Worthy Written Words Blog

How to Create a Coptic Journal Using a Drawing Pad

If you are curious as to how I create my 7X10 coptic journals, I will share with you the video tutorial that I use. Its not a super hard project but it takes some time. Once you have the basic supplies like wax linen thread, a bone folder, and bookbinding needles you can make as many journals as you want with just a drawing pad. If you don't want to take the time and effort to make your own, you can see if you like any of the ones I have already created here.

Posted on March 28, 2017

Aimee White

Peek Inside My Scripture Journal with a Video Flip Through Tour

As I created this video I couldn't stop comparing mine to others I've seen online. For one thing, my nails are NOT manicured. Sigh. I ain't got time for that! It is very non professional as my lighting is off and since I don't have a bending tripod for my iPhone, I literally TAPED MY PHONE TO AN ACRYLIC SEWING RULER that was stacked in-between my storage baskets, which is why you see a basket on the side of the video the whole time! Occasionally I would breathe too hard or bump the table and the whole phone would wobble up and down for a bit! Why am I sharing all of this with you?!? Because I am just an honest mom and stay at home wife trying to share my passion with the world and I'm ok with that. So as humbling as my video skills are, I think what I'm sharing is pretty awesome and would love for you to check it out!

Although it is studying lds content, the templates shown inside will work for any religion. This video is meant to give you ideas on what you can put inside your journals as well as show you how to use some of the templates and products that are sold in the store.

So here it is in all its glory, I hope you like it!

Products shown in this video:

Journal:
Custom scripture journal

Templates:
Three Witnesses Kit
Chapter Kit 1
Chapters Kit 2
Map/Location Kit

Print Cut & Paste:
Tabs
Character labels

Freebies:
Symbolism of 1 Ne 18
Makeup of the Book of Mormon

Learn how to set up your own Chapters Scripture Journal here.

Posted on March 25, 2017

Aimee White

2 comments

Introducing the First Guided Study for 1 Nephi Chapter 1 MEGA and MINI Kit!

I think for a lot of people starting a scripture journal can be intimidating. How do I begin? Where do I start? In contemplating this I came up with the idea to do a more in depth kind of kit that focuses on a chapter in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1. This kit tells you what to study on, so that you don't have to come up with everything on your own. Its a great beginners kit to help you figure out this whole scripture journaling concept.

It comes in 2 different packages. The MEGA kit contains 13 study guide templates, 1- 5X7 scripture insert or scripture journal insert, and 8 embellishments.

The MINI kit is the same kit, but with only 8 study guide templates, no insert and no embellishments. The reason for the difference is the MEGA kit costs $9.99 but if you are uncomfortable spending that much you can opt for the MINI kit which is only $3.99!

The only size available at the moment is 8.5 X11 which means you just print them out and fill them in and you can put them in a binder, a notebook, an existing journal, etc. In the future I plan to offer more sizes.

This picture above is one of the study guide pages on "Tender Mercy" but you can see at the bottom of the page I have also used some word cut up strips from the Wordy Bits Volume 1: Study Kit also in the store. Three Wordy Bits strips do come in the MEGA pack as well.

I hope you enjoy this kit! If there is enough interest I will continue to make more of these and hopefully get some bundles together so you can purchase them for more than one chapter at a time. Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these!

XOXO,

Aimee

Posted on March 21, 2017

Aimee White

3 comments

Painting in Your Scriptures- Watercolors and Watercolor Pencils

I have had so much fun learning how to paint in my scriptures with my watercolors. Its my new favorite thing!

This image of the boat I admit I totally copied from a pin on pinterest that takes you to illustratedfaith.com. It originally depicted Noahs ark but in my scriptures I have it as Nephi's boat he built to sail his family to the promised land in my Book of Mormon. Because I loved it all by itself rather than write all my notes on top of it I decided to put them on an insert which you can see attached with washi tape next to it. There are actually 2 inserts attached there.

In this picture I had something from the previous page bleed through really bad on accident so I had to paint over the whole footnotes section with some white gesso to cover it up and I created this instead with some watercolors, stickers, and colored pencils.

The trick is to prep your page you plan to paint by first covering it with some clear gesso and then let it dry completely. This prevents the paint from bleeding through and with thin scripture pages this is a must!

This is the kind that I use and you can purchase it here. This next image was also something I copied from a pin on pinterest that takes you here.

I prepped the page with clear gesso, than used watercolor pencils to do the rest. You can use a water brush to get rid of the grainy look that pencils give. I love this so much because this page is one of my favorites where it talks about the women giving birth in the wilderness and eating raw meat and I can't imagine doing either of those things so I have mad respect for those women and they helped me a lot when I was grumpy and uncomfortable with my pregnancies.

This next page I used a really cool thin light pad to trace a picture of chains. Here is the light pad:

This last image is a mountain range because this page is talking about Nephi going to the mountains to get instructions from the Lord.

If you are uncomfortable painting directly on your scriptures, you can always paint on paper and attach it with washi tape as an insert. Here's an example:

This was painted on watercolor paper. I traced the quote from @biblesandcoffee but painted the image underneath.

I hope these give you some ideas and motivation to let you know that you can do it!!

If you liked this post you may also enjoy Doodling and Coloring in Your Scriptures- Colored Pencils.

Posted on March 21, 2017

Aimee White

21 comments

My Personal Study Page and a FREEBIE Coloring Page for Scripture Journals

1 Nephi Chapter 18 Layout

I have a template called "My Personal Study" and it is for your chapters scripture journals. Here is an example of it that I used in my own journal:

"My Personal Study Of" template has the following categories:

Quick plot summary- You describe what is going on in the chapter
Word research- these are definitions or quotes that explain what a word means
People and Locations- anytime a person or place is mentioned in the chapter I list them in this area and see what they have taught me
Topics/ Gospel principles that need to be explored- these are topics mentioned in the chapters such as forgiveness, prayer, recognizing the spirit, obedience, commandments, etc. I list what I learned about that topic.
Additional Scriptures and/or footnotes I looked up

Where it asks for other journal's page reference, it wants you to list any other journal where that particular topic is mentioned. Each of my journals has a volume number. My Chapters is Volume 1 and my Topics is Volume 2. Then each page has a page number in the corner. So I can easily list where to find something with the marking (volume:page number). So under this category, all these topics start out with the number 2, because they can all be found in more length in my second volume journal which is my topics journal. Then the following numbers are page numbers. Ex: in the picture of "Enduring Well" the other journal reference is listed as 2:101-102. That tells me that if I want to read more about what I learned about the topic Enduring Well, I would need to go to pages 101-102 of my Volume 2 journal. Does that make sense?

You can purchase this template individually or as part of a set in the Chapters Kit. Both are available for immediate download in our store.

FREEBIE ALERT:

As part of my layout for 1 Nephi Chapter 18 I doodled a little picture representing the symbolism because I am a very visual learner and it helps it make more sense to me.

After I finished the doodle I colored it in with my watercolor colored pencils. It was so much fun to me. I guess I just love to color. I figured since I made it for myself I might as well put it on here for anyone else that might want it.

You can download the doodled black and white page to color and use as a quick glue in insert for your journal or Book of Mormon for FREE here. Note* I learned all this symbolism from the book, The Book of Mormon Made Easier by David J. Ridges.

Enjoy!

Posted on March 14, 2017

Aimee White

Map/ Location Study Scripture Journal Templates

For awhile now I have been creating pages in my journal for all the different locations I am studying about. You've got the Valley of Lemuel, Nahom, Bountiful, Jerusalem, and more locations all mentioned in just the first book of Nephi. I came up with the idea of creating a template for these types of pages. So here is a kit that includes vintage maps of Arabia (for studying the journey of Lehi's family after they left Jerusalem before they sailed to the promised land), Central America (for after they reach the promised land), as well as the United States (for studying the Doctrine and Covenants). Here is my first try at using the Arabia template for a page I was working on.

You can see at the top there is a place to list the name of the location you are studying, and then a vintage map below it. Next to the map is a blank space. This is meant for you to attach any pictures you have found of that place more close up. I just printed my picture out and used washi tape to attach it (with photo splits on the back).

The map is black and white but I used watercolor colored pencils to fill it in. It was so much fun! I love to color! Then I added a star to the specific point on the map that I am learning about using metallic gel pens.

Below the map is a space to list any historical facts about that place, and below that an area to list any scriptures that reference that location and what you learned. And as always a place to list any other journal references. Each template comes in a .pdf format. Also included is an instruction page to show you how to fill the page in (marks shown in red). This kit can be purchased for immediate download in our store.

Posted on March 14, 2017

Aimee White

1 Nephi Character Labels for Scripture Journals

While using my Character Analysis Templates I have often wished I had some sort of label to put across the top of the person's name I am studying. So I created a kit that includes 20 character labels with varying looks for scripture journals. Simply print them out, cut them out, and if desired, color them in.

I've used a label here for my page on John The Beloved, where I used it in the center of the page and then branching out from it are all the important scriptures that teach me about him. (I colored the border in green to match the scrapbook paper).

I'm attaching the following picture just because I thought it was a fun idea. I took a file folder and glued it shut to make an envelope and then added little strips to pull out with thoughts on each one.

You could put a label on the front of the envelope with strips inside of what you have learned about that person.

For those who like to keep things simple, I have also shown how to use them with the Character Analysis Templates as I mentioned earlier. I just printed it out, cut it out, and colored it in and glued it to the top of the page. Easy peasy and it adds a pop of color.

1st Nephi Character Labels to use with your character analysis templates. Simply print, cut, and paste right on top of your journal. 20 labels will be sent on 3 .pdf files including characters listed in the first book of The Book of Mormon.

This kit is available for immediate download. You can purchase them here at the store.

Enjoy!

Posted on March 14, 2017

Aimee White

Learn from My Mistakes! 4 Do's and Don'ts When Marking in Your Scriptures

In going along with my scripture journals, I try to mark my actual scriptures as well when I study. Before I can share all the cool stuff I have started to do, I need to share all the failures I've had so that you don't ruin your set of scriptures like I did. My first try I learned a lot of what works and what doesn't! So let me share my best tips:

1. Pens that Won't Bleed:

Scripture pages are super thin and it is hard to find pens that do not bleed through onto the other side. I have tried out a lot of pens and markers. And I have found some good ones and bad. The size of the pen (the fineness) really matters as well. It can be a great brand but if the pen is too thick it can bleed. So I have listed the sizes as well. By far my favorite writing black pen for my thin scripture pages is the

Copic Marker size 0.1. Microns will work too, but DO NOT use the PURPLE. I used the red and purple ones for awhile only to find out that after a long time had passed, the colors bled through badly, but they don't at first. See my sad page below. This happened all over the first 25 pages before I realized what I had done.

The light pink is actually the purple showing through from the page behind. It gets very confusing and distracting.

So I only use my green Micron pen size 005.

The best red pen for me has been a regular cheap red ballpoint pen.

Whatever you use make sure you get one that doesn't smudge lot. Unfortunately because of the dark pigments in the purples and blues, I usually only use colored pencils for these colors. They aren't as sharp or crisp as the pens are, but I figure its worth the sacrifice so the next page isn't such a hot mess. If you find one in these colors that doesn't bleed please share!!! A good metallic pen that I have found is "Pental Sunburst Metallic Gel" pen in Medium.

I haven't tried it out long term but so far so good. If months from now it bleeds like the Microns did I will let you know.

I take all my favorite pens and I keep them in a pencil case together for daily use.

2. Using Inserts:

I like to add inserts with additional information on them in my scriptures. This is generally just a piece of paper that you glue into the binding of your scriptures with a glue stick. In my first Book of Mormon, I used a lot of heavier paper simply because I owned a pack of card stock that was precut to the perfect size. I also liked how it was sturdier to handle whatever media I chose to put on it. I found out the hard way that by using too many inserts, especially thick ones like card stock, it literally kills your scriptures binding. My brand new real leather Book of Mormon fell apart after 1 Nephi with all my inserts. I was so bummed because I had put so much work into it.

Lesson Learned- If you choose to use inserts, make sure they are on thin paper, and not cardstock. Or you could create a Book of Mormon Wide Edition Binder that I also have created and will post about later. Also, attach them as much as possible with wash tape in the margins, and not glued to the actual binding.

3. Creating Round Tabs= No Bueno:

I thought I was so creative by buying an older Book of Mormon without the cut in tabs. I thought I would have more room for writing in the margins and then I could add cute custom tabs to the outside. It was a nice idea, but the reality is those darn pages are so thin that anytime I tried to use the tabs, the pages would rip. I tried making them stronger by using washi tape but that still didn't help. The pages were too weak. I ended up having to tape my whole page back together and it was a hot mess. Not to mention the tabs would get stuck on everything in my bag.

washi tape wasn't enough and eventually I had to tape the whole page together

Lesson Learned: stick with the tabs that are wider and sturdier or the indents already made for the book. Keep the small round cute tabs for your scripture journal, or scriptures with thicker pages.

4. Using Water-based marking supplies

Just beware using any kind of water based product such as glitter glue, watercolor pencils, paints, etc. They will leave the page underneath fairly wrinkled. This may not bother you, but if you are worried about that wrinkled look, then make sure you use a clear gesso on your page to prime it for water based products first. Hopefully soon I will have a post explaining how this process works.

Thanks for stopping by!

Aimee

Posted on March 14, 2017

Aimee White

2 comments

Doodling and Coloring in Your Scriptures- Colored Pencils

I am a huge fan of all of the Bible Journaling going on all over Pinterest. I love the idea of adding artwork to the sacred scriptures to show how important they are to me and how much I treasure them. Plus it makes studying them really REALLY fun to me.

I am LDS and so a lot of my studying is from the Bible, and also the Book Of Mormon. The Internet FINALLY came out with a Kings James Version Wide Margin Bibles on Amazon so I can jump on that bandwagon if I want, wahoo! However, the Book of Mormon does not have a wide margin copy available at this time unless you print it out yourself. I actually have done this and will post about it at a later time. But as for a regular sized BOM that you can easily carry around with you like to church, there is none. This makes it hard to do artistic works with such little margin space without going on top of the words.

Although I love the beautiful artwork in the Bible Journaling wide margin pictures, there are a few things that I have to and like to do differently. I am ok with this book having imperfections in it. I've never been a fan of my handwriting, but its a part of me and so is this book. It's real life. I like to try to keep all artwork light enough that you can always read the words underneath. I don't want my artwork to become more important than the sacred scriptures themselves. I also don't limit my pages to only the artwork- I still add comments, word definitions, clarifications, etc. in my scriptures. Only artwork definitely looks better, but because I am studying them it's important for me to understand what I am reading. So my scriptures may look different than all the great ones on Pinterest, but thats ok because what I do works for me, helps me to learn, and motivates me to continue studying. Julie B. Beck said, "I like to think of my scriptures as a workbook." and I like to do the same.

If you are curious about the different colors I use for my general markings, here is a picture of my color legend. I have this in one of the front pages of my book. Everyone likes to make their own. I have used this long enough now that I don't need the legend and so I tend to stick with these colors in all my studies.

I like to use all sorts of craft supplies in my scriptures- colored pencils, stickers, glitter glue, washi tape, ink pads and sprays, gessos, paints, etc. Later I would like to do a post on more complicated pages using more art supplies.

One of the easiest ways to decorate your scriptures are with colored pencils. Get a little crazy and you can even use watercolored pencils. Combined with a black fine tip pen, you are good to go. No page prepping needed or fancy painting materials. Here are some examples of using colored pencils in my Book of Mormon.

Also like I said earlier I still have lots of notes in the margins and in the verses in addition to the drawings.

With such small margin space sometimes just paying special attention to your lettering can make a big difference. Even if its just one special word.

One of my favorite pages is 1 Nephi Chapter 8- Lehi's Dream. I took the same images I used in my scripture journal page and put them in my scriptures. I did use some Stickles glitter glue on these pages to highlight the fruit on the tree, fruit, and building. I got mine at the local Hobby Lobby. (I have to give credit to my amazing sister Tamara who I copied her awesome seed drawing and used some of her awesome skills to improve what I had already done.) Its really fun doing this with someone else and sharing/comparing what you have come up with.

Its hard to get good lighting of a book layout with all the shadows. I'm going to try to get a better picture another day. So I took another image so you can see the glitter glue I used on the tree, fruit, and building.

Watercolored pencils are really fun and easy. You just blend them with water. You can get a paintbrush and dip it in water or get a water brush. Here are a few examples:

The background isn't water brushed but the feather is.

I LOVE to add inserts to my scriptures. This next page is an insert where I simply used watercolor colored pencils and blended it with a water brush. I added stars with a gold metallic pen. (it looks brown in the pic but its actually shiny gold)

Just so you know if you use water of any kind the page will wrinkle on the backside. When it dries it will flatten back out a bit but there is still a little bit of wrinkles. I don't mind because I feel it just gives the book that well worn look.

Have you ever tried doing anything like this? I would love to see pictures in the comments section. I'm referring to Non Wide Margin Scriptures- BOM or Bible. I hope you get some inspiration from these pictures, and hopefully I will have more up soon!

Posted on March 06, 2017

Aimee White

1 comment

Scripture Journaling: Sketch Notes Style

I am always looking for new ways to journal my scripture studies and I came across a cool style that is used in sketch notes. Here is my inspiration page:

via Yahni in London

Its a way of taking notes that is very visual. The idea is to use a lot of pictures and less words to get a point across. Since I have so many words that I don't want to leave out, I chose instead to use the layout ideas to enhance the look of my scripture journal pages. I started with the idea of using a gray marker to shadow words and dashes. What a difference it made!

1 Nephi Ch. 12

I also like the look of the dashes and the labels. I also tried to incorporate more visual images, small icons and pictures. It has made a fun different look to what could have been some very boring pages.

1 Nephi Ch. 5

I've never been a fan of my handwriting but this has been good practice at making it better. I still have a long way to go but I its fun learning different techniques. I hope this inspires you to get a little more creative with your journaling. Enjoy!

Posted on February 28, 2017

Aimee White

2 comments

Lehi's Dream

Hello and thanks for stopping by Worthy Written Words. My goal in this website is to get people excited about studying their scriptures and to help them create a journal that contains all that they have learned as well as their personal stories relating to and testimony on individual gospel principles and topics. This process has helped me so much to learn and retain knowledge that I would have otherwise overlooked if I was only reading. This is truly STUDYING and FEASTING on the words of Christ.

These posts will include tutorials on how to create different kinds of pages. Some will use products from the store, but others will not. This first post will show you how I made one of my all time favorite pages, Lehi's Dream.

First off, if you love this idea but don’t want to create your own, I have created a Lehi’s Dream Quick Page template of this layout that you can print and fill in while you study.

I have been spending a lot of time studying and journaling about Lehi's vision in Chapter 8 of 1 Nephi. I have never before gone into it with so much depth. Although there is more about the vision I've journaled about, I wanted to dedicate one layout to the different symbols of the vision and what they represent. Here is how I did this page:

I got my inspiration from this digital scrapbook layout:

I love the concept of the boxes with doodles and journaling. Since my scripture journal has lots of text and little pictures, I thought this would be a great way to incorporate both. I had to make adjustments based on the size of my journal and the amount of information I wanted for each symbol. First I did everything lightly in pencil and then filled it in with black micron pens and colored pencils. Because my paper has ridges in it, there were darker lines showing and I wanted a smoother look. So I busted out my new Koi watercolor brushes that I have never used before. I was a little intimidated to use them and wasn't quite sure how they worked. I checked out some tutorial videos found here. They have a lot of different ones you can learn from. Here's an example one:

Finally feeling brave I gave it a shot. It was super easy and really fun! I felt like a kid in art class.

I also used other materials such as gelly roll metallic pens and perfect pearls. I took a picture with the light shining on the journal so you can sort of see the shimmery effect perfect pearls has on the tree when it is in the light:

and the glitter glue on the fruit:

This was a liberating experience for me because I am a true perfectionist and to freehand the boxes knowing they wouldn't be exactly straight was really hard. But I like it that way.

For the straight and narrow path, I made it straight, but I changed the texture along the way. Starting on the path to Heavenly Father can be rocky and difficult. Repenting isn't easy. As you make your way to baptism the path gets less rocky. And then the closer you get to the presence of the Lord the shinier, more beautiful and smoother the path gets.

There are a lot of beautiful paintings that already exist of Lehi's vision. But this page is special to me because of the time I put into it. I will remember so much more from this experience. I hope it helps you to think outside of the box when journaling what you are reading about.

Posted on February 27, 2017

Aimee White

Worthy Written Words Blog

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