flaky friends

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I can't believe we just steam rolled through another month.

What is the saying about time? Oh yes, that it waits for no man. It sure didn't wait on me this month. I blinked and it was gone (lol)!!

We had a harvest festival for the kids after service today. They played games, painted pumpkins and had face painting done.

It was a great day for them and of course they had lots of candy. Our church doesn't celebrate Halloween because we believe its a day that honors evil and death. So we have a fun festival for the kids instead.

Early this evening I met some friends for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Its a good night to go out to eat-no lines and no waiting. 

When I came home I decided to make a card for the featured stamper challenge on splitcoaststampers. The honors there went to Cheryl (aka cherylquilts). She has an awesome gallery and is quite a talented stamper.

I chose her flaky snow friends as my inspiration. I decided to keep her layout and the designer paper. I bought the Basic Grey "eskimo kisses" paper last year but just couldn't get any inspiration to use it. Today was my day. She used this paper on her card.

I changed the ribbon treatment and added a snowflake button and moved the sentiment to the top. I used the Stampin-Up watercolor crayons on this card. I am not sure if I liked them to watercolor. I have to practice with them some more.

I also added some polar white flower soft as snow at the base of the snowmen. First time I have used this.  Ilike the look.

Well that's my card for today. I have another one for my Christmas stash. I really need to do some mass production work real soon.

Good night and God bless.

card recipe:
stamps: flaky friends, just celebrate
paper: su bravo burgundy, ww, watercolor paper, basic grey eskimo kisses
ink: stazon black
accessories: watercolor crayons, nesties, ribbon, button, circle punches, polar soft
techniques: watercoloring

Winter Snowflake

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. It is such a beautiful cool fall day here in Pittsburgh.

Our temps dipped really low last night. I don't think that we had frost, but we pulled in some potted plants and covered some others.

Just not ready to let go of what's still blooming yet!!

Aidin (middle grandson) has his final football game this afternoon and I am planning on going. It's about an hours drive for me so I wanted to get my post in early.

My card today is for 3 challenges:

1.  the inspiration challenge on splitcoaststampers took us to the "destiny creations" site. It has such pretty art jewelry. I used this snowflake necklace as my card inspiration.  Instead of silver I used a metallic gold paper for this clean and simple card.

2.  Our daily bread designs blog was giving us a choice of their top 3 challenges- either sparkle, texture or dies or punches.  I used sparkle with my K & Co snowflake.

3.  The creative cottage blog challenged us to use embossing. I used the cuttlebug embossing folder "flourished frame" on my Christmas card.

4.  The paper garden blog wants to see our holiday cards. This is another one that will go into my stash for Christmas.

Well, my card requires no more description since I did that above with all the challenges I put this one in. I am off to go see Aidin play football. God Bless and see you after church tomorrow

Psalm 27

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. We are under a tornado watch here in the Pittsburgh area until 9:00 p.m. tonight so I wanted to get this post in early in case we lose power.

I also have to go and pick up my grandson from school and spend the night with him because my son & daughter-in-law are out of town.

They were all in Marco Island for a week- Austin had to come back earlier because he couldn't miss that much school, So we get to spend the night with him. It will be fun.

My card for today is for 3 challenges:

1.  Our daily bread design blog had a challenge to use the colors kraft, black and one other color besides a neutral. I used some BoBunny designer paper that is an earthy yellow color with a brick red variegation.

2.   The layout for my card is from Mercy Kerin's Tuesday sketch challenge.

3.   The oldie but a goodie blog was challenging us to use butterflies. I added  them to my card to fill in the space on the sentiment and the rick rack.

I used a stamp set from our daily bread design "light of the world" collection. I added some black rick rack and punched 3 butterflies and added black pearl centers. That completed my card.

Time to head out the door to pick up Austin. God Bless!!

card recipe:
stamps: odbd light of the world
paper: black, kraft, kraft dsp, bobunny dsp
ink: memento black
accessories: ms butterfly punch, rick rack, pearls

heartfelt sympathy

Happy Monday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. It was a rainy, damp day here in Pittsburgh. One of those days that a nice, hot bowl of soup is so comforting.

I was at a taste sampling of various foods at a local store on Friday night.  I tried this really delicious soup. It was an apple rutabaga cream based soup.

To be honest I had never tasted a rutabaga before, and I didn't even know what one looked like.

After I sampled the soup, I knew it was on my list of to-dos. So I made it today and it met with rave reviews from my husband as well.

Besides the rutabaga, it also had apple, carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, onion, chicken broth, heavy cream, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.
We just love eating soup in the fall & winter along with some crusty rolls and a salad-a perfect lite meal.

My card today is for the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I am on the design team for this challenge for the next 3 months.

Our challenge colors today are baja breeze, crumb cake and blushing bride. We had an option to use pearls or lace this week. I decided on the pearls.

These are very soft colors and I thought they would work well as a sympathy card. A friend of mine just lost her Mom and I am sending this off to her.

I used designer paper from Stampin-Up's "elegant soiree" collection along with some blushing bride ribbon. My flower is stamped in blushing bride and the image is from the "kind and caring thoughts" stamp set and the sympathy sentiment is from Rubber Cottage.

The layout for my card is from the sweet Sunday sketch blog.

That's my card for today. It's time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day.

card recipe
stamps: kind & caring thoughts, rubber cottage

paper: blushing bride, baja breeze, vv, elegant soiree dsp
ink: blushing bride, baja breeze, pear pizazz
accessories: blushing bride ribbon, pearls

:

thanksgiving blessings

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. It was a beautiful fall day here in Pittsburgh-our temps were in the upper 70's.

In fact as I am typing this post I have my windows open and enjoying the warm evening air.

We had a great service at church this morning. My Pastor's words really resonated with me today.

His message hit a lot of points but one of the main ones was how we feel justified to say what we want and how we judge others.
Jesus teaches about judging others in Luke 6:37.

How willing are we to forgive others who have hurt us? It frees us when we forgive. The scripture reference for this is Matthew 18: 21-35.

It wasn't anything new that my Pastor preached on this morning just a reminder of what we know but don't always do.

So anyway onto my card for today. On Sunday's at splitcoaststampers they have the featured stamper challenge.
A stamper is chosen and we are invited to create a card using the featured stamper's gallery as inspiration.

This week the honors went to Lynette. She has such an amazing clean style about her work.



lynette's card

I chose her autumn leaves card as my inspiration. THe idea is to change several things about the card to make it your own.

I changed the card base colors and added another layer. My base is Stampin-up's dusty durango and the layer is kraft. My ribbon treatment is also dusty durango. I scrunched it up for a different look.

My card will be for thanksgiving so I changed the sentiment to "thanksgiving blessings".

My leaves are a spellbinders leaf die. I also used gold glimmer mist on the kraft layer but you cant see it in this photo. It sparkles really nice on my end though.

That's my card. Hope you all have a blessed week.

card recipe:
stamps: stampabilities, tiny talk

paper: su dusty durango, kraft
ink: early espresso
accessories: nesties leaf die, dusty durango ribbon, leaf punch, pearls, glimmer mist

merry & bright

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Fall is in the air and that makes me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I bought my first Christmas gift yesterday. What I have been doing in the past few years is to shop online and the TV shopping channels.
It's an easy way to get what I am looking for. So I will see if that works for me again this year.

My card for today is for 2 challenges:

1.  Saturday is also the inspiration challenge on splitcoaststampers. I love playing in that challenge because it really gets your creativity flowing. This week the site Poster Cabaret was a bit challenging for me. So I really had to get my creative thought process in gear.


Most of the posters weren't taking me anywhere. Then I found the Christmas story movie poster. It got me to thinking about Christmas and Christmas trees and my card was taking shape.


this is our layout

2. The Waltzingmouse sketch challenge was a great one this week. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would work well for my Christmas card that I was about to create.


I used a die-cut from an old Stampin-Up scrappin' kit "sparkling holiday" for my main image. The sentiment is from the Stampin-Up 'all year cheer" stamp set. I punched a circle and added some gold cord.
My background papers are from Basic Grey's "fruitcake collection".

Another Christmas card completed!! I may use this layout and make some more of this design. I will have to stamp a tree but I have the perfect one to use.

Time to clean up my stamping area and I am going to try to get some of my paper organized. God Bless and have a great week-end!!

card recipe:
paper: su old olve textured, basic grey fruitcake, sparkling holiday scrap kit

ink: old olive, riding hood red
accessories: circle punches, gold cord

when I pray

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Well the fall temps have certainly hit the Pittsburgh area.

It has been really cool the past few days and my furnace is running. I have it set really low but the temp in the house is dropping and causing the furnace to kick on. Oh well, we had such a beautiful hot summer and now fall is in full swing.

I went for a haircut today and then off to do a little shopping. I found a new Marshall's store and picked up a sweater. I was in the area where a large craft store is located so of course I had to stop in.

My excuse was I wanted some pumpkin colored candles for my dining room table. And, 1 1/2 hours later I was walking out. I did get the candles and some other fall decorations.

I kept myself away from the cardstock section because I just don't need any more. I have to use up what I have. My husband will be proud of me when he reads this. He subscribes to my blog!!

So my card is one I made for 3 challenges:

1.  The stampin sisters in Christ challenge blog wanted us to make a card that features prayer. I chose to do that through my scripture verse.

2.  The Wednesday sketch challenge on splitcoaststampers was a great one to display this scripture verse in the big oval layer.

3.  The Tuesday throwdown blog also had a challenge of "anything goes". Love these types of challenges because the card you create is the perfect one for the challenge.

I used some Stampin-Up designer paper from the "parisian breeze" collection. I also used the cuttlebug folder "diamonds in the rough" on the long rectangle layer.

I stamped the scripture sentiment and then cut it out with my nesties ovals. Added a felt flower and that completed this card.

It's time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. God bless my blogger friends.

card recipe:
stamps: odbd scripture collection
paper: su baja breeze, choc chip, ww, parisian breeze dsp
Ink: chic chip
accessories: nesties, flower fusion too, cb ef

my thankful scarecrow

Happy Wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. This was quite a day filled with lots of activity for me.

I went to the Crate and took a  demonstration cooking class. This is a cooking school in Pittsburgh that I go to fairly often for classes. I like this type of class where the entire meal is cooked in front of us and then we eat what's been cooked.

Today's class was titled "pumpkin eater lunch & learn". Everything was centered around pumpkins.

• Bayou pumpkin bisque
• Harvest salad with honey glazed ham and toasted pumpkin seeds (so delicious)
• Pumpkin ravioli with lemon-sage brown butter sauce
• Pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap-pecan crust and maple sour cream topping

This was a huge meal for lunch but everything was so delicious. I am making the pumpkin bisque for tomorrows dinner. And maybe even the harvest salad. The dressing on this was really good and the squash, apples, ham and pumpkin seeds just made this one a winner.

If you would like any of the recipes just drop me an email and I will get them off to you.

Now onto my card for today. I made this one for 4 challenges:

1.  The curtain call color challenge this week was chocolate chip, tangerine tango, bermuda bay and whisper white.

I think this is a great color combo and it was not too difficult to work with.

2.  Mercy Kerin's Tuesday sketch challenge provided my layout on the card.

3.  The Paper Cutz Challenge blog had an "anything goes" assignment this week. I like this type of fun challenge. So I am entering my little thankful scarecrow.

4.  The crazy for challenges blog this week wanted us to make a fall/autumn card. My little thankful scarecrow fits the bill for sure.

I water colored my scarecrow to get all the challenge colors onto my card. On both of the tangerine layers I used a cuttlebug embossing folder. The one is "autumn type" and has all autumn and thanksgiving words. The other one is a flower border which I thought matched the designer paper I used.

I added 3 punched leaves and that completed this card.

Well my blogger friends, it's time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. God Bless!!

card recipe:

stamps: su happy fall y'all

paper: su choc chip, bermuda bay, tangerine tango, ww, autumn vine dsp

ink: choc chip, berumuda bay, tnagerine tango, blush, garden green, black

accessories: cb ef, aqua painter

color challenge design team card

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. This is such an exciting day for me.
I guess excited is really an understatement. I am jumpin' up and down doing a happy dance!!

I am part of a new design team on splitcoaststampers for the Tuesday color challenge.
What an honor to be working with Betty Wright, Joanne Travis & Vicki Dutcher. These women are really talented stampers. Just keeping up with them will be a challenge (lol)!!

The colors we are using this week are concord crush, old olive and cherry cobbler.

Our little challenge from our hostess, Betty, was to use argyle -either with a stamp or designer paper or a die cut. I chose to create the argyle look with the stampin-up texturz plate- perfect details.

I really like the look of these colors together. Deep rich colors like this appeal to me.

My card base is the concord crush and then I used concord crush designer paper. Such a deep shade of purple that I absolutely love.

I also used some designer paper from the Stampin-Up Christmas collection "jolly holiday".
Seam binding is so trendy right now in the crafting world for use on cards and other projects. I used some cherry cobbler on my card and added an olive button for my center.
A Stampin-Up border punch was used on the 2 rectangular panels. to complete my card.

This layout was one from the ODBD blog back in April. I really like the layout and have used it several times on my cards.

Well, this completes my post for today. Hope to see you back here again real soon. God bless!!

card recipe:
stamps: thoughts and prayers
ink: old olive
paper: concord crush, old olive, cherry cobbler, su dsp
accessories: seam binding, su border punch, texturz plate, button, nesties

Kendra's wedding card

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. We just returned home from a wonderful weekend.

The young couple that my hubby and I have mentored for the past 2 1/2 years,
Kendra & Aaron, were married on Saturday.

We were invited to the wedding rehearsal and the dinner on Friday night. Then we stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast that evening. They booked it for us as a small way of saying thanks to us.
All the rooms in this house were decorated so beautifully with such attention to detail. You can click on the above link to see the B&B.

The wedding ceremony on Saturday was held at Armstrong Farms about an hour north of Pittsburgh. What a beautiful venue for a wedding.

The ceremony itself was outdoors at the edge of a  lake. Kendra arrived in a carriage where her Dad greeted her and walked her down the aisle.

My husband and I were given the opportunity to speak. This was such an honor for the both of us. I directed my comments towards Kendra and Alan directed his towards Aaron.

We both spoke on their character and the growth we have seen in them over the last 2 years.
They were touched by what we had to say as well as the wedding guests.
We received many compliments afterwards.

This is a picture of the bride and groom at the ceremony. It was such a festive reception as well.
They were such a happy couple and their joy just spilled over to the guests.





Kendra's parents



You can even se the happiness on their parent's faces in this picture  We took this one and got the bride & groom dancing dancing in the background.



The card I am showing on the blog today is one that I made to give them with their wedding gift.

I forgot to take a picture of it before we left on Friday so I had to do that at the bed & breakfast.

I placed it on the window sill in our room where I had the most light.

I used the cuttlebug folder "scrollworks" to frame the bride & groom image. I added a chocolate satin ribbon a pearl button to the ribbon center and some randomly placed chocolate pearls and that completed my card.

Well, it's late and time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. God bless my blogger friends.

card recipe:

stamps: artful inkables "wedding silhouettes"

paper: chocolate and cream

ink: stazon timber brown

accessories: ribbon, pearls, cb ef

Thinking of you

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. This week has been a bit of a crazy one for me. I had no stamping time and now we are getting ready for Kendra's wedding which is on Saturday.

She has asked my hubby & I to speak at the wedding since we were their mentors for 2 1/2 years. So we will be at the rehearsal on Friday and then the rehearsal dinner as well. I am going to say a few things about Kendra and my hubby will say a few things about Aaron.

I have my part all set to go. I typed it up because I don't to think I will remember it and then get up there in front of everyone and forget what I want to say.

I am in the process of making cookies for her cookie table. It's a big Pittsburgh tradition. You have a table set up with cookies and containers and the guests can take some home as well as eat them there. This is in addition to the wedding cake which is served for dessert. The dinner menu is quite extensive. I will post more about that later.

I am making 10 dozen mini lady locks. The shells are all baked and I am ready to fill them now.

Now onto my card for today. I am posting a card that I made awhile ago. I just never put it on my blog.

I used the Stampin-Up "stem silhouettes" stamp set and paired that with baja breeze cardstock. The background designer paper is from Stampin-Up as well. It's from the "ski slope" collection.

That's it for today my blogger friends. So until next time God Bless!!

card recipe:
stamps: pocket silhouettes, mse little birdie

paper: su baja blue, choc chip, ww, ski slope dsp
ink: choc chip
accessories: ms lace border punch, choc chip ribbon

verve sketch 5

I have completed all 5 of the Verve release week sketches.

This last one was a little tricky but I managed to put a card together with the required layout.

I thought I had only 10 minutes left to get his on my blog and posted to the Verve site. Then when I got to the Verve site I remembered it was Mountain time not Eastern time.
I was laughing at myself because I actually had 2 hours to spare instead of 10 minutes.

So now I can actually give some description about my card.

This is the sketch that Julee provided for us in this 5th and final challenge.

I decided to make a card with a winter theme to it. I used cherry cobbler, soft suede, whisper white and designer paper from Stampin-Up's Christmas collection.

I had some Stampin-up rub-on snowflakes that I used for my image. The sentiment was stamped in cherry cobbler ink and I added a white ribbon tab.

On the 3 rectangular panels I used the cuttlebug folder "winter borders".

That completes this card and my post for this card.

Good night and God bless!!

verve sketch 4

Well some good news for a Friday evening. I did find a formal dress this afternoon as well as the accessories to go with it.

So I am all set for tomorrow's wedding and next Saturday's as well. I had a picture in my head of the dress I wanted.   I walked into a store in the mall and voila there it was. Just waiting for me.

The other piece of good news is that I finished my 4th card in the Verve fall release challenge. These challenges go back to last Saturday and the world card making day event.

This is the 4th sketch that Julee gave us to work with and inspire our creativity. I had an idea of what I wanted to do on this one and then it changed during the creation process. Oh well, that sometimes!!

I used the new Stampin-Up colors of cajun craze, peach parfait and early espresso. I thought it made for a great fall color combo.
The cajun craze is the spicy color-it reminds me of ground chili powder. The espresso is a deep & dark brown shade.
I used a cuttlebug embossing folder on that layer. The peach parfait is under the cajun layer and also was used on my circle and the ribbon.
The designer paper is from the Stampin-Up "autumn vine" collection. I used a border punch on this layer.

My sentiment was stamped in cajun craze ink and that completed my card. I used this sentiment because of the cuttlebug folder I chose had all the thanksgiving type words. It just seemed so appropriate to give thanks back to the Lord for our blessings.

I am off to complete the last sketch. This one seemed a bit more difficult but we shall see!!

card recipe:
stamps: verve 1 chron 16:34
paper: su early espress, peach parfait, cajun craze, ww, autumn vine dsp
ink: cajun craze
accessories: su border punch, nesties, ribbon, cb ef

verve sketch 3

One I have another card completed for the Verve release week challenge. Again we are celebrating world card making day with this challenge.

One winner from each sketch challenge will be picked to win a $25 gift certificate to the Verve Store, plus if you participate in all 5 challenges, you will  be eligible to win the entire Autumn release!

This is the sketch we had to work with for the 3rd challenge. I knew immediately my bird cages from the Stampin-Up "aviary" set would work on this layout.
I decided to stamp 3 of them and use the "from our home to yours" sentiment. It's part of the "bella's bloom" set also from Stampin-Up.

My designer paper is from the Stampin-Up "thoroughly modern" collection. The bermuda bay color is one I really like. I added some ribbon and that completed this card.


Other challenge entries:

The Ooh La La blog has a challenge for "nothing floral". I thought my little birdcages fit just fine into this competition.
The Stampin Sisters in Christ issued a challenge to create a card with anything pertaining to nature. So I am entering my little birdies as part of God's creation.

I will be back again later on, my blogger friends.

card recipe:
stamps: aviary, bella's bloom
paper: bermuda bay, ww, thoroughly modern dsp
ink: bermuda bay, rose red
accessories: bermuda ribbon

verve sketch 2 (vswcmd2)

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

I wanted to get my 2nd card for the Verve release week challenge posted before I head out the door.


My quest will continue as I search for a  formal dress for Kendra & Aaron's wedding.

This is the 2nd sketch that Julee Tilman provided for her challenge that is celebrating world card making day.  She is the owner & illustrator of Verve stamps.

I really liked the layout here and the card I made with it. We are going to my hubby's nephews wedding tomorrow evening and I plan on giving this to Jared & Lauren. I will stamp "congratulations" on the inside.

I stamped the flower from the Verve "great friend" set 3 times and cut them out and layered them. My sentiment is from the Verve "wishing you" collection. I added paper from the greenhouse gala collection and my ribbon to complete this card.

That's it for this post. I will be back later with the other cards.

card recipe:
stamps: verve great friend, wishing you
paper: su peach parfait, ww, greenhouse gala dsp
ink: peach parfait, pear pizzazz
accessories: peach parfait ribbon, nesties

verve sketch 1 (vswcmd1)

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. The sunshine has stopped and the sunshine has returned.  It was warmer today and such a beautiful fall day.

I went dress shopping for a dress for Kendra  & Aaron's wedding . It's next Saturday. I wasn't successful at the first store.

I  am looking for a formal dress and  I wanted a long one. There were lots of long dresses at the store but none that I really liked.

I tried on 2 of them but decided I wasn't going to spend the money they were asking for something that didn't have that I thought was just ok.

So  I will be out tomorrow morning searching some other stores. Since I waited so long I cant buy anything that needs altered. But, I am sure that I will find something-hopefully tomorrow.

Well, onto my card for today. I have decided to take part in the Verve fall release week challenges.
This challenge is in honor of world card making day which was Saturday, October 2.There are 5 sketches in all and we have until Friday night @11:59 to complete them. I have 3 finished and the idea for my 4th one. Hopefully, I will get all 5 done.

This is the layout that Julee provided for the first sketch.

I used the Verve Stamp 1Chron 16:34 for my sentiment. On that panel, I also stamped the small leaves from the "great friend" set. My designer paper is from the Stampin-Up collection autumn traditions.

I added some eggplant ribbon and a mustard button and that finished off the first challenge card.

The StampinB blog also has a challenge running this week to make a fall card. My background designer paper and the sentiment works for this challenge as well.  I am using this one as one of my Thanksgiving cards.

It's late and and time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day.

card recipe:
stamps: Verve 1 chron 16:34, great friend
paper: su eggplant, mustard, ruby red, autumn traditions dsp
ink: mustard, ruby red, soft suede
accessories: eggplant ribbon, mustard button

Mojo159 thank you

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Well, fall has officially arrived both on the calendar and here in Pittsburgh.

It's been very cool and rainy the past few days. I had to put my furnace on heat this morning.

It was 61 degrees inside my home so that was just a little too cool for me so on went the furnace.

Just a couple of weeks ago the air conditioning was still running. Dont' like that sudden of a change but it's the way it works here in the Northeast.

My card today covers 5 challenges:

1. The MojoMonday blog has a contest the first week of every month so this is my card for that challenge. Julee Tilman puts together some fab layouts for us to work with. Wouldn't you agree?

2.  The colors for my card came from the challenge at Our Creative Corner.

Diane Gilbert was our hostess and she chose some really great fall colors. Two of  are the new colors from Stampin-Up.



3.  The 3rd challenge is a new one for me. It's the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge. My paper doll  friend, Betty Wright, was just chosen as a new designer on this blog and I wanted to support her.
Our challenge is to layer it on. We have to have at least 5 layers on our card. I just hit that number.

4.  The 4th challenge is from the Stamps R Us blog. Their theme was to do an all nature card. Well everything on this card is about nature even the designer paper I used.

5.  The 5th and final challenge for this card is from the Denami Design blog. This is a new challenge for me. So a big shout out to Michelle fro mtheir design team for giving me the heads up on this challenge. We were to use ribbon on our cards. I used rick rack on this one.

My bird image is from the Stampin-Up "wings of friendship" set. I stamped the swirl branch in old olive and eliminated the 2 flowers that are part of this image.
I wanted to use the flower from the Verve set "dream big". I stamped it and cut it out.  I added a mustard button in the center with a sliver of cajun craze card stock in the button holes.

I stamped that in mustard and then rolled the edges in the cajun craze color. The bird image was stamped in cajun craze, cut out and popped up for some added dimension.

The "thank you" sentiment is from the same Verve set and is stamped in early espresso. I used a Stampin -Up border punch on both the mustard and cajun craze layers.
I didn't have any espresso ribbon so I found some rick rack in my stash that is very close to the Stampin-Up color. But my card base is the early espresso which is a deep brown shade.  My designer paper is from the "autumn vine" collection also Stampin-Up.

Well that completes the description of this card and my post for today. God Bless!!

card recipe:
stamps: Verve dream big, su wings of friendship
paper: Su early espresso, more mustard, cajun craze. autumn vine dsp
ink: old olive, early espresso
accessories: su border punch, button, rick rack

Tall Tales Zoo

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

Well, whatever was bugging me for the past several days has moved out of my body. I felt so much better today.

Good enough to go out to the mall and to the grocery store. Our food supplies were rather low and I had to be really creative to put a lunch together for my hubby to take to work today.

He is so precious. Never complains just eats what I give him and, by the way, today it was peanut butter & homemade pear butter sandwiches.

I made up for the lunch by cooking him a nice meal when he came home from work at 9:00 tonight. He really likes these gourmet salmon-feta cheese-spinach burgers that I make. So I had that waiting for him along with a fridge filled with food. I found some new recipes that  I am going to try out on him this week.

Did you know that today is World Card Making Day? Yes, it includes the world. So of course I wanted to be a part of such a big event. I checked out a couple of challenges and this is what I found:

1.  The inspiration challenge on splitcoaststampers is always fun. This week our hostess, Stef, took us to a Turkish site called "studio nommo". They have some very unique wallpapers.
I chose "the zoo" wallpaper as my inspiration.

I had some great Stampin-Up designer paper from the "tall tales" collection that I knew would work perfectly.

My Stampin-Up demo,Christine, gave me some layouts & ideas a few weeks ago for this paper.

This paper is all about zoo animals. I didn't have a zoo image for my scallop circle so I cut one of the elephants out of the paper and popped it up for a little dimension.

I added some so saffron ribbon with a button-stamped my birthday sentiment and that completed this card. It will be a kids birthday card.

2.  The 2nd challenge is the Pals Paper Arts challenge. The current challenge is titled "all buttoned up". We are to use buttons on our card this week.

3  The 3rd challenge is Saturday's Speedy's friends challenge. Oh yes, by adding the ribbon and button this qualified for this challenge as well.

Well, it's late and time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. Church in the morning. Good night & God bless!!

card recipe:
stamps: wow flowers
paper: su old olive, so saffron, tall tales dsp
ink: memento tuxedo black
accessories: su so saffron ribbon, old olive button, scallop circle & 1 3/8 punch

autumn type card

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I am still not feeling well so I just kind of moped around again today.

I do have a lot of errands to run but no energy to do them. Still don't know if a cold is coming on or I have some ear infection.
My ear is blocked and I am trying some simple home remedies before I go to visit the doctor.

I checked out some of the challenge blogs and here is what I am entering this card into:

1.  the color throwdown  blog challenged us to use riding hood red, pumpkin pie and old olive on our card. I have all  of these Stampin-Up colors but I don t like how the riding hood red photos. I guess its just a different shade of red-more orange in it.

2.  The stamp simply blog had a challenge to think in 3's. We were to use 3 images on our card. I used 3 autumn leaves on my card.

3.  The paper cupcakes blog had a fall inspiration challenge.

4.  The craft your passion blog had a challenge blog to create a clean and simple card.

5.  The tuesday throwdown blog is challenging us to use our punches. My leaves are punched.

My card has a riding hood red base and the very vanilla layer I used the cuttlebug embossing folder "autumn type". I really like this folder with all the words that describe this season.

I guess this was a cuttlebug type day since I used the "pumpkin spice" die to cut and emboss the pumpkin. I added 3 leaves and some riding hood red ribbon and that completed my card.

That's it for today my blogger friends. Have a great week-end!!