This is a simple and fun way to change up the Hand writing with out tears style of teaching. It is a ziplock bag, sealed with extra layers of clear packing tape to help avoid puncture. Special care was taken on the weak points of the bag, the top and seams.
Make sure to press out all the air before sealing.
This bag was filled with cheap dollar store hair conditioner, blue & red liquid watercolor. Notice the letter cards are secured together with a simple ring after hole punched. It is hard to see, but under the bag is a yellow holographic piece of card stock.
Funny thing: We like to recycle in our classroom, but there is a limit. The first time we tried this, it was older zipper lock bag that we had reused for odds and ends. I only taped the zipper end shut. I did not want to waste a new bag. Ha ha joke was on me, it gave way and I was cleaning up this clever project. So tape, or double on bags.
The paint inside my microwave started to peel off. I’m embarrassed to say that I cleaned it too hard. Moisture must have built up in the bottom of my microwave after cooking potatoes.
While cooking breakfast I noticed a small clump of build up under the tray of the microwave. I had a minute, while I was waiting for the toast to pop, so I tried to clean it.
Look close, very small amount of paint missing.
That was a mistake! I rubbed it too hard and paint came off. I quickly called my husband and asked him, if it was still safe to use. We knew that you can not put metal into the microwave, but this was different. Different internet sources gave us different opinions of saving it and tossing it. I searched for appliance paint on our local hardware website, and found this stuff by Selleys.
Read the instructions, Simple! Paint it, let it dry for one hour.
First coat of paint went on, no problem. Wait an hour. This looks worse. The moisture of the paint must have caused the surround paint to lift up and away from the surface.
Maybe I should have sanded the area? Lots of questions were going through my head. So I tryed sanding the crusted mess of peeling paint.
Hole is bigger now
Bigger Problem Now
Sanding did not work, it was not the problem.
After cleaning the area, I reapplying the paint. I had the same result. More paint lifted and peeled away again. It looked fine at first, paint coverage was good. About 30 minutes into drying time the paint begins to lift up and peel away again.
Paint Still lifting!
Still peeling
I was worried. It felt like an endless cycle making backward progress. After the third time of reapplying and peeling, I changed tactics. The next time I painted, I watched to carefully. When it started to lift away, I pushed it back down with the back of my fingernail. IT WORKED!!! It stayed down. It was not perfect, but it had stopped peeling away with the help of some applied pressure. I continued to watch for bubbles in the surrounding paint & pushed them down.
Four coats of paint
Each coat of paint was given a full hour to dry, to make sure they did not peel away. I wasted my day, watching paint dry, but my microwave was fixed. I did not have to replace it. There where no sparks inside when we turned it on for it’s test run.
It might not have needed the extra coats of paint but I wanted to make sure that in was fully sealed.
In hind sight, I clean the outside of the microwave and the tray a lot. I usually do not lift the tray and clean under. Moisture is created in the microwave when I cook potatoes and stream other veggies. Now I know to look closer under the tray for condensation build up.
I hope this helps you. It was a first for me in our new apartment with a microwave that was barely a year old.
I was so excited to creat this page. This was one of the first larger images that I created in the limited open space of my bible. The sample page turned out great. I will be a nicecard for someone special.
The paper was not the same weight as the book, and I think that was part of the difference. I should have sealed the page first. I tested a homemade sealer before on a diffrent page & it was lumpy, the textured was bad. So I skipped page prep! I did not want to buy sealer.
Back Page Opps!
This is the back of the page. You can see that the blue, & pink color bleed through to the back. The ink, also bleed through and that really surprised me.
On the test page I sketched with a pencil, painted and let it dry before adding the ink over the dry picture. In my bible I forgot the process that worked and I traced the pencil work with ink before I painted. That might be why the ink bleed through. I need to be more careful now that I am adding the element of water to my art journaling.
This was another learning curve for me. I hope it helps you, but does not scare you away from art journaling.
The bible that I am using is the cheapest NIV Gift and Awards Bible. The pages are tan/off white medium weight. It is a fine Bible, it has served me well over the years.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 New International Version (NIV)
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 New King James Version (NKJV)
Comparing the Two Translation
I enjoy comparing the different translations of the bible. The KJV is a little hard for me to read with the old english, but I find the NKJVmuch easier to read.
Most of the verses that I have memorized are from the NIV. Now when I go back and read the NKJV, some of the differences jump out to me and it heightens my studying. It is alway fun to see what words pop out at me and bring the verse into a new view.
This art journaling page was made with water soluble wax pastels. I was super excited to try them out in my bible. The front looks fine but the back of the page has issues. Read more about that Here.
In the NIV, the words used here is overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The word abound is used in the NKJV, so I looked up the difference between overflow & abound.
From Vines Expository Dictionary, the word abound directs us to: abundance. Coming from a root word that means “remain, left over” & “abundance, plenty” or “excess” in the old testament. In the new testament, I reading “more abundantly” “all the more,” “far more.”
I like the word overflowing, it creates a nice visual picture, specially placed right after the “fill you”. It is nice to think of God pouring out “filling you” to “overflow” ( excess, far more).
Renn, S. D. (2005). Expository dictionary of the Bible words: word studies for key English Bible words. Peabody: Hendrickson , Inc.,pg 8 & 9.#3498,#4054,#4056.
and his throne endure before me like the sun; 37 it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”
This beautiful word picture is tucked into a very long psalm, I don’t want to miss out on it. Another wonderful reminded of the Constance & longevity of his promise. His throne is Enduring like the sun.
The Sun
The sun is in our daily lives, before we even knew it was there. It is the center of our solar system. With out the vitamin D that it provides we would sink into depression. That is true about God too, He is alway there before we even knew He was there.
The Moon
The moon, forever there continually part of our solar system. The phases of the moon change, but it is alway there, even when we do not see it. A faithful witness, that always returns ever night. What a wonderful image to hold on to.
The term to “witness” is one who bears testimony to a significant event of transaction. (a) Witness is used many times in the bible. There are lots of symbolic witnesses which could be a interesting comparative study for another time.
Renn, S. D. (2005). Expository dictionary of the Bible words: word studies for key English Bible words. Peabody: Hendrickson , Inc.. Pg. 1052,
scripture quote from:
Biblegatway.com . (n.d.). Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://www.biblegatway.com/
3The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty.
Ps 93:3-4
I created with page using my fish stamp and used color pencils. It looked fine. The text was written in the waves. Later, I was flipping through my bible and I decided to punch it up with some blue water soluble pastels. Opps!
Blue is the only color that bleed through. I should have prepare the page with sealer, but this page started at as colored pencils only.
So, this is the back.
Not bad, but I want to test fixing it.
The first layer of acrylic paint, it did not cover completely. It took about 4 or 5 light coats of paint.
Kids still love books. It is the cutest thing to see young children sitting together looking at a book. In this day and age with all our wonderful electronic gadgets, I find it amazing that kids still love books. Yes, more and more I see our youth & adults huddled together over a glowing electronic screen, but when I see them gathered together over a book now, I stop to take notice.
Kids will mimic what is modeled
The first time this really stood out to me was with my own kids. The house was quite, I was cooking dinner and I went looking for my two boys. To my surprise, I found them each quietly sitting in their own beds in their shared room, flipping through the pages of book. How could this be? They can’t read. These two little guys could barely talk. Of course they were only looking at the pictures, but they could have done that in the living room. The fact that they took the books to the bedroom and sat up right in their beds to flip through the pages could only be because modeling. Their dad is huge reader. He always has been. After a few years of watching him always reading in bed, they started to do it too. I thought it was the cutest thing.
Kids are like sponges
It was a great reminder to me that kids are sponges and they will pick up what they see and hear even when we don’t notice that they are soaking it in. This was also a big push for me to start taking them to the library for books. Most libraries are free, just watch out for those overdue fees. Luckily they send me emails to remind me my books are almost due back, and I can renew the book online if need be. I found myself picking more books up and reading too. It was good for the whole family.
I still see it in the classroom today, kids love to sit together are look at books. If they can get an adult to read to them, they all pile around for it. It is a beautiful thing. Having parent helper in the classroom to read with the kids is a huge blessing. There are so many great books to read.
One of my favorite things to do is to let my puppet friend bring a book to class. I hid the book and the puppet in a special place and when it is time for the story, I ask the puppet what kind of book he has brought for us today. I always thank the puppet for sharing the book. He can be a great tool for modeling polite conversation and love of reading. The kids look forward to seeing the puppet & the book that he brings is special to them.
Now it is ready for more journaling.
