If you attend a conference and take notes, where do those thoughts and impressions end up?
This week I listened to wonderful speakers in the Explore the Word online Bible study conference hosted by Sojo Academy, taking notes along the way in my conference workbook.
I colored in my Bible, learning Sheryl's technique and enjoying her heart for the Word.
I got more ideas re: coloring scripture from JoDitt and now I'm curious about doing a search for color words in the Bible.
God was the ultimate Creator and gave us an abundance of color to enjoy in our daily lives. Our desire to be creative in His Word seems like a natural outflowing of appreciation for His designs in nature!
I was inspired by April's encouragement to bring a picture to mind as we're reading scripture, and liked her playful use of a mustard & ketchup sketch to reflect friendship. 👭
So... when I got to Abby's session and her acronym of S.A.L.T., I found myself visualizing a salt shaker and got the idea for a Bible Quilt page.
Since I'm better at ideas than artistry, I searched for some images of salt shakers and experimented with a few designs.
I played around with Christie's technique of doodling all around a sketched object.
My hand lettering repertoire is limited, but I'm picking up little tricks here and there.
I used some of the resources from Allie's session to add splashes of color in my titles. I'm looking forward to adding some of her fun materials to some of my other BQ pages!
I oriented the title sequence of SALTY on the left side of the page, so I can put the corresponding scriptures to the right.
When I add the title and main scripture image to my journal page first, that helps me get a spatial sense of how many verses I can add. With practice, I've gotten pretty good at estimating how much space I need for a given verse...and if I'm off, I just adapt with doodles or washi tape.
My favorite part of Bible Quilting is seeking out scripture to "stitch" together on a page. I incorporated verses and techniques from several of the sessions. Christa, Alnesha, and Laura reinforced the importance of reading scripture IN context and writing it out. I know through my experience with Bible Quilting that writing scripture by hand ingrains it deeper and slows me down to absorb it. Engaging the left-brain AND right-brain hemispheres in our devotional time makes it SO much richer and long-lasting!
As my page filled up with scripture, I gradually added embellishments, using some stickers to break up my handwriting.
I loved the reminder from Julie's session that reading the Bible is like a spiritual treasure hunt, so I included one of the verses she referenced.
"ALL scripture is profitable" ~~~ 2 Timothy 3:16
I finished up by jotting down a mini summary of highlights in the bottom corner of the page, mainly as a memory trigger for me to remember some of the sessions' highlights. Then I added a few splashes of color through washi tape & colored pencil, tracing back over some of my lettering to make it bolder. I'm undecided about some of the whitespace, but I've learned over time just to leave it rather than force a decision at this point. Sometime when I'm reviewing it in the future I might have a creative inspiration.
I hope this helps you get a background feel for how I work through the creative process of Bible Quilting and also gives you some glimpses of the insights received through this conference. Jen & AJ are great facilitators. If you're looking for some online resources, check out Sojo Academy.
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