Faith Journal Tutorial

This is a place for the girls to journal their faith as they choose- prayer journals, memory verses, drawings, perhaps a list of blessings.  Inspiration comes from Ann's lovely journaling- see Holy Experience. Scroll down her page for more examples.

 Here is how we made ours:

Supplies:

• small notebooks (we used these)
• grosgrain ribbon, pre-cut to desired size
• fabric glue
• decoupage medium (we used Mod Podge, but I hear that a recipe of 3 parts glue, 1 part water works fine)
• containers/paper plates to hold decoupage medium
• color copies of images (we pre-cut ours to save time- see end of post for the clip art we used)
• scissors (if girls are cutting their own images)

If girls are cutting out their own images, cut first, and set them aside in a safe spot.

Place notebook on table with covers out to each side, with the binding in the middle (see picture below).
*Be sure that the front cover is on the right side and the back cover is on the left!

Lay ribbon on notebook with one end against the binding.
Starting at the edge of the notebook, run a bead of glue to the end of the ribbon.

(That's a nifty little trick so they won't glue the entire length of their ribbons.)

 Carefully flip ribbon over and press gently to notebook. 

Hold and count to ten.

Repeat on other side: glue from notebook edge to binding, flip, press, count.

 A good next step is to arrange the images on the front and back of the notebook, then place the arranged pictures on the table.   This makes it easier than composing on the sticky cover.

(Sorry, no photo :-( )

Cover the entire front cover with decoupage medium-
including ribbon.
(be sure the notebook isn't upside down!)

Use enough medium to stick pictures on,
not so much to create pools o'glue.

Place pictures on surface of cover,
with no images hanging off the edges.
Smooth each so that there are no bubbles, wrinkles,
or curled-up corners.

(Sorry- one pic shows painting the front cover, the next shows images placed on the back...
I didn't want to take another picture, so y'all work with me here:
Paint the front, put pics on the front.
Smooth the bubbles, crinkles, and corners.
Kindly ignore the speck in the lower corner too.)

Repeat for back cover:
Paint cover, place images, smooth.

Decoupage over all pictures. 

Use enough to cover pictures with a milky film, not so much as to leave puddles or ooze into the binding.

Look for peeling corners, and add a little glue or decoupage medium beneath those spots.

Hold down and count to ten.

Allow drying time- we were surprised that our "gluiest" notebook took no longer than 15 min. to dry. 

An idea: bring shoebox lids or paper plates to send home sticky notebooks, just in case.

  A fun option would be to create a sunflower pen to accompany the faith journal.


Faith Journal Clip Art