Restoring Our Womanhood

Scrap of Faith is a Christian Crafting Site dedicated to inspiring women in their faith and in their hobbies.

Each month a new theme will be posted, with verses to encourage, with challenges to inspirire you both in your faith and in your craft. We hope that you will jump on board the journey of Restoring your Womanhood and that God will use these challanges to draw us closer to Him and also give us a purpose in our roles.

We would love to hear from those who are following along so please leave a comment, and share a link to your blog :-) Also on the Scrap of Faith forum there is a weekly thread for encouraging each other through the journey.


Sunday, June 29, 2008

This month Scrap of Faith these is all about reaching out to others or evangelising. When presented with the theme this month, God immediately brought these couple of verses of scripture to my mind.
I decided to use the verse in Mark 16:15 as the title of my layout.

“Go into all the World and Preach the good news to all creation”
Mark 16:15

As a young person I remember a quest speaker at church one night speaking on evangelising and how Acts 1 v 8 is as relevant to us today as it was to the early church. He pointed out that our responsibility to evangelise was world wide, and broke down this scripture so that it applies to our situation and location today. This really challenged us as a couple and has played a huge part in our lives as we have prayed about the different ministries in which we have felt the Lord has led us to be involved.

“But you will receive power when the HOLY SPIRIT comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the Earth”
Acts 1: 8.

I would love to challenge you all to apply this verse of scripture to your lives and look at the areas in which you are reaching out to others with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus. My layout represents some of the ministries of reaching out with the Gospel of Jesus, that we have been or that we are involved with at the moment. Our reaching out needed to be amongst the people in our own town. – Rockhampton = Jerusalem I have used a photo of the girls I meet with monthly to scrapbook with. It needs to be in our State, Queensland = Judea, and for this I have used a photo of the Scripture Union logo, as over the years we have been heavily involved in SU camping and chaplaincy ministries. For our country Australia = Samaria, I have used the logo of Scrap of Faith, as I see this as a ministry which touches the lives of lots of woman in this wonderful country in which we live, and our witness also need to reach out globally (world) and I have used the Compassion logo to represent the sponsor children we support overseas. This is a relatively cheap layout to reproduce as I have not used any patterned paper at all. You could use it instead of paint if you so desire.


You will find a full set of instructions HERE

Saturday, June 28, 2008



The theme we are exploring this month is reaching out, or evangelizing. I’ve had a pretty difficult month so far and I had barely given any thought to what I could share on this topic – just getting through each day seemed challenging enough.

In the past week, my darling Grandma was rushed into hospital and it wasn’t looking all that positive. It makes such a difference when you can ask for prayer in tough times, and to cut a long story short, prayers were answered, a miracle provided, and she’s home again – though still with a way to go to get back to good health.

And at the same time, my beautiful little sausage dog Monte, my faithful friend – died.
He was 13 which is a pretty decent age for a dog. Our little family has only existed for 15 years and he was with us for 13 of them. Leaves a pretty big hole.

So in the space of a few days there are wonderful highs and painful lows. My Gran and my Monte were great mates – both sunlovers who adored keeping each other company when she came to stay. It will never be quite the same again, even if Gran can get back to being well enough to visit us again. We all feel the void, that things have changed and cant go back to the way they were.

Sometimes I feel a weight of responsibility when it comes to being a Christian. That how I behave, how I respond, how I deal with situations reflects well or badly on Jesus. Statistics show that a great percentage of people who come to know Jesus as Lord do so because of their relationship with someone who already knows Him and loves Him. Given those statistics, it seems to put even more pressure on me and how I then relate to people - that somehow I have to be always perfect, always happy, always have it all together …well if I overlay that view on my past week of life, it’s just about laughable. Might as well give up now!

But a wise person once told me that Jesus Christ was more than capable of doing his own PR. And it was the work of His Holy Spirit which draws people to Him. So I’m relieved that it’s not all my responsibility (which really is a pretty self centred view of things anyway) – but even in difficult times, is there something I can do to play my part?

At the beginning of this year, the Lord challenged me to get real with my scrapping. I guess what He was pointing out was that there are two sides to me – the real me, warts and all, seen best through the pages of my prayer journal which chronicles my journey through life with Him… and the scrapping me, whose layouts tend to focus on the brighter side of life. The ‘me’ of my prayer journal happily chronicles both the ugly and the joyful sides of life, but the ‘scrapping me’? Well there wasn’t much warts and all there. He could see it, and wanted to see me scrap more of my whole journey – not just the brighter side.

And also during this year particularly I have been continually challenged, uplifted and inspired by one Stitching Mum on our forum, the very real Ali. She’s been thrown some complete curve balls in life, can share so honestly and openly about them, and the one thing that shines through the midst of it all is her faith in the Lord, how it both blesses her and challenges her. The wonderful thing is that people still see Jesus, and I think even more clearly, when Ali is sharing the reality of her life. It isn’t always pretty, but it’s always honest and true, and Jesus is there through it all for her – and that’s my Jesus too, that’s the Jesus I want everyone to know and to have in their lives.

Through His words to me in prayer and having Ali’s example in front of me to follow, I want to trust Him and obey, and try and be more real – and if scrapping is the vehicle He wants me to use, then so be it. For the first time I have done a layout which doesn’t feature a happy memory, or smiling faces, or beautiful photos or any of the elements which usually inspire me to scrap. I’ve tried to be real in my layout journaling so it’s not really that different to what I poured out in my private prayer journal.

Because at the end of the day, He can use me far more to reach out to others who don’t know Him if they can see that I’m just like everybody else - not perfect, don’t always have it right – but what I do always have is Him. He gives me a future and a hope, regardless of the wonderful highs, the painful lows, and even the mundane moments of everyday life. And everyone who asks Him into their lives can have exactly the same.

He never promised us that if we believed in Him we’d have charmed lives. In fact He told us that in this life we would have trouble. But He also told us He would never leave us or forsake us. We never have to be alone.

So right now, it’s a dark time for me. But I’m not alone. And there’ll be brighter times ahead too. And He’ll still be there. Jesus is no fair-weather friend. He’s with us for keeps. We just have to reach out – and be real...

Tracey xo


Digi Credits – Sometimes Love Hurts
Layout done in PSE5
Papers, heart, paint splat, note paper – WillRo&Co (Ro Rocks!)
Titles – Shabby Princess
Fonts – Century Gothic and Rage Italic


Saturday, June 21, 2008

Listening.

There are so many things to listen to.
The ipod....the television.....the children arguing......
We have so much competing for our attention that we get very good
at not listening. Selective deafness. Choosing what we want to hear...what suits us to give attention to.

There is a scene that happens too frequently at our house. I've given instruction....my offspring have chosen not to listen. There is a consequence. That doesn't go down so well, resulting in the next lot of instruction also not being listened too. It is a downward spiral that inevitably ends it tears. I'm sure you've seen it. I get to the end and in desperation say..."If you had just LISTENED to me at the beginning, NONE of this would have happened". How often has God said that to me...or you...?

Listening is a skill. It is active. It requires attention and effort on our part. It requires a response.
James 1:22 says " do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourself"
God wants us to listen to him. Funnily enough, he doesn't yell.
You need to be quiet to hear....but then you need to do.

Kat has a great signature line. "The closer I get to Jesus....the less I need to shout".
Love it :)



digi credits - all Willro&co Designs

Sunday, June 15, 2008


Challenge 2 - Verse Challenge
I have written the journaling for this as a prayer for my children, that God would be their shelter - their hiding place, their protection as they walk through this life.

Materials: Sassafrasslass paper, Bam Pop paper & die cuts, making memories alpha stamps, paper, edge distressor & brads. Stampin up spiral punch and ink cube.

How are you going on this months challenges?
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This months theme is reaching out or evangelising. I thought this project of an altered tin with a mini book of Bible verses would be just the thing to give to a friend or family member your are witnessing to. Very simple and a lot of fun to make. I kept mine very simple but you can make it as fancy as you like, Adding pictures would make it more a more personal gift.
The verses I chose to use in the mini book were:-1 Chronicles 16:34, John 3:16. 1 John 4:7, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a & Proverbs 1
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FULL INSTRUCTIONS HERE

Wednesday, June 11, 2008



This is my attempt at the verse challenge. Made using my favourite paper BG Romani and fussy cut flowers.

When I saw this pic of me hiding in the trees I knew it was just right for this verse.

I am still new at LO's and I still find journaling hard. Bear with me I am sure one day soon I will be journaling form the heart .

Saturday, June 07, 2008

We are happy to announce the winners for May's entries.

Challenge 1 - Annette Ledger

Challenge 2 - Terrie Logan

Challenge 3 - Dawn

Challenge 4 - Debbie Buckland

Challenge 5 - Janelle Santa

Congratulations Ladies :-D Could you please email me you email address so I can make sure that Christian Book gets the correct details to get your voucher to you. Once I have received all 5 confirmed email addresses I will arrange with Christian Book to get them to you. After last month we learned this might take a couple of weeks, so bear with us.

And for those who have just found us and like to be challenged, this is a recap of May's challenges.

Challenge 1 - Sketch Challenge - to any size layout, traditional or digi based on the sketch by Trina McClune found here. Thanks Trina.

Challenge 2 - Verse Challenge - Scrap a Layout or Beyond the Page item featuring the following verse: Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Challenge 3 - Word Challenge - The word for May is "WORLD". Do a Layout or Off the Page project based on "WORLD".

Challenge 4 - Book of Faith Challenge - The theme for this month's Book of Faith is "The Love of Christ"

Challenge 5 - Mystery Challange - "Meet with God". Scrap a layout or OTP which shares where you meet with God. This might be your Church, your Bible study group, the top of a mountain, the shower ... wherever it might be where you feel you meet with God.

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE HEADER FOR JUNE'S CHALLENGES.