WOW

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. It was 61 degrees here in Pittsburgh today. It's January 31st people!! We have had the strangest winter this year. It's cold then it warms up then snow-but just a bit. I sort of expect February to be a cold, snowy month. So we shall see.

Today was my day with my grandsons. Lots of driving this one here and picking this one up and homework and..... I arrived and Austin wanted something to eat before he had to go back to school. He had a basketball game.
Aidin stayed after school for his play practice. I picked him up and then we had his weekly vocabulary to work through. He loves having me help him with this. He usually gets 100% on his tests on Thursdays.

Ethan came home on the school bus and didn't have to be anywhere until 6:30. Whew, no wonder my hubby said I was wound up when I came home (lol).

I love being with them and today Ethan gave me a big hug and said he loves me being his Grandma.  My heart just melted. Wouldn't yours??

So lets get onto this card of mine. I made this one for the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Julia was the hostess this week and her color choices were pool party, island indigo and white. She only wanted us to use a sentiment as our image.  

So I used island indigo as my main color and matching designer paper.

I stamped the “wow” sentiment on a square of white then layered it with indigo and pool party.
I popped up each layer on the square for dimension. I am giving this card to a friend from church who did a teaching at our recent women's meeting. She really did a fabulous job.

I added a heart button on this panel. I found this one in my stash and thought it was a good match for the pool party color.

The sentiment is from Marks Finest Papers the “you are cherished” set.

I layered white ribbon and then island indigo ruffled ribbon over that. Added a few butterflies to complete my card.

The layout on my square card is this week’s mojomonday 226.   

That's my card for today. It's late and time to dim the lights in charmed life land  for another day, So until next time........God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Oldie But Goodie challenge wants us to use hearts. My sentiment has a heart as well as the heart button. The button is about 4 years old.
2.  Tuesday Throwdown  alsohas a hearts challenge.

Put a little love in your heart

Happy Monday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Another sunny day for us here in Pittsburgh. Almost makes me feel like spring is coming. Well it is I guess in 2 months (lol). I did notice that it is almost staying light until 6:00 pm. So the days are getting longer.

Tonight we had a new members class at church. It's a 3 week course that people that want to become members go through. Our Pastor taught the first week. My hubby and I taught this one.

The class went really well. I like it when we can team teach. We work well together and play off each others strengths. He did such a great job with the material he presented. I was really proud of him.

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the "try a new technique" challenge #362 on Splitcoaststampers. Holly was the hostess and she had a Plan A & B this week. She wanted us to try a fancy fold or we could do a new technique called "double vision".

The fold was just a bit more than what I could undertake today so I went with the "double vision".  It is simply stamping your image/sentiment in one color and then stamping again in a complimentary color slightly off from the original color.

I just inked up only the word "valentine' and used the double vision technique. The stamped sentiments are from Marks Finest Papers-"love remains set".

I  die cut 3 Spellbinder hearts and stamped the sentiment "love" inside of these. I just ordered these dies and they arrived today. Just in time to make this card.

My card stock is early espresso and the designer paper is Stampin-Up's "sending love speciality" collection.

I added some satin ribbon and pearls to complete this card. Well it's late and time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. So until next time........God Bless

Some other challenges:
1.  Crafty Boots has a "inspired by a song title challenge. How about "put a little love in your heart".
2.  Stamps R Us has a valentines/love challenge
3.  Outlawz Greetings challenge wants us to use hearts.
4.  Paper Sundaes has a valentines challenge.

Howdy

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. It's a tad cold here today but there is no snow and we are seeing the sun.
That's big for us in Pittsburgh. In January & February, we don't have a lot of sunny days.

Our service at church was awesome this morning. Our worship team, really did a fantastic job. Everyone seemed so energetic today and lots of people just hung around after to chit chat and have some coffee.
I love starting my week with the Lord at the forefront. Its inspiration that carries me through until next Sunday.
This evening we went to watch our grandsons play basketball. Ethan's team lost and Aidin's team won. We love watching them play as much as they love us coming to watch.  We headed home around  9:00 and now I am getting this post ready before bedtime.

My card today is one that I made for the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoaststampers. This week the honor went to Shirley aka wannabcre8tive. I love her user name as well as her stamping ability.

I chose her "giddy up" card to recreate ala Mary Marsh style. We are to make at least 2 changes on our card.
Shirley used a cricut to cut her cute cowboy. I don't own one but I did have a cute cowgirl stamp from Marks Finest Papers. It's the cowgirls rule set.

My changes: I stamped my image with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder. I cut it out with a spellbinders labels 4. I like how this image looks without actually coloring. I haven't done that in a long while.

I used a different color scheme and added a layer. Placed my ribbon on a diagonal and then used bakers twine over that.

To complete my card I stamped a cowboy hat from the same set. This was cut out and I used dimensional glue dots for a little dimension. I punched a mini tag and stamped my "howdy" sentiment on that.

Well, it's late and time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. So until next time.........God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Crafty Calendar Challenge has a new news challenge. I am using new stamp set, ribbon and bakers twine.
2.  Speedy Fox and friends challenge wants us to use at least 4 layers.
3.  My Sheri Crafts has a new things challenge. I used new stamp set, ribbon and bakers twine.

You Are Cherished

Happy Saturday everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Today was a busy day and packed with activities. I started my day by hosting a women's luncheon at our church. We had a soup & salad lunch. I made one of the soups and I was pleased with all the comments and recipe requests.
It is a Squash-Apple Soup. I used butternut squash, carrots, sweet potato, carrots, apple, rutabaga and onion. This combo gets tossed together with butter and cooked until onion is translucent about 5 min. You then add chicken stock and cook for about 20-25 minutes. I then pureed it in my food processor. Add heavy cream-real maple syrup and cayenne pepper. It is delicious.

We also served an Italian wedding soup made by another woman in our church. It also was super delicious.  For our salad we served a Romaine-Spinach salad and some great crusty bread. I had all the salad additions served on the side so the women could add what they wanted to the lettuce mixture. Another woman in church makes an incredible blue cheese dressing and she brought it today.

It was a successful day and a great woman's get together. We then headed to a family 50th birthday party. In fact, the card I am posting today is one I made to give along with our gift. It was a fun family time although we left a bit early because I am still not feeling 100%.

Onto my card for today. I made this one for the free for all challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Wendy was our hostess and she wanted us to make a card using kraft and chocolate chip cardstock. This was in honor of National Chocolate Cake day.

My card used both those colors of cardstock and designer papers. My image is from the new set at Mark's Finest Papers - "love remains" and the sentiment is from the "you are cherished" set.

I colored the rose with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I layered it with real red and chocolate chip cardstock.

To complete my card I used some red satin ribbon also from Mark's Finest Papers.

Well, time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. So until next time..............God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Secret Crafter challenge wants us to use ribbons.
2.  Stamp, Scrap and Doodle has an anything goes challenge.
3.  Fussy and Fancy has a polka dots challenge.

The Rose

Happy Friday and thanks for visiting the charmed life blog. Well today I was up and about and actually felt good after 2 days of being down with some sort of virus.
 I went out to run a few errands and after being laid out on my sofa for 2 days it was good to get fresh air. Funny the little things that can make you happy.

Tomorrow at church we are having a women's soup & salad lunch. I was responsible for making one of the soups. I had a young woman from church come over to give me a hand. We mentor her & her husband. So it was good to catch up on everything with her. She is in her final year of nursing school and today just passed a big exam. I was so excited for her.

Well onto my card for today. this one I made for the sketch challenge #369 on Splitcoaststampers. I liked working with this sketch and my card actually came together pretty quickly.

My rose image is from a set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I cut it out and placed it on the center card panel. I embossed the panel with the "kassie's brocade" cuttlebug folder. I sponged blushing bride ink over the embossing.

My card base is blushing bride and I used Basic Grey's cappella collection paper and the diagonal layer is the same paper using the opposite side. To complete my card I used some Stampin-Up blushing bride pleated ribbon layered over May Arts burlap.

Well it's time to close this post to watch our Friday night shows- CSI and Blue Bloods. So until next time ........God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  My Mum's Craft Shop has a flowers challenge.
2.  Simon Says Stamp has an anything goes challenge.
3.  The Outlawz has a color challenge of peach-green and cream and a twist of adding roses.
4.  Bloggers challenge this week is to texturize your card.

Flowers in the tub

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Well I finally got rid of my cold and then a sort of stomach virus came on me.

I was down for 2 days-and I slept most of that time. I haven't eaten for a couple of days either just liquids and crackers. I am so over being sick and want this to move out of my house as soon as possible.

basic black

poppy parade

I made this card before my sickness blew back in and took me out. It was for the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers.

lucky limeade

Karen w.as our hostess and she chose the color trio of poppy parade, lucky limeade and basic black

I went a little different this week and used just a touch of poppy and limeade.

My image is an older one from My Favorite Things - "be calm". I colored it with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I also used the current sketch #55 from MFT for my card.

I used the cuttlebug embossing folders "diamonds in the rough" on my white background panel and then on the smaller image panel. I sponged black on the image panel.

To complete my card I added some licorice twine and punched butterflies in the poppy parade color.

Well that's it for me for today. So until next time.......God bless

Some other challenges:

1.  Crafty Ribbons Challenge has a love is red and black challenge.

2.  Paper Crafting Journal has a floral challenge.

3.  The Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge is anything goes with a touch of red.

4.  Sisterhood of Crafters wants us to use stripes on our project.

Be Mine

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.  We were out in San Francisco visiting our son, daughter-in-law and our sweet Phoenix Daisy. It was such a wonderful visit and we had our Phoenix time. She had a cold and gave it to me. So for the past week I have been battling a cold.

Lots of congestion and I cant take any otc medication. I just don't react well to it. So I have been going the natural route with Vitamin C-Echinacea and Vitamin A. I started as soon as I felt the cold coming on but I couldn't nip it in the bud. Oh well its winding down now.

Phoenix Daisy has been sick with colds 3x this year and I have been there all 3 times. She just learned how to kiss and hug and when she is eating she loves to share with me. So I know that I let her pass it to me but I don't even think about it when I am with her. I just love her so!!

So onto my card for today. I made this one for several challenges.

1.  The inspiration challenge on Splitcoaststampers where Stef is our hostess and she took us to the Land of Nod site. A fun children's site that was filled with loads of inspiration for card making or shopping as well.  I chose this "fresh flowers" pillow sham as my inspiration piece.  I loved the flowers on this pillow and decided to create my card around those colors. Which brings me to challenge #2.

2.  The Sweet Stop Sketch for this week had a great layout to use. The twist on this challenge was to create a Valentine's card in non-traditional colors. 

 Well this one was easy I already decided to use bright pink, yellow and green-that sounds like a non-traditional valentine to me (lol)!!    

My card image is from the Stampin-Up "sweetheart" set.  I stamped the "be mine" heart in a crushed curry ink and then punched a heart in melon mambo and embossed it. The leaf images are stamped in pear pizzazz.

I used some Stampin-Up designer paper "razzlebery lemonade" collection.  My ribbon border punch is also from Stampin-Up. I did some hand stitching with yellow floss for a little interest.

Some other  challenges:

3.  Robyn's Fetish has a "love" challenge.

4.  Stampin' Sisters in Christ wants us to make a {heart} stand out on your project.

To end my post today- I leave you with a picture of my sweet Phoenix Daisy. She is wearing a sleeper that I bought her for Christmas. Until next time...........God bless.

Phoenix Daisy

Marks Finest Papers Blog Hop Day 4

Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's January Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Love Remains Featured January 17
Cowgirls Rule Featured January 18
Sending Happy Thoughts Featured January 19
You Are Cherished Featured January 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

We will announce all four winners on January 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win!) The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Friday January 20, 2012.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Pat G.
Karen H.
Patty P.
Mary (you are here)
Dawn M.
Marilynn
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Nancy
Bonnie
Harriet
Kathy
Silvia
Brenda
Mark's Finest Papers

Today is the final day of the blog hop new releases for January. Hope you have enjoyed the past 4 days. We are showing the "you are cherished" set today.

For my card I stamped the daisy wreath and colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I then did some fussy cutting on this. I stamped my  "love you" sentiment on a banner that I cut from a Spellbinders die. I die cut a tag and ran it through a cuttlebug embossing folder and then sponged over that.

I added some pleated ribbon and a few hearts and a button to complete my card. Remember to leave a comment here for a chance to win one of these awesome sets. Then drop over to Dawn's blog to check out her amazing project.

Marks Finest Papers Blog Hop Day 3

Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's January Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Love Remains Featured January 17
Cowgirls Rule Featured January 18
Sending Happy Thoughts Featured January 19
You Are Cherished Featured January 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

We will announce all four winners on January 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win!) The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Friday January 20, 2012.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Pat G.
Karen H.
Patty P.
Mary (you are here)
Dawn M.
Marilynn
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Nancy
Bonnie
Harriet
Kathy
Silvia
Brenda
Mark's Finest Papers

This is day 3 of the new releases. The design team has been showing some fabulous cards. My card today is one for some encouragement. I am sending this to my sister-in-law who is battling lung cancer. Her name is Dee if you would like to pray for her.

I used the rose image from this set and colored with copic markers and prismacolor pencils. I layered it on a red doily. The doily is cut from a die by Cheery Lynn Designs. To the doily I added pearls for accents.

Since my rose is red I chose some patterned paper and ribbon to go along with the color scheme.  I layered ruched white ribbon over my red. I stamped the sentiment to complete my card.

Remember to leave a comment here and then drop by Dawn's blog. She is next on the stop. She will have an amazing project using this set.

See you back here tomorrow for our last day of the release.

Marks Finest Papers Blog Hop Day 2





Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's January Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Love Remains Featured January 17
Cowgirls Rule Featured January 18
Sending Happy Thoughts Featured January 19
You Are Cherished Featured January 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)We will announce all four winners on January 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win!) The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Friday January 20, 2012.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Pat G.
Karen H.
Patty P.
Mary (you are here)
Dawn M.
Marilynn
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Nancy
Bonnie
Harriet
Kathy
Silvia
Brenda
Mark's Finest Papers

My card today features the boots and the hat from the "cowgirls rule set". There are 4 images and 5 sentiments in this set. I needed a birthday card for my niece and she lives in Texas. So how perfect is this set.

I colored the boots with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. My hat was stamped on designer paper and cut out for an embellishment. Used a spellbinders lacy square to frame the image.

Added some stars and ribbon to complete the card. Remember to leave a comment here and then jump over to Dawn's blog to see her amazing project.

See you here again tomorrow.

Marks Finest papers Blog Hop Day 1





Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's January Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Love Remains Featured January 17
Cowgirls Rule Featured January 18
Sending Happy Thoughts Featured January 19
You Are Cherished Featured January 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

We will announce all four winners on January 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win!) The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Friday January 20, 2012.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Pat G.
Karen H.
Patty P.
Mary
Dawn M.
Marilynn
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Nancy
Bonnie
Harriet
Kathy
Silvia
Brenda
Mark's Finest Papers

My card today is featuring one of the rose images from the "love remains" set. There are 2 beautiful rose images plus 7 sentiments in this set. All that you need to create a beautiful valentines card or even a wedding or anniversary card.

I colored this image with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I used a doily die from Cheery Lynn Designs and some Spellbinder circle dies and placed my rose in the center. I added a mini tag and stamped the "love" sentiment from this set.

That's it for me today. Remember to leave a comment here for a chance to win this set and then drop on over to Dawn's blog to see some amazing eye candy using this new set.

Love you

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Cold and blustery was our day here in Pittsburgh. A perfect day for staying home in front of the fireplace and relaxing. That would be an ideal day for sure. But we didn't do that.

After church we had lunch with our Pastor and a guest speaker that came to church. The speaker really brought and encouraging message to our church. He spoke on miracle comebacks and used the sporting world for analogies. He said God loves the word "impossible".

It was a great message to start our day. We came home in time to change and go our grandsons basketball games. One win and one loss was the order there. We went out to dinner with our son, daughter-in-law and grandsons. We ate too much but it was a fun time.

Now I am back home and its still cold and the fireplace is not on (lol). Oh well onto today's post before its time to dim the lights for another day.

This card I made for the inspiration challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Stef is our hostess and she introduced us to the Polyvore site. It the web's largest fashion community site and was loaded with inspiration to create a card.

I chose the Moschino cheap and chic bag as my inspiration piece. I thought I would make another Valentines card in black and red. I kept this one fairly simple.

I used Core-dinations black cardstock and punched hearts in red. My large heart is lined with licorice bakers twine. I added a Stampin-Up heart brad to the center.

My middle layer is a piece of Bazzill maraschino cardstock and I again used licorice bakers twine. I added a spellbinders ribbon tag for my sentiment.
The sentiment is from a soon to be released this week from Marks Finest Papers - "you are cherished".

I am part of a blog hop starting Tuesday that will show all the new sets and samples from the design team so drop on by then.

Well thats my card for today. So until next time.......God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Outlawz Sunday Challenge is to use twine on as CAS card.
2.  Stampin Sisters in Christ has a something new challenge. I used a new stamp set.
3.  Designed To Delight has a hearts challenge.

Valentine's Card 2012

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I have some new  and exciting news today. For the next several months, I will be part of the senior design team at Mark's Finest Papers ( a Heinrich company). I was so excited and honored to be asked to be a part of this team.

My card today is showing 2 new sets that will be released next week. I used the sets "love remains" and "sending happy thoughts". These 2 sets are just fabulous and perfect for your Valentines cards.

I colored the rose image with a combination of Copic markers and Stampin-Up markers.

My background was created using the Spellbinders "diamonds and stars" Impressabilities. I created a stencil effect using riding hood red ink.

I made this card for the color challenge #357 on Splitcoaststampers. Joanne was our hostess and she chose the color trio of blushing bride, riding hood red and baja breeze. It seemed like and unlikely combo for a valentines card, but I really like how it turned out.

I layered my rose image over a Cheery Lynn doily die cut in riding hood red.  Added some pearls and punched hearts to this layer.

I completed my card with baja breeze and riding hood red ribbon and a pearl center on the bow.

That's my card for today.  It's time to close this post. So until next time..........God Bless

Some other challenges: 
1. C.r.a.f.t Challenges has a "celebrations" challenge.
2.  Cooking It Up With Katie has a show me some pink with pearls challenge.
3.  Gingersnap Creations has a ribbons challenge.



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Love Remains and Sending Happy Thoughts (Mark's Finest Papers)
Paper: baja breeze, riding hood red, whisper white
Ink: memento tuxedo black
Accessories: baja breeze and rhr ribbons, cheery lynn doily die, spellbinders impressabilities, copic markers and su markers, postage stamp scissors

The Rose

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Our snow is on the melting path. We had lots of sunshine today and the temps are supposed to rise over the next few days. So snow will be gone until the next storm pushes through.

We went to Aidin's (middle grandson) game tonight. It was on our side of town and since they very rarely play here we had to go. We live south and they live north. They lost the game by 2 points. It was a disappointment but there is always another game-on Saturday as a matter of fact.

For my card today, I decided to create a symbol of summer- "the rose". The "ways to use it challenge" on Splitcoaststampers had an interesting assignment for us today. It is our hostess Michelle's (aka tygerpaws11) birthday and she wanted us to create a card with her favorite elements or we could use our own favorites.

I didn't have a lot of time today because I had a dentist appointment this morning and then a hair appointment shortly after that. So my card is more on the clean and simple side. Something that I don't do very often but I like how this one turned out.

Some of my favorite elements include: dry embossing, ribbon and spellbinder dies.  I am also sharing this rose. I love roses and can't wait until they are back in bloom again in our gardens.

The rose image is from a set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I colored the rose with copic markers and the leaves and stem with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I am still on the learning curve with copics but it's one of my goals for this year.

I used a cuttlebug folder for my white background and a Spellbinder oval die to frame the rose. To complete my card I added 2 different red ribbons and a white ribbon rose for the bow center.

That's my card for today. Thanks for coming by to see what's up in charmed life land. So until next time........

Some other challenges:
1.  The Outlawz "twisted Thursday challenge" is to use punches and diecuts. We can use primsacolor pencils and copics for this one. My image is right in the guidelines-50 % markers-50% pencils.

Happy Birthday Brother

Happy Wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.  Well we had our first snowfall yesterday. We had about 4" of snow and several snow squalls throughout the day.

I was on my way to my son's home when one of them blew threw. It created slippery roads and white out conditions. I was about 15 minutes away from my home and still had another 35 minutes to get to his home.

I turned around and went back to my house. I do not like driving in the snow even though I have an SUV. I had to do that for 30+ years when I worked. Now that I am retired I do not have to drive in snow unless I want to. And, usually I don't want to (lol)!!

I was so disappointed because this is my day with my grandsons. They understood because of the snow and the distance I have to drive to their house. But, we will see Aidin tomorrow night. He has a basketball tournament at one of the schools on our side of town.

Well now onto my card for today. This one I made for the sketch challenge #366 on splitcoaststampers. Taylor is our hostess and she gave us a great sketch to work into a card.
This one has tilted panels and I really like working with those. Although my husband doesnt really like the tilts so I hope its not a guy thing. Because, I needed a birthday card for my brother so I made a masculine card today.

The patterned paper I used is from Creative Imaginations. I cut one of the cars from the paper and used it for my image. I added some music score paper for the bottom layer.

Punched some stars to use for the row of circles and that completed this card. Well, it's late and time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. So until next time...........God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Unstampabelles blog has an anything goes challenge. No stamps allowed on this challenge. I dry embossed my birthday greetings and my car image is cut from the patterned paper.
2.  Bloggers challenge wants us to celebrate good times.

It'll Be Okay

Happy Tuesday everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Well it's official-winter has arrived here in Pittsburgh.

We had snow yesterday. There were several squalls and some of it stuck on the roads, but it's done for awhile. I liked looking at it through my window because I didn't have to drive. There will be plenty more where that came from over the next 3 months for sure.

My card for today is one that I did for the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I am sampling this week with Betty as our hostess.

She chose a great trio of colors for us to work with-lucky limeade, island indigo and basic gray.





I also am entering this in the My Favorite Things January guest designer contest. You are to do paper piecing for this contest.

I made a letterpress background with the Spellbinders circle impressabilities.
The first panel was sponged with basic gray ink and the smaller panel was sponged with island indigo.
I really liked how this background turned out. It seems to fit my image so well.


My sweet image is from My Favorite Things - "pure innocence" line. This one is called my umbrella.

I just love these sweet little girls. They remind me of my granddaughter, Phoenix Daisy. I have already sent her a couple of cards using these images.
These images are so perfect for paper piecing which is exactly what I did with her. I used designer paper for her umbrella-rain coat and boots.

I did some fussy cutting and then foam mounted her on an oval die. The sentiment I used is from the same MFT set. I used the banner dies from My Favorite Things to stamp the sentiment. This die is great. It cuts 2 sizes so you can layer easily and also cuts the little scallop edge to fancy it up.

I completed my card by adding some basic gray satin ribbon and a button center.

Well its time to close this post so until next time.........God bless.

Oh yes, I mentioned Phoenix Daisy in this post.

Here is her latest picture with my daughter-in-law as well. they were out on a hike.

I love the hats!!

Some othe challenges:

1.  Incy Wincy Designs has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Stamps R Us has an anything goes.

flower child

Happy New Year everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I cant believe we are starting 2012. I am not one to make resolutions but I do set some goals for myself. For 2012 my goals are centered around my passions, which would be my family and my crafting.

For my family, I don't want to put off until another day what you can do today. You may not have another chance.
For my crafting, I want to venture to try new techniques and think out of the box. I think that will expand me as a paper artist.

Last night (New Year's eve) we spent with my son-daughter-in-law and grandsons. We had dinner to celebrate my hubby's birthday and then spent the night playing games. We watched the ball fall in Times Square on TV and then headed to bed after that.

My daughter-in-law made a great breakfast for us this morning and we just lounged around in our pj's. Headed home around 3:00 to watch the Steeler game (we won) and now I am just relaxing and typing this post.

The card I am showing today is one I made for the sketch  challenge at the "my favorite stamps" forum on splitcoaststampers.

I used the Pure Innocence image "being cute is what I do". I colored her with a combination of copic markers and prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

My designer paper is from the BoBunny collection "flower child". On the center vertical panel, I used the cuttlebug embossing folder "just my type". I sponged daffodil delight ink on the embossing to make it pop.

I used a button, a spellbinder pennant die and a border punch to complete my card. That's it for me today so until next time.........God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Paper Sundaes blog wants us to use something old something new. My designer paper and button are old and the pennant die from Spellbinders is new.
2.  Pile It On blog has an anything goes challenge.
3.  Secret Crafter Saturday challenge has an anything goes.
4.  Totally Gorjuss wants to see something happy.