Bible Journaling Supplies {The Ultimate Guide!!!}

I’ve been on a bible journaling kick for awhile now, and I’ve finally got enough pages behind me now to recommend some bible journaling supplies and know what I’m talking about ;-). (You know, plus, I’m an artist, so I actually know stuff about art supplies…)

 

Essential Bible Journaling Supplies

A Beginner’s List of Bible Journaling Supplies:

  • You need a Catholic Bible Journal first, of course
  • Pencil (just a regular one) 😉
  • Eraser (a soft, white eraser)
  • Black Pen (recommendations below)
  • Colored Pencils (recommendations below)

This page below was created with just these simple supplies from the list above, and it has been my most popular bible journaling page on social media by far.

bible journaling- quiver full

The rest is all icing-on-the-bible-journaling-cake, so don’t sweat it if it’s not in the budget! I have ordered this post starting with the things you need the most, and ending with the least essential supplies. This way, if you’re operating on a budget, you’ll know where to start. 😉

Black Outline Pens

I wholeheartedly recommend this set of black Faber-Castell pens! (Here’s a smaller set if you’re operating on a tight budget.) I love mine, and it comes with a large variety of black tips. The brush tip is my favorite, but I love them all. And it’s so great to be able to select a smaller pen for detail work, or a wider pen for bolder strokes. I have not regretted this purchase. I put some washi tape around the bottom of mine to help me be able to easily grab the tip I want without having to read the marker.

bible journaling supplies- best black pens

You can see on the page below I used a variety of these markers- from thin tips, to thicker tips, to the brush tip at the bottom. (The brush tips are what allow you to create the lines that get thicker and thinner. I like to use this when writing in cursive- so pretty!)

bible journaling- pray for one another- chevron

Do the black pens bleed through bible paper? The skinny ones really don’t, but the very bold ones do show up a bit. The picture below shows the front and back of this page so you can see the bleed through. I do not let it bother me.

bible journaling- faber castell marker bleed through

I did try the micron pens that everyone recommends, but I highly prefer my faber castell set. I gave the micron pen to a friend. I will say, however, that the micron pens did not bleed so that’s good. You can see an example of their bleed through below.

bible journaling supplies- micron pen bleed through

I used a black scrapbooking pen on my first pages (too impatient to wait for my special pens to show up in the mail) but it bled through pretty bad. In fact, I think it bled through more as some time passed. So when I wanted to journal the page behind it, I painted over the bleed through with cheap white acrylic paint.

bible journaling- bleed through fix

Colored Pencils

I am extremely partial to my Prismacolor colored pencils, but I’ll admit to having a bias due to being an artist. I love how smooth they are, how they’re easy to blend, and how much you can saturate the paper with them. Shoot- I even love the smell!

bible journaling- love is patient love never fails

However, I saw the twistable Crayola colored pencils recommended a lot for Bible journaling, so I got a set for Lydia with her bible journal, and they’re quite beautiful and work well. Plus they don’t have to be sharpened, so that’s awesome. If you’re not a colored pencil connoisseur, these will serve you well. And I looked into it- all of Crayola’s colored pencils are acid free, so no worries using them in your bible. You can see that Lydia has good saturation here, and even accomplished some blending.

bible journaling supplies- twistable colored pencils

Do the colored pencils bleed through bible paper? No. Colored pencils aren’t going to show through to the next page. Although if you’re bearing down too hard, colored pencils can make a dent through to the other side of the paper.

Gelatos

My most favoritest bible journaling supply ever are Faber Castell gelatos! You do not need these, but man are they fun!

bible journaling- be strong and courageous joshua

What I love about gelatos:

  • They’re quick and easy to use for background colors
  • They’re easy to blend, even for the non-artist
  • They’re permanent once dry
  • They dry with a very smooth texture- almost like they were actually printed in the book (better than the chalky feel of a dry watercolor paint)
  • They make a surface over the paper so that when you draw over them with things that would ordinarily bleed through, they don’t bleed through. (The only thing I had bleed through a gelato covered surface was a sharpie marker, and even then, just barely)
  • They can paint like watercolors when you add water
  • You can totally read through them, so it doesn’t compromise the text of your bible
  • They’re a very fast and easy way to put down color, unlike colored pencils that can take a very long time to fill large areas

bible journaling- count it all joy

I recommend starting with the pastels pack. Lighter colors are more forgiving for the beginner, and you’ll be able to read through them without problems. Next I got the bright color set, and the metallics. (Lol- I told you I love these things!)

bible journaling- john 3 16

Do gelatos bleed through bible paper? Not at all. And as mentioned above, when other supplies are drawn over them, those don’t bleed through either because the gelatos act as a shield.

bible journaling supplies- gelato bleed through

bible journaling- his banner over me is love song of solomon

Cute Tabs

After creating a beautiful page, you’ll want to tag it so you can visit it any time you like. I didn’t think I would do this, but after creating a few pages and not being able to remember/find them, I started tabbing them. Most bible journalers I’ve see make their own custom tabs for each page, which is super cute! I, however, made cute crafty tags for the books of the bible, so I just mark my journaled pages at the top with these simple post-it tags.

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bible journaling- tabs
The bible tabs I made are printable if you’re interested. 😉

cute bible tabs for journaling bible

White Gel Pens

These white gel pens can have some very beautiful effects! I was expecting to be disappointed with them (remembering my gel pens in middle school and how they were never capable of laying down consistent ink) but these actually work very well! They color over almost anything with ease. Gelatos do have to be thoroughly dry before the gel pen can be used over them, but it still works.

bible journaling supplies- white get pen

I have also found myself using this white gel pen as “white out” to fix small mistakes I make. Very handy.

bibie journaling- the good shepherd

Does the gel pen bleed? Not at all!

bible journaling- he gives the stars their names

Watercolor Paints

So now that I’ve discovered gelatos, I rarely use watercolors in my bible anymore. But. I’m including them on this list because while it’s not likely that you have gelatos laying around your house, you probably do have some watercolors, and they can be a great way to add some color to your pages.

bible journaling- catholic holy spirit pentecost

You don’t need to be an artist to use them. Here’s a page my non-artist friend did with a black pen and her kid’s watercolors.

non artist bible journaling- come lord jesus amen

I like to put a freezer baggie behind my bible page before watercoloring to keep the other pages from getting wet. Then paint with your watercolors. While the page is wet, it will be very fragile, so don’t disturb it again until it’s fully dry. If it wrinkles up while drying, you can place a piece of computer paper over the page, and then iron it flat with your regular iron (no steam).

Washi Tape

This is a fun and easy way to add splashed of color and whimsy to your pages, but is a totally unnecessary supply. I love that it can be peeled back up without damaging the page if the placement wasn’t right the first time.

bible journaling- with washi tape- grace is all you need

Of course, washi tape can also help you attach things into your bible.

bible journaling- adding hymns with vellum and washi tape

Brush Tip Markers

I loved the black brush tip marker so much that I started experimenting with these colorful brush tip markers (which are actually Lydia’s- lol). All the bible journaling pages I see online have black outlines, and I’m not sure why. I like using the colorful markers because it can go over the text of the bible and still be read through. Another unnecessary supply, but still fun.

bible journaling- children of God through faith

Do the colorful markers bleed through? Well, yes they do. But not that bad. You could clear gesso first if you’re really concerned.

bible journaling- brush marker bleed through

Highlighters

So everyone seems obsessed with recommending highlighters for bible journaling, but I’ve put them at the bottom of my list for a reason. They’re very neon bright compared to everything else I put on my page, and they seem to stick out like a sore thumb.

I’ve found that I highly prefer to use whatever supplies I am using to journal that page with to do my “highlighting”. So if I’m coloring with colored pencils, I color over the verses with yellow colored pencil. Or another color of colored pencil. Or I might make a box outline around the verses with my black pen. Or you can color the whole page, and leave just the passage you’re highlighting the white of the paper. I’ve “highlighted” with gelatos, markers, and watercolors too. I just don’t see the need for a pack of highlighters. I recommend for you to match your “highlighting” to the style of your page.

Everyone else seemed to recommend these highlighters, which I ordered, and didn’t like. Did they bleed? Not really, but you can see the color a little bit.

bible journaling supplies- highlighter bleed through

I’m going to conclude by saying… don’t worry so much about the bleeding! The journaling bible is supposed to be beautiful and artsy- not perfect. And if it bleeds through and you really want to journal the page behind it in the future, you can paint over it with white paint. Voila- white canvas. And I’ve actually seen where bible journalers do this regularly. If you’re still worried about it, clear gesso painted over the page before you begin can stop bleeding in its tracks. 😉

PS. We’re raising baby chicks!!! And you know what they say… chickens are the gateway drug of farming! 😉 This is the page from above that had such bad bleed-through. The white paint made it all better!

bible journaling- birds don't worry

You can find all of my bible journaling posts here. And all the product links in this post are affiliate links, which help maintain the costs of running this site. Thanks for supporting Catholic Icing! <3

You can find all of my Art supply buying guides here!

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for this! I’m always scared to start something like this – grateful for your trial and error to make it a little easier to step out. I think this is something my newly teenage daughter would love as well. What a wonderful way to worship and pay tribute to the Master Artist!

  2. You mentioned that your daughter journals too. I really want to take the summer to do bible study with my 2 older kids. Do you recommend a kids bible or not? My daughter would love journaling too!

  3. Wow. What more could anyone starting out want to know? Thank you so much for all this info in one place!!!

  4. I don’t do Bible journaling (despite being an artist!), but I really like your idea of using Post-it flags to mark particular passages.

  5. I just purchased the Inspire Bible and am very impressed with it. Very anxious to get started on Bible Journaling. Thanks so much for your tips.

  6. Thanks for this post. Super helpful. I had a quick question. When you use the gelatos, how long before they are “dry”. I tried them and then tried to write over with the Pitt artist pens and the pen wouldn’t write. I kept having to scribble on something else and write a little at a time. It was like the gelato was getting on the pen and stopping the ink. Any ideas on correcting this? Thank you in advance. I really love the gelato effect and I love my Pitt artist pens too but this was my first time trying it together.

  7. Awesome, very helpful! You are very talented, beautiful work. Thanks

  8. Betsy Adair says

    Thanks the information was much needed for me

  9. So I have a question, so what highlighter won’t bleed through my bible? I’m trying to highlight my bible but I worry that it might bleed through it.

  10. I ordered the Bible tabs and haven’t received a download link.

    • Hi Nina,

      Can you please check your email to see if you can find any from us (including your spam or junk folder)? It looks like we’ve sent you emails on February 12th (one email), two on February 14th, and one on February 23rd. I also just forwarded an email to you as well as sent another that I wrote and told the system to send your order email again. For whatever reason – it seems like our emails aren’t getting through to you, so I’m hoping you’ll see this here, in case you don’t get any of the emails from today.

      Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager

  11. Bernadette Nelson says

    Thank you for this comprehensive list. I am just beginning to Bible journal. I recently won a journalling Bible and haven’t done anything in it yet. I’m a little nervous. I’m looking forward to checking out your recommendations.