Getting Started in our 52 WEEKS OF GRATITUDE challenge: part 1 SCRAPBOOKING JOURNAL

 Hello friends!
Today I want to share with you what we are doing for our 2013 52 Weeks of Gratitude challenge!  The first thing you'll want to do is decide what you would like to do:  scrapbook? card-making? Artist Trading Cards? Art Journaling?  Canvas?  Journal?

Each week beginning JANUARY 6th we will be focusing on a Bible Verse that expresses gratitude to God for daily blessings. We will be using Inspired Stamps for all the stamping and verses, but this is not a requirement for you to participate with us.  You are welcome to use the verses we have for each week or use another verse or quote that you find more meaningful to you, or just print out your own typed verses.   Here are the stamps and the verses we will use for the month of  January.  Each week this year will have a different Psalm verse:
Jan 6:  Psalm 118:24
Jan 13 Psalm 92:4
Jan 20 Psalm 47:1
Jan 27 Psalm 28:7 
You can find all these stamps for $3.99 each by clicking HERE or going to www.inspiredstamps.com

Be sure to leave us a comment and let us know if you are joining us and what artform you plan to use most of the time, if you plan to mix it up.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR SCRAPBOOK JOURNAL FOR THE CHALLENGE:

You can use ANY scrapbook materials you like. I am using the Simple Stories BINDER AND PAGES for most of mine just because I love the 8x8 size and the pre-printed pages are so cute!
Here's how I decorated my cover:

Inside the front cover I put my goal sheet, which I have printed out clearly after this photo.  You may copy and use that sheet for your own personal Scrapbook if  you like!

Next I wanted to show you how I am setting up my weekly Gratitude journal.  I've found I'll stick to things better if they are simple, with the OPTION to do more if I have time.  Here is the SIMPLE design I am using this week as an example for you.  You can do this however YOU like (just one page or a page per day):

 I have the week's verse on the left (2 Cor 9:15) and stamped the lines from Journal Shapes stamp set on 2x2 off white paper squares.  Here's each of the pages shown here:

 Simple First page with just the Weekly Verse matted.  I could add journaling for one of the days in the week on this page.

Above is the 2nd page.  Super simple lines all ready for my journaling/listing what I am grateful for each day this week!
Here's a more detailed version of the same 2 pages, with a photo and my simple journaling/listing of what I'm grateful for:

I took a photo of the tree and my open Bible on Christmas morning as I finished up my quiet time with the Lord.  I wanted to thank God for that quiet time, before my family got up and opened presents.  Time for just Him and me, with His Word lit by the tree in my living room. 

I wrote out the other days thankful notes (including our Blizzard today!) in the other boxes.  Notice there are only 6 boxes and 7 days in the week.  One day will be highlighted on the large page before this (like Christmas morning was for me in this week's pages).

Tomorrow I will be back and share with you my Artist Trading Card I did for this week with the same verse, for those who might want to create the 2.5x3.5 cards each week!  Then on Friday, I'll share with you what I created for card-makers and next week I'll share the Art Journaling and other ideas for you!

I would love to hear from you in the comment section if you are joining us for our challenge!  Let me know which artform you plan to do most (scrapbook, cards, ATCs, journals, etc).

Have a blessed day and I'll be back tomorrow with the ATC option: part 2 of our Getting Started series!
~Antoinette