Snow

This weeks challenge at FaithSisters is Grace. Come join us in thinking about what grace means to you, and in your life and family!

Materials:
Paper: DCWV TCS, Provocraft
Letters: Foam
Brads/Chipboard: Spare Parts
Misc: buttons


Journaling:
I hate the landscape in the winter. Hill after hill covered with dead and brown grass is matched only by tree after tree of barren branches. Then it snows, and overnight everything is transformed. What was once withered and ugly, now is pristine and beautiful. It occurs to me, grace works this way! Father, I praise You that in your eyes, through Your Son, I am as white as snow!

Beauty

Well, I finally got this one done and posted- just as the new Challenge is about to be posted, lol! Busy week!

Anyway, the word for the week was beauty- and the moment I saw Karma's wonderful word art, I knew I had to use it...it is my life verse, after all!!

Verse:
"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His Temple,"
Ps 27:4

The Message says it this way: I'm asking God for one thing, and only one thing: to live with Him in His house my whole life long.
I'll contemplate His beauty,
I'll study at His feet."

(Praise God for the privalage of studying at the feet of the One who wrote the Book!! Wow- what an awesome thought! What and awesome Birthright!)

Materials:
Paper: American Crafts, DCWV TCS
Lace
Butterfly Stamp: Inkadinkadoo
brads: Spare Parts
Digital Element: Rhonna Ferrer

The Alternative

This week, at FaithSisters, the challenge is Another Year Older. As I just had a birthday, this one was fun for me. I loved incorporating the soft materials in this layout- very different to work with- and labor intensive....but fun!

Materials:
Paper: DCWV TCS, HL CS
Stamps: Autumn Leaves
Misc- fleece (cream, and patterned), felt, buttons


Journaling:
As he has aged, my father has teased that birthdays and aging 'beats the alternative'. It's good for a chuckle, but I'm a child of the King. I live with the promise of an inheritance, and aging is hard, darn it! So, all in all, I refuse to dread.....the Alternative.

Exciting News

I know several of you have been eagerly looking forward to the first issue of Scrapbook News and Review- so have I! Believe me- knowing what I know from the inside- it is going to be awesome! I am totally excited!

Several of you have asked questions about the magazine format and such, and so I wanted to point you to the SN+R blog, as Katie answered several of these questions over the weekend. Take a look.....oooooh, I sooooo can't wait, lol!

Friday Freebies

I may be a day late, but you gotta check out a few of the yummy freebies being offered at FaithSisters this week!! It's enough to tempt me...well to hybrid, that is, lol!!

Kindness

Our challenge word for this week was kindness. I chose the verse from Eph 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

Materials:
Paper: Paper Studio, DCWV TCS
Paper frill- K&Co
buttons, felt flowers, misc

Smile

This week's Challenge over at FaithSister's is a sketch challenge. I decided to turn this sketch on it's ear, make it a one pager and combine some elements. Turned out alright, I think...

Materials:
Paper: DCWV Christmas Stack, HL TCS, HL CS
Brads: Spare Parts
Misc: Lace- HL, Ribbon-Offray, snowflake-wooden, acetate- Archivers
Stamps: Heidi Swapp, Autumn Leaves


OK- I turned in on it's ear, changed it to a 1 page layout, and played, played, played...and this is what I came up with....


Journaling:
One of our 'traditions' on christmas Eve is photo-time. Not a resounding favorite, but a necessary evil. After a while, we get some pretty forced smiles!!


Verse: A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face, a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day." Pro 15:13

March Call for Layouts- {SN+R}

You all sent me some beautiful layouts for our first Scrapbook News + Review Faithbooking call!! I have some wonderfully hard choices to make, and want to thank each of you! I will be making that decision, and notifying people asap. Meantime, I wanted to get you started on the March call, to give you as much time as possible.

March's column deals with Faithbooking for your family. This would include adding your faith to layouts about your family, using your scrapbooks to teach your faith to your family, encouraging your family in their faith development with your scrapbooks, etc. I need to see your families, and the faith based pages you have done for them. I didn't mention before, but these can be traditional, hybrid, or digital pages.

*Send your submissions to: afaithperspective@gmail.com
*Mark the subject: A Faith Perspective March Call
*Include materials list, and journaling, please.
*Label whether this is traditional, hybrid or digital, please.
*Include contact info, please.

Submissions need to be in by midnight Jan. 31st.

Thanks!!

Glad

This week, the challenge at FaithSisters is Gladness for Many Things. I decided to make this photo screen for my project...I confess, I am enjoying the change of pace of altered projects. Anyway, each letter is surrounded by words starting with that letter that describe God or us. For example:

G: God, goodness, gentleness, grace, great
L: love, Lord, Logos, light
A: adore, Adoni, amazing, Alpha
D: devoted, disciple, devotion, Door, Doer

A fun project!

A Wow Moment

I wrote this email in Feb 2006, after a difficult time of testing in my faith...this moment was my 'reward', my answer...I just scrapped it, and thought I would share with you all, as well:

I had a 'wow moment', and I wanted to share....I had a 'wow moment', and I NEEDED to get it down, needed a way to remember. So may times in our lives God graciously provides us with 'wow moments'- and we sit amazed...for a moment. Then we get back to our lives, and leave behind the wow. So I am sharing the wow- and hoping that for me, at least, this moment that greatly impacted me- might continue reverberating.

In church the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about the greatness of God. Fredrick Schuller (sp?) has said that "the universe is just one of God's ideas". Too illustrate this, we have learned many interesting facts: The sun is 93 million miles from the earth- and it takes all of 8 minutes for the power of the sun to be felt on our face.... if we wanted to count all of the stars in the Milky Way, and only the Milky Way Galaxy, and we counted 1 star per second- it would take us over 2000 YEARS to count them all.... that light travels 186,000 miles per second- and we live in a universe that requires us to measure distance in light YEARS!

Yesterday, we saw a picture of the Whirlpool Nebula. Astronomers classify this as M51, and it is considered a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy. Now, if that name grabs your attention as fellow Christians- hang on...it gets better.


[M51]







Before I go on, I want you to do me a favor- read this Scripture:

Psalm 19
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice [b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world...

NIV


Bear with me, one more favor- go back and read it again.....I'll wait.......


OK.....



Now, take a look at what the astronomers found when they pointed the Hubble telescope into the center of that Grand Design Galaxy......






X Structure at Core of M51 Whirlpool Galaxy



"I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19:39-41 (New International Version)

..... and there is a Cross stamped in the stars ***1100 light years in diameter****!!!!!!

And if that doesn't put a snap in your shorts, consider this: IT was put there BEFORE the first sin- by a loving God that knew we would need a blood soaked hand out of our darkness.


Seriously, say it with me- WOW!!!!!

Resolutions

The challenge on FaithSisters last week was: Resolved. I decided to mine on blocks, and each word is one of my Spirit led resolutions. Fun, huh?! Join us this week for our Gladness for many things challenge!!

First Scripture Challenge Card

This was the first week of the Scripture Challenge- yeah!! After waiting so long, it is great to finally get to it! The word for this week is: faith. I chose the verse: "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all," Is7:9b God is talking through Isaiah to a king who had inquired of Him. tThe question was should I attack the enemy, and God said yes- but, if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. Roughly translated: If you do not believe you have won the victory- you HAVE NOT won the victory! I LOVE it!!

I used a jumbo playing card, and my DCWV Nana's Kids stack and chpboard. Threw in a couple of buttons, too. Fun!

Sympathy Card

Just a quick card I whipped out last night...I loved the mossy green color. The stamp is from Hero Arts, and I just love this set!

Announcement and a Call...

OK- I can finally share my amazingly exciting news....

Have you heard about the newest magazine to hit the Scrapping world- Scrapbook News and Review? How could you not have- the buzz and excitement is palpable! This magazine is taking the scrapping community by storm! I cannot tell you all of the incredible ideas, features and plans that are upcoming- but I can tell you this- hang on!! Oh, hang on, because it is going to be great!!!

I am so thrilled and honored to say that I have been given a column in this innovative magazine. Called A Faith Perspective, this will be an ongoing look at incorporating your faith into your everyday scrapping. We will talk about the importance of scrapbooking your faith and beliefs, as well as explore tips, topics, and techniques in the world of Faithbooking. God has laid so many ideas on my heart, I cannot wait to start this journey we are going to take, together!!

Now, for the call: I need to see layouts based on your commitment to include your faith in your scrapbooks. Show me why you faithbook, or want to faithbook. This might include who you want to pass your faith onto, a statement to God committing yourself to this new perspective, a statement of your own beliefs...show me your ideas! I am looking for layouts at least 8x8 or larger.

Send them to me- scan or nice photo- no larger than 300kb, at afaithperspective@gmail.com Include "A Faith Perspective Feb Submission" in the subject line. Include your name, email address, and contact info, please. They are due by Jan 13th at 12 midnight CST.

TOP TEN PREDICTIONS FOR 2008

I received this in an email and wanted to share....wishing all of you the most blessed New Year!


TOP TEN PREDICTIONS FOR 2008

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-annointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost.

God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you
don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you.

It's your choice:

Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick.