365 Devotional Journals from Ellie Claire

I just love this time of the year. It's the ending of one calendar year and the beginning of a new one. I don't know what it is about the turning of a page, a brand new start, and the anticipation of the new year, but this season is one of my favorites. Well, I do love Christmas, but that's a whole different post. 

Each year I vow that I will journal and write more, a resolution even though I don't usually like to make them. I love to document how I am feeling, quotes that inspire me, and scriptures that touch my heart and show me just how much I am loved by God or offer comfort in times of storms. I usually have a blank journal with completely empty pages to start with and a mind full of ideas and prompts of what I would like to write about. When the time comes for me to sit down and journal, though, my mind is just blank and I struggle to put into words exactly what I want to.

This year will be different!

This year will be better!

I had the great blessing of having Ellie Claire send me three of their newest devotional journals and I have to say that I am so very impressed. I don't have too much experience with Ellie Claire products since I have not had anything from this publisher before so it was nice to experience a new product from a new company. 

The first one is titled Peace Begins With Me! It has a beautiful teal marble look to it and is stunning from the outside in. The cover is so soft, very thick, and almost has the feeling of suede due to the finish it has.

As you can see from the above picture (and below,) it's not just a blank journal. Each day of the year is dated and has a devotional to start your journaling time with. For this journal, each one of the devotionals is written with the thought of peace of mind for you. They encourage you to find peace through God and they are beautifully written.

Along with each devotional, there is a scripture verse and a prayer prompt that you can use to help spark your journal entry for the day, or just focus on throughout the your daily tasks. I think I have to say that Peace Begins With You was my favorite because I am constantly looking for peace in my life and heart, and the teal marbling of the cover and pages just fits who I am and my personality. I know that if I saw these journals in a book store, this would be the one to catch my eye and the one I would most likely purchase.

With that being said, the next two journals are gorgeous as well, and I truly love them also. 

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus is exactly like the journal I above, but with a little different subject and feel to it. 

It has a very floral design with a palate of green, orange and peach. The concept behind the devotions included in this journal are to help you take your eyes of the hectic hustle and bustle of every day life and focus more on Jesus and who He is. We could all use a little more focus! 

The pages are set up similar to the first journal with a devotional, quote, and writing space. The little difference with this one is that instead of a prayer prompt, you are giving a scripture reference to read which might be the prompt you need for your journaling that day. 

The last, but certainly not least, journal is The Earth is the Lord's and Everything In It. 

The cover of this journal is very vibrant and filled with blue and greens from the peacocks that are adorning the cover. The feel of the cover has a more slick feeling as opposed to the suede feeling of the first one. I believe it's because of the graphic that is on the cover and this wouldn't allow for the softer feeling.

Now, the pages themselves, are set up exactly like the first journal with a scripture to start, a devotional to read, and then a prayer prompt. You also have a generous amount of space provided to write your daily journal entry.

There are some features that each one of these journals possess and they are carefully thought out. First, the pages are amazingly thick, so much so that I was actually a little surprised. One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to journals is that the pages are too thin and I can't use the pens that I want on them. I tried a few of my favorites and there wasn't any bleeding onto the other pages. Now these were felt pens and gel pens and I had no issues at all. This is very nice to see that it was thought about when it came to the design. This means that if you are a bible journaler you can use your different pens and illustrate your journal entries without having to worry about bleeding. I will say though, just because the pages were fantastic when it came to my pens that won't guarantee that every single pen won't bleed so do a test before you start.

The other thing that I loved was the simple ribbon marker each journal has. Now, this might seem trivial, but I love being able to mark my place in a journal so I don't have to flip the pages till I get to where I left off. Each marker is coordinated with the color palate of the journal and adds that extra little bit of flair. It is a great feature.

With Christmas coming up, and the New Year not too far behind, these journals would make a lovely gift for the woman in your life that needs to take some time for herself and focus on what God would like to show her. I would probably keep this in the age range of teen to adult if I was to give it as a gift since it's not child, or even tween oriented. The journal, along with some new pens or markers would make a wonderful gift this Christmas. It's a gift that they could use the entire year!!!

{Disclaimer: I received complimentary copies of these journals from Ellie Claire in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.}