"They" will never know it's a Bible!

In countries all around the world, Bibles are being taken away from people.  Have you ever thought that it might happen here one day?  I decided to camouflage an old Bible and I don't think anyone will ever suspect it's a Bible (well, unless they started to read the contents!

Found an old 1901 American Standard Version on ebay.  It's my preference.  A better translation than the KJV.

But it was in bad shape.

You can see that the signatures are coming apart.  Now, if you know how to build signatures, you can repair them....just rebuild them.  My problem is that this paper was printed in 1901....and the paper is really fragile.

and the thread they used in the signatures were very, very fine.  So you can see here how they are broken.

I used fine silk thread to rebuild the signatures....carefully pulling through pre-existing holes.  It worked!

I then covered the book with leather book liner.  This is very, very thin leather usually used for the inside of a book.  It is too thin to be tooled, but it can be distressed.  The leather is usually a very pale shade of pink.

I used a scrap of leather to decide what shade of alcohol ink to use to get the shade I wanted.  I settled on a mix of Caramel and Butterscotch.  Have you ever mixed alcohol inks?  I used a makeup sponge to apply the ink to the leather.  I love the distress look I got.

 Inside the front, I covered the title page with sheet music and added a coordinating library card

This is inside the back cover

This is the first page you see.  Nothing saying it's a Bible

But it gets better!  I was at a thrift store and found this bag.  It is buttery soft leather - oh so yummy!  I don't know if this was used to carry arrows or what, but it was too great to resist!  I fell in love with the twisted, beaded fringe down the side.

And of course....I cut into it!  GASP!!!

Punched holes across the bottom, rethreaded them, and turned it into a book bag for the Bible.  

If you saw this would you even suspect there's a Bible inside?  Great to take camping as well.

I used a bit of the leftover scraps from the bag to create a cool front for the Bible.  You can see the distressed leather, how the tongs tie around the Bible and loop into a Buffalo head nickel button.

Finally, I used distress ink to ink the edges - they were sort of red and now they're more brown

I have a total of $18 in the bag and Bible.  It took about 4 hours to cover the Bible and make the bag.  Not too bad for a Sunday afternoon.  Give it some thought - I think it's a really great idea to camouflage a Bible.  Just in case!

My first Bible

Isn't it amazing the things we keep? Now why on earth did I keep this? Given to me at school in 1961....but it's just one of those things I cannot throw away. Why? Well, I remember the excitement and anticipation of waiting for this Bible. It was like you were getting "promoted".....the adults trusted you with a Bible....it was your very own....you had to take care of it....it was a passing of age. And I remember waiting anxiously for that day to arrive....when they handed out our Bibles in school.



So rather than keep it tucked away in a box, I decided I wanted to add it to my wall of art. Is this wall ever going to be done? LOL! Well, all I can say is that I am having a great time pulling out things that have special meaning....that I think will inspire me to create even better art....and that will be a joy for others who come to visit.


I took apart a clear acrylic frame, made a new back using chipboard.  The little angel is a Lenox ornament and she fit just inside the Gideon Seal - so the gold sort of looks like a halo. 

And then I made a little sign with the inscription that I had written on the front page  inside the Bible.  It must have been important because I even put down the date that I got this Bible!


It is old, worn, and falling apart.  So I must have read it a lot.  I remember taking it to school with me every day for the rest of that year.  How fun to take something so precious from my past and add it to a wall that I will look at every day.  My wall of ART - you're going to want to make one for yourself!!!

Trust in Him

The final letter is "T", so of course, I have been working on the word "ART" for my wall of art. And I picked the word "trust" for this letter.



Trust unto Jehovah with all thy heart, And unto thine own understanding lean not. In all thy ways know thou Him, And He doth make straight thy paths.

You know, it's been the times that I failed to acknowledge Him that my path went a bit haywire!

And in the center of the T, I used the flourishes to make a Shin (well, sort of!)...remember that?


I love what you can do by adding brown and blue ink....along with the white pen.  The options are just endless!

So here you have it - my 3 letters for my wall of art are ART.  

And with great personal meaning.  Adonia, Rejoice, Trust.  Rejoice daily in what He has given me.  Trust in him every second of the way.  

With these 3 letters, I have created ART.

Rejoice in something every single day!

I picked the word "rejoice" for my letter "R". The word appears 192 times in 183 verses in the King James Version of the Bible. Most of the verses are action verbs - as in a "commandment" to us to rejoice.



I liked Psalms 90:14 because It reads, "O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." In Young's concordance, it is translated: Satisfy us at morn [with] Thy kindness, And we sing and rejoice all our days.

I really do try to find something that makes me happy every single day, something that I can rejoice in. I believe with all my heart that a positive outlook on life will keep us healthy. That humor heals all. And I also believe that laughter is infectious!



How often do you wake up grumpy and start complaining and then turn everyone around you into a total frump? I know I can do it when I want - trust me....it really works. On the other hand, there are days when it is a huge effort to turn myself into a happy person and try to infect those around me. Now that I'm retired....I'm doing a much better job! LOL!



For this letter, I used some wood flourishes and on half of them, I added Art Glitter over paint and on the other half I just put glossy accents over paint. I like the difference. It's a most simplistic letter......but it can be the simplest things in life that bring us the most to rejoice about!

What's your name?

I was born Jennifer. But have used the nicknames Jenny, Jen and JLo. But that's really the only names I answer to. OK, when I was a kid, my classmates also took my last name "Moore" and would call me "Lawnmoore" or "Moorehead" - oh! weren't we just horrible kids??? LOL!!! I know that in Spanish, my name is Juanita. But if someone yelled out "Hi Juanita!" - I'd ignore them as I don't "hear" that as my name.

I'm sure you are the same! If you are Susan, you would answer to Sue, Susie, Suzanne.....but would you answer to Sally? or Sherry? Or Cindy? Probably not.

One of my earliest childhood questions was, "How did Jesus get his name?" I think at a very young age, I knew that English was a different language from what the Bible was originally written in. I remember being told that the New Testament was written in Greek and that Christ came from Christos which was the Greek translation of His name. But no one ever said what His name was in the original text.

Which leads me back to my first paragraph. If I don't recognize my own name in a foreign language.....why would we expect Him to recognize His name in English??? When I pray....am I calling upon the "wrong" name?

And here's another thought. If Budda is Budda in Hindu, English, Spanish....why did His name change when language changed?

Muhammed's name in Arabic, English, and every other language remains Muhammed. In fact, every single "god", "Prophet" or "holy man" from every religion retains their name in every language EXCEPT for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Is it because someone is attmpting to hide his name? Acts 2:21 "whoever calls on the name of Adonai will be saved."




Yes, Adonai is the name of Yeshua.....the "real" name for the son of God. Why did these names get changed with the Greek and then the English translations?



Jesus is supposedly the English translation of the Greek word Ieosus which is a translation of the Hebrew Yeshua. Iesous is pronounced "E-A-Zoos". Hmmm....isn't that a little too close to the term "Zeus"? Would this have been a means of keeping the Greeks from coming to know the true Messiah?



And if you google language, you will see that the letter "J" was not even introduced into the English language until the 1400s. OK, I think this is all the proof that I need that many translators are actually working to take those who read the Bible away from the truth....not closer to it!



I pray to Yeshua. But I write the letters God and Jesus.....because that's what we have come to recognize traditionally as the names applying to Jehovah and the Messiah. Just give it some thought....if you call me Juanita....I won't answer. If you call Him Jesus...will He answer?

I love these 12" letters - perfect for ART on the wall!!!