Watercolor Tutorial: Faith Over Fear Layers and Stamping

It seems I have been on a path of facing down fear lately.  Deep rooted fears from my childhood that I did not know existed.  God is cleaning the house of my heart and it is good.

Recognizing that my responses to situations are rooted in fear is the first step to letting the Lord heal places of fear and teach me to move forward with His courage and in His strength.

The Lord doesn’t scold us for being afraid. His grace is abundant!  He knows we are human and He knows every ingredient of our past and the wounds of our heart.  I think where I get into the most trouble is trying to ignore my fears and push through with my own strength.  When I power through on my own, the fear just sits there and festers, waiting to pounce again.   I may have finished the task; but did the fear lose power over me?  Not really.  The root of fear is still there.

What I am discovering is that when I am afraid and run to Him first, He opens His arms and draws us me. He helps me define the fear and put it in the perspective of being His child.   He teaches me to stop, breathe, trust. He gives me truth to replace and heal the root of the fear. So when I move forward, I am moving in Him and not alone.  The fear root loses its grip.

When I saw the new Faith > Fear Bible Journaling Kit from Illustrated Faith, my heart did a little skip.  What a kind and loving Father to give me a creative way to document my current journey with Him!   And it’s an awesome kit to boot!

I decided to do my first journaling in 1 Chronicles 28:20 because it not only addresses Solomon’s fear, but the task He was being called to.  God is there from beginning to end.

²⁰ Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.

Let’s journal truth friends!

I gathered my beginning supplies: Faith > Fear Bible Journaling Kit, Watercolors (I premixed a blue using the Illustrated Faith watercolors and a bit of Antwrep Blue), Paper towels, water, 3/4″ Princeton Select Flat Wash Brush, Journaling Bible.

Since the kit is black and white, I decided I wanted a layered background.  I loaded my brush with the premixed blue (making sure my brush wasn’t too wet) and painted simple downstrokes.  After applying the first layer, I dried my page with a craft heat tool.

Add layers until you are satisfied with the result.  The key, especially in your Journaling Bible, is to dry completely between layers and to keep your brush from getting too wet to avoid reactivating the layers underneath the layer you are working on.

I wanted an additional layer of texture so I decided to add “V” shapes to symbolize wings.  When we fly under His strength, it is a beautiful thing.

I made the “V” shape by simply angling my brush straight down and taping each side of the “V” into place. Continuing in the theme of flying, I grabbed my Seeds of Faith clear stamp set and some acrylic paint to add feathers.

I used a Golden fluid acrylic because I wanted it to be somewhat transparent over the watercolors.  I used my finger to tap the paint onto the stamp.  The effect is a subtle texture.

Now comes the fun — playing with kit pieces.  I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I just moved pieces I liked around to find what resonated with my heart.

One of my favorite ways to end any prayer is “eyes on You Lord” — this simple phrase helps me remember to keep my focus off myself and on His love and sufficiency in every circumstance.

I loved using the circle texture sticker and the heart texture sticker from the kit as the letter “o” in a few spots.   Mixing up alphas is my thing for sure!  It’s kind of like wearing multiple patterns in the same colors LOL.

I kept working with the pieces for the right side of my journal entry and tried out several of the tip-ins.  I decided I wanted more room for stickers so I trimmed down “Be Still and Know”. More stickers and die cut pieces! Washi time! And a clear sticker on the bottom over my arrow “walk humbly”. I used my watercolors to highlight the verse. I love to place stickers so they run off the pages.

One of the coolest things about this kit is you can watercolor the pieces!!!!  I added a bit of color to the die cut “Your Grace is Sufficient” on the top of the right page.

Perfect!

And this journal entry is a wrap.

May God bring healing to all places of fear in your life friends!

As always, tag me on Instagram (@designsbyamybruce) if you play with this kit or any of the techniques I showed you.  I LOVE to see your pages!

Looking for more Bible Journaling resources? Check out our entire selection of journaling Bibles and supplies. And, for more inspiration, view the Bible Journaling category of our devotional library and sign up for our e-newsletter to receive free articles, updates from our Ecard Studio as well as exclusive deals.