happy new year

Happy thursday and new years eve to all who are visiting the charmed life blog. I know we all say it over and over but I really can't believe how quickly this year has passed.

Tonight we are going to our son's home to celebrate my husband's birthday (dec 28) as well as have a small family new years eve party.

There will be a fire going in the fireplace, and we have a sleepover as well.

Its just such a great night, and we all look forward to it.

My card for today celebrates the new year. I want to send this out to someone that I missed sending a Christmas card to.

My layout is from Wednesday's sketch challenge on splitcoaststampers. This was such a great sketch for this card.

Also, the challenge on the stampin sisters in christ blog was to make a new years card. The comment there was: as we begin the new year, let all of our resolutions include asking God to teach us and lead us on the path He has laid for us.

My card uses this cute embossed sticker I had from Mary Engelbreit. I really liked the saying on the sticker. It reads "and now let us welcome the new year-full of things that have have never been". I thought it was just perfect for what the sscc theme is for the week. I picked it up in Michael's $1 bin last year.

If you click on the picture it will bring it in closer and larger.

My designer paper is from su's Christmas cocoa speciality pack. I used some old stampin-up rub-ons for the sentiment and the stars and that's my card. No stamping on this card, but I like how it turned out.

Well, its a wrap for today. Happy New Year blessings to all who are reading this blog post.

birthday wishes

Happy Wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Wow, it's been a week since I posted a card.

But, with Christmas and my son being home to visit there was just no time.

We had a wonderful celebration. Christmas Eve my in-laws came for dinner. My brother-in-law is so complimentary. He loved the food and all the cookies. He was in such a festive mood and he made the evening fun for all of us.

Christmas Day was our family celebration with my sons-daughter-in-law and grandsons. It was just the perfect time together. We bought our oldest grandson a plug & play tv game-called big buck hunter. We all end up playing and having so much fun with it. My son even spent some of the next day playing with it as well. It's one of those games you can play in an arcade at the beach or amusement park.

My extended family is having a Christmas party this coming Saturday which will be enjoyable.

So onto my card for the day. I made this for the color challenge on splitcoaststampers and used the layout from the mojomonday challenge.

The colors were really put of the box for me. But, after the card was finished I was happy with the results. We were to use basic gray, dusty durango, barely banana and a neutral of our choice.

I had some stampin-up designer paper (urban garden) that is basic grey but trying to pair that with the dusty durango was my challenge.

I decided to use some dusty durango ribbon and I had these flowers from Michael's brides collection and colored them with gray and dusty durango markers.

I made it a birthday card and used a Verve stamp set I have. I just love the fonts on this set. In fact all of the verve fonts are just so pretty.

I have a lot of January birthdays in my family. So this will be for one of my nieces.

Well, its a wrap for today. Hope you have fun with whatever you are doing for the New Years celebration. We will spend the night over at my sons. Our grandsons love it when we sleep over and so do we!!

card recipe:

stamps: verve wishing you

paper: su basic grey, dusty durango, barely banana, vv, urban garden dsp

ink: memento london fog

accessories: nesties, su ribbon, michael's brides table confetti

dasher christmas card

Happy Tuesday everyone and thanks for thaking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Can you believe that it is ony 3 days till christmas?

I went to my grandsons school today for a grandparents day. They had a light breakfast for us after the service. It was very nice. And the 3rd grade (Ethan's class) sang a special song for the grandparents. He was happy that I was able to attend and so was I.

After that I put my game face on and went christmas shoppping. Oh yes, I am finished finally. I am in the midst of wrapping now. My husband thinks it should take me about 3 minutes per package.

He knows I do special wraps on each gift. So 3 minutes is not even in the ball park. I had to take a break from it so I decided to post my card.

My card today is one of the many that I sent out for Christmas. I only made 2 of this one though. All the elements of the card were part of the Christmas jingle kit from stampin up. I know I have said it before but I really liked this kit. I guess its only available until the new catalog comes out. So if you want a way to make some great Christmas cards, pick it up for next year. I saw this card on Nancy Riley's blog and made some changes to make it my own. Thank you Nancy for the inspiration.

Well, its a wrap for today my friends. I hope your pre-Christmas preparations are going well.

card recipe:

paper: su old olive, choc chip, su dsp

accessories: su christmas jingle kit, old olive ribbon, circle nesties

Artful Inkables featured stamper

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

What a wonderful day I had.

It started off at church. Our kids had a program today and to say it was wonderful would be an understatement.

They all worked so hard and everyone remembered all their lines.

The ones that played Mary, Joseph and the wise men were our pre-schoolers. I wish you could have seen how cute they were.

Then, I went to my cookie exchange. It was canceled yesterday because we had about 6" of snow. But, the road crews were busy plowing and salting and today it was fine. I have a nice variety of cookies now to serve on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Then, my big news for the day is that I was the featured stamper over on the artful inkables blog.

I made this card for my friend's wedding in the springtime. She even placed it in her wedding scrapbook. So she will be thrilled to hear this news as well.

One of the design team from the company contacted me because she noticed the card on splitcoaststampers. She asked me if they could show the card on the company blog. They were going to be featuring some customer cards during the month of December.

I was so honored and of course I said yes.

So today was my day. The above link will take you right to the blog.

I really like the stamp set that I purchased from them. It's called wedding silhouettes. I just loved all the possibilities for cards.

Well, its a wrap for another day my friends. I pray the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you.

merry & bright

Happy Saturday and thanks for visiting the charmed life blog. It is quite a snowy day here in Pittsburgh as well as on the eastern part of the U.S. We have about 5" of snow right now in my area.

I didn't get to go to my cookie exchange today. But, we rescheduled for tomorrow after church.

So I managed to get a few things accomplished here. I picked up a few more Christmas gifts. I still need to wrap everything.

The mall is only 4 minutes from my home and our township really takes care of the roads well. So after the plow and salt truck came around I ventured out.

I have more to do here so after this post its back to work for me.

My card today is for 3 challenges. I haven't had the time to do many challenges lately but today I squeezed this card in. It was simple and quick.

The our creative corner blog challenge for this week is to create a winter themed card featuring snow or snowflakes.

Then, sharon johnson has a challenge to use anything on your card that says snow. Sharon has the no stamp to stamp blog.

My 3rd challenge is the stampin sisters in christ challenge to use bling on the card.

So as you can see my card has snowflakes and bling.

I used stampin-up real red and whisper white cardstock. For the snow requirement I had a chipboard snowflake from K&Co with bling added.

I also used the cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and some stampin-up snowflake rub-ons.

I added white ribbon and used the ms lace doily border punch and that's my card.

Well, my friends it's a wrap for another day from charmed life land.

I close with this blessing for you: I pray the Lord bless all the work of your hands this week-end.

card recipe:

paper: real red, whisper white

accessories: k&co chipboard, su rub-ons, cb ef, white ribbon

acetate christmas card

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Well, I can say I am very pleased with my progress on completing my tasks for Christmas.

Today, I put on the Christmas music and baked all day. I just felt very peaceful. So if you prayed for me, I am sending a big thank you!!

I made 20 doz of mini-lady locks. I am part of a cookie exchange that is happening tomorrow. I only need 5 doz for the exchange though.

Hopefully, driving will be ok. We are under a winter storm watch. It has already started to snow as I am writing this post.

I had planned to finish my shopping tomorrow after the exchange. It's super Saturday. This day is as big as black Friday according to the media. But, the snow could change my plans.

My card for today is one that I made for the limited supplies challenge over at splitcoaststampers. We were challenged to make some sort of holiday decoration and it had to be silver and/or gold.

I wanted to try my hand at an acetate card. I have seen so many beautiful ones on the blogs and in gallery at splitcoast. I needed another Christmas card-do you believe it!!

I made 52 and it wasn't enough.

I used stampin-up icicle rub-ons for the snowflakes and the sentiment.

My ornament was cut from the cricut machine. I don't have one, but I was over at my friend Deb's home recently and she does. She cut me a bunch of different ornament shapes.

I also used the upper crest border punch and some white ribbon and that's my card.

Well, its time to wrap it up from charmed life land for today. I pray a blessing of peace for all who are reading today's post.

card recipe:

paper: acetate, su silver, paper company cool metallics

accessories: su rub-ons icicle, fiskars upper crest border punch, ribbon, cricut

Dec 25

Happy Thursday and welcome to the charmed life blog. Today was another one of those crazy days.

We were having some computer issues and fortunately we have a friend who handles it for us.

But, it was 4 hrs today and 3 hrs on Tuesday to get the problems corrected.

So needless to say, I didn't accomplish all that I wanted to with my Christmas preparations, but I made headway.

All of my cards are written and addressed and half of them are mailed. Can I hear a big whoo hoo!!

Last night after posting, I ordered a few more gifts online and it was free shipping on some and they all will be here in the next several days.

Tonight I went shopping around 9:00 and picked up a few more gifts. So, can I hear another whoo hoo!! I am almost finished with my shopping. Lol-it's only 8 days until Christmas.

Tomorrow, I will be baking all day since I am in a cookie exchange on Saturday. I am making mini lady-locks. This cookie is my Christmas speciality. I make 20 dozen and give about 3/4 of them away as gifts. My friends and family wait anxiously for this cookie.

I am feeling better and somewhat less stressed about getting the things done that I need to.

So now onto my card for today. I found another challenge group recently. Its the pals paper arts blog . This week their theme was to create a holiday or winter themed card. So I say what is more holiday than dec 25.

This is another one of my Christmas cards. I used the stampin-up Christmas jingle kit to create this card. I have said it before but this kit has a big wow factor.

I saw this card by Nancy Riley and I knew I was going to make it as one of my Christmas cards.

I used old olive and very vanilla paper, real red ribbon and a red nailhead. But everything else is from the kit.

Well, its a wrap for another day my friends. I am still waiting to hear how all of you are handling the busyness of the Christmas season. It's important to encourage one another.

victorian christmas stocking

Happy Wednesday to all who are visiting the charmed life blog today. Only 9 more days until Christmas. Are you ready?

Today, I went to my friends, and we made chocolate candy. It was fun spending time with Holly and chit-chatting, while we covered pretzels and oreos in chocolate, made coconut & peanut clusters and peanut butter filled ritz crackers.

I used about 6# of milk chocolate. Of course, I sampled some along the way. It was yummy!!

So today was a busy but productive day.

My grandsons will be very happy with the chocolate covered oreos. I will make each of them a box filled with the chocolate goodies.

Now onto my card for today. This is another one of my Christmas cards. I finished my cards on Sunday and will be posting them for the next several days. So make sure you stop back or you can sign up for a free email subscription to my blog. It will be delivered right to your inbox. That way you won't miss any of my posts.

My card is for the challenge over on the crazy for challenge blog. The theme this week is to add a snowflake or snowman to your card. So I decided on my layout to add a stampin-up felt flurrie to one of the circles on my card.

My Victorian stocking is a rub-on. I had it in my stash. I bought it from Michael's a few years ago.

The layout I used was an old sketch that Verve put out for their August anniversary. I made this card for that challenge. I liked it so much I decided to make another but this time I added a snowflake for the current challenge.

Well, its a wrap for today my friends. Let me know how you are doing with your Christmas cards, shopping or decorating.

card recipe:

paper: su real red, ww, old olive, dashing dsp

accessories: su scallop & circle punches, su ribbon and felt flurries, victorian rub-ons (unknown),

penguin medallion

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

Life has been so crazy and busy for me. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

So I wonder why I stress and never have enough time to complete what I want to for Christmas.

My husband was trying to put things in perspective for me tonight. So I feel a little better. I have to really plan and organize the next 3-4 days.

I just finished my Christmas cards but they are not mailed as yet. That will happen on Thursday.

Tomorrow, I am going to a friend's home to make candy. We plan on making chocolate covered oreos and pretzels. Then, I take some ritz crackers and make a peanut butter sandwich and cover it with chocolate. They are so yummy!! And, one of my favorites, cashew clusters.

We did this last year and my family loved all of it, especially my grandsons. They really liked the chocolate covered oreos.

So onto my card for today. I have been creating but have had no time to photo and post on my blog. Today, I made the time!!

This cute little penguin is sitting atop a scalloped edge medallion. Here is the tutorial from splitcoaststampers on how to make this medallion. I used some new designer paper from dcwv that a friend bought for me. I thought it worked well with some old stampin-up cardstock-wild wasabi.

The penguin is a die-cut from darcie's stamps. She actually calls them u-cuts since you have to cut them out. I purchased these at a rubber stamp show this past summer. I think they are super cute.

Well, its a wrap for another day. I send a blessing of peace to all who are reading my blog. I know I need it as well.

card recipe:

paper: su wild wasabi,vv, bazzill crimson, dcwv holiday collection

accessories: su scallop border punch,

winter wishes

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I didn't go over to take care of my grandsons after school today. My son made some other plans. So it gave me a day to decorate and do some stamping.

My card today is for the contest being held over on the mojomonday blog. Julee supplied another great sketch to work with. Also, back in October she gave a free digi-image. It was the mittens and the winter wishes words. I decided to use them on this card.

I wanted it to be a birthday card for my sister, but then I used the cuttlebug embossing folder with these Christmas words. I know that people who have a December birthday don't like getting Christmas themed cards. They just like celebrating their birthday. My husband is one of them. So the fate of this card is yet to be determined (lol).

I used stampin-up always artichoke, rich razzleberry, pink pirouette and basic grey eskimo kisses designer paper.

I cuttlebugged the pink pirouette circles and for the mittens I paper pieced them with the designer paper. On the mitten cuffs, I added a little flower soft to give the appearance of fur.

I used a new tool to make my bow. It's called a bow easy. It makes tying bows super easy. gina k has a great video tutorial on how to use it.

Well, that's it for today my friends. Before I close I have a prayer request for all who are reading this post. A good friend of mine just had some horrible news today. Her nephew was found dead in his apartment. Please pray for the family during this time of grief.

card recipe:

stamps: verve digi image

paper: su rich razzleberry, always artichoke, pink pirouette, eskimo kisses dsp

accessories: polar white flowersoft, nesties, cb ef, su ribbon, rhinestones

christmas in the heart

Happy Monday to all who are visiting the charmed life blog today. The day really seemed to get away from me and I didn't accomplish all that I wanted to.

I need to finish my Christmas cards and get them addressed and mailed. My goal is to work diligently on them tomorrow before I head out to my son's to meet the boys school bus.

On another note. I added 5 new blog buttons. I had them designed by Leelou-the woman who designed the blog template. The new buttons are "about me, blog archive, my splitcoaststampers gallery, email me, labels".

What do you think?

So for today's post I am showing one of my Christmas cards. What else this time of year, you may be thinking.

I bought these super cute die cuts at a rubber stamp show that I went to this summer here in Pittsburgh. The penguin and the christmas tree are the die-cuts. The sentiment is also a die-cut. They are from darcie's stamps. They are called u-cuts because you have to cut them out.

I thought they would make a great kids card.

There is no stamping on this card but lots of cutting. The layout is the sketch 242 from splitcoaststampers.

Anyway, my dp paper is from memory box- farmers market collection and bo-bunny holly jolly stripes. I really like how the colors co-ordinate. I didn't realize until I uploaded my card that it was 2 different companies- lol.

card recipe:

paper: gp white, farmers market collection (memory box), holly jolly stripes (bo-bunny)

accessories: darcie's die-cuts

christmas snowman

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

Well, I think winter weather is starting to set upon us here in Pittsburgh. It was a cold but sunny day.

It's funny but people have their Christmas decorations out and we still have mums growing in pots on our front porch.

My husband commented the other day that he thought his irises were coming up. We have had really warm days here for this time of year.

I had some great news today from California. My youngest son lives there and he is coming home for Christmas.

His email made my day. He usually comes home at Christmas time, but he also waits until the last minute to buy a ticket. So he always leaves me in suspense.

It will be such a joyful Christmas celebration. My grandsons just love "Uncle Brett" and so does Mom.

Well, now onto my card for today. I mentioned I am still making Christmas cards and I need some quick cards. So I went back to the stampin-up Christmas jingle kit for some of the elements on this card. My snowman is from an old stampin-up set called "holiday hello".

The layout for the card is one of the Monday mojo sketches. I saw this card on the blog of butternut sage designs. Thanks Donna for the inspiration.

Well ,my friends its a wrap for another day here in charmed life land. Talk to you soon!!

card recipe:

stamps: holiday hello

paper: su old olive, ww, real red, christmas jingle dsp

ink: su basic black

accessories: christmas jingle kit, favorite findings buttons, nesties circles & scallop dies

christmas punch penguin

Happy Thursday to all who are visiting the charmed life blog. I have been missing in action for a week.

Usually, after thanksgiving our house gets a little hectic with putting away the fall decorations and bring out the Christmas decorations.

So I really haven't had the time to stamp, and I so missed creating.

I am not done with my Christmas cards yet so there will be a mad rush to get those finished.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to see the Rockettes Christmas show at the Benedum Theater here in Pittsburgh.

It was so fabulous. No politically correct terms in this show. They said "Merry Christmas" a lot.

The very last scene was such a surprise.

They had a live nativity scene and the wisemen came to bring gifts with camels and all.

The narrator even read the prophecies concerning Jesus from the book of Isaiah. The program said they have been doing this scene since 1933.

If you have a chance to see this show, by all means go. It is well worth the money.

Now, onto my card for today. It is actually for 2 challenges. The wednesday sketch challenge at splitcoaststampers and the Saturday crazy 4 challenges.

This challenge was to use your punches on your card.

My inspiration for this penguin is from heather summers .

She has cute ideas for use with the stampin-up punches.

My paper is stampin-up real red, very vanilla and the designer paper is from the Christmas jingle kit. I used a snowflake cuttlebug folder to emboss the background and some stampendous red dots on the snowflakes.

well, it's a wrap for another day. I really like hearing from all of you so let me know what you think of this little penguin.

card recipe:

accessories: various su punches, stampendous red dots

paper: su real red, vv, bazzill black, christmas jingle dsp

austin's card

happy thanksgiving to all who are visiting the charmed life blog. I am writing up this post on wednesday evening. I spent the day cleaning and then doing my prep work for my thanksgiving feast.

my husband's family will be joining us for dinner. I bought a 22 lb turkey since we love leftovers and some of the family will want to take a plate home.

I also invited a young couple from church to join us as well. they are from texas and have no family here to celebrate with. my husband & I are like parents to them.

we just love ruben & aidee.

now onto my card for today. this is the last of my thanksgiving cards. I made it for my oldest grandson, austin. he doesn't notice all the details of the card like his brother. rather, he looks for something special in what I write to him.

so on the front I used rub-on words that mentioned all the food items he likes on thanksgiving. then on the inside I used a rub-on that read"thankful hearts". my thought was that our hearts should be thankful for all the blessings we have.

I wrote in his card that our hearts are thankful that we have him as a grandson. he had a rough day at school and this was perfect timing for him to hear that. he gave me the biggest hug and an "I love you grandma". he made my day as well.

on this card I used close to cocoa and summer sun cardstock. my designer paper is from heidi grace. I used the other side of this on a card a couple of days ago. I liked the big sunflowers on this side and knew they would work well with the idea I had.

my scarecrow is an embossed die-cut from we r memory keepers. I cut him out and popped him up on dimensionals. then I used rub-ons for all the words.

this picture came out a little dark but in real life it looks lighter.

well, its time to wrap this day up. I leave you with a few of the words from an old hymn titled

"count your blessings".

count your blessings,

name them one by one

count your blessings

see what God hath done

aidin's card

happy tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. today, I went over to meet my grandsons' school bus and take care of them until my son comes home from work.

I took their thanksgiving cards over to them. aidin (middle grandson) is such a hoot. he loves my cards and he studies every element on his card and comments about what he likes and doesn't like. I do a little extra on his card for that reason. he saves all my cards, by the way.

they won't be with us for thanksgiving this year. I have to share them with their other grandparents. we are having my husband's family for dinner.

but, as we talked today, I realized that traditions are being made for them from both families. aidin mentioned things that he likes about coming to both places.

I will miss not having them but they are coming to sleep over on friday night.

my husband & I just love sleep-overs and so do the boys.

we do the same things each time they come. we make popcorn and watch a movie.

they have their pillows and blankets spread out on the family room floor and just settle in. we have tried to do some different things but they end up asking for the popcorn and movie.

kids just love routine. it's their security-even at grandma's house. another tradition in the making for them.

I guess you can tell that I just love those boys and I am so thankful for all 3 of them. thanks for letting me go on about them.

now for my card. I am posting the card I made for aidin. Since it's a card expressing all the things I am thankful for, I am using it as card #2 for the stampin sisters in christ challenge

I used the cuttlebug embossing folder autumn type as my background.

the image is from darcie's stamps. she calls them "u-cuts". they are die cut images that you cut out-hence the name "u-cuts". I think they are such cute images.

I cut a rectangular nestabilities to showcase the image.

my paper is from bazzill-its called monochromatic orange. I bought it some years ago. don't even know if you can get it this way any longer. but the pack had 6 or 7 different shades of orange cardstock in it. they are all cut for an a2 card.

the designer paper is from chatterbox -tangerine outlet. i also used a scallop border punch.

well, its a wrap for another day from charmed life land. Looking forward to your comments on this card.

thankfulness

happy monday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I went to the local stamp store tonight with kendra & aaron.

we picked out their cardstock colors so I can get a sample wedding invitation together. I mentioned this in a previous post.

we found the paper immediately and it matches so well with the colors of her bridesmaids dresses.

that is always good when you don't have to search and search.

the paper is from paper cuts and is a beautiful, shimmery chocolate shade called echo and the accent color is another gorgeous fall color called copper ore.

This color looks like the gorgeous shade of orange you see on the fall leaves.

oh, did I say her wedding is next October? she is giving me plenty of time to get these done. I believe I am making 115.

When I get a sample together that they both like I will post it here. I probably will not start them until after christmas.

although, I know kendra will be excited to see it sooner if I can get it done.

so now onto my card for today. I made one of my last 2 thanksgiving cards. in fact, I am sending this one to kendra's parents.

it actually cover 3 challenges. the first is saturday's sketch challenge from crazy for challenges. I really liked the layout they provided.

then for my color scheme I used our creative corners colors this week of choc chip, close to cocoa, pumpkin pie and white. I used this great Heidi grace paper called harvest row.

the 3rd challenge is the stampin sisters in christ challenge . we were to create a thanksgiving card. I used the cuttlebug embossing folder called autumn type for the thankfulness word. My sunflower is an embossed die-cut from my stash. it's from we r memory keepers.

well, its a wrap for another day my friends. I leave you today with the scripture chosen by helen phelps from the stampin sisters challenge group:

Galatians 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time

we will reap a harvest

if we do not give up. (NIV)

card recipe:

paper: su pumpkin pie, choc chip, heidi grace dsp

accessories: cb ef, we r memory keepers die cuts, brads

december 25

happy sunday to you and thanks for taking some of your day to visit the charmed life blog.

its one of those peaceful, relaxing kind of days. the house is quiet and the sun is shining again here in pittsburgh.

we had a baby dedication at church today. our pastor's daughter had her little girl dedicated.

heather & chris have 3 children and their 2 little boys looked so sweet up on stage when the dedication ceremony was taking place. they had matching outfits on complete with ties. too cute I tell you!!

our pastor was beaming as he dedicated his granddaughter. we also had cake & coffee after service today. it gives everyone a chance to mingle a little instead of heading out the door right away.

now, onto my card for the day. I made this card for 2 challenges. the first is the featured stamper challenge on splitcoaststampers. we visit the featured stampers gallery and pick a card and then change at least 2 things about the card.

biggan (today's stamper) made an easter card with colored eggs. I changed it to christmas with presents-I used different paper, ribbon and a different shape for the image.

I really like this paper I found in my stash from the paper company called cool metallics. I embossed the ivory sheet with a new cuttlebug folder called winter borders.

my image is actually a rub-on from stampin-up and I placed it on the nestabilities labels 4 shape.

I also had this great pomegranate satin ribbon in my stash . Using up supplies, which is a good thing.

I kept basically the same shape of card except I made my a little longer. I wanted to do that since Friday's limited supplies challenge was to make a long and tall card.

well, it looks like it's a wrap for today my friends.

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count your blessings

happy friday and welcome to the charmed life blog. it was another beautiful, sunny day here in pittsburgh.

I am enjoying the sunshine now because come january there won't be much. but, no complaints from this mouth.

a few years ago we had a missionary visit our church and he was talking about how much we complain. the weather was one area he touched on. he said it's not want God wants coming from us.

I was convicted by that message. from that point on I haven't complained about the winter weather in pittsburgh.

the bible admonishes us to do everything without complaining. I am not perfect by any means-God knows that. I just gained a victory in this area.

anyway, onto my card for today. I made another thanksgiving card. I should have mailed them out today, but I didn't get to it. I wanted to make some more but time is running short.

this card was for the thursday challenge over at splitcoaststampers.

we were challenged by julia to find ways to be thankful.

I chose to make a card around the harvest theme. we are so blessed in our land. so I am counting my blessings.

I used the designer paper from stampin-up's autumn traditions with always artichoke, elegant eggplant and white cardstock.

My image is colored with prismacolors and gamsol. I am still working on this technique but I am not so intimidated to color with these pencils now. I like how this one turned out.

I cut a leaf from the designer paper and added it in the corner.

I also used the cuttlebug embossing folder "just my type" to emboss the one panel. I thought it matched up with the dsp.

well, my friends friday is now a wrap. thanks for stopping by and remember to leave me a comment. I like hearing from all of you.

card recipe:

stamps: clearly wordsworth, anita's

paper: su always artichoke, elegant eggplant, autumn traditions dsp

ink: always artichoke

accessories: cb ef just my type. prismas & gamsol

blog award

happy thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog today. this is super early for a post for me, I think I said that yesterday as well (lol). tonight, I have kendra & aaron coming over- they are a young couple that my husband & I mentor. they are getting married next year and we have been meeting with them. we felt really honored that they would ask us to meet with them. it's been about a year now.

kendra also asked me to make her wedding invitations. another way that she honored me!! I am a little nervous, but she is so encouraging to me. so tonight we are going to go over her ideas so I can come up with a sample for her.

now, speaking of honors a couple of weeks ago, april, from sugar daisy creations blog gave me this one lovely blog award. again, I was so honored since I am verye new to the blog world.

I was busy and did not post the award right away and now I can't find her blog. It seems to have disappeared from blogger. Or, maybe it's just me. so, april if you are reading this send me the link to your blog.

well, its a wrap for another day my friends. hope you will drop by to visit soon

season with smiles

hello from charmed life land and happy wednesday to you. I am posting earlier than I usually do.

meaning that its before 5:00 est. we have plans to go out to our favorite pizza place tonight.

we haven't been there in awhile, so I am looking forward to it.

we used to go every week and the pizza makers used to call my husband by name when we walked in. if friends were with us they just laughed.

well, onto my card for the day. I don't think I have ever made a monotone christmas card before, but I like how it turned out.

I made this one for the flourishes challenge. it's the first time I have participated in one of their challenges.

I used the stampin-up christmas jingle kit again. I love all the elements from this kit, I am determined to make all the christmas cards that I can from it.

I used 2 new cuttlebug folders-winter borders (it has this great house and tree border) and also seasons greetings-it provides all the background words. I added some red faux brads and a hero arts poinsettia and that completed my card.

well, its a wrap for today. I send a blessing of peace as we are about to enter the busy, christmas season. keep a smile in the season and don't let the busyness of it all take away your joy.

card recipe:

paper: su textured choc chip, vv

accessories: christmas jingle kit, ribbon, hero arts poinsettia, cb ef

sparkling holiday

happy tuesday to all who are visiting the charmed life blog today. I hope you had a good day no matter what you did or where you were today.

I really had a hectic, crazy day yesterday which is why I didn't post a card. I thought I lost my wallet and it had all my credit cards in it. I called the bank since I was there earlier but they didn't have it.

So, I called a couple of the credit card companies and they advised there were no fraudulent charges posted. that was good news.

I searched all over my house. that was also good since I did some cleaning in the process. I drove back to my church since I was there earlier in the day. no success either at that location.

I was starting to get anxious so I called my good friend, Elaine and asked her to pray. In her prayer, she asked the Lord to let me lay my eyes on the wallet. So. I continued to look and still no success.

Then I called another good friend, Karen and she prayed for God's peace to be on me. I was very anxious at this point. She advised me to put on some worship music and not to worry. She was very confident it would show up.

The music filled my house with such a sweet peace. I listened to a cd from Integrity titled "God will make a way". It seemed appropriate for my situation. But still no wallet.

My husband came home from work and he looked for about an hour, but no success.

I woke up this morning and started looking again. I went through my craft stuff so many times thinking I put it away with something.

well, early this afternoon I walked into my computer room and I went to straighten out the chair. As I did my eyes looked down to the black arm of the chair and there was my wallet. it was stuffed between the chair cushion and the arm. my wallet is black and was easily concealed by the black arm.

I checked this room 4-5 times and was on the computer several times and so was my husband.

I was so excited and called both my friends who prayed with me. They were as excited as I was.

Well, onto my card for today. I found some stuff in my stash that I forgot I had and wanted to use some of it on a card. I used the sketch from the mojomonday blog.

julee comes up with such awesome layouts each monday.

my trees are from an old stampin-up simply scrappin kit called "sparkling holiday". I think the trees look like the new patterned pines set.

my designer paper is from basic grey the fruitcake collection. I have used this on several christmas cards and really like the looks of the paper.

I also found an epoxy christmas sticker and used that to complete the card.

well, its a wrap for another day my friends. if you have any prayer needs drop me an email. God hears and answers prayers.

card recipe:

paper: su old olive, ww, basic grey fuitcake dsp

accessories: su sparkling holiday scrappin kit, creating keepsakes expoxy sticker, offray ribbon

holiday jingle christmas

happy sunday to you and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

it was another sunny day here in pittsburgh and unusually warm for mid november.
even the announcer on the pitt football game last night commented on the weather.

pitt beat notre dame 27-22.

our local high school (bethel park) won their 2nd round playoff game on friday night, 32-14.
it was a bragging moment for me because they beat the school that my grandsons attend.

our steelers didn't do quite so well. they lost today to cincinnati 18-12.

with all this sports talk, I do hope I have some sports fans out there.

so onto my card for today. I made this one for the featured stamper challenge on splitcoaststampers. today, they featured dawn easton. she is one of my favorite stampers. I have used her ideas on many occasions.

the idea is to look through her gallery for some inspiration and then create a card. I chose this card of hers.

the squares on her card reminded me of ones that are in stampin-up holiday jingle kit. I wanted to use them to make a card and dawn's layout was perfect for it.

no stamping on this card. all the elements are from this kit from stampin-up. this kit is great. it's an easy way to make some really pretty cards with the die-cut images you get. they are designed for scrapbookers so even the adhesive is on them.
but, i see more and more rubber stampers using these kits. stampin-up has a nice selection.

I used textured choc chip and red cardstock on my card. The red dotted designer paper is from the kit as well.

I used an oval nestabilities to cut the scallop frame for the "merry christmas" sentiment. which is also part of the kit.

for my border i used a new border punch from fiskars called "upper crest".

my ribbon is from stampin-up-it was on clearance-love sales. its called alpine originals. I finished the card by adding red nailheads.

well, its a wrap for another day here in the charmed life land!!
I leave you this sunday evening with some words from

psalm 148:

praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens

card recipe:

paper: su textured choc chip, real red

accessories: holiday jingle kit, alpine originals ribbon, nailheads, nesties

thanksgiving pheasant

happy friday to all who are visiting the charmed life blog. we had another beautiful, warm sunny day here in pittsburgh. I could so get used to weather like this. I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

'cause, it wont be long before the snow will be flying here.

well, my card for today covers 2 challenges. I like it when I can do that.

on friday at splitcoaststampers its always a limited supplies challenge. today we were to use a bird on our card and we had to make a thanksgiving card.

I bought some autumn harvest rub-ons from stampin up and this great pheasant, wheat and the give thanks sentiment are all part of the collection.

My designer paper is from stampin up as well-the autumn traditions pack. I matched it with stampin-up soft suede and crushed curry cardstock and soft suede ribbon. I guess I am trying to say this is a stampin-up only card.

my card layout is from mercy kerin's tuesday sketch challenge. thanks mercy for another great sketch!!

well, it's a wrap for today my friends. thanks for stopping by.

christmas ornament

happy thursday and welcome to the charmed life blog.

it was another beautiful, sunny day here in pittsburgh. a perfect day to be outside doing anything but that's not where I was.

since, I have been at church a lot lately getting our new bookkeeper on board, I had a lot of stuff to catch up on at home. but, somehow I didn't seem to make much progress.

tonight is also our home group meeting and my husband & I lead the group. so, I had a few things to prepare for that as well.

I also had to get some stamping time in as well (lol). but, that was after I went to buy some groceries. the supplies were at a low point. I guess we have all been there.

anyway, onto my card for today. this one was for 2 challenges.

the 1st was wednesday's sketch challenge over at splitcoaststampers. this layout was an easy one to work with and roxie always gives measurements. she makes it easy for us.

the 2nd challenge was a new one for me. I was blog surfing today-when I should have been doing laundry, and I found the creative belli blog.

they had a challenge going on where you use a christmas themed embellishment on your card.

I am trying to use the die-cuts from the stampin-up holiday jingle kit. so their challenge was a good one for me.

my paper is from the basic grey fruitcake collection.

I also used a rub-on from stampin-up's word flurries set. and that is basically my card.

thanks for looking and remember to leave me a comment. I like hearing from all of you.

subscriptions are free to my blog and sent right to your in-box. just leave your email address in the sign-up area.

thankful, grateful, appreciative

happy tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

I just love tuesday. its the day I go over with my grandsons and spend a few hours after school with them.

today, it was homework time so my oldest grandson got most of the attention.

I live in another township about 45 min from them. It just so happens that this friday night our high school football team will play their team in a 2nd round playoff game.

we are all going to go, but they know I am cheering for my team not theirs.

we had a good time teasing each other about which team is better.

now onto my card for today. it covers 2 challenges: the mojomonday sketch challenge and splitcoaststampers tuesday color challenge.

the colors are vanilla, kraft and burgundy.

I used some new basic grey indian summer designer paper and a brad. it paired up well with the burgundy-at least I thought so.

I punched a leaf from the same designer paper.

I inked up a new stamp from the "wandering words" set on this card. I also used an older leaf embossing folder from sizzix on the other vanilla panel. I added some vanilla ribbon and that finished my card.

well, my friends its a wrap for another day. I finish my post with some words from psalm 25:

show me your ways oh Lord, teach me your paths.

guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

my prince

happy sunday to you and thanks for taking time to visit the charmed life blog. it was another warm, fall day here in pittsburgh. lots of sun and beautiful blue skies made it a great day to be outside.

we went to aidin's championship football game (our middle grandson). the game was played at one of our local university football fields. so how exciting do you think that was for a group of 10 yr olds?

they won (14-8) which even made the game more exciting.

today I am posting the card I made my husband for our anniversary, which was yesterday.

I had this die cut from darcie stamps and it reminded me of cinderella's pumpkin. I knew when I eventually used it that it would be a card along those lines.

Then yesterday the occ challenge was an inspiration challenge. they showed this photo and asked us to create a card

So my card was starting to take life. I used the splitcoaststampers sketch from this past wednesday and created the card I titled 'my prince'.

I have been blessed with a wonderful man who loves the Lord and his family.

I used bazzill textured paper and a cuttlebug swirl embossing folder on the first orange layer.

my triangle sides are bobunny dsp and then the darice die-cut.

I bought a sheet of her fall designs. she calls them u-cuts because they need to be cut-out.

I computer generated my sentiment because I didn't have any stamps that reflected the prince charming theme.

he really liked this card. so all the work I put into it was so worth it.

well, its a wrap for another day my friends. I pray the Lord bless you and keep you in his care.

card recipe:

paper: bazzill textured, bo bunny dsp

accessories: cb ef, sq & oval punches

year of blessing

happy saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day here in pittsburgh. I spent some of the day stamping, and I made 2 cards.

today is my 22nd wedding anniversary so one of the cards is for my husband. I will post that one tomorrow. we are going to dinner tonight to celebrate.

happy anniversary honey-he subscribes to my blog so I don't want him to see the card before I give it to him!!

my card was made for the inspiration challenge on splitcoaststampers.

we visited the jonathan adler site to find our inspiration today.

I chose this lollipop rug to help design my card.

I did something completely different this week. Usually, I select my inspiration and then look for designer paper to complete the card.

this week I chose two of the colors in the rug and used them to complete my card.

My main colors are not quite navy and kiwi kiss and I used urban garden designer paper to accent the card.

my layout is from the verve mojomonday sketches- #107. I also used the verve stamp set "wishing you". I didn't have any navy brads to match my paper so I made faux ones.

I thought this would make a nice birthday card. I do have a few coming up in my family this month.

well, it's a wrap for another day. remember to leave me a comment. I like hearing from all my visitors.

card recipe:

stamps: wishing you (verve)

ink: not quite navy

paper: not quite navy, kiwi kiss, very vanilla, urban garden dsp

accessories: nesties, su ribbon originals

double challenge merry christmas

happy thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

I am still battling the remnants of a head cold. but life goes on even when you don't feel good.

I spent the majority of the day at church. we hired a new bookkeeper and I am her mentor for the week.

she is just perfect for this job. very creative and always thinking about ways to improve on what she is expected to do.

when I came home I quickly checked splitcoaststampers. when I saw the thursday challenge, my mojo started kicking in.

we were challenged to use stickers in any form on our card. I love using stickers and die-cuts. they help you create great looking cards.
I called this a double challenge because I used mercy kerins tuesday sketch challenge for my layout. love the sketches she gives us to use. thanks mercy!!

I used the stampin up christmas jingle kit. I have seen other bloggers making 30+ cards with this kit.
this is only my 5th card but there will be more. I havent posted the others yet so stay tuned!!

the merry christmas sentiment and the red holly, snowflake middle piece are the die-cut stickers. I punched 2 oval scalloped borders to frame the sentiment.

the kit also has textured card stock which I love. I used a cuttlebug folder to emboss the snowflakes and added some red nailheads.
well it's a wrap for today, my friends. if you like what I am posting, sign up for email delivery. it will come right into your in-box and its free!!
card recipe:
paper: su textured choc chip, real red, vv,
accessories: simply scrapin holiday jingle kit, oval punches, nailheads

time, season and purpose

happy wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.

I have been missing in action for over a week now. I missed not stamping and posting but for good reason.

we were away last week from wednesday through saturday. we went to a conference in baltimore-"voice of the apostles". it was sponsored by global awakening an organization that our church is affiliated with.

we had so many great teachings by various church leaders and the worship was awesome.

on sunday, we had a worship event at our church with heather clark. she is a worship leader from canada.

if you ever have the chance to attend one of her worship services by all means go. she has such an incredible voice.

then I was down with a cold for a few days but I am recovering. thank the lord.

for my card for today I used making memories designer paper(poinsettia stripe falala)

I really liked the distressing on this paper. I added hero arts felt poinsettias and some green rick rack.

my scripture stamp is from repeat impressions-stamped in memento rich cocoa ink. the layout for my card was from the week-end sketch challenge 98.

until next time, I pray the lord bless you and keep you in health.

card recipe:

stamps: repeat impressions

paper: su so saffron, vv, making memories

ink: memento rich cocoa

accessories: rick rack, dimensionals, hero arts poinsettias

happy christmas

happy tuesday to all who are visiting the charmed life blog today.

we are having some great fall weather in pittsburgh. lots of sunshine and warm afternoon temps. I am enjoying it while its here. we don't get a lot of sunny days in the winter.

this coming week-end we make the time change back to standard time so it will be getting dark just a little after 6:00.

so enough weather and long winter nights talk and onto my card for today.

Splitcoaststampers had the clean & simple challenge today. we were to use brads or eyelets.

this card is made with the wandering words stamp set and stamped with night of navy.

the snowflake image was done with gold shimmer paint applied right to the stamp. the brad covers the monday challenge

the entire card is sprayed with the shimmer paint.

this new stamp set has a thanksgiving sentiment and one for valentines day. it's in the stampin-up holiday mini catalog.

I have a great stampin-up demo so if you are looking to buy anything, let me know and I will put her in contact with you. she doesn't have a blog.

that's all for today. thanks for coming by to look. if you would like an email directly to your inbox when I post, subscribe to my blog. it's free!!

card recipe:

stamps: wandering words

paper: su night of navy, vanilla, gold

ink: night of navy

accessories, shimmer paint, brad, circle punch

names of jesus

happy monday to you and thanks for visiting the charmed life blog.

I hope the start of your week will be a good one.

yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny day. my grandson won his football game 30-6, and our steelers beat the vikings.

we are hiring a new bookkeeper at church and I will be there to oversee her training on monday and tuesday. there are lots of changes taking place now that we are in our new building.

we have a large coffee bar and have named it "cafe fusion". we will be serving all the speciality coffee drinks. i have volunteered to work for special events.

we had a jazz nite on saturday. these musicians are so talented. two of the guys are from our church and the other 2 were visitors who came to play. they flowed so well together.

we plan on having the jazz nights every month.

anyhow, onto my card for the day.

this is the 5th and final card I created for the verve challenge.

i had this stamp with the names of jesus in the shape of a tree for several years. I just never used it.

how often do we all do that.

this striped dsp is from my stash and i was just waiting for the right image to use it as well.

the star on top has gold stickles on it.

well that's it for today. come by anytime-this blog is open 24-7 (lol)

card recipe:

stamp: morning star

ink: memento rich cocoa

paper: su beige, gold, printworks striped holly dsp

accessories: ribbon, stickles

time to bloom

happy sunday to you and thanks for taking time out to visit the charmed life blog.

this is typically our family day after attending church.

today, our middle grandson, aidin, has his last football game.

it's a big rivalry game and they call it the autumn bowl. he is only 10 but the games are still fun.

we love going to all the boys sporting events.

His older brother austin (12) went hunting with his dad for the first time on saturday. I just thought it would a good time of bonding between my son and grandson.

but, early saturday afternoon, austin sent me a text message and photo with the deer he bagged. he was so excited and so was I.

In case you can't tell, I am a proud grandma. those 3 little boys are a real blessing in my life.

so onto my card for today. I am posting the 4th card I made for the verve challenge.

The winners were announced friday night and I wasnt one of them.

But, there is always next month. plus, i had fun putting the cards together.

It gets your creative juices flowing (lol).

for this card, i inked up a brand new set from stampin-up-bella's bloom.

I paired it with basic grey indian summer designer paper.

it matches so well with the new in-colors.

i used rich razzleberry cardstock & ribbon on this card.

my shape is cut with spellbinders die-labels 2.

I added a ribbon tab in the corner along with a heart button and that is my card.

thanks for dropping by. if you like what you see here, you can subscribe to my blog and get an email every time I post a card. There will be no spam.

card recipe:

stamps: bella's bloom

ink: rich razzleberry, old olive

paper: su ww, rich razzleberry, indian summer dsp

accessories: nesties, ribbon, button