~My Friend~

 

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. We had our family reunion this weekend. It was a great time of connecting again with family members that you don't see so often.

 

In fact, this year a great niece and nephew came out for the first time. It  was so nice to talk to them and find out what their parents have been up to. They enjoyed themselves as well.

My nephew is very interested in ancestry so we spent a lot of time talking about what he has uncovered about our family.

I am already looking forward to our Christmas Party in December.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the color challenge #437 on Splitcoaststampers.                                                                                                               

 

Karen is our hostess and she chose a beautiful palette of colors with strawberry slush, pistachio pudding and baked brown sugar.

this week's colors

She also wanted us to make our own patterned paper this week.

 

I started my card with my layout and this one is the MojoMonday #304 sketch. I chose to make a square card- 4 ½”.

 

my card layout

I created my background with the Stampin-Up set – “flower shop”. I stamped in strawberry slush ink.

The rectangle layer is Stampin-Up’s “venetian romance designer paper”. I used a Cheery Lynn Designs die to cut my doily in baked brown sugar.

Added an embossed strawberry slush center with a pearl. The band across the card is embossed with the Stampin-Up “fancy fan” embossing folder.
My sentiment is from the Stampin-Up "six-sided sampler” set and stamped in early espresso ink.

My punched flower is from the Stampin-Up flower shop set and matching pansy punch. The leaves are punched in pistachio and punched with the Stampin-Up 5-petal punch.

I am also entering this in Kittie’s and Tammie’s  fan club challenge on Splitcoaststampers. You have to be a fan club member to play along in these challenges. There are prizes to be won so now is a good time to join. Info here.

 

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

 

I am also entering:

1.  City Crafter Challenge Blog is all about summertime. It's flowers for me.

2.  Die Cuttin' Divas has an anything goes challenge.

3.  Card Mania has a summer blooms challenge.

4.  Paper Nest Dolls Challenge wants us to use die-cuts.

5.  613 Avenue Create has an anything goes. Optional Twist is friendship day.

 

  

Hexagon Thanks

 

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. The summer seems to be flying by. Today we are having a perfect summer day here in Pittsburgh. Sunny, warm but no humidity.

 

We had Ethan (youngest grandson) over night. He came over yesterday to help me out at our church farmer's market. He loves doing volunteer work like this. And he does a really good job. The market is held in our church parking lot and some local farmers bring in there produce to sell.

Our church has a food booth where we sell hamburgers, hot dogs and drinks. The burgers are made on a charcoal smoker grill and are black angus beef. They are really delicious and a great seller.

 

Ethan was the order taker. He wrote up the order form, let the grill cook know and took the payment and gave change. Lots of responsibility but he handled it.

 

This week I cut some of our flowers and made arrangements to sell for $4.00 each. I found some nice glass vases at a flea market for .50 each. We have so many different flowers blooming so the bouquet was really pretty. I will do this again next week as well.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the color challenge #436 on Splitcoaststampers. Vicki is our hostess and she chose the palette of bashful blue, marina mist and calypso coral. She also wants us to use a die cut.

 

For my card I went with a clean and simple design. Something I don’t usually do and have trouble with but I wanted to use the hexagon punch and the gorgeous grunge stamp set from Stampin-Up. I thought a simpler card was the way to go with this one. And, I like how it turned out.

I punched my hexagon shapes out of various calypso coral designer paper. I used the Spellbinders nested pennants to cut my flag and the Spellbinders oval for my sentiment. The sentiment is form the six-sided sampler set.

I used the gorgeous grunge set and stamped in marina mist ink in the corners. Added some blue dew drops to complete my card.

 

Well that's it for me for today. Time to get Ethan back home. So until next time........God bless.

 

Some other challenges:

1.  Paper Crafting Journey has a punch or die-cuts challenge.

2.  Inspired By has a photo inspiration. 

3.  Crafts and Me has an anything goes challenge.

4.  Divas By Design has an anything goes challenge.

5.  Rhedd and Rosie challenge blog has an anything goes.

6.  A.R.T. Challenge has an anything goes.



 

 

Secret Garden Friendship

Happy Monday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog.  It was a great weekend here. Hope you enjoyed yours as well. On Saturday, I went to a rubber stamp show in Pittsburgh.

Lots of great ideas being demoed and lots of new stuff was available. I picked up a few new Cheery Lynn Designs dies.

I also bought the new Envelope Board by We R Memory Keepers. I was up until 1:00 am making envelopes from my stash of designer paper (lol). I love this piece of equipment. Now I will have a matching envelope for my card. And it's a great way to use up my paper collection.  

Onto my card for today. This one I made for the color challenge #435 on Splitcoaststampers.

Becky was our hostess and she chose a soft color trio with baked brown sugar, crisp cantaloupe and wisteria wonder.

I used the Stampin-Up set “secret garden” for my background stamping in crisp cantaloupe and wisteria wonder. On my baked brown sugar panel, I used the Cutlebug embossing folder “stylized flowers”. The small rectangle panel I used the Stampin-Up set “language of friendship” and stamped in brown sugar.

I stamped one of the flowers from secret garden in wisteria wonder for the corner element. To complete my card I used the Stampin-Up ribbon punch and the MS butterfly punch and added some pearls.
                                                                                             

My layout is the MojoMonday 302 sketch.

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

I am also entering:
1.  Through The Craft Room Door has an anything goes.
2.  An inky situation has an anything goes linky party.
3.  Fairies Challenge Blog has a flowers/summer challenge. 

Christmas in July

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. It is so hot and humid here in Pittsburgh. This is a perfect time to create a Christmas card. Not that I am looking to rush through our summer season. It seemed like forever before it arrived.

This card I made for my guest design spot on the Cleary iStamp Blog.

CiSC#3 - CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Any type of crafty project is allowed as long as it meets the theme.

Dates: July 19 (10 am) – Aug 1 (11 pm) Central Time

Prize: $10 gift code to Clearly Digi Stamps for digital stamps. If you use a CDS stamp you will be entered into the drawing twice.

There will also be a Top 3 award!

Winners Announced: Wednesday Aug 7th at 10 am (central time)

My card is using the Angels digital image. I paper pieced her dress and gave her a pretty red Christmas outfit. On her wings I used Flower Soft and colored her face, hair, gloves and trumpet with prismacolor pencils.

I placed her in an outdoor scene. My designer paper is from Echo Park. The hill, tree and sentiment are all dies from PaperTrey Ink. I added some glitter on the hills to complete my card.

Hope you can play along with us. Well that's it for me for today. So until next time..........God bless.

I am also entering:
1.  Bloggers Challenge is things with wings.
2.  Creative Corner Challenge is to "let it sparkle".
3.  Cut It Up has a Christmas in July.
4.  Fairy Tale Challenge has a Christmas in July.
5.  Paper Crafting Journey has a Christmas in July.
6.  Creative Belli has a Christmas challenge. My dp is last years collection.
7.  Fab n Funky has a Christmas in July challenge.
8.  Loves Rubberstamps has a Christmas in July.

Key to my Heart

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Roll out those lazy, hazy crazy days of summer- are the lyrics to an old song. We picked our first tomatoes this week. A small harvest of four but oh so delicious and many more to come.

Our flower gradens are blooming profusely as well. The stargazer lilies and the gladiolas have just opened. I love cutting the flowers and bringing them inside to enjoy.

I like giving them away to neighbors and other friends to enjoy as well. the more you cut the more will bloom. So if you have a garden don't let the flowers die on the vine cut and bring them inside.

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the featured stamper #336 challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Jeanne was this week's honoree. The idea is to look thru her gallery and pick one of her cards to re-create. I chose this card to makeover in my style.

I kept the same layout but with changes. My designer paper is from Stampin-Up's "sycamore street" collection. My card colors are sahara sand, tangerine tango and island indigo.

I used the Cheery Lynn Designs doily die but cut mine in sahara sand. I used the Waltzingmouse vintage labels 4 stamp set and then cut with the Spellbinders labels 4 die.

My sentiment is from the PTI set "lock and key". I used the die from this same set to cut my key. I finished my card with an island indigo bow and brad center.

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

I am also entering:
1.  Craft-Dee Bowz has an anything goes with a handmade bow.
2.  Created With Love has an anything goes challenge.
3.  Through the Purple Haze has an anything goes challenge.
4. The Crafters Café Challenge has an anything goes challenge.
5.  613 Avenue Create has an anything goes challenge.

Mixed Media

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog.  I started my day off at the gym. I joined this awesome fitness center a couple of weeks ago.

 

It seems an odd time to join in the summer but it's something I have wanted to do for months. I am working with a personal trainer who is getting me set up on a program and she makes sure I do the routine correctly. I really felt good when I left the center today. More to come on this.

 

Onto my projects for today. I made these for the mixed media challenge on Splitcoaststampers. We were to use tissue or a napkin along with mod podge for our background.

 

On my first card I used tissue paper. This came in my latest Verve order. I love the pretty shade of blue and the subtle sparkle. I used it for my background as well as my tissue flower. The tissue flower was so easy to make. I folded the tissue paper so I would have 6 layers and punched with a scallop punch. I put a brad in the center to hold it together.

I crumpled it up and used mod-podge and scrunched it some more for texture. After it dried I used picked raspberry distress ink on the wrinkles to highlight them.

I used the Stampin-Up medallion stamp and stamped the corner in picked raspberry distress ink.
The sentiment was stamped in chocolate chip ink on a mixed media background that I created and was in my stash. I cut it with a Spellbinders labels 16 die.

I used some Tim Holtz tissue tape behind the sentiment panel. Added some dew drops to complete.

On the 2nd card: I again used tissue paper that came in something that I ordered. It was a little heavier weight and has a pattern on it. I crumpled it up and used the mod-podge and scrunched it some more for texture. After it dried I used broken china distress ink on the wrinkles.

I used the Stampin-Up medallion and stamped the corner in melon mambo ink. My flower is made from wrapping paper. The sentiment was stamped on a mixed media background that I created and was in my stash. I cut it with a Spellbinders labels 16 die. My bird is also die cut from scrap mixed-media background pieces.

I also used dew drops to complete this project. Well that's it for me for today. Time to dim the lights in Charmed Life land for another day. So until next time.......God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Creative Corner Challenge has an anything goes.

2.  Creative Fingers has an anything goes challenge.

First Christmas Card of Season

Happy Wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. What a crazy weather day we had here in Pittsburgh.

We had such heavy rains and flash flooding all over the area where I live. The city was in a deadlock because so many roads were closed.

Our emergency management center asked people to stay off the roads in our area. The worst is over now. And after a few morning showers we will have several days of low humidity and sunshine.  

 

Let's get onto my card for today. This one I created for the color challenge #434 on Splitcoaststampers. I was the hostess this week, and I chose a Christmas palette for us with crumb cake, gumball green and cherry cobbler. 

 

As an option I chose a Christmas in July theme. This is my first Christmas card for this year. I am way behind the goal I set for myself.

After I chose the colors and the designer paper the next step for me was the layout. I am using this week’s deconstructed sketch #108.

My designer paper is from the Stampin-Up “festival of prints” collection. On my tilted background panel, I used a cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. Added some cherry cobbler seam binding.

My image is the santa collage from Rubber Stampede. I stamped on crumb cake card stock with vintage photo distress ink. I used a blender pen and white craft ink and a white pencil to lightly color his beard and eyebrows. On his face, I used a blush blossom marker and a pink pencil.

The “merry” is cut from a PaperTrey Ink die. My snowflake is a Spellbinders die.  Hope you can play along with us. It's contest time!! Get more details here.

Time to dim the lights in Charmed Life Land for another day. So until next time......God bless.

I am also entering:
1.  Fab 'n Funky has a Christmas in July challenge.
2.  ABC Challenge has a Christmas in July.
3.  Stamp and Create has a Christmas in July.
4.  The Stamp Spot has a Christmas in July challenge.
5.  Hiding in my Craft Room has a red and green challenge.

Here For Each Other

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Our day started at church today. Our Pastor had a great message and the worship team was awesome. An invigorating start to my week.

After lunch we headed to West Virginia to watch Ethan (youngest grandson) play baseball. It was about an hour from our home. They were in a tournament there that started on July 4. Today was the semi-finals but they lost.

Back home and a little time on the treadmill before dinner. Now we are just relaxing and watching a movie on the Hallmark Channel and I am multi-tasking and doing my blog post.

My card layout is using the sketch #443 from Splitcoaststampers. Korin was our hostess and she gave us a great layout to work into a card.

My card is using the Stampin-Up "sycamore street" designer paper for my background paper. I used the Spellbinders die "matting basics B to cut the designer paper. This die makes for perfect layering.

The flower images and sentiment are from Stampin-Up's "bloomin marvelous" set.

Card and ink colors are rich razzleberry and summer starfruit, My flag pennants are cut from the MFT flag stax die. I used the Stampin-Up fancy fan embossing folder for some added texture.

That's my card for today. Until next time.........God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  4 Crafty Chicks has a dry embossing challenge.
2.  Creative Moments has a flowers challenge.
3.  Stamping Royalty has an anything goes challenge.

Love is...........

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. We had a nice 4th of July celebration with 2 of our grandsons. Their parents were out of town at a baseball tournament with our youngest grandson. So hubby and I were with the other two.

We enjoyed the fireworks display in their community. That was a first for us and we really liked their celebration. The park was filled with local residents, vendors selling food and music. It was a very friendly atmosphere.

I am back home now and just laid back today. My hubby spent some time with his family and I was home alone. I decided to do some crafting. Ha-ha -what else!!

I made another card using the Mojo300 sketch.

I used some of the new Stampin-Up colors and designer paper on this one. Loving all these new colors and on this card I went with crisp cantaloupe, pistachio and soft suede.

I used the honeycomb embossing folder on the card base. Both the designer papers are from Stampin-Up's "venetian romance" collection. My circle is cut in cantaloupe with a Spellbinders die.

On the sentiment panel, I used the Verve set "stronger love". Stamped in soft suede ink and sponged the panel with crisp cantaloupe. I added a Spellbinder's die cut heart to complete my card.

Well it's late and church in the morning so time to dim the lights in Charmed Life land for another day. So until next time........God bless.

I am also entering:
1.  Creative Fingers Challenge Blog has an anything goes challenge.
2.  Left of Center Creative Challenge wants us to use a sentiment on the front.
3.  Sister Act Card Challenge has an anything goes.

Celebrate America

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July and welcome to the Charmed Life Blog. This is a day of celebrating, parades, picnics and fireworks in most towns across America.

 

We will be spending the day with our grandsons and then going to a fireworks display at night. My hubby loves fireworks. So we don't miss going. Hope your celebration is a joyous one.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the color challenge #433 on Splitcoaststampers. Kim was our hostess and she chose red, white and blue with a patriotic theme. I love making patriotic cards. So this one went together easily for me.

 

For this card, I chose my layout and then my papers. I am using this week’s MojoMonday sketch #300.

 

The patterned papers are from Michael’s recollections papers. I had them in my stash from last year.

I used a Cuttlebug stars embossing folder on my card base. For my pennant I stamped the fireworks with the Great Impressions Stamps –“fireworks & stars G303” in real red and night of navy.

I made a rosette with the Tim Holtz mini rosette die from patterned paper. I used the Stampin-Up star punch for the large star and an EK success punch for the smaller stars.

My sentiment panel is using “patriotic cocoa” set from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps. Well, it's time to close this post so until next time.........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Simon Says Stamp has a patriotic challenge. 

2.  Crafting By Designs wants us to use our country's colors.

3.  Inky Impressions Challenge Blog has a red, white and blue challenge.

4.  Pollycraft Challenges has a stars and stripes challenge.

5.  Sisterhood of Crafters has a stars and stripes challenge.

6.  The Stamping Chef has a red, white and blue challenge.

7.  Loves Rubber Stamps has an anything goes challenge.

8.  Party Time Tuesday's Blog has a patriotic challenge.