Letter the Promises (and a mini tutorial)

This month I’m participating in a creative challenge on Instagram, hosted by Krystal Whitten, to “letter the promises.” Krystal provided a list of Bible promises, one for each day of the month of September for us to hand-copy in whatever style we like. Originally, I had thought I might do some in the margins of my journaling Bible– and I have done some that way –but mostly I’ve ended up writing out the verses in a separate journal.

For the first verse of the challenge (Psalm 34:8), I mixed manuscript-style writing with cursive, and practiced adding some shading to the cursive. I wasn’t terribly impressed with my results, but I appreciate getting to dwell on the promises as I practice. That’s kinda the whole point.

The verses for days 2 and 3 were back-to-back (Psalm 145:13-14) so I penciled them into the appropriate margin in my Bible. I thought it would be pretty to do them in rose and brown to match my coffee mug. I was disappointed that my brown marker ran out of ink before I finished. I guess I shouldn’t be too frustrated though, as I’ve had that set of markers for about 15 years!

Jeremiah 6:16 is one of my favorite verses. I had already colored (and added to) the pre-printed artwork in my Bible, so I copied the verse (from a different translation) into my notebook, again practicing with shading. I think I need to give up on that style.

The next day I tried adding in a ribbon banner to Isaiah 26:3. That turned out to be easier than I expected. Krystal had provided a tutorial for ribbon banners on her blog.

I went a little free-style with Matthew 11:28. I was happier with the shading on this piece, so maybe I am starting to get the hang of it.

Tried a couple of framing ribbon banners with 2 Corinthians 4:16. I like the way that looks.

Then I decided to get really creative and try a wreath around Galatians 6:9, based on Krystal’s tutorial for wreaths. It was fun to do, but I need more practice.

For Deuteronomy 31:8 I was inspired by the potted mums on the porch. When I showed the picture to Laura she said I “cheated” and embellished that page with stickers. I have done that in the past, but this time? No sireebob! I drew those mums my very own self. Freehand, even. It was super easy. You could do it, too. Wanna see how?

‘kay. Watch.

First, you draw a +. Then add an x to the + to make a *.

Are you with me so far? I did the first row with the asterisk shape in black so you could see what I mean, but you’ll want to actually draw the whole thing in gold (or whatever  color you want your mum to be).

Then draw a spikey shape around each spoke of the asterisk. Don’t be too precise about this. Flowers aren’t precise.

Next, go back around and draw another little wobbly spike up between the original ones. It looks pretty good at this stage, I think, but I like to go back over it some more, drawing shorter spikes out from the center all around to give it more layers and color.

Ta-da!

I haven’t been keeping up doing a verse every day, but I’m sure I’ll do a few more before the month is over.

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