Illustrated Faith Creative Team!

I can't believe I'm typing this blog post right now, but it's happening! I was chosen to be on the Illustrated Faith Creative Team! I can't believe it & I've been absolutely floating since I got the email a couple of weeks ago. (& also dying a little because I haven't been able to tell anyone!) After meeting Shanna at a workshop back in September, I knew that God was nudging me to become a bigger part of the bible journaling community. So I applied to be on the 2015/2016 Creative Team for Illustrated Faith & Bella Blvd. 

After hearing how many people applied I was seriously shocked! I mean, how completely wonderfully awesome is it that so many women want to be a part of this awesome movement glorifying the Lord through art!? Answer: BEYOND AWESOME! I love that I live in a world where creative worship is a thing. :)

I've been getting to know my fellow team members & these are some seriously amazing women with so much talent! I can't even tell you how incredible they all are! I really encourage you to go check out everyone's blogs & Instagram accounts because you are going to find more inspiration than you can handle! The fact that I'm allowed to be on a team with them is beyond flattering.

So a bucket list-type dream of mine is being realized today: being a part of a design team for a scrapbooking company. Wow. I know this is a total "God Thing." I know God put me in this place! He's using me to inspire others and I'm going to do the best job that I can for Him! I'm so blessed!

-Elaine

P.S. Be sure to head over to today's Illustrated Faith blog post to enter an awesome giveaway for a complete Genesis Kit! Can you guess which "get-to-know-me" photo is mine!? Come back & tell me which number you think is me! I'd love to see if my readers can guess! They will post the winner of the giveaway tomorrow morning along with full bios of each girl!

Gratitude Documented Devotional

Happy November! Tis the season to be thankful! Well... the season to be thankful is actually EVERY season. But remembering to show gratitude to our friends, strangers, our spouses, family, & God is sometimes one of the things that gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list-- & it's one of the simplest things to do! It's amazing how a little gratitude can affect our lives. Have you ever heard the phrase "Happy people aren't thankful, Thankful people are happy?" There is so much truth to that.

This month, Illustrated Faith has released a devotional kit to be used each day of November leading up to Thanksgiving. It's a plain white fauxdori-sized notebook with simple black prompts at the top of each page. These prompts are meant to be a reminder & point of reflection for all the different things God does for us! This notebook also comes with a clear stamp set with some incredible words & phrases to help illustrate your gratitude as you meditate on each prompt. I'm hopping on board the train this month & am going to be playing along with this thankful challenge.

Today I sat down at my craft table unsure how I wanted to design my cover, so I just chose a color palette & started painting. This is the result & I think I'm in love. I carved a leaf stamp out of a linoleum printmaking block last night. (purchased from Hobby Lobby.) I knew I wanted that to be my focal point above the script words. Since it's autumn and the season of gratitude, I wanted to symbolize the season in some way.

So I used a palette knife & some acrylic paint to scrape some thin layers of color all over the cover. Then I stamped the leaf on with some Staz-On ink. Those little hearts are from the Gratitude Documented Devotional kit stamp set. (The bigger heart that you see is from an old Love, Elsie stamp set from my stash.)

Finally, the "thankful" stamp (from the kit as well) & some of the specks & gold hearts are heat embossed on with some gold embossing powder. I REALLY loved adding the gold touches because I thought it just gave it a really warm & glowing look! Love me some heat embossing! The bottom of the notebook was just begging for some gold washi tape, so I listened. ;) I did have to take my watercolor palette & go over the "wow God" words in black because they were getting lost under all the layers of paint. That ended up working really well. 

On the back of the notebook I opted to go very simple. I heat embossed the same leaf in gold & stamped the same "Wow God" words underneath. I love how the painting from the front makes a colorful little border edge on that back as well! The whole journal was misted with some Heidi Swapp color shine spray ink in Marigold. 

I can't wait to really get going on this book. I know it's going to remind me of all the things in my life that I take for granted. Things that I rely on to just be there. I'm looking forward to making little lists of all the little things I love & are true blessings in my life! It's so rad to think of this notebook being filled up with paper scraps & blessings!

You should totally go get yours & play along with me! There's even a really affordable gratitude printable that goes along with it too! It's a total steal and totally adorable. Can't wait to share more pages with you as I complete them!

Thoughts on Periscope

So have you tried Periscope yet? If you haven't, you need to get on it! (And add me! @kelainedavis) It's a type of video app that enables you to perform live broadcasts & livestream others' videos as well. For those of us that aren't ready to have a full YouTube channel, but still want to do some light filming, this app is GOLD!

Well tonight I tried out my first live broadcast earlier this evening. I did a flip-through of some of my art journals from college. And I have some thoughts both on the app and on my experience. 

Immediate thoughts on my experience broadcasting live:

1. The logistics of the thing are A LOT more difficult than you think. Between holding the camera steady, speaking, keeping everything in frame, watching the comments, & responding to people's questions-- I could have used like 3 more arms.

2. I really really need a goose neck phone trip-pod. Like this one or this one. My birthday's on Saturday, so... *fingers crossed!*

3. I say "um"... like, a LOT. I was afraid to watch it back & turns out for good reason. I watched the first few minutes and I said it like 25 times! My high school speech teacher would be absolutely horrified at the number of times I used it. I was honestly cringing when I watched it. So I really really need to apologize for my lack of speaking skills & I really really need to practice so that the next one is better. hahaha So just know: I'm aware of the problem.

4. This first broadcast was embarrassingly long. Next time will be better. 50 minutes was way too long for the subject matter of that video. Personally I like a nice long video sometimes because I can watch it while working from home. But I can't imagine anyone would want to listen to me talk for that long. haha

Thoughts on using the app itself:

1. If YouTube & Snapchat had a baby, it would be named Periscope.

2. It's SUPER easy to use. I've heard from others on Instagram that they had problems with it shutting off a few minutes in & not broadcasting anything. Luckily that didn't happen to me this time. Everything was really self-explanatory and simple. Basically just click & record! 

3. The auto focusing is kind of horrible. When I zoomed in, it didn't ever focus on what I had zoomed in on. It wasn't fuzzy at a distance, but everything up close wasn't great. 

4. I couldn't figure out how to share my own broadcast. I know how to share someone else's video, but I couldn't figure out how to share my own. (Hence the the lack of direct link to my video.

5. It's both cool & frustrating that the videos are only alive for 24 hours. Just like anything fleeting, you wish it would stick around longer, but then again it also creates a sense of urgency which is always great for social media views!

6. I think it's so rad that the replay video actually shows the comments from the live stream! What a super cool feature! In case you aren't watching it live, it lets you feel like you're still in the loop. 

So those are my thoughts on Periscope! I have lots of ideas for new videos I can do, so PLEASE come follow me for some sa-weet crafty videos! (@kelainedavis) And if you have one, I'd love to know your handle so I can stalk you! ;)

Naptown Planners Halloween Meetup

Hello lovlies! Did you know that I'm an admin for a planner group called Naptown Planners? It's true! It was the brainchild of my good friend Melissa & now it's a legit "thing!" Naptown Planners is a group to connect & inspire planner girls in the Indianapolis, IN metro area. It started out as just me & her, but now our Facebook group has almost 50 members! We figured it was time for us to host our first planner girl meet-up, so this past Sunday (October 18) was a super fun & important day for our group!

We hosted the meet-up at Melissa's beautiful home & decorated the place up for Halloween, which was TONS of fun. Had an excellent turnout of 14 ladies: some that we had met before & a few new faces!

We kicked off the day with some introductions & then turned everyone loose to actually play in their planners! We had girls with every type of planner on the market. I saw Erin Condren, Plum Paper Planners, Kikki K, Kate Spade, Simple Stories, Filofax, bullet journals, fauxdoris, you name it! So cool to see such a variety. Plus we got to ooh & ahh over all the "new babies" that people recently added to their collections! And of course everyone had to touch Amy's new Kate Spade Rose Gold Wellesley. haha I wish I had taken more photos of some of the girls' layouts because they were so cute & creative!

During the course of the event we also hosted an optional swap. Those that wanted to participate brought in a little bag of planner goodies to trade with someone & we drew tickets to exchange them. It's a great way for girls to expand their stash, meet new friends, & try out different brands of products that they wouldn't normally buy. I got some awesome products from the Happie Scrappie planner kit & the Planner Society planner kit in my swap bag which made me feel SO spoiled! :)

We also created 2 different make-n-take crafts during the party. The first one was making planner charm tassels with lobster clasps & embroidery floss. SOOOOO cute! And the second craft was sticker folders to add inside their planners. That one was so useful & functional. Everyone left with some adorable pieces that they can actually use!

One of the majorly incredible aspects of our meet-up were the gift bags. We found some absolutely over-the-moon  sweet & giving shop sponsors that totally blew our minds with their generosity! We wanted to give the attendees of our event some new supplies to play with and we also wanted to support & promote some Etsy shops that we loved. Below are photos of all of the awesome swag that our planner ladies each got to take home with them!

I want to give a HUGE MASSIVE LOVING LONG-DISTANCE HUG to each of the generous sponsors from our event! Please check out these shops & give them some love. Their products are great & so cute! 

October 18th Meet-up Sponsors:
Alexandra Rae Design
Allie Scraps
Bella Rose Paper Co.
Bottled Tea Designs
Craftcake Designs
David's Mommy Designs
Fun Chic Designs
Haley's Handmade Co.
Hello Emma Company
The Ink Road
Let's Make it Sparkle
Oh Hello Stationery Co.
Paper Issues
Peonies Paperie
Piper Pants Sticker Co.
Poppy Print Shop
The Preppy Planner
Rukristin
Stickers by Brie
Sugarloop

At the end of the meet-up we all piled our planners up to see a big stack of the yummy pages we all hold so dear. There's nothing better than a big ole stack of creative planners! Evidence of organized artists everywhere! And these are all the awesome ladies that are so inspiring to us:

What a perfect way to spend a Sunday! Getting inspired by crafty friends and playing with stickers! Naptown Planners will be hosting another meet-up in January! So if you happen to live in the area, please please come join the Facebook group and let us get to know you! The more the merrier! Us nerdy planner girls gotta stick together! ;)

Illustrated Faith Workshop: Lafayette, IN

On Saturday I had the delightful pleasure of attending my first Illustrated Faith Workshop in Lafayette, IN at the Evangelical Covenant Church. I packed up my bible, my faith journal, & some cute supplies & trekked 2 hours north to hear the testimony of the sweet Shanna Noel. Since I attended workshop, the most common question I've been asked is "So how WAS it!?" And the short answer to that is: it was life-changing.

If you haven't been to one of the workshops for this incredible movement, I'll tell you a little about what goes on. There were about 65 of us in attendance & apparently the workshop was completely sold out! (No surprise there!) The workshop was basically broken down into 4 parts: 1. Listening to Shanna's testimony. 2. Listening to a 15 minute sermon via audio. 3. Free time to dive into your bible & illustrate your faith. & 4. Sharing your thoughts & creations with the other students.

As you can imagine, it was absolutely surreal meeting Shanna. She just walked right up to me & started chatting like we were old friends & it was the most casual thing in the world! (I die!) She's so down to Earth and real! I loved talking products with her and showing her my little journal. I can't tell you how awesome she is-- so encouraging and exuberant about everything! Listening to her speak was riveting. Her story is so inspiring because she's just a "normal" girl that climbed the ladder in the scrap industry and she has TOTALLY used the journey to do God's work. Her aim with Illustrated Faith isn't for people to use the products a certain way or fit into a cookie cutter version of what someone believes Bible Journaling "should" look like. She just encourages everyone to grab some paint, & go to town making a mess & talking to Jesus in the process!

Most people do their journaling in an actual journaling bible, but I'm going a different way. The photo above is the faith journal I created for Illustrated Faith using a Simple Stories Sn@p Album. I have NO issues with creating in an actual bible-- in fact I think it's beyond RAD!-- but I just love the bible I have SO much & it has personal significance to me. I've always been a journaler & a mini book-maker so going this route just made sense to me. I want to be able to layer in all sorts of goodness that inspires me to talk to God & just punch holes in anything I find. I want to be able to write 6 pages if I feel moved to & just chuck them in the journal & go. I want thick paper to get really messy with. So here I go!

This is the little "page" I created during the creative portion of the workshop. We listened to an audio sermon on Colossians Chapter 3 & were then turned loose to make something beautiful. I felt moved to use this Simple Stories card from the I Am Collection to talk about being "tailor made" by a saviour! How incredible is that!?

During the creative time, Shanna passed her first journaling bible around the room for us to peek into. It was so special being able to flip through the bible that kind of "started it all"-- the original document that began such a massive movement in Christianity! Needless to say, it was heavy with importance. ;)

There was also a little table of merchandise that Shanna brought with her that was available to buy. I purchased that stamp set pictured above. Everything else in that photo was included in a little goodie bag we received for the event! I'm especially excited for that faith words washi tape! Eeeeeek!

Here are a few of the pages I've created since Saturday just about the workshop and documenting the turning point for myself:

My thoughts on Illustrated Faith as whole are this: what a spectacular way to draw people into the gospel even if they've never been to church a day in their life. This is a way to PROVE to people that there is no right or wrong way to serve the Lord! There's no template you have to follow when spending time with God! You don't have to be sitting in a pew with your hands folded to speak to Christ! Shanna hit the nail on the head by giving creative-minded individuals permission to throw the rule book out the window and just worship right there in your craft room. He will hear you wherever you are. Shanna is SUCH a personal hero & role model of mine & spending creative time with her this past weekend was a dream come true!

If you're interested in getting started with Illustrated Faith, check out the website and just start. You can also comment or email me at kelainedavis @ gmail . com if you have any questions, need help getting started, or just need a prayer. :) I'm happy to chat with all of you!

<3
E

Fauxdori Newbie

Hello world! I can't believe I'm sitting down writing a blog post-- it feels surreal after being away for so long. Where have I been? The short answer is that until recently, my work schedule was so hectic that I didn't have a lot of extra time for blogging. We all know that blogging takes time! But now that my work situation has changed, I'm giving it a real, conscious effort to get back into the swing of things. But that's not what I want to talk about today! Today I wanna talk about my newest DIY project, so let's crack on.

So guess what-- I made myself a Fauxdori! If you're not sure what a Fauxdori is, it's a faux version of a Midori Traveler's Notebook. This video by Cori at The Reset Girl is a really great beginner's guide for newbies like me! I wasn't initially impressed with the concept when I first saw these online, but the more I see people using them, the more I realized the practicality in them. I have a big 8.5" x 11" leather notebook that usually houses all of my creative ideas & "brain dump" but lately I've found that I can't be bothered to drag that around with me in my purse. This means that a lot of valuable ideas have been falling through the cracks. I thought a Fauxdori would be a great alternative way to corral my creative brainstorming while I'm out & about until I can transfer them to my big journal at home.

There are some truly GORGEOUS choices available for purchase on etsy like here, here, & here, but unfortunately my bank account is lacking this week (& I'm an impatient person, so I obviously can't wait til payday). So I decided to take a shot at making my own.

I bought a 1/2 yard or 2 different fabrics, 1 yard of Pellon stabilizer interfacing, & a pack of round cord elastic. I already had rivets, charms, & the supplies for the inserts in my stash. Altogether with sales & coupons, everything cost me about $8.00! Holla!

This was a true blind date with this craft because I've never created one of these before. I couldn't find a decent tutorial that was really helpful on YouTube, so I just looked up the dimensions of a standard Midori insert on etsy and created my own pattern. I'm proud to say that everything turned out really well without incident!

I decided to dress it up by adding a little crystal at the top of the spine and a tassel on the strap. I can swap these out whenever and it gives it a little something extra. :)

Instead of ordering & waiting for raw inserts to come (again-- impatient), I decided to just whip up some of my own with some scrap supplies & copy paper. Then I took the covers to my local Office Depot and got them laminated with 5mil lamination for a little extra stability.

I'm SO excited to start using this little beauty and hoping that my ideas don't get lost anymore! Do you have a Midori or a Fauxdori? I want to see it! Link me up!

Until next time,
E

Products used on inserts: Paper: Echo Park (Creative Agenda- 'Positively'), Studio Calico (Abroad COllection- 'First Class') Colorbök (orange heart pattern), Recollections (graph). Stickers: AC Remarks (black alphas), Heidi Swapp (words), MAMBI (soft spoken), Teresa Collins (black heart), Studio 112 (black tile alphas), Craftcake Designs (lightbulb). Embellishments: Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper (yellow bow clip), Planner Society (bow from July kit), Heidi Swapp for Project Life (card from My Favorite Things), Scotch (gemstone washi), Glitz (triangle washi) We R Memory Keepers (black design washi)

Vacation Album// Manasota Key 2012

As promised, I'm here with layouts from the vacation album I've been working on! I don't disappoint!... usually. haha Well as a warning, this is a photo heavy post because I have a lot of layouts to share! So I hope you enjoy!

Hideaway

Products used: Paper: blue & white cardstock, Colorbök (Friendly Forest photo mats), MAMBI Sheets (green polka dot), kraft, Paper Studio (turtle & fish patchwork) Stickers: AC Thickers (Eclair- cucumber) Embellishments: epoxy dots, K&Co adhesive borders (citronella), K&Co. tag pad, Smash Tabs Stamps & Ink: Smash stamp, StazOn (Jet Black) Other: Sharpie Pen (black), acrylic paint (white)
Beach House

Products used: Paper: K&Co. (Urban Rhapsody), Paper Studio (orange chevron), random paper scraps Embellishments: Colorbök chipboard shapes, Paper Studio brads (Affinity), mT solid washi, Recollections washi (iKat) Stamps & Ink: Love Elsie (Home Sweet Home), Inkadinkadoo clear stamps (Fancy That bottle caps), Stampabilities letters, StazOn (Jet Black) Other: Sharpie Pen (black)
Reginald

Products used: Paper: coral, red, & yellow cardstock, Basic Grey (june bug in strawberry cheesecake), white vellum, Colorbök (Friendly Forest photo mats), Paper Studio (orange chevron) Stickers: AC Thickers (Daiquiri- white) Embellishments: AC mini marks rub-ons (café accents), Colorbök metal rim tags, Jillibean Soup hello wood flag, red baker's twine, pop dots, Fiskars edge punch, Sharpie pen (black)
The Great Shark Hunt

Products used: Paper: blue & green cardstock, orange vellum, Recollections (fish print) Stickers: AC accent & phrase Embellishments:Little Yellow Bicycle cork shapes, Spare Parts fabric brads, Recollections washi (green polka dot), Target washi (orange stripe), DCWV rub ons (summer), staples, Sharpie pen (black) Stamps & Ink: Studio G clouds, Recollections lower case letters, Staz-On (Jet Black)
Beauty in the Ordinary

Products used: Paper: black cardstock, orange vellum, MAMBI Sheets (yellow herringbone) Amy Tan (Ready Set Go- Green Light), random paper scraps Stickers: AC Thickers (Rockabye- white) (Doll- cucumber) Embellishments: K&Co. adhesive borders (citronella), pop dots, Recollections enamel dots, Recollections polaroid photo frame, Uni-Ball Signo pen (white)
Drink

Products used: Paper: Dear Lizzy (Polka Dot Party), forest green cardstock, Studio Calico (Abroad- First Class) Stickers: AC Thickers (chit chat), Sticko (margarita) Embellishments: mT washi (gray stripe), Pink Paislee washi (neon yellow), Heidi Swapp clear banner, Recollections enamel dots, My Mind's Eye enamel dots (Wicked), Recollections wood veneer, Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mist (Aquamarine)
Escape

Products used: Paper: coral, purple, & white cardstock, MAMBI Sheets (green polka dot), Michael's Summer Stack (green sun) Stickers: Sticko (travel labels), Jolee's 3-D (flip flops) Embellishments: Paper Studio bling, epoxy dots, Studio G epoxy brads, Making Memories clips, DCWV rub-ons (summer), MAMBI Pocket Pages card (summer), K&Co. adhesive borders (citronella), My Mind's Eye twine (Lime Twist) Stamps & Ink: Smash stamp, Escape clear stamp (not sure the origin-- Heidi Swapp?), Staz-On ink (Jet Black) Other: Sharpie pen (black), acrylic paint (white)
Sinking

Products used: Paper: Michael's Summer Stack (goldenrod geo), orange vellum Stickers: AC Remarks letters (white) Embellishments: Michael's 3-D flower embellies Stamps & Ink: Smash stamp, Michael's wood mount frame, Staz-On ink (Jet Black)
Document

Products used: Paper: Dear Lizzy (Polka Dot Party), Amy Tangerine (camera), Paper Studio (old white fence), SEI (Girlfriends- Jocelyn), My Mind's Eye 8x8 (The Sweetest Thing- Tangerine) Stickers: AC Thickers (Maple- white), MAMBI Sticks (feathers) Embellishments: Recollections enamel dots, Seventeen magnet, pop dots, Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mist (Primrose), found paper Stamps & Ink: Recollections clear stamp set, Staz-On Ink (Jet Black) Other: Sharpie pen (black)
Me & Ril-O

Products used: Paper: Michael's Summer Stack, white & orange cardstock, Paper Studio orange chevron Stickers: AC Thickers (Eclair- Strawberry) Embellishments: Recollections enamel dots, Recollections hello pennant, Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mist (Mustard), We R Memory Keepers baker's twine, Studio Calico wood veneer hearts, Recollections washi (pink) mT washi (orange) Other: Sharpie pen (black)
*************
I know this post was really long-- thanks for sticking with me! I just thought you might like to take a peek into my current album. I'm hoping to finish up this album in the next month so I can move on to something new! :) You can check out some of my other posts on scrapbooking here!

Thanks for reading!
<3 E