pants and be okay if it does not turn out exactly how you imagined. You have to have fun with it and let go of trying to create that perfect page. Because remember, Bible journaling is not about making the most beautiful page, it is just about spending time in the Word and enjoying yourself as you do so. (See my post here on “when you make an ugly page” for more thoughts on that.)
So I encourage you to give at least one of these things a go. It really can be a great practice to get yourself out of your comfort zone and get funky! And if you are not “artistic” these are some great things to try because anyone can do them!
I have a video here showing how I used these three techniques in real time! P.S. These three techniques can be done super quickly too! I did all three of these pages in under 20 minutes!
Bubble Painting
Bubble painting has been making its rounds as a fun activity to try with kids. But how come kids get to have all the fun? This technique is just a blast to try in your Journaling Bible as well!
All you need is:
- A small cup (or multiple if you want different colors). Dixie cups would work great.
- Some dish soap. Any kind will do.
- Acrylic paint. I just use a generic store brand.
- A straw. If you watch my video you’ll see I used a boba straw since that’s all I had on hand, but any straw would do.
- And some water
So first off, always put a piece of paper under the page you are working on to protect the pages below it. Also note that this can get messy and splatter, so you may want to put on an apron and cover your work surface.
Next, add a small amount of paint into your cup and add about a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of water. Mix this nice and good until your paint is dissolved- it should be a milk consistency. Next, add a squirt of dish soap and gently mix that in. Make sure you add the soap at the end and don’t stir too vigorously, or your paint mixture will foam up and be harder to use. (You could find actual measurements by searching “bubble painting” but we are just going with it remember! 😉 )
Now comes the fun part! Did you ever blow bubbles in your milk as a kid? Then you know what to do! Just put one end of your straw into the paint mix and blow until bubbles are coming over the edge of your cup!
Then carefully use your straw to swipe the bubbles onto your page. You can do this in small amounts and blow more bubbles as you need them.
Do your best to place the bubbles where you want them, but once they are down, don’t touch them or try to pop them! You’ll lose the bubbly effect.
Once the bubbles are on the page, let them pop on their own and dry! You can then add more colors, or leave it at that!
SO fun and easy, and it creates such a neat background!
Finger Painting
Finger painting is just the bomb. Brushes are great, but sometimes it’s fun to get our hands dirty! Sure it can be a bit messy, but just keep a baby wipe, wet wipe, or damp paper towel handy to wipe your fingers and it’s really not too bad 🙂 !
For this, all you need is:
- Acrylic paints in the colors of your choosing (most are non-toxic but you may just want to be aware of your labels)
- A little bit of water if your paints are thick.
- Wet wipes/ or wet paper towels
- A paper plate or palate for easy access to your paints
How/ what you want to paint is completely up to you for this. I like to dip my finger in the water and then into my paint because my brand of paints tend to be on the thicker side and I find it a little bit easier to work with when its thinned down a bit. But that is optional.
I find when it comes to finger painting, I like to work quickly and not really plan it out. This truly is a practice of letting go of that perfectionism and enjoying the time spent in the word and making art!
So I decided to make some loose floral shapes. I based them loosely on my watercolor rose tutorial found here. I personally do not mind going over the words a bit in my journaling Bible, but if you’d rather stay only in the margins, by all means, do that! There are still plenty of things you can do in just the margin.
Don’t want to do a flower? Try whatever your heart feels. Below is a picture of another page I did by just swiping my finger quickly downward in different lengths and colors!
Remember just to have fun with it and enjoy the process.
A final note on finger painting– I have not had any bleed through on my fingerpainting pages, however I can see a good amount of shadowing from the darker colors; so if that is something that worries you, or you just want to have the extra protection, a layer or two of gesso before painting never hurts! I have a tutorial on that here.
Smoosh Painting
Smoosh painting is not unheard of in the Bible journaling community, but it’s not known by everyone, so I wanted to add it to the list! It can be done with acrylic, stamps, markers, gelatos.. basically anything inky.. my favorite is watercolor.
There are also a few different techniques to it, but the one I show in the video seems to create the most consistent results for me. It’s also super duper easy!
You need:
- Watercolor paint
- Water
- A plastic baggy
- A paintbrush
- Paper towels or cloth
All you do is load up your brush with some watercolor, and dab it onto different areas of your page. You want to make sure that it is nice and wet and won’t dry out too quickly.
Next, place your plastic bag on top of your page while the paint is still wet. Then use your fingers to smoosh the paint that is under the bag all around. You may also feel the need to sing a little “smoosh smoosh sooshedy smoosh” jingle- to that I say “belt it girl!”
The paint is not going to be very controllable; but again, this exercise is all about having fun and letting it do its thing!
Carefully lift off your bag and wipe it down with a towel. You may also want to blot the darker spots on your page.
Let it dry!
I like to let each of my colors dry before adding the next ones, but if you want to get even crazier ( 😉 ) you can add all your colors at once to the page, or do them in batches like me but not let the layers dry; this way your colors will blend together some.
Finishing your page
From here, it is completely up to you how you would like to finish your page. I just kept them simple and did some handwritten notes and lettering. But you can add stickers, stamps, washi, maybe even trace in some drawings! The choice is yours!
I want to encourage you that if these techniques seem intimidating, to at least give one of these a try! And do your best not to get frustrated if it ends up looking a bit funky! I know I’ve said “have fun” a billion times, but I’ll say it again; HAVE FUN with it and enjoy your time! Fun fun fun fun… Fun!
Blessings,
Jenna
P.S. HAVE FUN 😉
