Just Wedeminute: Ellie Claire Art Journals

Today, I'll be reviewing these three gorgeous art, lettering and coloring journals from Ellie Claire. I was thrilled when these arrived because I've recently wanted to start learning how to do lettering. I almost bought several lettering books but just haven't found the right one yet. Cue in Ellie Claire, I'm kind of a perfectionist so just getting started makes me want to break out in hives or have a panic attack because I know my lettering won't be perfect to start with. Do any of you feel the same way? Well, we're in this together now and I'm jumping in with both feet...actually both hands.

Illuminate Your Story Journal

DESCRIPTION:

Learn to create your own beautiful illuminated letters with this how-to journal.

Use the almost-lost art of illuminating letters to enhance your writing, Bible journaling, or sermon note-taking. Rich illustrated manuscripts in the Museum of the Bible’s collection inspired these gorgeous letters. Easy to follow instructions, practice pages, and encouragements guide you through the creation of amazing start letters, flourishes, and more.

I started off with the smaller 6x8 journal called Illuminate Your Story Journal. It's a creamy white with teal accents and beautiful finishes including a place to hold your pen, an elastic band to keep your journal shut when you're not using it, a bookmark, foil lettering and a Keepsakes pocket.

Each page has been beautifully illustrated with color as well as black and white with ample space to practice. As you can tell I'm definitely a newbie at this but practice makes perfect so I'll keep practicing everyday until I'm better. One issue I had was that my journal would not lay totally flat and I did find that to be a problem when trying to practice. I'm sure the more I do it the easier it will be to get around that little hump in the middle of the book. I did really like that there are many different styles or fonts to practice for each letter.

Included are animals and different swirls and embellishments.

Many inspiring quotes are sprinkled throughout the entire journal. This is one of my favorites from Abraham Lincoln.

One thing I really liked about all three journals was how thick the pages were. I used many different types of pens, markers and colored pencils and the only one that bled through a little bit was the sharpie marker.

If you look closely you can see that the Sharpie did bleed through slightly but hey it's a Sharpie! I was really please that some of my favorite journaling pens did not bleed through at all.

Next up is the Illustrated Word-an illuminated Bible Coloring Journal

The Illustrated Word

DESCRIPTION:

Create your own masterpiece with this journal that has forty glorious illustrations from ancient manuscripts that have been recreated as line drawings. Just as medieval monks brought Scripture to life through intricate inked illustrations in handwritten manuscripts hundreds of years ago, you can now create your own stunning keepsake that will be treasured for years to come.

This coloring journal was so captivating and piqued my kids interest since we've been study art history in homeschool this year. They poured over this journal and started looking up everything they could about the different illustrations. We learned quite a bit about the Old Parchment Esther Scroll and the Hours and Psalter of Elizabeth de Bohun among many other parchments and art.

What I loved was the smaller picture and then the large illustration that we could color right next to it and scriptures pages were included.

The pages are still very thick and did not bleed through at all when I used paint, markers, crayons and colored pencils. I did not try a sharpie on these pages but it's the same weight of paper so I assume there might be some bleeding if sharpies were used.

Last but not least the Faith & Lettering Journal

Faith & Lettering Journal

DESCRIPTION:

New from professional letterer Krystal Whitten! With guides, instructions, and tutorials, this is a fun and inspiring way to create beauty with words. It is the perfect place for journalers to practice Bible journaling, lettering quotes and verses, or decorating a page with original thoughts and plans. Exploring your God-given creativity has never been so rewarding.

OK this was what I've been looking for! I need help learning how to do fancy or fun lettering and like I previously said, "I"m a perfectionist." So that makes me not even want to get started because I know I'll be messing up a bunch.

Guess what??? There's a begin here section and then a trace section and then your turn section and then practice, practice, practice.

It's really EXACTLY what I needed! The begin here I went over with pencil several times just to get the hang of it and then I grabbed a marker and started tracing and yes I will be moving on to the practice part today, I promise. The pages are still very thick and did not bleed through at all when I used markers, and colored pencils. I did not try a sharpie on these pages but it's the same paper weight as the other 2 journals. I assume there might be some bleeding if sharpies were used. There's also a pen loop on this journal. Go grab one or all of them and get started! Links will take you directly to the Worthy Publishing pages where you can learn more or follow links to purchase all of the journals.