I am VERY excited to be one of the new designers here at Faith Sisters! And, I am also VERY EXCITED to be the hostess of this brand new monthly challenge! As the name suggests, this will be a theme challenge! It may be a seasonal theme, it may be a holiday theme, it may be a Biblical theme…..it could be about anything! I guess it just depends what inspires me at the moment of my decision for the monthly theme! I want it to be FUN, and maybe we will be able to learn a few things along the way!
Our challenge theme for December 2010 is “PRECIOUS GIFTS.” December is the month that we celebrate Christmas here in the USA, but this is not a Christmas Holiday challenge, necessarily. We celebrate the most precious Gift of all, the LORD Jesus Christ, our Savior during December. Although it is not the exact day of His birth, December 25th represents that day. And we remember God’s Gift to mankind by giving gifts to others. ALL of us have something that we consider to be PRECIOUS, I am sure! God has given each of us precious life, if nothing else! And, the Bible tells us in James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
I was curious to see if the Bible mentioned any “precious gifts” anywhere within it’s pages and found the KJV (King James Version) has the word “precious” 76 times and even a few other instances where there is a different word used in the translation, but the original word is the same word translated as “precious” in other verses. Clear as mud? Anyway, following are a few of the verses I found that I thought you might be interested in reading.
In Genesis 24:53, Rebekah, her brother and mother received precious gifts from Abraham’s servant in his search for a wife for Isaac. In 1 Kings 10:10, the Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon precious stones. In 2 Chronicles 21:3, King Jehoshaphat gave his sons gifts of silver, gold and precious things.
Believers have “received” some “PRECIOUS” things from God as His children. To list a few:
Psalm 36:7 – We have God’s loving kindness (this is one of the verses where the word translated as “precious” in other verses has been translated as “excellent” in this verse.)
Psalm 49:8 – The redemption of our soul is precious. AMEN and AMEN!!!
Psalm 116:15 – The death of His saints is precious to the LORD.
Psalm 139:17 – God’s thoughts toward us are precious.
Isaiah 28:16 and 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11 – Jesus is a precious cornerstone.
1 Peter 1:19 – Jesus’ blood is precious (without the shedding of blood, there is NO remission of sins!)
2 Peter 1:4 – We have been given precious promises of God.
So, you can see that there are LOTS of “PRECIOUS” things we could scrap about. Maybe if we break it down by definition, this will help you to be able to scrap about some “PRECIOUS GIFTS” this month.
According to Webster – “precious” means of great value or high price
According to Webster – “gift” means something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation. One of the synonyms listed is “freebie.” And I KNOW you like that word! :D I think of it in this manner – a gift is anything you have received that you didn’t earn.
So, to me a “PRECIOUS GIFT” is something I have received that I didn’t earn that is VERY valuable and I wouldn’t take ANY amount of money for it. I hope these ideas have inspired you a bit! And, I can’t wait to see what you come up with! You will have to take a picture and post it in the gallery if you do a hybrid project.
Like most challenges, there are a few rules to follow:
1. At least 3 of your elements/papers used must be from CURRENT Faith Sister Designers to qualify for the free gift (see preview below) I will be giving away to those who are qualifying participants. You can use free product from the store, too!
2. You have the entire month to post your layout in the gallery here: [url=http://www.faithsisters.com/photopost/showgallery.php/cat/7137]THEME-A-MA-JIG GALLERY[/url] and also post a link in this forum thread so I will know you are finished with the current month challenge, and we can all give you some loving comments on your layout. The challenge will be closed at 12:00 MIDNIGHT, EST on the first day of the new month. I will PM a link to the prize to all those participants who qualify!
3. Last, but not least, LET’S HAVE FUN! :D
If at any time you have a question, please post it here in this forum. I will try to get back to you ASAP with an answer.
I am offering the following mini kit sampler free in my store to use for this month’s challenge. It coordinates with my new kit, Precious Gifts, which will be released at a later time. It and your participation prize are just not quite done yet! But, should be in a day or so!
Click on the image to get it in the store for free.
