Fall Birthday

Hello Blogger friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog this last Sunday in September. 

Hope your weekend is going well. Mine was a bit different. I had a day and night to myself yesterday.  My hubby went to the Penn State Football game yesterday in State College. Our sons gave it to him as a Father's Day gift. Since it was a night game, they rented a house there and stayed overnight. 

He just came back home and now we are getting ready to go over to our Pittsburgh son's home for dinner to celebrate my birthday. Our California son came in for the weekend so it's a bonus that I get to see him as well. 

This morning it was my turn to teach Sunday school. I have the 5–7-year-old class. The lesson went over well, and they loved the craft we did that reinforced the lesson. I really like teaching this age level. They are receptive to the way I teach. I usually start with a game or 2 that ties into my lesson. Then I show a short video-always 5 minutes or less that is another reinforcement of my lesson, followed by some questions to see if they were listening. Then our craft time, then a snack and my 45 minutes is up. 

Now let's move onto my card for today. This one I created using the colors from the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #964. Our colors were moody mauve, misty moonlight and copper clay. Optional is to use die cuts.

moody mauve, misty moonlight, copper clay

I thought these colors would make a great Fall birthday card. My friend is celebrating in October. I used the CottageCutz Christmas Floral die and cut the greenery in moody mauve, copper clay and mossy meadow cardstocks.

The pot is cut in pecan pie (neutral) and shaded with the same ink. Added my sentiments -cut in copper clay.

The background designer paper is from the Stampin' Up "earthen elegance" collection. I added a few misty moonlight enamel dots to complete my card.

Well, that's it for me for this post. Time to head out the door for my birthday celebration. So until next time .......God bless. 

Card Details:

Paper: copper clay, moody mauve, mossy meadow, pecan pie, earthen elegance dsp (Stampin' Up)white

Paper Size: A2

Ink: pecan pie (Stampin' Up)

Accessories: christmas floral, fall phrases, Birthday w/shadow, stitched circle dies (CottageCutz), misty moonlight enamel dots (Stampin' Up)

I am also entering:

1.  Gem of a Challenge is anything goes. 

2.  Crafty Calendar is anything goes. 

3.  Crafty Catz has an anything goes. 

4.  Creative Fingers has an anything goes challenge. 

5.  Daring Cardmakers has an always autumn/forever fall challenge. 

6.  Paper Dragonfly has an anything goes/Fall splendor challenge. 

Sending Birthday Wishes

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

September is already on a roll, and I have been really busy in the kitchen with the bountiful harvest my hubby is getting from his vegetable gardens. We are going to buy a chest freezer to hold everything that I am freezing -  from roasted tomatoes, stuffed banana pepper, green beans, sugar snap peas and zucchini bread. We ran out of room in our kitchen refrigerator freezer. But we will have plenty of food for this winter to enjoy. 

Now onto my card for today. This one I created for the color challenge #963 on Splitcoaststampers. Our color trio was highland heather, parakeet party and daffodil delight for her color trio. Optional was to make it a birthday card.

highland heather, parakeet party, daffodil delight

CottageCutz recently released dies in the Folk Art style. I decided to use the Folk Art Butterfly die and create a birthday card.

This particular style is not in my comfort zone. So, I looked to Pinterest and I found this Folk Art butterfly art print, and I used it as my card inspiration.

My butterfly is cut in daffodil delight and the other elements that makes this folk art design are cut in highland heather and parakeet party.

My gray granite (neutral) background paper is from the Stampin' Up "bloom where you are planted" collection.

That's it for me for this post. So until next time......God bless. 

card details:

Stamps: parcel & post sentiments (Spellbinders)

Paper: highland heather, daffodil delight, parakeet party, bloom where you are planted dsp (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"

Ink: highland heather (Stampin'-Up)

Accessories: Folk Art Butterfly die, Folk Art Flowers Mixed die, Little Flowers die, Sending Hugs dies (CottageCutz)

I am also entering:

1.  Polkadoodles has an anything goes challenge. 

2.  Creative Inspiration Challenge is anything goes. 

3.  Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #225- I chose Birthday, Die Cuts & Stamping. 

4.  Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday is anything goes. 

5.  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is stamp it. 

Sending an Ocean of Love

Hello Blogger friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog this last Saturday in August. Looks like we are going to have a great weekend here in Pittsburgh - weatherwise that is. 

I will be in the kitchen dealing with a huge tomato harvest. But that will get taken care of in a timely fashion today. Then I am going to put my patriotic decorations away and pull out my Fall stuff. I always like when it's time to change the decorations. Even though we have almost a month of summer left, I am going to put the summer decorations away. 

Now onto my card for today. This one is definitely one with a summer vibe. I created it for one of the DTGD challenges on Splitcoaststampers. We were to create a fun fold card. 

I used the July 2023 Stampin' Up "fun in the sun" kit. The kit gives you supplies to make 9 fun fold cards. This card is just one of the designs in the kit.

Well, that's it for me for this post. So until next time .....God bless. 

Card Details:

Stamps: fun in the sun (Stampin' Up)

Paper: azure afternoon, daffodil delight, flirty flamingo, melon mambo, pool party (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: azure afternoon (Stampin' Up)

Accessories: Paper Pumpkin Kit July 2023 (Stampin' Up)

Techniques: Side Step Card

I am also entering:

1.  Aloha Friday Challenge is vacation mode. 

2.  Creative Fingers Challenge is anything goes. 

3.  My Time to Craft wants us to use die cuts. 

4.  The Paper Shelter Challenge has a summertime challenge.   

5.  Crafty Gals Corner has a summer fun challenge. 

Merry and Bright

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today. 

I have been busy with the bounty from my hubby's garden. He picked 50 banana peppers, and they were waiting to be stuffed, some shared and the rest put in the freezer. I stuff them with a hot & sweet Italian sausage, onions, garlic, seasonings and a can of fire roasted tomatoes w/chiles. I sent 7 large ones to my niece, 8 large ones to my next door neighbor and 7 large ones to my son and daughter-in-law. 

I also roasted a bunch of tomatoes today. My hubby grows heirloom, opalka and some other round ones. I never asked him for the name of the round ones. But the heirloom and opalka when roasted with garlic, onion, olive oil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of balsamic glaze make for the most delicious marinara sauce. After roasting I put them in the food processor and puree the mixture then freeze. 

I will be in the kitchen daily until the beginning of October. That's when his harvest will stop. But I don't mind because everything I make, and freeze is another meal to be enjoyed over the winter months. 

Now onto my card for today. this one I made for the color challenge #958 on Splitcoaststampers. We were to use polished pink, gold and mossy meadow for the color trio. Optional is to make it Christmas.

polished pink, gold, mossy meadow

For my card I used a Suzy's watercolor print from Simon Says Stamp. You can use any medium to color it though. I used a combo of Stampin' Up (polished pink & misty moonlight (neutral)) & Copic alcohol markers and Prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

Card base is mossy meadow with a strip of gold. Scattered some gold epoxy gems to finish it off. That's it for me for this post so until next time......God bless. 

card details:

Paper: mossy meadow, brushed gold (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: A2

Accessories: Suzy's Watercolor Snowman prints (SSS), gold epoxy gems (Stampin' Up), polished pink & misty moonlight Stampin" Blends (Stampin' Up), E31, E33, E57, E59, C00 Copic Markers, Prismacolor pencils 1090 Kelp Green, Black, Gamsol

I am also entering:

1.  Christmas Craft Creations has a clean and simple challenge.

2.  The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge is anything goes. 

3.  Lil Patch of Crafty Friends has an anything goes challenge. 

4.  A Perfect time to Craft has an anything goes challenge. 

5.  Crafty Animals has an anything goes with an animal. 

Birthday Wishes & Poppies

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today. 

Another weekend is almost over, so I hope you had some fun plans. We were invited to a birthday party yesterday afternoon. It was a great time chatting with friends and we even met a new one. There was lots of delicious food and of course plenty of sweet treats. I steered clear of the dessert table which wasn't easy, and they also had an ice cream truck come bringing more goodies. 

Today I spent some time in the kitchen roasting the tomatoes from my hubby's garden. His harvest is coming in and it will be here for another month or longer. We love eating fresh from the garden and freeze a lot to enjoy in the winter.

Now onto my card for today. this one I created for the color challenge #960 on Splitcoaststampers. I was the hostess, and I chose berry burst, bubble bath and lost lagoon for my color trio. Optional was an anything goes. I chose polished pink for my option.

berry burst, bubble bath, lost lagoon

I used a new to me poppy stencil from The Ton Stamps to create my card. It's a multi-layered stencil. 

I don't have bubble bath ink, so I used spun sugar distress ink and I thought it was a good match. That's the first stencil layer. Second layer is polished pink (my option), and the 3rd layer is berry burst.

Leaves are stenciled in lost lagoon ink. Added my sentiment, scattered a few berry burst sequins to finish it off.

This card is a bit larger than I usually make because of the size of the stencil. It measures 4 1/2" x 6". I don't have any 12 x 12 cardstock in berry burst. So, I did a hinge technique for this card. Here is a link for another card I did that explains this technique.

This card was just mailed to my daughter-in-law for her birthday. She loves flowers. Well, that's it for me for this post. So until next time......God bless.

Card Details:

Stamps: Lighthouses (MFP)

Paper: berry burst, bubble bath (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: 4 1/2" x 6"

Ink: polished pink, berry burst, lost lagoon (Stampin' Up) spun sugar distress (Ranger)

Accessories: peaceful poppies stencil (The Ton Stamps), Wishes w/Shadow die (CottageCutz), Berry Burst sequins (Stampin' Up)

Techniques: stenciling

I am also entering:

1.  Beautiful Blossoms has an anything goes with flowers challenge. 

2.  Creations in Pink has an anything goes challenge with mainly pink. 

3.  Stencil Fun Challenge is anything goes w/optional butterflies.

4.  Gem of a Challenge Week 17 is anything goes. 

5.  My Time to Craft has a stenciling challenge. 

Swan Silhouette

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

August is moving right along. It's already halfway through the month. I want to put the brakes on and slow the days down a bit (lol)!!!

We had our family reunion this past Saturday. It was a great time of spending time with family and lots of good food. My hubby picked about 40 banana peppers so that was my food contribution. 

I stuff them with hot & sweet Italian sausage plus onion, garlic, oregano, Italian seasoning and a can of Trader Joe's fire roasted tomatoes w/diced chilies. That was the first dish to be emptied. Two of my nieces asked if I could share the next batch I stuff. So that's what I did yesterday for them. 

Today, I have garden tomatoes to roast with onion, garlic olive oil and balsamic glaze. Then I put them in a food processor to puree and freeze them.  Doing it this way I end up with a delicious marina to enjoy in the winter. 

But, before I get into the kitchen, I wanted to post a card. This one I made for the DTGD challenges on Splitcoaststampers. I was hosting this challenge and I wanted everyone to use a silhouette. The silhouette could either be a stamp or a die cut. 

I started my card with the background paper. It's from the "Landscapes Paper Pack" from Divinity Designs. The stamp and sentiment I used is from Blue Knight Stamps - "swan scene". I stamped with black archival ink from Ranger. 

This will be the card I give to my hubby on our anniversary in November. And, that's it for me for this post. So, until next time......God bless. 

card details:

Stamps: Swan Scene (Blue Knight Stamps)

Paper: gorgeous grape, basic black (Stampin' Up), landscapes paper pad (Divinity Designs)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: jet black archival (ranger)

I am also entering:

1.  Simon Says Stamp has a CAS challenge. 

2.  The Crafty Addicts has an anything goes challenge. 

3.  The Paper Funday Challenge is anything goes w/optional the great outdoors. 

4.  Crafting Happiness Challenge is anything goes. 

5.  Lil Patch of Crafty Friends has an anything goes challenge. 

Precious Poppies

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

Welcome to August and I can't help but saying the summer months are flying by at a rapid rate. Our CA kids were here for a visit last week, so no Blog posts from me. We had such a wonderful family time with our CA & Pittsburgh kids and especially the grandkids. Now, my house is way too quiet. 

We are going to visit our CA kids in the early Fall. Just not sure when yet. We didnt make it out in the Spring so it was 6 months since we saw them. Just way too long even though we did Facetime calls. It's just not the same as an in-person visit. 

My hubby also has started the harvest from his vegetable garden. He picked 37 banana peppers the other day. I spent Friday and Saturday stuffing them with a combo of Sweet & Hot Italian sausage. I froze them for wintertime enjoyment. And I shared 6 of them with our next-door neighbors. They love them. 

Now onto my card for today. This one I created for the DTGD challenge on Splitcoaststampers. For this particular challenge we were to use stencils. 

The stencil I used is from The Ton Stamps. It's the precious poppies stencil and it is a multi-layer stencil. The ink is also from The Ton - rose quartz, soft garnet, red sangria. The card base is polished pink cardstock from Stampin' Up. 

I didn't add a sentiment because I am not sure how I will use this card yet. 

Well, that's it for me for this post. So, until next time.......God bless. 

card details:

Paper: polished pink, white (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: rose quartz, soft garnet, red sangria (The Ton Stamps)

Accessories: precious poppies stencil (The Ton Stamps)

Techniques: stenciling

I am also entering:

1.  Lil Patch of Crafty Friends has an anything goes challenge. 

2.  Gem of a Challenge Week 16 is anything goes. 

3.  Inkspirational has a stencils challenge w/optional of layering stencils. 

4.  Polkadoodles has an anything goes challenge. 

5.  Cardz 4 Galz wants us to use something beginning with "P". I used a poppies stencil.

Christmas Poinsettia

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today.

My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter are here from CA for a week. We have had some wonderful family time. 

It's been so hot and humid here in Pittsburgh this past week. I just came from a refreshing swim with my granddaughter and hubby in our neighbor's pool. My granddaughter is busy with an art project right now so I thought I would do a quick Blog post.

This card I made to celebrate Christmas in July. I used the colors from the color challenge #955.  We were to use soft succulent, poppy parade and petal pink for the color trio. Optional is Christmas in July. 

petal pink, poppy parade, soft succulent

I don't have petal pink cardstock, so I used powder pink for my poinsettia. Since there are no veins in this die, I added them with powder pink ink and a brush and for the top layer I used a R20 Copic marker.

The leaves are cut in soft succulent cardstock and then shaded with the same ink for a deeper hue. After I finished this card, I found some soft succulent glimmer paper, so I cut the holly leaves in that paper for a little shine. I decided not to remove the other piece of cardstock but kept it for a darker border.

Stamped my Merry Christmas sentiment in poppy parade. It's a new to me stamp set from The Ton Stamps. It's called "fill it in holiday". I bought it last year at a rubber stamp show but never used it at Christmas. Found it a couple of days ago.

That's it for me for this post. So until next time.....God bless.

Card Details:

Stamps: fill it in holiday (The Ton Stamps)

Paper: poppy parade, soft succulent, powder pink, soft succulent glimmer paper (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: 5" x 6"

Ink: soft succulent, powder pink (Stampin' Up)

Accessories: poinsettia floral die (CottageCutz), poppy parade enamel dots (Stampin' Up)

I am also entering:

1.  Cardz 4 Galz wants us to use soemthing beginning with a "P". 

2.  Creative Knockouts has a Christmas in July challenge. 

3.  Krafty Chicks has an all occasions challenge. 

4.  Crafty Gals has a Christmas in July challenge. 

5.  Simon Says Stamp has an anything goes challenge. 

Peace and Joy Snow Globe

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today. 

I can't believe that July 2023 is almost a wrap. The summer months seem to be flying by that's for sure. I have been busy with the harvest from my hubby's veggie garden. 

It seems I get the harvest taken care of and then another huge batch comes through. But, it will be wonderful to enjoy the delicious food this coming winter. 

I wanted to get some of my Christmas in July cards posted before July is over. I have several of them.

This one I made for the color challenge #952 on Splitcoaststampers. The colors we were to use were daffodil delight, melon mambo, granny apple green and coastal cabana. Optional was to use die cuts or a punch.

daffodil delight, melon mambo, granny apple green, coastal cabana

I love this color combo and thought I would try making a Christmas card. I wanted to use these new Folk Art dies from CottageCutz and the colors were perfect for the house and trees. So I decided to put them into a snow globe.

I used some older designer paper from the "snowflake splendor" collection for the background and then covered it with vellum for a softer appeal.

For the snow effect inside the snow globe, I used the softly falling embossing folder. I covered the images with a window sheet, but you can't really tell in this photo.

Well, that's it for me for this post. So until next time.......God bless.

card details:

Paper: coastal cabana, daffodil delight, granny apple green, melon mambo, choc chip, vellum, snowflake splendor dsp (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: A2

Accessories: folk art house (large) die, folk art trees die, circle die, snowglobe die, peace and joy wreath die (CottageCutz), window sheet, softly falling ef (Stampin' Up) )

Techniques: die cuts

I am also entering:

1.  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is anything goes. 

2.  The Crafters Cafe has a Christmas in July challenge. 

3.  Get Creative Challenges #123 is Christmas in July. 

4.  Craft Rocket Challenge is Christmas in July

5.  Christmas Craft Creations is anything goes.