It is GOOD!

For a discussion of the meaning behind this artwork - check here.  As for how I created it:

• Page Prep: Knowing that I wanted to use the border stamp, I started with white gesso (Art Basics) to cover extraneous print on the page that would be in the way.  I then covered the whole page with clear gesso (Art Basics).  Both took 2-3 coats.
• Border Stamp: Stamped with Celebrations black ink (HOTP Matching Borders and Focals)
• Background: I knew I wanted a colorful page and started to look for my acrylic paints thinking they might work well.  As I was looking through my paints, I came across this "Transparent Wash" (DecoArt "Ocean Teal"), and decided to try it.  It worked great!  It's probably important to prep the page first, as I did, but this wash gives a deep color that is really transparent!  Great for adding color without covering up the words!
• Text Boxes: However, with such a deep all-over color, it was a bit challenging to know how to proceed.  Perhaps next time I would mask off the verses on which I was focusing, but I hadn't thought to do so and I knew most ways of highlighting them wouldn't look good over this wash.  Sooo - I decided to create boxes for the verses using thin gold border stickers (HOTP Thin Line Dazzles). As you can see, that worked well.
• Border Embellishments: I love the little flower stickers in my stash (HOTP Jewel Flowers), and knew they would really help dress up the borders.
• "Thanks": Now it was time to add the illustration in the margin.  Going through my stamps, I found this decorative "Thanks" stamp (K & Company) and knew I wanted to use it.
• "Good" & "Give": I had some larger sized plain alphabet stamps that I wanted to use for the word "GOOD" - except that they wouldn't fit!  Sooo - I stamped the "G" and the "D" and then hand drew some narrower "O"s to fit!  I also used these stamps for the word "GIVE" (thankfully these ones fit!).
• Other words: The other words were hand drawn with a Zig Archival Ball pen, but before I wrote the word "to", I decided to add the "present" since there was plenty of room and the word "GIVE" suggested the idea of a gift.  I liked the way the Archival pen worked for the lettering.  I had stamped everything using my Celebrations hybrid ink, and I just didn't think it was showing up as well as I liked - partly because it wasn't stamping as clearly on the background wash as I would have liked.  So I ended up going over all the lettering with the archival pen.
• Present: I wanted the present to stand out a bit from the background, so used a pink Smooch ink to color it.  It worked well because the Celebrations ink allowed me to paint over it with the Smooch ink & have the lines still show through - not something that works with most mediums.
• THANKS: I wanted the word "THANKS" to stand out a bit better, so surrounded it with decorative lines of Smooch ink as well.  I liked what I had on the sides, but didn't like the way the Smooch ink looked on the top and bottom - so I took a gold jewel border sticker (HOTP) and covered most of it up top and bottom.  I liked that much better.
• Finishing Touches: I finished off this page with musical notes from a set of "Music" stickers (also HOTP Dazzles).

I will Joyfully Sing in the Morning

As usual, for the spiritual lessons learned while doing this page, check here.  As for how I created this page:

• Looking through my stamps for something to illustrate the idea of joyfully singing of God's lovingkindess, I came across a musical set I got from JustRite called Musical Notes Labels Twenty.  After preparing the page (with Art Basics white gesso in the upper corner to cover the page heading, and then Dina Wakley clear gesso to protect the whole page), I stamped the saying in the upper corner (It says, "Music washes away from the Soul the dust of Everyday Life".), the bird part-way down the page, and a few musical notes scattered between - all with VersaFine ink. (StazOn might have been a better choice since I ended up using watercolor pencils and had to be very careful to try to keep the stamped ink from bleeding.)
• After stamping the images, I colored them with Zig Scroll & Brush markers, watercolor pencils, and Wink of Stella.  Oh yes, I took a white gel pen & added color for the bird's eye.
• Next I added the lettering with a Scroll & brush marker.  I decided I wanted a background on the page, but since the words & bird were blue, blue wouldn't stand out as well for a background, so I decided to try for a brownish-gold color.  I remembered the ONE gelato I have - a gold one.  I scribbled with it on my craft mat & then picked up the color with a water brush, brushing carefully around the words & images before adding it to the rest of the page.  It was my first time to use gelato like this and I really like the result.  In real life its got a soft glimmer to it.  Very pretty.

Relic or Relationship

Today's page was prepared with clear gesso first.  To read about what this page means to me check here.  This is how I created the page.  I wanted to draw a picture of the ark of the covenant but was unsure how to do so with the small margins I was dealing with.  Then I came across a great resource - Kidco Labs has several downloadable Bible coloring sheets - one of which I was able to shrink to create a small picture for the upper part of the margin.  Here's a close-up of it:

I used several media to color this little picture.  Gold Smooch ink covers the ark itself and it's carrying handles.  Smooch inks also form the stones on the breastplate.  Most of the rest of the picture was colored with watercolor pencils - and blended with a bit of water.  The sky was colored with Glimmer Mist.  I sprayed a little on my craft sheet and then applied it with a small brush.

The text was highlighted with watercolor pencil blended with Wink of Stella.  The background color in the margin below the picture was colored with watercolor pencil (same color as for the path in the picture) and blended out with water.  I added words using stickers I had on hand, and finished with small lettering using a fine-tipped Sharpie.

Speak Lord

Here's another hand-drawn page on a page prepped with clear gesso.  I first drew the image in pencil on a plain piece of paper until I had it the way I wanted it.  Then I used a light box to transfer the image to the Bible page.  I colored the image with watercolor pencils and a water brush.  Then used a Pitt pen to go over the lines & do the fine lettering. (For "meaning" of this page, see my spritual blog here.)