~~ Sermon Notes Binder ~~

Part four of the Faith Binder Series.

So this one is probably one of the easiest and most straight forward of them all. There are not a lot of moving parts to this one once you have done the Bible study binders. 

I need to upgrade my binder to match the others. It is currently the blue one pictured above that says "My Bible Notebook".  That spine cover is from the tabs at Do Not Depart. 

The Moroccan tile printable paper I used for the other three is here. 

The divider tabs are done the same way as in the Bible Topical Study binder. 

The tabs are done much the same way as the subheading tabs for the Apostles (the gold templates I used for this binder are found here.)  in the Topical binder post and as the tabs in the Bible Book Study binder.  

The biggest differences are the names on the dividers and tabs are in a different font, Janda Celebration, 72pt and 16pt, respectively. 

I felt the black I used on the gold tabs was a bit too dark for me. So, I used Word to list all of the last names of the pastors I wanted to highlight. 

Then, I cut them out of the printed page and centered and taped them over the gold and where they would still show when the were all together. I did the multi-tape trick again. I love shortcuts sometimes. 😉

The teal color in the background is what I will probably use for character traits in the topical binder. 

I had just printed out a bunch of random topics. Then, I decided to color code the subheadings in the People subject to avoid the need for even more dividers. Under this theme, I will have to redo the tabs to colorize instead of confetti them. They are from the same site as the gold ones. I really like the double sided design, as you can tell. 😄

I skipped the washi tape on these dividers, since there is essentially already a decorative border. You will find the printable stationery that I used here. 

And the finished product, drumroll please.....

I love how they turned out and I hope that you do, too. If you like the idea for this binder, I forgot something (which totally happens sometimes), or you just wanted to say something positive in the comments, feel free to leave a message. 

Be blessed and have a great week!!

~~ Bible Topical Binder ~~

Part 3 of the Faith Binder Series

So, here is the second Bible Study binder and the 3rd in the series of Faith Binders.  The War Binder (Prayer Journal) and the Bible Book Study were the first two. Check back later for the Sermon Notes Binder and any other subsequent binders. They will be tagged with a "Binders" label in the side bar. 😉

For more explanation on the techniques used in this post, refer to the Bible Book Study binder. 

I chose to print my paper for the cover and spine rather than buy it. 

I was partial to this Moroccan tile and grabbed it in multiple colors here. 

I like to pick up binders at the thrift stores because they are a lot cheaper. I can get a 3" or something similar for a dollar or less sometimes. 

The Bible Study, God's Promises, and Hebrew/ Greek tabs are from the 

binder tab set found at Do Not Depart.  They are slid into standard dividers for school and office use. 

The rest of the set is split between my other binders. They used to be in one binder but I couldn't leave it at that and had to totally customize the ideas to fit me. This is part of the result of that. I may actually have a binder for each tab. lol  I am probably not joking. ;) 

On to the dividers...

I used washi tape to add pizzazz to the plain white cardstock that I picked up from Walmart. 

Mine happens to be Neenah brand and is about $4 for 80 sheets.  

You can find the cardstock in  lots of other places, too.  

I generally scout out Dollar Tree frequently for craft supplies, 

including the Washi (or decorator tape).

Here are the tabs I chose. 

They are from http://plantolovethislife.com/great-freebie-tabs/

I printed 2 copies so that I could glue them together and have matching front and back. 

Bible studies are split into 10 categories to encompass all topics.  That was the easiest way I could think of to index every single topic... Headings and subheadings. It makes sense in a couple of different ways, including how meticulous I can be. 😜

• God/ Trinity - Attributes, Roles (Father, Physician, Savior, Holy Spirit, etc)
• People - Authors, Disciples, bystanders, anyone of importance
• Things - Angels, demons, money, material things
• Places - Geographical location, facts about the cities
• Events - Important events that took place and are worth noting. 
• Culture - The laws of the land, beliefs of that time and place
• Emotions - Jealousy, hatred, joy, sadness
• Principles - Doctrines, tithing, loving one another
• Actions - How to love one another, murder, theft, rebellion, 
• Character Traits - Discipline, persistence, laziness

I wrote my topics on them and them taped them to seal from dirt and tears.  

For taping tips, refer to the Bible Book Binder.

Here is a sample of the subheadings. I chose to print stationery patterns onto my cardstock. 

I put it back into the printer and used Word to print the names in the center of the pages. The divider font is cafe & brewery, 48pt and the small font was part of the tab creator mentioned below.
I don't remember it.

Then, I printed some customized tabs and taped them on. I chose yellow for the disciples because yellow is my color for church history. They were the beginning of the original church, so it made sense.

(Note: If you use the site linked above for tabs, the colors of the tabs shown are customizable after the page loads, you will see a color box, for instance, pink. If you click it, you can change the color. You can even save your tabs to your pc or just print them.) 

I had just printed out a bunch of random topics. Then, I decided to color code the subheadings in the People subject to avoid the need for even more dividers. Under this theme, I will have to redo the teal tabs (not shown here) to colorize instead of confetti them. 

I already have plans of doing pink for the women. I have a lot of labels printed already but am waiting on ink to be able to print the dividers. The pic I have chosen for that is a simple floral and has a slight pink to it.  I didn't find it on the site to share with you today. I found all the pics for the Apostles, the women, and the one for my Sermon Notes binder all on this site above. 

To finish the binder off, I separated the Old and New Testaments with tabs.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If I overlooked anything, you liked the post or have other ideas for things that could have been done, let me know. ;)  

💖Be blessed and have a wonderful day!!

~~ Bible Book Binder ~~

Part 2 of the Faith Binder Series.

So. Entirely too much time has passes since my last entry.  I work full time and have lots to do outside of that. I am pretty whooped sometimes and don't know where to start because there is so much that I want to share with you. Today, I am just going to jump in. It doesn't have to (and probably won't be) perfect. It just needs to jump up here and be available. lol   I plan to change the name of the blog eventually but that takes copyright, etc. SO, since that isn't a fast way to get things done, I will keep that part on the backburner for the moment and plug along as is. ;)  Let's go!  😎

The first thing that I want to share with you are my Faith Binders.  I have a Prayer Journal (or War Binder) that you have already seen (but will be updated). I also have the Bible Topical Study, Bible Book Study, and the Sermon Notes binder.

I like to pick up my binders at the thrift stores. A lot of times I can find the big ones really cheap. Sometimes they are only about a dollar.  I will at one point also have a dedicated binder each for devotionals, written prayers, and other things as I see fit.  For now, I wanted to show you how I created/ organized my binders to give you ideas either to start one or maybe some tips that will make it easier for your own. If it is too much detail for you or you want to create one but feel the need to condense it somehow, that is up to you. 😉

For now, let's focus on the Bible Study - Books.  Here is the finished version of mine.

Eventually, as I fill it up, I will need to split it into 2 binders, Old and New Testaments, to have room in the binder for everything. If I continue it for the next 20 years and run out of space, I will probably split it into sections of those testaments. An example of that would be the Law, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets, etc.  Then, in each of those binders, I could either grow the size of the binder and/or break them into volumes.  Since I haven't much in it yet, it is fine in one for now. (Don't you love how I am already Back to the Future and haven't but the idea in my head yet? 😜 Oh well. It's called planning ahead and at times I don't do enough of it, so I'm good with that. OCD you say?  Yeah, well, maybe a little of that, too, and a bit of perfectionism.)  On with the blog. hehe

Firstly, you can use any decorative paper that you want for your cover and spine. I simply did a search on Bing to find "free printable paper". I know that sounds like a redundant phrase but it pulls up free digital scrap paper designs.  You could also either search for "free digital scrap paper"or for "free printable decorative paper".  I chose a free Moroccan printable tile background found here. I also saved it in different colors to mix and match. This helps all of my binders kind of blend together.

If none of that appeals to you, or if ink is an issue (I will try to update with a link below), I'm sure that any such scrap paper from Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc would do just fine. Whatever floats your boat.

The first thing that I have included are blank Bible study worksheets.  That way, I can grab a clean one and go. {Some good ones are found at BibleGirlPodcast in the link on the right for "Grace Book Bible Study Downloads."  I also like these but the object is to find what works for you.}  I also have a Study Helps tab from the printable tabs at Do Not Depart. This is where I have extra charts, maps and such.  Also in this section, are articles on Methods of Bible Study, Inductive Bible Study, as well as symbol charts and color codes from various sources to give me ideas on what and how to mark.

On to the dividers. I use plain white card stock by Neenah (found at Walmart for around $4 for 80 sheets, I believe).  I found these free printable Bible tabs at ministryark. I chose a washi tape that I liked to go down the edges for a splash of decoration and color. I ended up running out of that washi and had to finish out the OT with another. The NT is all one, though. I generally keep an eye out at Dollar Tree for the washi tape. The round tabs for OT and NT are the same tabs I used for my Topic Bible Study binder.

On to the application of the tabs, I used Scotch 3M Packing and Storage tape.  In the beginning,  I largely used it because it was sturdy and it was what I had on hand.  I have learned that I love it for tabs.  It is forgiving in most cases, as I can pull it up from the page and straighten the tab. I use it to tab my Bibles, also. It leaves the regular paper sturdy and dirt free.

                

1. I took the tab and put it longwise with the tape.  

2. Then, I cut the tape the size I wanted it (to the left and right of the tab only), lined it up onto my cardstock, and folded the clear side (that is above the tab) over the tab to seal it to the edge of the divider.  

3. I smoothed out any air bubbles, making a tight seal to the tab.  

4. Lastly, I trimmed the tape that was sticking up past the tab, making sure to leave the tiniest edge so that I was leaving a little seam to keep it sealed.

This worked really great but I don't have the most patience. lol  I found a slightly faster and easier way. If it works for you, here ya go:

          

The next step that I took was to add the OT and NT Tabs on their own dividers for easier use.
I printed 2 copies so that I would have front and back matching.  I cut them out and glued them together.

The same method was applied to them, except I only covered the circular portion with tape the first time, to seal it from finger prints. I cut a small strip of tape, large enough to cover the base of the tab. I cut that longways in the middle, making 2 pieces. I used one for the front of the tab and one for the back. Now, the entire tab was sealed to the divider. I repeated the process for the NT tab. 

  

 I will most likely add subheadings for chapter numbers as I go through them. There should be some way to keep the notes from melting into one another.

~~ Voila!  My binder is completed!! ~~
(For now, that is, until I find another way to even further customize it. lol)

Hopefully I will be able to find the time somewhere to be able to start filling it up. My first entry into it is the Bible study our home group was doing on Philippians. I had printed out a bunch of the lessons from it. I need to still see if the rest are available, as I had not finished printing them and we are on a new study. 

So, now you have ideas for your own Bible Study binder.  Leave a comment below if you enjoyed this post. If it helped you in anyway, gave you ideas, or if you have ideas to share with me, please let me know!  

If you are interested in the Bible Topical Study binder, click on over. 😉 

Prayer Journal and Bible Study Binders

The Bible Notebook:

So, lately I have been trying to get organized (again).  I really want to get serious this time about studying my Bible. I want to be a committed prayer. I pray a lot through the day but with nothing written to show for it. I also don't pray consistently in certain areas. I ask God to help me with circumstances. I ask Him to cover another person or to heal them. Yet, I don't have a dedicated prayer time. I'm trying to go deeper. This just won't do. So, I have done some searching and have come up with what, when done, will work for me. Everyone is different but I was glad that others had shared, even the modifications they had made from someone else. I am doing the same. I have taken from multiple sources and kind of made it my own in some areas. 

Here's what I am doing. Yours may end up differently. This started as a Bible study binder. I felt, for me personally, it was best divided into 2 binders. One as a Bible Study and one as a Prayer Journal. I broke the categories down by what would help me best on either side. For some reason, I like to have everything in its own place, separately. You might be able to leave out certain tabs or combine categories but I didn't. The Prayer Journal is actually a second system from someone else, thrown into this system under the prayer tab. :p lol  Do you see what I mean already? I couldn't just have a "prayer" tab. Anywho, I will explain that system further along. I suggest reading the entire post before starting anything because you will probably see right away what you like and don't like. That way, you can customize it to suit you. 

Here are the breakdowns of categories I decided for each.

Bible Study: (Everything relates to Bible study in some way.)

1. Sermon Notes -  I listen to different pastors. I'm dividing this section by person.
2. God's Promises -  to remember when I need encouragement or a push
3. Hebrew/ Greek -  vocabulary and definitions
4. Memory Verses 
5. Devotionals
6. Study Helps -  maps, guides, charts, historical facts and such

[*Update as of November 2017: I am going to split the Book and Bible studies into a separate binder. Bible studies will be split into 10 categories to encompass all topics. That was the easiest way I could think of to index every single topic...Headings and subheadings. It makes perfect sense in a couple of different ways, one of them being how meticulous I can be. :P ]

1. Book Studies -  notes from reading or facts learned about that book
2. Bible Studies -  topical, study series, etc

• God/Trinity - Attributes, Roles (Father, Physician, Savior, Holy Spirit, etc)
• People - Authors, Disciples, bystanders, anyone of importance
• Things - Angels, demons, spirits, money, material things
• Places  - Geographical location, facts about the cities
• Events
• Culture - the laws of the land, the beliefs of that time/ place
• Emotions
• Principles - Doctrines, Tithing, Loving one another
• Actions - How to love one another, murder, theft, rebellion, etc
• Character Traits - Discipline, jealousy, joy

Prayer Journal: (These categories were more personal and less Bible based.)

1. Prayer
2. Testimonies
3. My Blessings
4. Letters To God
5. Writing Ideas
6. Quotes - Biblical or faith based
7. Blog Posts
8. Song Lyrics - songs that speak to me in some way or are motivational

What I used:

• My binders are 3 ring about 3" and are what I had on hand. It allows for growth, too. I don't plan to carry it with me, so the large size isn't a problem. 
• I got the printable tab inserts from DoNotDepart.com (If you don't have access to a printer, you can make your own.)
• Notebook dividers - I have (2)  8 packs (bought during Back To School)
• White card stock (sold near the printing paper)
• Looseleaf notebook paper
• 2 Pocket Folders (optional)
• Highlighters ( I used 4- blue, yellow, orange, and pink)
• Ink pen
• Scissors 
• Glue stick
• Ruler
• 3 Hole punch
• Sheet protectors (optional)
• Binder Ring reinforcement stickers - to protect punched holes from wear (optional)

First, I prepared the tab inserts and placed them into the dividers in the above order. Again, that was just the order I chose. The 2 pocket folders come in handy for two reasons. If you don't make your own pocketed dividers (with the card stock) then you might want a couple of pockets handy for loose papers and bookmarks, etc. The other reason they are good is as a divider in themselves. My dividers and my looseleaf were the same size.  The folder is wider than both, so it provides a smooth transition between the last category and the blank paper. I am working on a Home Notebook, too, but I don't have the binder yet. So, I am using my prayer journal- then folder- then home categories. lol That's only temporary but it works.

The categories are fairly self-explanatory. So, for the most part, you are done with the Bible Notebook except for adding your own content. I created my own stationery for the sermon notes because I hadn't found any I liked. I later found some printable that I will try to list at the bottom. I put the blank ones in front of the Sermon Notes tab (which is just inside the binder) and the actual notes behind the tab. This made it easy for me to grab a couple of sheets to take with me to church without digging or mixing with the used ones. I had saved the worksheets from the video series' we watched at church and hole punched them. I placed them after the 2 pocket folder and before the looseleaf. This seemed to work well.

On to the Prayer Journal:

There are a ton of ways to do a prayer journal. Some I really liked and some I didn't. One of them, I really loved but I felt was not enough space for me. That one uses a composition notebook and you create tabs and dividers within it. I will do a post on it soon. Again, the bulk of this notebook is going to be done the same as the first one. Mostly no fuss, no muss. However....This is where the Prayer tab gets interesting. lol  It develops many layers. I used a system by Gina Garland. This is also where the rest of the supply list comes in. ;) Maybe i could have bought the things I needed but I'm thrifty and resourceful, so I made my own. : D

Gina divides hers into 6 sections for targeted prayers and needs for the first half of the binder (or in my case, tab).

1. God Almighty - things that remind you of His power and majesty or bring reverence; who He is and your relationship with Him
2. Myself - special needs or prayers to help you in the many roles you serve (sibling, parent, etc)
3. Spouse
4. Marriage
5. Children
6. Parents - things to be thankful about your parents and prayers for them
7. Ongoing (general) - military, those hospitalized or in nursing homes, the lost, etc
8. Ongoing (specific) - family, friends, or situations that are persistent and specific
9. Written - prayers collected from various sources 
10. Biblical - topical scriptures to pray or passages of prayer
11. Calendar - monthly with note space, weekly, whatever works best

The second section she's done differently than I have. I will link to hers but explain mine. ;) For me, I saw a need for a few more categories...of course. lol  I wanted to instantly be able to flip to 7 through 11. This is something that I feel led to do. The Written prayers are either to help when I don't know what to pray or prayers that I find especially meaningful to me. One site I really like is Hope For The Broken Hearted. They are on Facebook as well as Wordpress. It just seems like every time I read them, they could have been spoken from what I  or those I know are going through. They inspire me and uplift me. It also makes me feel good to agree with the prayer that was already spoken by another.

Lastly, for the Calendar tab. I like the idea of the notes section. If the notes start to be too many, I will flip the calendar over and make them there. That way it is all listed for the same month it came from. The days on the calendar are for specific events and appointments or dates prayer was requested. I got this idea from Stacey Williams.  This template was printed from templatetrove.com.

Tracking Prayer Requests

I feel led to start keeping a log of who the request was from and for/ when requested/ how and what date it was answered. This not only will keep me remembering if I need to keep praying for something but will also be a record of God's glory. Whether it took 2 days or 3 months or 2 years, it will be written there. I will have this in the Calendar section. I currently have the monthly list and then the weekly ones. I'm not sure how I want to do the tracking yet. I want it to be detailed and seamless but also in a way that makes sense tome so I will stick to it. I've been searching with Bing and Google to try to figure out how I want to do it. 

You can put a lot of things in these sections. I really like the "10 Things to Pray...." and the "31 Days of Praying for..." types of lists or the the scriptures by topic.  There is a list of virtues to pray for your children and so on. Here are a couple of ideas. I will link to some additional resources I found interesting or helpful. Feel free to link to some in the comments if there are any you would like to share. 

The pages are from here (click the title): A to Z Prayers for Your Children,   

31 Days of Prayer for Your Children,  

When You Need Healing  (I put this under the Biblical tab. 

This last site also has other lists of scripture.)

The only other section of the Prayer tab that I feel needs explanation is the Myself tab. (I promise, I haven't forgotten to tell you what the heck the ruler and all the other stuff is for. : p ) Gina leaves it up to you how many roles to use. Of course, I have them all but for a reason.  The roles I don't have now, I'm believe I may have in the future. Therefore, they are implemented now. I somewhat created separates so that if I found something that spoke to each role, I could add it and flip instantly. So, if I am seeking out ways to be a better friend or traits of a good friend, I could put it in the Friend tab. Having said that, this is the only place where I combined anything. I have them grouped this way on 3 dividers: Wife, Mom / Daughter, Sister, Friend / Student, Employee, Servant. Not only was I running out of dividers but I wasn't sure how much I would need to place in there and didn't want too much extra room. I can always redo those 3 into more later if I need to. They have pockets so between those and the binder rings, I should be able to find them easily enough. You may have more roles, like Chairman or Volunteer, or whatever.

1. Wife
2. Mom
3. Daughter/ in-law
4. Sister
5. Friend
6. Student
7. Employee
8. Servant

Now, let me show you how I divided the different sections of the Prayer tab. I already had the dividers that I had purchased that have the sections from the Bible Notebook from DoNotDepart.com. To make the prayer tabs stand out, I created my own. I made them stick out shorter so that they were easy to see apart from the purchased set. The Myself tabs are on top by themselves. I got this idea also from Stacey Williams. Mine looks like this:

Above: The overall look for normal view.  Below: The side tabs up close.

What I did to get the pocketed dividers is super easy. I took one sheet of card stock and folded it in half. I put a full sheet in the fold. Then, I used the glue stick to seal the left and right edges. I used the 3 hold punch to make it binder friendly.

    

As for the tabs, I used more card stock and lined out my tabs. You can make them whatever size you want. The size I went with was about 1 1/16th" wide (the first tiny line after the 1 inch mark) and about 3/4 " high. This allowed me 8 tabs across the top of the card stock and 11 down the side without overlapping. You may want to cut them like the below right pic so that you can fold them in half. I let the folded edge stick up at the height I wanted and fixed the open glue edge to the divider. That way, it was sturdy enough to flip without tearing it off. Also worth noting: I didn't use all of the tabs to the left. I simply decided to do a full sheet because I'm sure there are other binders to come. I have at least the Home Binder mentioned in this post. :)

(Update as of Sept. 2018: I have since gone back over the pocket edges with washi tape for reinforcement. I was not aware of washi way back at this posting. The glue had started to let go. Now, it is decorative and will hopefully hold a lot longer.)

   

As far as the main side tabs, I did the same thing but going down the right edge alongside the purchased divider tabs. In both instances, I put them relatively close together so that I could see them all and make them fit. Don't pay attention to what is written on the tabs in this pic. Those are for the Home Binder but they are done the same as these are. lol  I don't have these categories in my prayer journal. ;p I can go over the Home Binder in a later post. Lastly, after writing the desired category on the tab, I used a highlighter to mark the edges in different colors. I used the 4 colors I had. Plus, I used blue over pink to make purple and blue over yellow to make green. There are 6 colors in all. I repeated when necessary. The finished picture looks like this. (Click the picture to enlarge.)

(Update as of Sept. 2018: I also have since used clear packing tape on the printable binder tabs I have placed on my Bibles and other binder dividers. This is a cheap and effective, but slightly tedious, hack. It keeps from smudging, aging (I think), tearing and getting wet. I need to go over these tabs with some. I have explained in great detail in the Book Study binder on how to do this. Mostly, the tedious has to do with fussy cutting the excess tape. I think it is worth it though. After you have done it a few times it is a snap.)

More suggested resources and printables:

Virtues To Pray For Your Children

Pinterest.com

Prayer Journal Pages (free sets):

DailyDwelling.com

http://www.squidoo.com/prayerjournalorganizer

http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/free-prayer-journal-notebook-pages/