My girls and I have always enjoyed scrapbooking and even smashbooking and it’s something I hope to write more on here in the near future.  I shared a close cousin to this that we made for Valentine’s Day in 2014 – our valentine paper bag books, but have yet to write on my love for ‘scrapping.’  What I love about smashbooking is that truly?  Anything goes!!  A smashbook is a journal in which one pastes pictures, embellishments, memorabilia and whatever else their heart desires.  There are simply no rules – whereas in scrapbooking, planning is essential.

As a creative Christian, it seems to me that trying out Bible journaling is simply taking it to the next level!  Have you seen Shanna Noel’s Bible Journaling blog?  Swoon!  I recently took the Influence Network’s Basics of Bible Journaling class by Shanna (and even had the girls listen in with me) and fell head over heels in love.  To me, it feels like the most creative way to mix art, journaling, and prayer to spend time with our Creator.  So when Family Christian invited me to share how we’d use some of their products for Bible journaling, they had me at hello!  I’m excited to show you what my girls have been working on throughout December since we brought home our supplies from our local Family Christian store.

If you’re ready to give this a go, you may already have most of what you need to get started.  There is definitely no right or wrong way to do art or Bible journaling, but here is what we used.

Bible Journaling Basics for Kids!  How to get started on a fun, kid friendly hobby this new year.  Think scrapbooking meets journaling. DSC_0191 DSC_0192 DSC_0197One of my girls is a black and white, inside the box type thinker so this activity took her a little longer to find her groove.  But once she relaxed and realized there really is no wrong way to do Bible journaling, she was able to have fun being creative.  At one point we even looked at some Pinterest inspiration to see what other people were up to and that seemed to help too.  Sometimes when I am looking for new ideas, I refer back to my Scrap Pinterest board and do general Pinterest searches too  🙂

I had the girls read in their devotional books and Bibles and then reflect and respond to what they read through artwork and journaling on the pages of their journals.  That is one of multiple ways to do it, but I know some people also use actual journaling Bibles to journal directly onto the pages of their Bible themselves.  These are Bibles that have a wide margin on one side or the other for people who are up for writing, doodling, drawing, or whatever – directly into the Bible.  I don’t know that I’d want to do that on the Bibles we do have and the girls felt a little funny about it too, so we chose to start with this, but at some point I’d love to find the wide margin Bibles, pull out our scrapping supplies and go for it!  As you can see, they really made it their own and it’s all about the unique expressions of each person.  I loved seeing and reading truth reflected in my girls’ journals and love that we can go back and remember what was on their hearts even many years from now, just like with any other journal  🙂Bible Journaling Basics for KidsDSC_0220DSC_0221DSC_0215

For lots of inspiration on everything from smashbooking to scrapbooking to Bible Journaling, follow along with me at my Scrap Pinterest board:

Follow Sybil Brun @ shelivesfree.com’s board SCRAP on Pinterest.

Now I’d love to hear from you!  Have you ever tried any kind of art journaling, Bible journaling or otherwise?

Family Christian