Living Life: Hour By Hour: Review: Ellie Claire Journals

Journaling is something I have struggled with to do consistently. I also don't consider myself a good artist, but I do enjoy drawing little designs on my papers. Even back in school I remember having pages of little designs that I found myself drawing when I was bored in class! I was recently blessed with these beautiful Ellie Claire art journals from Worthy Publishing. I'll be honest that typically when I have journaled I've just used a spiral notebook because it was cheap. When the box arrived I had NO idea what was in it. It seemed too big for anything that I was expecting. When I opened it up I realized why the large box. These books were so beautiful that such care was taken in the packaging as to not have them damaged in shipping! There was even a heavy card stock type paper in between each book, so they weren't rubbing against the other. In the book were Faith & Lettering Journal, The Illustrated Word and Illuminate your Story Journal

I jumped into the Faith & Lettering journal first. I liked the very first page because you could "present" it to a beautiful lady in your life and she could have some fun journaling through scripture. I then read the introduction to have an idea how to best use the journal. I decided to jump right in and work on trying my hand at copying Ezekiel 36:26. I liked that the script was written out and then I had four sections to practice. As I moved through the book I found I really liked the way the book was bound. It was done in such a way that the book lay as I needed it to for writing, but the spine wasn't damaged in anyway. The spine also has the title of the book as any other book would have, so if you stack these on your shelves you'll know just what you are looking for. The Faith & Lettering Journal also has an elastic band on the spine to keep a pen handy. There are plenty of pages to journal your own thoughts, journal based on specific scripture verses that were given or just practice writing in a fancier way then you normally would.

I next delved into The Illustrated Word Journal. The front cover looked "old" to me, like a treasure found on a bookshelf from long ago! It has the title as well on the spine, so it's easily found on your shelf. It is also bound in the way that allows it to easily open for for writing without breaking the spine. The verse on the very first page says it all! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. 1 Chronicles 16:34 This book contains 40 illustrations to color as well as full-color illustrations from the archives of the Museum of the Bible. We are now able to bring our scripture journals to a new level just as monks brought scripture to live in the past.

On One side of the page is the above illustration with a full page for journaling. Below is the other side of the page for you to color yourself.

Last, but most definitely not least is the Illuminate Your Story Journal. This actually was my favorite of the three books I received. I really love the color of the spine as well as it has the pen holder on the spine, an elastic band to keep the book closed and a bookmark. There is also a little envelope on the very back for "treasures" that you might want to keep! Illuminated manuscripts came from using gold or silver leave decorations within the texts that illuminated when the light caught them. I've always admired the history books that we've read that have the beautifully illustrated letter to start the book or chapter. It's like I could see in my mind the person that spent so much time and effort to make that one letter so beautiful. In the beginning there is a wonderful introduction with a history of illuminated letters. I think the Insular and Romanesque styles were my favorite, but the Gothic was right there with them. It was nice to read the history of the different styles. There is a supply list as well as a section on how to use the journal. I didn't have any fancy pens or markers, so I did all my work in colored pencil. I do plan to get some pens because I see how the colored pencils left it a little flat and they just didn't pop like they could have with the use of pens. I figured I'd start out at the beginning of the book with the first letter, the letter A. This book is filled with letters, borders, animals, flowers etc. Everything you need to journal beautifully.

I've basically been choosing a different one of these three journals to use while I do my quiet time. It's a nice way to read and expand on scripture. Some of the illustrations are so beautiful you could easily take them out and frame them to enjoy. There are just so many ways that you could use any of these books. You can follow their style which is actually the way I enjoy using it. I'm not as creative as I used to be when I was younger, so when the section wants us to create our own I just stick to drawing what I was shown. The nice thing about these journals is that you are free to use them any way you'd like. The quality is so nice, that they are wonderful for gifts. The covers are beautiful, the paper quality is nice and thick and honestly just looking at them puts a smile on my face! These Ellie Claire Journals are available at Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble.

FAITH & LETTERING