A Blessing A Day...

February has finally arrived! I am excited about looking for ways to bless others this month. Today has been kind of a weird day. I have had very little time in my craft room. I did find time to make this card....

I don't know yet what I'm going to do with it. I just thought it looked fun and wanted to try it. And I am very pleased with the cuteness of the end product. :)

As for my blessing today, it was an act of service for my family...and my country. I spent the entire morning making final adjustments and filing my 2011 federal tax return. Tax preparation is enough trouble, but since my dear hubby's identity was stolen a few years back it is even more trouble now. I spent about 30 minutes on hold with the IRS who referred me to TurboTax to get my problem resolved. TurboTax does not want to talk with you. I couldn't find any contact number on the site. I did, however, eventually find the information that told me where to enter the Identity Protection Pin that was mailed to us. It was lunch time before I finally efiled successfully...Praise the Lord!

I know it's not a very exciting act for the first day of my month long challenge, but that leaves plenty of room for improvement as the month goes on. Praying you were a blessing to someone today too!

Friday Five

Well we made it to Friday! At least once a month I am going to start posting 5 different cards created with one stamp set. This week's featured stamp set is Perfect Punches. Of course it is named that because each stamp coordinates with one of the punches. That makes it very easy to put a card together quickly. I also used my Big Shot and an embossing folder on each of these. Here's what I came up with...

We are out of town this weekend for a gymnastics meet and I have had a little trouble trying to get this post uploaded, thus my Friday Five is actually on Saturday. Only 3 days until my Blessing A Day challenge for February begins. I can't wait!

May the Lord richly bless you this weekend!

New Year, New Toys

Happy New Year! I know, I'm a little behind. Seems I never catch up these days. Already our year has been so busy. Andrew competed in a gym meet in St. Louis, Christina moved back into the dorm :( and our last semester of homeschool is underway. I am also planning a baby shower for my friend's daughter this weekend. All this has left me little time to play with the new Stampin' toys I got for Christmas. Today I did manage to play a little. Here's a card I made using stamps that are in the new Occasions Mini catalog.

This card uses the cute little gnome set along with the phrase from the "Gnomenclature" set. My kids really like gnomes, so I knew I wanted this set when I saw it. Ended up getting it FREE! How cool is that?!

Of course I have to have a card for the shower gift this weekend. I don't make a lot of baby cards, and have enjoyed all the "baby crafts" I have done this week for the shower. Fortunately I love pink, so I didn't tire of looking at it all week. :)

On Monday, Jan. 16 I will have my next card class. We'll be playing with some more of my new toys from the Occasions Mini Catalog, including the new framelits heart dies for the Big Shot. Contact me if you have questions or need more information about this class.

Last year in February I attempted to complete a Blessing A Day challenge and blog about it. I am looking for others who want to join me in that challenge this year. Basically you look for ways to be intentional about sharing love with others each day. Some of mine were crafts last year, others were acts of service...the possibilities are endless. It was a fun way to focus on others and I am excited about getting started on that soon. Let me know if you want to join me.

This year I am also hoping to do a better job of keeping my blog updated and posting new projects each week. Perhaps you can help hold me accountable for that. :)

Hope each of you has a blessed weekend!