Faith Sisters: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Made Ya Look Monday

On Mondays we feature some amazing layouts in our gallery that just "Made Ya Look!"

We invite these ladies to snag our NEW featured blinkie to wear on their blog and in the forums!

by Cinda

by kabrak1207

by lorig

by Flohbock

by Leni

by craftygeekmom

by JackieAnn

by LivyBug

by simplegirlscraps

by WendyW

by Jennyryan21

by jessica nuis

by snojewel

by Starlight-Princess

by Scrapmemories

by Christi

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Humility

The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:11-12

Humble is often defined as being not proud or arrogant, when what you do is offered in a spirit of deference or submission; an unpretentious act, not seeking recognition.

How did Jesus serve? When did He serve? Where did He serve?

His life among us was about service. He came here to serve, not to be served. He was strong, He was compassionate, He cared, He loved and He served…with humility.

How do you serve? When do you serve? Where do you serve? And do you serve with humility? Humility is not something that we simply decide to have as a character trait. It is a trait that simply is. It is loving others and serving others – as Jesus would do. It is the acts that we do to help others simply because it is the right thing to do…for them – not for us.

Now, you may be thinking I am going to ask you to create a layout based on your service to others. Yet, to do so, you would not be humbling yourself. With that in mind, I want you to reflect on an individual in your life that has set the premier example of service and humility – someone who was strong, compassionate and one who served in humility. Dedicate your layout to them. Share what you have learned from their acts of service.

I have a dear friend who I have known for years. Whether Judy was volunteering in a church or assisting someone with a project at work; she never looked for praise (in fact, she would often give credit to others) When serving; she was hard-working, dedicated and cheerfully did whatever was needed – always with a warm heart, a gentle spirit and with love. While I grew up in a Christian household and attended church regularly – I do not think that is was until I met Judy that I truly saw and recognized the face of Jesus. It was through Judy that I grew close to Christ and moved further along in my faith walk. Here is my layout for this challenge:

And here is a freebie for you with word art to get you started. You may download it here

When you have created your layout, please post your layout in the Providence 365 Gallery and let us know here on the week nine thread of Providence 365 forum at Faith Sisters .

Have a blessed week.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Speed Scrap this coming Tuesday!

This is Barbara, of Precepts and Promises, and I've love to have you join us at Faith Sisters this coming Tuesday, March 1st, 2PM PST, for a speed scrap.

What is a speed scrap you say?
You've never participated in a speed scrap?
Why would you WANT to???

Like the name implies, a Speed Scrap is a scheduled event for scrapping in a hurry. For mine at Faith Sisters, they are one hour long. I give you a different set of instructions every 10 minutes, beginning and ending on the hour. Each set builds on the previous, so by the end of the hour, your page is complete (or very nearly so).

If you've never participated in a speed scrap, and it sounds intimidating, then this is the speed scrap for you! We are a very welcoming group and would love to have you join in. You are always free to ask questions if you are stumped or if my directions are a little fuzzy.

And, why should you?
Because it's fun; you don't know what the page is supposed to look like, so it's a little like opening a present with multiple layers of wrapping paper.
Because you get a page DONE; who among us is all caught up with our photos?
And, because I give out some sort of participation prize for all who join in! In the past, participation prizes have included word art clusters and photo overlays.

Here are a few examples of pages I've used as the basis for a speed scrap:

If you are intrigued, go and check out the other layouts in our gallery. It's always so interesting to see that, with the same instructions, everyone's pages are so unique.

And, then, please come and join us this coming Tuesday, March 1st, at 2PM PST (5PM EST) in our forum. We'd love to have you join us!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

My Lifetime Story RE-RUN: Challenge 8 - My Childhood Homes

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God keeps track of where we were born in His own scrapbook! Psalm 87:6 says, "The Lord records as he registers the peoples, 'This one was born there'"

Let's follow His lead and record the details of our homes and the places that we lived as a child. Journal detailed descriptions of places you have lived, describe your bedroom, the surroundings, smells, the neighbors, the area. You can even create a layout about your hometown.

Journaling topics can include:
Places I’ve lived:
What I loved about my childhood home:

Later on in the year we will scrapbook our other homes. This page is just about childhood homes. Next week we will move on to our childhood favorites!

Be sure to follow this challenge in our forum and post your page in our gallery under the appropriate category! If you are a digital scrapbooker, be sure to find some great products in our shop to help you with your project!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Made Ya Look Monday

On Mondays we feature some amazing layouts in our gallery that just "Made Ya Look!"

We invite these ladies to snag our NEW featured blinkie to wear on their blog and in the forums!

by kkstock

by angelasonnenschein

by vickyday

by lucylu

by JackieAnn

by Flohbock

by PattiP

by scrappinduck

by snojewel

by WendyW

by scrapmemories

by tanteva

by judo2418

by GrannyNKy

by LivyBug

by Armani

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Providence 365: Week 8

This is Barbara, back again with another week on Providence 365 series.

Did you do any little random acts of kindness today? Or, for that matter, any big planned acts of kindness?

How about cuddling a child who's crushed with emotion?

Making a special dessert for a good report card?

Holding open a door for a frail elderly woman?

Finishing up adoption papers for your new child?

Sharing a meal with a lonely neighbor?

Visiting with sick and dying friend?

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

According to Ephesians 2:10, those little deeds of kindness you do aren't “random” at all. They are God's Providence, actually planned from long ago, just for you! Doesn't that change your attitude? It does mine!

It means that you were placed in your life for a purpose. Perhaps today, it's to give the homeless man in front of Trader Joe's a sandwich. Maybe tomorrow, it's mailing an encouraging card to your pastor. Yesterday, it might have been just to give the harried barista at Starbucks a sincere thank you and a smile.

So, this week, I'm encouraging you to look for those opportunities to do good deeds. Not to gain approval from men, but out of a sincere heart of gratitude for the wonderful act of kindness God did for you through His Son.

I thought I'd give you a little report of how my Providence 365 has been going so far. I really like using only one kit and one template. It has sped up my scrapping quite a bit. I change the template by moving around the photo clipping masks and resizing them, but I'm not searching for, or making, a new template each week. The same is true for my papers and elements. The kit I'm using has enough variety that I'm not bored, so far at least! I'm not making my pages too busy with elements either, focusing more on the journaling and the photos.

You can download the word art with this week's verse here. We'd love to have you add your comments to the thread in the forum or your pages to our gallery. We want to see how God is blessing you!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Get our HUGE Mega Collab Kit for FREE!

Do you

the new collab kit "A Friend Loves at All Times?" Want it for free?

There are TWO ways to get this digital kit for free. The first way is if you purchase $10 worth of products in the http://www.faithsisters.com/shop you will be able to put this kit in your shopping cart at the same time and use a coupon to redeem it for free.

The SECOND way you could get this kit for free is by referring your friends to our facebook Fans page. If they become a fan and then post who sent them there, they and you get into a drawing for this kit! We will give away 6 kits in total until we hit 1000 fans! We will do a drawing at 500 Fans, 600 Fans, 700 Fans, 800 Fans 900 Fans and 1000 Fans!

BONUS: When we reach our 1000th fan, we will put ALL of our fans in a drawing for a coupon good for TEN of our current collaboration kits! That is a prize worth over $100 in digital scrapbooking goodies!

You can check all of our collab kits out here: http://faithsisters.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=29

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!