Tag: #CatholicBibleJournaling

#LadyEmCrafts · Book Review · Catholic Bible Journaling · Catholic Book Reviews · COVID · Italy · Quarantine2020

Book Review Wednesday – Ignatius Press Bible Journal

LadyEm63Leave a comment

Dear Ones,

I hope this post finds you well. It’s been two weeks since I posted, but y’all, I have had a busy two weeks.
I’m the PTSA President and I was at school nearly every day. Between Teacher/Staff Appreciation, our spirit gear coming in and needing distribution, “spirit week” – which I will show you later this week, and school pictures… it was a lot of fun! I’m so thankful we could bring fun into the school.

I meant to get this up early this morning but today’s been a rather long one. You see, we are about to be told we are closing till January and going to a Google Classroom setting. UGH. I’m heartbroken, and also relieved at the same time. Now, we know and we don’t have to deal with “is it happening” thoughts. Ya know? Here is the latest Italian Decree. It’s not great. But guides the command on how the Italians expect the rest of us to act. It’s their country, after all. If you open it in Google Chrome, you can see the fun… You’re welcome. HAHA

But you didn’t come here for that. You came to see the new Bible Journal I was sent to review. I love it in so many ways… there is just ONE thing I wish was different, but it won’t stop me from using it. I’ll explain. First and foremost, I have literally been praying that Ignatius Press would create a journaling Bible. And when my friend Monica told me about it, I knew I wanted to review it. So thrilled to have been sent this Bible. Because I’ve already given the last one I reviewed away – even though I said I wouldn’t. I’ve loved the Ignatius Bibles since I homeschooled through Seton. And I agree with Mr. Scott Hahn, who said that the NRSV Second Catholic Edition is the most beautiful translation of the Bible. Hands down – agree!

  • WHAT I LOVE:
    • This Ignatius Note-Taking and Journaling Bible a sturdy Bible- in fact, the leather is beautiful.
    • The pages are thicker than a regular Bible and easy to work on.
    • My artwork didn’t bleed through too much, but that doesn’t bother me anyway.
    • I love the off white color of the pages.
    • The maps are great too.
    • I love the size of the Bible – its 6.25×7.25 and maybe 2 inches or so thick. I have super small hands and it’s easy to hold.
  • ONE THING I WISH WAS DIFFERENT:
    • Font Size. 7 pt font is too small for this 57 year old.
    • It’s not their fault I wear trifocals like Mr. Magoo… But that is truly my only issue.
    • Luckily I have access to a bigger version so I am clear on the verses I am working with.

This is my new favorite. In the pictures below, you will see the cover, the comparison of size/font to the last Review from Catholic Bible Press, a blank page, and a page with artwork.

Pictures of the Ignatius Note-Taking & Journaling Bible – RSV, 2nd Catholic Edition.

When I journal, I try to plan it out beforehand, and I always try to write a note.

On this page, I used:

  • Sharpie bright yellow highlighter
  • Various gel crayons, water, and paintbrushes.
  • Tim Holtz Sunrise Stencil.
  • Various Stamps from Sweet & Sassy Stamps. One item each from three sets.
  • Gina K Amalgam Ink
  • Distress Ink

The verses I journaled are Psalm 43:3-4 –

As always, I washi-taped a plastic mat under the page I worked on, so that the Bible wouldn’t get wet. I air dried this one, and then I stamped on it, and wrote out: Let Me bring light to the world through God, who’s light and love I share with others! Meet me on the Holy Hill! Walk with me, I am NOT alone!

Dear Ones, I have to hop off to go watch the explanation of the latest decree by our Command Staff. Pray for us over here.

Love, Hugs & Blessings,
LadyEm

#Catholic Bible Journaling · #LadyEmCrafts · Book Review · Catholic Bible Journaling · Catholic Faith

Book Review Wednesday – Bible Journal

LadyEm632 Comments

Dear Ones,

Happy Wednesday. Happy Feast Day of Saint Callistus I (Pope, Martyr)! Click his name to read more about him.
Today is a sunny day here in Italy. Will be stormy later. Doesn’t that just describe LIFE? I hope you are well, wherever you are. I’m praying for you.

I’m trying to bring some regular “segments” back to my blog. Things like – Monday – Meal Plans (where I share what we are eating for the week. I talk a lot about repurposed foods and Jessica over at Good Cheap Eats. I hope to post more cards and crafts… AND Small Success Thursdays. One of the things I have been REMISS on is not reviewing books. In fact, when I moved my blog back over here, I lost most pictures and so many things… And so I’m going to recreate some of it, and start posting more. I need to get out of my head with this one… and let it fall where it may… so to speak.

On with the Review.

I’m not sure if you know this, but in 2015 a few of us Catholic Ladies in Fort Worth, went to LifeWay Christian to a Bible Journaling class. I remember feeling sad and slightly resentful that the Protestants had so many Bibles to Journal in. We started a FaceBook Group called Catholic Women’s Bible Journaling (CWBJ)… And in 2016, I started writing various Catholic Publishers asking them to create a Catholic Journaling Bible, and Non-Catholic Publishers asking for them to create a Catholic Version of their Protestant Journaling Bibles. Long story short, not because of me, but because of many Catholic Women who worked to get it done, there are now many choices of Bibles to Journal in. Many I’ve reviewed, or received and given away.

Today I am reviewing the NRSV Catholic Bible, Journal Edition by Catholic Bible Press. In June, I was contacted by Bethany who works for Harper-Collins’ Bible Division. She asked if my team and I, from the CWBJ Group on FaceBook would like to have one. I couldn’t believe it. They sent them to our whole team and gave away six in our group on top of that. So exciting.

This Bible comes beautifully packaged. The leather is soft and the binding is sturdy. So beautiful.

I wanted to show you what a page looked like before art. This is one I will journal next. Whether you are a note taker, doodler, or full-blown artist in your Bible, the pages have a good thickness to them and are a mat page (not glossy or waxy at all).

Below, you will find my artwork. I love the Crucifix stamp from Catholic Rubber Stamps. I also used:

I didn’t treat the page with Gesso, and below you can see that it didn’t bleed too badly. I can still do great work on the back. I heated as I went with the Ranger Heat It Tool. Mine is American. But the one on the link above is showing as European. Go to Hobby Lobby or order from Amazon.

The verse I journaled is Philippians 1:19 – For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

  • This is the page I worked on.
  • This is the back of the page.

I wish I had more time to Bible Journal. Here is the Video of me making the page on a FB Live for the group. It’s on my YouTube Channel: Philippians 1:19 for CWBJ

My bottom line is this – I really like this Bible. The size, the sturdiness, and the room to write and draw. I think you will too. It’s a great price. It’s on Amazon.com too.

Please join our little group on FaceBook. Have a blessed rest of your day.

Hugs, Love & Blessings,
Lady Em

p.s. – here’s a tease…next Wednesday there will be another New Bible Journal review. Ignatius Press y’all. WOOHOOOOO

#LadyEmCrafts · Catholic · Catholic Bible Journaling · Catholic Faith

Catholic Bible Journaling …

LadyEm63Leave a comment

Dear Ones,

Happy Wednesday! Do you Bible Journal? My friend Martha and I started a Catholic Women’s Bible Journal group on FaceBook in 2016. I love it, but often forget to post. I’ve made some “Pinterest Fails” in my journaling, and to tell you the truth, I started out just writing Bible passages and doodling. It’s a HUGE business now. Sometimes things like that bother me because my brain is weird. I get it… others don’t and it’s OK! But my point is, we’d love to have you join us…

Some people are super self-conscious about their talent. Let me show you the progression for me. And truly, because I am a perfectionist at heart, I totally ruin it for myself much of the time and would never show anyone my work.

In the pictures below, you can see that I have written out verses and doodled; highlighted verses and written a note whilst stamping a Chalice and coloring it; stamped and painted… Some are way better than others! And it’s all ok.

This is my latest Bible Journaling page. I love it. I always write a note to myself. I used SweetnSassy Stamps for the Elephant Page and this Brick Page. Love that company. They have a whole creative worship line. But the thing is, as a Christian company, most of their stamps are fair game in the Bible.
In this page, I stamped an image and colored it with water color pencils. That easy. I always use a craft mat under my pages as well. This way, the pages under it don’t get wet. I’ll go over tools soon.

Some of you may say to yourselves, “I can’t paint or color in in my Bible. How will I read the words?” — I have more than one Bible, so I work in only one of them. I usually can read most of the words, but sometimes, I can’t. AND you can always do it in a journal or sketch book. Whatever you feel comfortable in. And it’s OK! Honestly – have you seen what some of the people do. My word – my work pales in comparison. BUT – there are two things to note here… 1) Don’t compare your work with theirs, that is not what Bible Journaling is about. And 2) My love for God does not pale in comparison. Of this, I am sure.

I hope I have encouraged you to pick be creative whilst studying The Word. I pray you will join us on this journey. More on Bible Journaling soon.

Love, Hugs & All the Blessings!
Lady Em

#Catholic Bible Journaling · Catholic · Davis Family · Italy

HAPPY NEW YEAR! No Resolutions Here!

LadyEm63Leave a comment

Dear Ones,

Life got busy and I haven’t been around much. I really do have so much to share with you. Recipes, Christmas pics, and a plethora of other things. But first – I wanted to talk to you about my pledge to not share my New Year’s Resolutions here. WHY? Uh – because when I don’t accomplish them (which – happens A LOT), I feel awful about me. And since I am the queen of putting pressure on myself, I Aint Doin It!

Let me wrap up my attitude about how 2020 is going to be in a few words:

Now, my prayer for 2020 is simply one by Saint Francis of Assisi. When you see the picture, as you are reading it, You WILL sing the song. Yes you will. I do it every time. And if you don’t know the song, I will find it for you – just ask.

Oh please let’s make a year of peace, pardon, healing and moving on to happier times. Amen!

Many of you know, but some don’t, that my friends and I started a Bible Journal group on Facebook. – Catholic Women’s Bible Journaling. We are hoping to grow it and make it more interactive, and have giveaways, etc. But for now, I’ve created a January Bible Prompts sheet to share. I have it in .pdf form AND in picture form. But because of my limited Tech Knowledge, I’ve placed it here as a picture. If you need it as a file, please email me. And if you want to join our little group – please click on the word Catholic above.

Because I love ya, I’m keeping this short. Here’s a picture of my family and I after Christmas Mass. And a couple other things.

May you have a blessed Celebration tonight.
May our Lady’s Feast Day comfort you tomorrow.

Happy Happy New Year.
Praying for you all!

Love, Hugs & Blessings,
LadyEm

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Inspire Catholic Journaling Bible GIVEAWAY!

LadyEm6347 Comments

Hi all,

How are you?  I’ve missed you.
I know I know… my blog is so neglected. I really do have a lot to say. I’ve gone through so much in the past few years…. and I decided that if I didn’t have nice things to say, or at least productive things,  I should be quiet. As you can see… the latter is ruling the day.

HOWEVER – I am excited to be here today to tell you about the Inspire Catholic Journal Bible.  You can visit their FaceBook page for a chance to win a Bible. You can join the Catholic Women’s Bible Journal FaceBook Page for two chances to win an Inspire Catholic Journal Bible AND….

WINNERS ARE:

Comment #5 – Lindy and Comment #17 – Alicia @ Sweeping up Joy. I will get in touch with you and give you the info.  Congratulations. Now, I will respond to all the comments. Thank you all for commenting.

Many Blessings!

You can follow the instructions below for two chances to win an Inspire Catholic Journal Bible. Sigh – that’s a lot of winning y’all!

But first… a little background.

So, Martha Phillips (aka, my friend, the lady who is beating MS through Miracles and Miracles of Science) and I started a Catholic Women’s Bible Journaling Group in late 2015 – early 2016. Neither of us really get to play as much as we’d like.  But anyway…  For a long time now, several years at least, our Protestant sisters in Christ have had Journal Bibles. Well over a year ago in our group we started contacting Catholic Publishers to see if they would be willing to create a Catholic Bible for Journaling. We did have a group we were hopeful would take it on, but they didn’t.  One day, I started contacting the publishing houses that were putting out the Protestant versions of the Journaling Bibles, asking if they would be willing to create one for Catholics. Many members followed suit.

Then one day, lady named Kimberly joined the Bible Journal Group. She messaged me and asked if I thought folks would like to review the Bible and I gave her a few names. She was from Tyndale. So many of the members were using the Inspire Bible anyway, and they were THRILLED!  She also let the group choose the cover color and asked for input on Verses and Artwork.  And now, we are all so excited to have had a part in the creation of it AND to be users of this Bible.  How exciting is that?

Most of you don’t know that in the middle of all this, I moved to Italy with the hubs for his job. We are literally still unpacking. Can you imagine? But my office is set up (well almost), the Internet does not work so I am using a hotspot… ha But y’all this review is going up and the contest info will be after. Ready…

This is such a beautiful and feminine Bible on the inside and out. The leather is soft and sturdy and the ladies in the group are RAVING about it. Look how pretty the edging of the pages is? I mean – gorgeous.

This second picture is the page I chose to color today. Yes today. The reading in the Magnificat this morning was Hebrews 4:12-13. I used Derwent Inktense Pencils which are the best watercolor pencils, in my humble opinion. As you can see below, there is VERY little color on the page. With Inktense Pencils you really have to lay down very little.
Can you see the tip of the watercolor brush pen I used? It’s TINY. Check out the set HERE (not affiliate link). I take it apart and dip it into the barrel of the pen because I have more control of the water and coloring that way.

These are the Derwent Inktense Pencils.
This is the page after coloring.  To me the beauty of these pre-printed pictures is that you can, when you are pressed for time, you know… like when you are trying to settle into a new country… you can doodle and enjoy the Bible Journaling but you don’t have to conceptualize, find the stamps, stickers, etc… you can just color it. And it is awesome. I highlighted the verses with a green Gel Highlighter. Perfect for Bible Journaling.

In short, I love the book. I wish the artwork were more Catholic in Nature. We have a lot of symbols and artwork that I would LOVE to see used in a Journaling Bible. HOWEVER, I have absolutely no complaint. I love it.  There are MANY reviews out there. One of note is by Jenny at the Littlest Way. You can check it out HERE! I feel like hers is an honest review because she is not affiliated (to my knowledge) with either publishing company.

And now, how can you win an Inspire Catholic Journal Bible?  Just follow these instructions:

Leave a comment here about what it would mean to you. NOTE:  if you win, you have to have a U.S. Address. FPO/APO are good, but you have to have a U.S. Address. This is a rule from the Publisher.

You have until Thursday, November 1st to Enter. Feel free to share with friends.  I hope you read and liked the review.

Hugs & Blessings ALL! And Good luck!

Emily