Journaling 101

One of my strongest traits in my scrapbook pages is my journaling. When you look at most of my work there are some pages that most of the layout is covered in words. My love for journaling began when I was a girl and lost both of my grandmas in one year, I was seven. I wanted to know so much about them. But there was no journals. As I became a young mother and wife and would ask my mother question she would say “that was a long time ago…I don’t remember.” I knew that I would record everything…the good, the bad and the truth.

This is also why I have loved blogging! Because I can quickly record life and then have it printed as a journal. I have over 18 journals that I started when I was a girl to date. Most of my entries are now based gratitude and sharing the everyday blessing that I have found in each day.

One of the best tips I have for journaling and getting a topic started are from lyrics to songs. I have a small not book that I carry with me and when I am listening to songs and here one that has a line or chorus I like I jot it down so I can then search for the song lyrics I print them and mark the part I like. Then when I have photos and I am stumped I look through that list and WALLA!

I love using my own handwriting and to do this I will write on strips and then cut add to the page…I do that on a lot of layouts because then I do not need to worry about spacing of lines or when you have wrote two or three sentences and then mess up…darn that is bad news. If you do have a lot of journaling to add to your page that you want to add as your own handwriting this is something I do. I do it so 1. I can know how much space the whole story will take up 2. So I can edit and spell check (I need all the help I can get)
Type in a font size that would be equal to your handwriting size would be (with additional line spacing) then print it. Next use a light box as your guide and hand write your journaling.

I have been using a lot of handwritten journaling strips on my layouts (since my printer was out of commission for over a month) so I will be doing more again with typed journaling. I generally only use about two basic fonts when adding printed journaling.

I will be sharing a lot more on journaling throughout the month. I know there are people out there reading my blog…I treasure when you actually leave comments. I hope that what I do will help you and that you are inspired to journal more!

Sharing Gratitude

There is so much to be thankful for! I just wanted to share my feelings of gratitude for all the blessed events that have came this past year. Our family has been blessed with steady income, my husband having a great local job and for the first time in seven years our family has health insurance! We are all healthy and through our trails are so blessed with happiness.

I am so thankful for the great women on our creative team who have shared so much of their talents and time! Michelle and Karma have been such a support to me and all the women I have met through the starting of this website. Your prayers and support have lifted me more than you’ll ever know! I think of all the wonderful things you have done and try each day to pass on the good.

I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my home for my family and my father. I wish that more of my family could be there and that my children could know how fun thanksgiving is when there is lots of family around but we are still keeping our same family traditions even though it is just us. I am so thankful to have my dad live just next door and for all that he has done for my family. My kids and I have made him a gratitude box. Each of us writing things we appreciate about him on slips of paper. You can write things like, "I am grateful for your…smile, the sound of our voice, your hugs, etc." They have wrote great things like how he always has full size candy bars for them, takes them on horse rides, has snowmobiles for them, cooks them Christmas breakfast, feeds their cat, bough them bb guns, lets them drive his truck in the fields, lets them look at his knives and Kim likes how he waits on his porch to talk to her as she gets off the school bus.

Thanksgiving is a day to acknowledge and express how grateful we are for all that we have. "It's a time to stop, honor, and reflect on the abundance, prosperity, people and lives we are blessed with." I hope that you have a blessed day and share your gratitude with the ones you love!

Do you have any special family traditions that you express your gratitude?

Our Family Weekday Schedule

This is an update to last weeks challenge. I have been several weeks without internet or a home computer. It is great to be back online and read what has been happening in the lives of the other women in our Faith Sisters forums. A big thank you to Karma who has given so much of her time and talents to make this site grow so fast! I hope that you will be inspired from the challenges and our great gallery. Please comment and post your work in our gallery we would love to know how you feel about the challenges.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

This became a very special scripture in my life years ago when my husband was working out of town all week and I had four small children and struggled with the hardships of the responsibilities and stress. This scripture touched my soul because I found strength to see that life does change very fast and to try each day to find the everyday blessings.

Now my life has changed so much from the days of diapers and babies. For the first time in my fifteen year marriage my husband has a local job where he is home every night. I now work full time and we have a teen and tweens. Running here and there. I remember the days when I would not leave the house for days because I had sick babies…now I long for evenings when we are not going so many directions. Through all this we are so blessed and love each day together. I know this will go as fast as the toddler years and want to do your best to help our children learn of the gospel and how much our Savior loves them.

Life is good, enjoy everyday and season in your life.

Sunny~

Picture Your Faith

Hello Faith Sisters!

As scrapbookers I know you take photos. I wanted to share a PHOTO challenge with you today. The goal of Picture Your Faith is to tell stories of faith through pictures; take a photo of something that describes your faith. This can be anything, many things or what you are feeling this day. Faith is the source of testimony.

Take the time to look…stop seeking out the storms in life and enjoy more sunshine. Find the joy and accentuate the positive. There is so much beauty and good sometimes we just need to look a little deeper. Try looking through the lense and capture your Faith in a photo. Please share your photos in the gallery, post it on the forum or link it to the comments here on the blog.

Thanks so much for sharing!