It's been less than a year since I started my bog, and I am lovin' learning the ins and outs of it all.  Not to mention, I have found my blog has increased my level of personal crafting responsibility.  I set a goal to post once a week (typically on Monday) and having this goal has pushed me to try new things I had before kept on a backburner.  Not that any of you would notice if I didn't post for a week or two, but the motivation is there!  

A few people have asked me how they can follow my blog.  In visiting other blogs, I noticed a button called bloglovin'. This site lets you view all of your favorite blogs in one place!  According to their website, "Follow your favorite blogs and discover new ones.  Bloglovin' helps you follow the blogs you read by letting you know when they update." So if you look to the right, you will see my button to Follow me on Bloglovin'!  And while you're at it, you can see a button there to Sign Up for my Emails  (a Monthly Newsletter).  Thanks in advance for your support!  And watch for some contests on my blog soon! 

How many of you receive a card in the mail, read it with a smile, and then throw it straight into the trash? Over the years, I have found myself doing this, mainly because I have been running out of a convenient way to store them.  I used to throw them in a large wood keepsake box, but the box was turning into to nothing more than cards, and I wanted space for other keepsakes.

So I trudged to Michaels.  I actually found a possible solution located high up on a shelf that looked big enough for even those oversized cards.  I couldn't find any at eye level, and, as usual, there was no worker in sight to help me. So with two toddlers in tow, I decided to scale the wall to get them down.  They looked perfect, but had no price tag, so I took them up to the register to ask.  She rang them up at 8.99 each and then as I proceeded to check out, I was told my 40% off coupon didn't work because they were already on sale.  So, I naturally inquired, "how much are they regularly (in case I needed more in the future)?"  She didn't know and was about to go find out elsewhere.  Again, with two toddlers in tow, I told her not to worry about it.  Have I mentioned how much I dislike Michaels? 

I got them home and was able to file all of my cards received separated by sender with the included dividers  Love it!  Now getting cards might even be as much fun as sending them-now that I have a place to immediately put them, rather than debating whether or not they are worthy of being saved!       

Mother's Day sort of snuck up on me this year.  And this year, of all years, I think my mother needs the most encouragement.  It didn't take long to realize my recently arrived monthly subscription of My Paper Pumpkin  would be perfect!  I had already watched the monthly video to see the contents:  a 4x4 frame, a sleeve, 2 ink spots, 3 stamps, 12 tags, several hearts, 2 flags, glue dots, 2 buttons, ribbon and twine.    

I ended up tweaking the frame to use my own piece of gray paper as the background and a different stamp embossed in white with a Bible verse, which would be more customized to my mom.  But I did use the included heart to serve as a frame to put around a picture of my parents and the Happy Mother's Day stamp on the sleeve that wraps the frame.  I used some of the extra supplies to make the card pictured below with the included For You stamp and more of the heart punchouts.  Plus, I still have several supplies left over!  

I sent the frame and the card to my mom early since this week leading up to Mother's Day my family is trying, more than ever, to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding.  If you think to, pray for us...and make sure to tell your mom you love her this Mother's Day!