Vase with Flowers

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog this last Saturday in March.

 

Seems like there has been so much going on this month and that's left me with minimal down time. And, this week between Preschool, staying overnight 2x at my son's home and design commitments things in my home have gotten behind.

 

Today I have no plans but to do some cleaning. I know it doesn't sound very exciting but I don't like my house to get messy or out of order. And, that's where its at right now. A few pick ups, sweeper run and bathrooms cleaned and I will be happy. Then off to the grocery store to bring in some food and then out for a walk to get some exercise.

 

But before all of that I wanted to get my Blog post done.  This card I made for my weekly DT post on the CottageCutz Blog.

 

My card started with the Splitcoaststampers sketch #742. I was part of that design team for the past 6 months and this was my final week. I liked this week's sketch #742 on Splitcoaststampers because it would allow for a more clean and simple card design. 

 

Having a layout in mind at the card start is always a big boost for me. I love working with the sketches that are out there in the online world. That way I can just choose the card colors and designer paper and I am good to go.

I decided to go with Spring like colors for my card. I used all Stampin'-Up cardstock. The card base is seafoam green, Layer 2 is gorgeous grape, layer 3 granny apple green, layer 4  daffodil delight and layer 5 highland heather. I cut 1/2" cardstock strips and then taped them to a white cardstock base. That way I could be assured everything would be straight and also make placement easier on the card base. 

I wanted bright Spring like colors to continue with the vase and flowers so I again used Stampin'-Up cardstock. The colors are melon mambo, daffodil delight. pretty in pink and old olive. 

 

I assembled my card with double sided tape and Ranger multi matte medium. I brought the greeting panel down lower than what they had it in the sketch. I didn't want the flowers up on the top part of the card. I think it balanced out my card nicely.

I finished off my card by adding a few purple enamel dots to the bottom of the card. That's my card for this post. Time to set started with my day. So until next time...…..God bless.

 

Die I used to create card:

I am also entering:

1.  A Gem of a Challenge has an anything goes.

2.  Crafty Friends wants us to use Spring colors.

3.  My Time to Craft has a Mother's Day or for a woman challenge.

 

 

Rooster Hugs

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

 

Well it's Friday and another weekend is upon us. The last one in March of 2019. We spent last night at my son's home. They are away in Florida and hubby and I were on dog duty. We were there 2 nights this week. My daughter-in-laws Aunt took the 2 other days. We may go back on Sunday night but not sure yet.

 

For dinner tonight my hubby and I went out to a local restaurant and had a fantastic meal. We were given a gift card at Christmas and decided to go and try it out. We were not disappointed.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I created for the color challenge #730 on Splitcoaststampers. Karen is our hostess and she has chosen bermuda bay, crushed curry, night of navy and poppy parade for her color palette. Optional was to use feathers. 

I just got this new Rooster Stamp and thought it would be a good time to use it. I colored it with a combination of Stampin' Blends and Copic markers.
I masked it then stamped the wheat background in crushed curry ink.

My layout this week is using the new Mojo sketch #511. It has lots of layers- just what I like in a sketch.

My background paper is from the Stampin'-Up "floral boutique" collection. Kind of reminded me of  chicken tracks which is why I used it.  On the small rectangle panel I used the Stampin-Up "gorgeous grunge" stamp set and then added my "hugs phrase".

The horizontal rectangle panel is embossed with the Stampin'-Up "Seaside" embossing folder. I finished off my card my adding 3 night of navy enamel dots.

 

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

 

card details:

 

Stamps: home to roost, gorgeous grunge (Stampin'-Up)

Paper: night of navy, poppy parade, whisper white, floral boutique dsp (Stampin'-Up), X-Press It Blending cardstock (Copic)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: night of navy, crushed curry (Stampin'-Up)

Accessories: stampin'-Up Blends - bermuda bay, crumb cake, daffodil delight, Seaside Embossing Folder, navy enamel dots (Stampin'-Up) Copic Markers R24, R27, Sending Hugs, rectangle and circle dies (CottageCutz)

I am also entering: 

1.  Alphabet Challenge is "A" for animal.

2.  PolkaDoodles has an anything goes challenge.

3.  Creative Moments has an anything goes challenge.

 

 

Bunny in a Carrot Car

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

 

It was a Pre-School day for me today. I can't believe this is our last class in March. We spent the month honoring Dr Seuss. We read the kids 5 of his books and did a corresponding craft. Today I took in mini ice cream cones to end our day. I found these little cones at Trader Joes. They are the perfect size for 3 year old kiddos.

 

Next month we will be focusing on Spring crafts. I have some really cute ones planned for the kids. Then before I know it we will be on Easter break.

 

And, speaking of Easter let's move onto my card for today. This one I made for the sketch challenge #737 on Splitcoaststampers. Carey was the hostess and she gave us a great layout for our cards.

 

I used 2 new CottageCutz dies on my card -Bunny Carrot Car & Happy Easter Greeting. I chose my card colors based on the colors in the Stampin'-Up designer paper. It's from the "sweet taffy" collection.

The "happy phrase" on the sentiment panel is a die cut and then I stamped the Easter phrase. Both are in tempting turquoise. To finish off my card, I added a few melon mambo enamel dots.

 

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

 

Stamps: Blessings (MFP)

Paper: tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie, old olive, daffodil delight, melon mambo, smokey slate, sweet taffy dsp (Stampin'-Up)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: turquoise, smokey slate (Stampin'-Up)

Accessories: bunny carrot car, happy easter greeting (CottageCutz), it's my party enamel dots (Stampin'-Up)

I am also entering:

1.  Aud Sentiments Challenge is any sentiment except happy birthday.

2.  Crafty Gals Corner has a Spring is here challenge.

3.  Crafty Creations has an anything goes challenge.

 

 

 

 

A Day For Tulips

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

 

We are going to have some beautiful Spring weather the next few days here in Pittsburgh. It's such a bright and sunny day today. I may go out for a walk today to soak up some of the sunshine.

 

I am battling a head cold and that will be the only thing that will keep me from going for a walk. The kids at Pre-School have been sick with coughs and runny noses and some of those nasty germs settled on me (LOL)! I have been taking lots of Vitamin C and diffusing essential oils at night to help me breathe. I have been so stuffed up.

 

I did go to class yesterday and during our morning circle time when one of the little girls found out I was sick, said she wanted to pray for me. This little precious 3 year old folded her hands and said "Jesus I pray you make Miss Mary all better and take her cold  away". It melted my heart.

 

Now that I am all emotional again, it's time to move onto my card for today. This one I created for the color challenge #727. Pam was our hostess and she chose daffodil delight, pear pizzazz and white for her color trio. Optional was to use rhinestones.

pear pizzazz, daffodil delight, white

Somehow I didn't realize our yellow color this week was daffodil delight. I only looked at our color chart 4 or 5 times and I create it. Go figure (lol)!!! So I used so saffron which I wasn't wild about on my tulips but it is what it is.

I thought of tulips when I saw these subtle colors. So, I went with that idea to create my card. The tulip image is from the Stampin'- Up set "Tranquil Tulips". It's a 2-step stamping set. I fussy cut and popped up one of the tulips for interest. For the stems I stamped off once and then stamped then on the white panel.

The background paper is from the Stampin'- Up "sweet pea" collection. I decided to use some pear pizzazz ribbon and added a small bow. My sentiment is from the Broadway Star Paper Pumpkin Kit. I wanted a small sentiment and this one was a perfect size.

To complete my card, I added some pear pizzazz enamel dots. Well that's it for me for this post so until next time...…...God Bless.

 

Stamps: Broadway Star (Paper Pumpkin Kit)

Paper: pear pizzazz, so saffron, whisper white. sweet pea dsp (Stampin'-Up)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: chocolate chip

Accessories: pear pizzazz ribbon, enamel dots (Stampin'-Up)

Techniques: 2 step stamping

 

I am also entering:

1.  Lemon Shortbread has am anything goes challenge.

2.  Try it on Tuesday has a say it with flowers challenge.

3.  Tuesday Throwdown has a pastel challenge.

He is Risen

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog this Saturday in March.

 

We are enjoying a bit of winter weather here In Pittsburgh. It snowed last night and covered the grassy areas. It's cold and blustery but  the sun is shining brightly and will melt all that snow soon enough.

 

I am creating Easter cards right now. I usually send out between 8-10 to family and friends. This one I created for my weekly DT post on the CottageCutz Blog.

 

For my card I used the sketch #741 from Splitcoaststampers. I liked the layout and gave me the opportunity to use designer paper and ribbon on my card.

I used some older designer paper from the Stampin'-Up "Venetian Romance" collection. I paired it with the coordinating colors of pistachio pudding and island indigo.

I cut my cross image in island indigo cardstock and the oval background in pistachio pudding.

I wanted a sentiment on the oval but just the words "He is". I found an Easter stamp that had those words so I masked off the other part that I didn't want to use and with the help of my MISTI, stamped it on an angle in island indigo ink.

 

I cut the Risen phrase from the die and added to my card. I cut it 2x just for a bit more dimension.

Added some purple ribbon and enamel dots to complete this card. Enjoy your weekend and until next time...…..God bless.

 

dies I used to create card: 

I am also entering:

1.  Creative Fingers has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Aud Sentiments - any sentiment except happy birthday.

3.  C.R.A.F.T. has a Spring/Easter challenge.

 

Easter Hello

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

 

We have passed the halfway point in March already. Can you believe it? And, in a few days it will be the first day of Spring. Seems like we didn't have much of a winter here in Pittsburgh. Very little snow and the temps weren't all that cold this year. Sometimes we get a Spring snow storm so we will just wait and see.

 

I have a lot of things I want to get done today so let's move on with this Blog post. I made this card for my weekly DT post on the CottageCutz Blog. For my card today, I am using the new Hatching Bunny die. He is just too cute peeking out of the cracked egg. I couldn't resist using him on an Easter card. So let's get started with some details on how I created my card.

 

Step 1: Having a layout in mind at the card start is always a big bonus for me. That way I can just choose the card colors and designer paper and I am good to go. Since I am guest designing with the sketch team on Splitcoaststampers, I used this week's sketch #740. The somewhat simplistic design using the stacked diamond shapes is a perfect backdrop for this little bunny.

I looked through my designer papers and found this one from the Stampin'-Up "more amore" collection. It's from way back in 2012 but I liked the colors in it. I used pool party and primrose petals as the coordinating colors. 

On the diamond shapes, I sponged backgrounds clouds with tumbled glass distress ink and on the bottom diamond I sponged mowed lawn distress ink.

 The Hatching Bunny and other elements from this die are all cut from cardstock. I used close to cocoa for the bunny, gumball green for the grass, primrose petals for the tulip and pool party designer paper for her little bow.

I stamped my sentiments and added the images to the diamond shapes. I decided to add a die cut sun and scatter some pool party sequins to complete my card.

 

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

dies I used to create card:

I am also entering:
1.  2 Crafty Critter Crazies has an anything goes with a critter challenge.
2.  Animal Friends Challenge wants us to use a rabbit.
3.  Crafty Animals has an anything goes challenge.

A Pot of Gold

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

 

March is rolling right along and we are almost at the halfway point already. This weekend is St Patrick's Day and there will be celebrations many places. Here in Pittsburgh we have a big parade in the downtown area. 

 

I do have Irish heritage in my lineage. My maternal Grandmother was Irish. We don't celebrate the day though. I have never gone to the parade because the spectators get a little rowdy.

 

But I am celebrating with this card I made and sent out to a good friend of ours in Virginia. Hopefully he receives it tomorrow. So let's get started with some details on how I created it.

 

I used the colors from the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #728. I was the hostess and I chose call me clover, basic black and gold for the color trio.

call me clover, black, gold

Optional was an anything goes option. I encouraged everyone to think out of the box for the optional item. I added this option because I wanted to create a St Patrick's Day card with a rainbow. Since the color challenge limits you to the chosen colors plus neutrals, I knew I had to think out of the box So I decided the rainbow and sponged clouds would be my optional item. 

 

For the card details: I used the Stampin'-Up rainbow builder dies for the rainbow. The colors are the ones in the rainbow (remember RoyGBiv - LOL). To refresh that would be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

 

The pot of gold, leprechaun hat, shamrock, lucky horseshoe and gold coins are all CottageCutz St Patrick Day dies. They are cut in the challenge colors I selected. The sentiment in the clouds is from the Verve Lucky Day digi set.

 

Well that's my card for this post. So until next time...…..God bless.

 

Stamps: lucky day (Verve)

Paper: call me clover, whisper white, black, real red, tangerine tango, daffodil delight, lemon-lime twist, tempting turquoise, dapper denim, highland heather (Stampin;-Up), kraft-core metallic (Ranger)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: tumbled glass distress (Ranger)

Accessories: St Patrick's Day Phrase & More, Lucky Leprechaun dies (CottageCutz), Rainbow Builder Framelits, gold stars (Stampin'-Up), Mini Cloud Stencil (MFT)

I am also entering:

1.  Polkadoodles has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Simply Create Too  has an anything goes- optional card for a guy- card created for a male friend.
3.  Cute Card Thursday has a celebrate challenge. Celebrating St Patrick's Day

Hugs and Thanks

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

 

Well it's the start of daylight savings time so hope you all remembered to turn the clocks ahead I hour. It's always difficult losing an hours sleep and getting up to it being dark again in the morning. But, we will have an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, and I love that!!!

 

Our church was a bit emptier this morning. I am guessing that had to do with the time change?

We had a brunch after church and the food was delicious. Lots of breakfast foods as well as lunch dishes.

The group that put it on made a Rueben casserole and was it ever delicious. I love Rueben sandwiches so this was perfect for me. I ate way to much so I definitely will be taking a walk this afternoon. Need to walk off some of those calories.

 

Now let's move onto my card for today. This one I made for the color challenge #724 on Splitcoaststampers. Karen was our hostess and she chose cherry cobbler, old olive and crumb cake (kraft) for her color trio. 

Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler

I needed a thank you card for a friend that gave me some coffee themed gifts. So these colors worked out fine for me. On my card background, I used the new Stampin'-Up Corrugated embossing folder.

 

The ribbon is also Stampin'-Up - it's their Christmas burlap trim. I found some older Christmas designer paper from Stampin'-Up that had the challenge colors in it. It's their "jolly holiday" collection. I didn't think it looked like Christmas so I went ahead and used it. 

 

For the dies, they are all from CottageCutz. I used the cocoa & sweet treats die for the coffee and donut image and the sending hugs die for the word phrase. The stamped sentiment is a set from MFT.

 

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

Stamps: kind words (MFT)

Paper: old olive, cherry cobbler, crumb cake, choc chip, very vanilla, jolly holiday dsp (Stampin'-Up)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: tuxedo black (Memento)

Accessories: cocoa & sweet treats, sending hugs dies (CottageCutz), striped burlap trim, corrugated embossing folder (Stampin'-Up)

I am also entering: 

1.  A Gem of a Challenge is anything goes.

2.  Sweet Stampin' has an anything goes + option of Shrove Tuesday.

3.  Creative Fingers has an anything goes challenge.