The Beach Life

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

Well, it's Saturday and another start to a weekend. It's a rainy day here in Pittsburgh.  Just a slight drizzle for now so I have my windows open and a nice breeze is blowing through my house. 

I spent yesterday doing household chores. So, my Saturday will be freed up.  My family is coming over for a visit. We are going to the premier chocolate factory in Pittsburgh to enjoy one of their delicious ice cream sundaes and then go on a trip through the chocolate store.

My grandsons are in town for the NFL Draft. They went down to be a part of the massive crowd in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. We were with them on Wednesday night and now we will get to see them again today.  I am looking forward to it. 

Now onto my card for today. This one I created for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #1101. 

wild wheat, misty moonlight, lost lagoon

We were to use wild wheat, misty moonlight and lost lagoon for the color trio. Optional this week is a 4th color. 

I used lots of dies to create my beach scene card, I started with the Beach Scene builder die from MFT. It created the sand and water.

I cut the water in lost lagoon and then stamped the waves in misty moonlight. The sand was cut in crumb cake (neutral) and I stamped sand granules in wild wheat ink.

I added the pelican, logs and starfish for added interest. Logs cut in soft suede (neutral). I cut the pelican beak in lemon lolly cardstock and sponged with the same color ink.

The top of the card is stenciled using soft sky ink. This covered my optional item of a 4th color. 

Finished off the card by stamping my sentiment on a cloud in misty moonlight ink and added a sun cut in lemon lolly and sponged with the same color ink.

I am going to send this one to my daughter-in-law for Mother's Day. She loves the beach and this is her serenity. This card will definitely give her a smile. 

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

Card Details:

Stamps: Island Life (MFP), Sunset at the Beach (Just For Fun),

Paper: basic white, lemon lolly, lost lagoon, crumb cake, soft suede (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Wild wheat, Misty Moonlight, Lemon Lolly, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up)

Accessories: pelican, die, stitched sun die, cloud die (CottageCutz), beach scene builder die, cloud stencil (MFT)

I am also entering:

1.  Crafty Gals Corner is anything goes.

2.  The Sisterhood of Crafters has a "make someone smile" challenge. 

3.  The Paper Funday has an anything goes w/optional twist of die cuts/punches. 

The Little Things You Do

Hello Blogger friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with the Charmed Life Blog today. It's Sunday and I hope it's a day of rest and relaxation for you. And that you were able to get some crafty time in over the weekend. 

I was able to get crafty las week for several days. I was actually making Christmas cards. I am determined not to be in the Christmas rush of not having cards done. I say it every year but hoping this year is different. I did manage to make 10 cards las week. I usually need around 40 so I am off to a good start. I usually don't make more than 1 of the same card. But I had some designer paper that  I wanted to use up so I made 10 cards in the same design but with different paper. 

I bought some product last Christmas and never got to use it and that will be my next batch of cards.  I am excited to start those ones. Although I have some Mother's Day calendars I am making for some of the women at church so I need to get moving on those. Plus making my Mother's Day card. 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the Splitcoaststampers challenge #1100.  I was the hostess this week and I chose pretty peacock, cloud cover and secret sea for my color trio. Optional was to use designer paper. I encouraged stampers to get creative and choose paper that doesn't have these colors if they wanted.

secret sea, cloud cover, pretty peacock

I needed a thank you card for my next-door neighbor who helped me out in a huge way a couple of weeks ago.

To create my card, I used the Stampin' Up December 2025 Paper Pumpkin Kit. That's how I chose my colors for this challenge. These kits come with everything you need to create at least 9 cards. Sometimes I create them as per the instructions and sometimes I make alternate designs. 

I created my card according to the kit instructions except I added an additional layer of cloud cover for the card base.

My background paper is one of the card bases that was included in the kit. All the other items on the card are also from the kit including the beautiful bronze sequins.

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

Card Details:

Stamps: Watercolor in Bloom (PP Kit Dec 2025)

Paper: cloud cover (Stampin' Up),

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Pretty Peacock (Stampin' Up),

Accessories: Watercolor in Bloom Paper Pumpkin Kit Dec 2025,

I am also entering:

1.  Allsorts Challenge is in the garden or anything goes. 

2.  Love Those Pretty Papers is anything goes using patterned paper.

3.  Creative Fingers challenge is anything goes. 

4.  Paper Funday is anything goes w/option of die cuts or punches. 

Daisy Daydream Birthday

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

Well, Tax Day (April 15, 2026) has come and gone for another year. Hope all of my American followers were able to get everything filed on time. I completed mine and even got a refund this year. 

Now I can concentrate on getting my craft room reorganization done. I keep putting it off, but I definitely need a better system than what I have right now. I know where most things are but sometimes, I forget about things I bought since my system is not so streamlined. But my goal is to get all that changed this year. 

Now onto my card for today. This one I created using the contents of the March 2025 Daisy Daydream Paper Pumpkin Kit from Stampin' Up. These kits give you everything you need to create at least 9 cards. What I like to do is create alternate designs from what the kit calls for. 

This one is a fun fold card. It's called a Z-fold design. I used my own white card base and then took one of the printed card bases from the kit and cut it for designer paper. 

The daisy images were the front of the base and I cut those to 1 7/8" x 5 1/4". The honeycomb images were the back of the card base and I cut that for my card inside at 4" x 5 1/4". 

I cut 2 circle images and stamped then with honeycombs. The stamp set is also part of the kit.  The bees and daisy images were also in the kit. To complete my card I added some yellow enamel dots. 

For the card inside I added a honey pot. It's a die from CottageCutz. 

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

I am also entering:

1.  Creative Creases has an anything goes with a fun fold design.

2.  Cut it Up has a colors of Spring challenge using die cuts. 

3.  Craft Rocket Challenge #135 wants us to layer it up.

4.  C.R.A.F.T. challenge is anything goes. 

5.  Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge - I used middle panel- embellishments-free-circles. 

Easter Cross w/lilies

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

Hope you had a great weekend and were able to get some crafty time in. When Spring rolls around that sometimes gets difficult if you are a gardener. I am not the one who tends the outside here. That is my hubby's domain.  

You might think it's odd that I am featuring an Easter card today. But one of my neighbors and a couple of friends are Eastern Orthodox Christians and yesterday was their Easter celebration. So, they always get a card from me just a bit later than my Western Christian friends. 

For this card I started with my background paper. It's from the Divinity Designs "Spring Flowers 2" collection.

I paired it with Stampin' Up rococo rose cardstock and rococo rose foil designer paper. My cross is cut from the designer paper and rococo rose cardstock.

Cut my Easter phrase in foil and to finish off the card.  I added some die cut sequins from the foil paper.

Here is another of the cards I created for this Holiday. 

And my last one for this year.

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

Paper: Rococo Rose, Blushing Bride,  Love You Always Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up), Spring Flowers 2 Pad (Divinity Designs), Chantilly Cream (MFT)

Paper Size: A2

Accessories: Cross w/Spring Lilies die, Easter Phrases die (CottageCutz), sequins die (MFT)

I am also entering: 

1.  Crafting From the Art challenge is anything goes.

2.  Crafts Galore Encore is anything goes.  

3.  Creative Crafting Uncles has a Spring/Easter challenge. 

4.  Moving Along with the Times has an anything Spring challenge.

5.   Paper Rocks Scissors has an anything goes using paper or scissors. 

Bunny Kisses

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today. It's Easter Monday and I am showing another of my Easter cards. I don't know how I get so behind posting these cards. I did the same with my Valentine cards (LOL). 

Anway hope your Easter celebration was a great one. Ours started off with church and then we had a lovely dinner with a friend. My meal turned out just as I wanted it too. And we sent some leftovers home with him and there was still plenty for dinner today and probably tomorrow. 

Now onto the details for this card. To create this one I used the colors from the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #1097. We were to use granny apple green, fresh freesia and balmy blue for the color trio. Optional was an anything goes theme. I chose to use a 4th color of petunia pop.

granny apple green, fresh freesia, balmy blue

I used the Easter Basket die from Stamps of Life. It's part of their "Fold-It" line. So, the die makes an Easter basket fun fold shape. The die also includes the egg shapes and decorations for them.

I cut the basket outline in pecan pie (allowed neutral). I used the two-tone cardstock from Stampin' Up. It gives a lighter shade of the same color. I cut the basket front with the lighter shade.

For the eggs, I used the challenge colors plus my 4th color of petunia pop.

My cute little peeking bunny is cut in pecan pie cardstock. I added the bunny kisses sentiment to complete my card. Both of these dies are from Cottage Cutz.

Well, that's it for me for this post. Stop by again tomorrow to see a couple more of my Easter cards. So until next time.....God bless. 

Card Details:

Paper: Fresh Freesia, Balmy Blue, Granny Apple Green, Petunia Pop, Pecan Pie, White (Stampin' Up)

Paper Size: A2

Accessories: Easter Basket Fold-It die (Stamps of Life), Double Trouble Bunny die, Bunny Kisses die (CottageCutz)

I am also entering:

1.  A Cut Above Challenge is anything goes with a die cut and a twist of using pastels. 

2.  Double Trouble Challenge is from Thing 3 - using Easter elements. 

3.  Crafty Animals is anything goes with an animal.  

Easter Tulips

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

It's Easter weekend. I just finished cleaning in anticipation of my company tomorrow. It's a breeze because I keep up after my house almost daily and Saturday is running the sweeper, kitchen and bathroom days. Although I keep up with the kitchen daily as well. 

It will be a smaller gathering tomorrow for dinner, but I am still looking forward to it. My hubby's brother & family are out of town for the holiday. His siter is not feeling well so she declined the invite. We invited a young man from church who has no family here in Pittsburgh, also another single man from church who just lost his mother. 

I am making my usual Easter menu. Ham, hash brown potato casserole, roasted green beans and a fruit tray. I almost nixed the ham this year, but I couldn't decide on another meat so I went with ham. 

Now onto my card for today. These cards I created for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #1098. We were to use gorgeous grape, daffodil delight, poppy parade and coastal cabana for the color trio. Optional was dies or punches. I chose the die option.

gorgeous grape, daffodil delight, poppy parade, coastal cabana

I looked through my paper pads and found this beautiful pattern from Divinity Designs "Spring Flowers 2" collection. It had the challenge colors and these beautiful tulip images.

The panel is a 6x9 size, so I was able to cut it in half and get 2 cards. For this card I used daffodil delight as my card base. Die cut my Easter phrase in gorgeous grape and scattered a few gorgeous grape enamel dots to finish off my card.

For this next card I used gorgeous grape as my card base. Die cut my Easter phrase in gorgeous grape and stamped the blessings word in gorgeous grape ink. I scattered a few gorgeous grape enamel dots to finish off my card.

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

Card Details:

Stamps: Alleluia Stamp set (Divinity Designs)

Paper: gorgeous grape, daffodil delight (Stampin' Up), spring flowers pad 2 (Divinity Designs)

Paper Size: 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"

Ink: gorgeous grape (Stampin' Up)

Accessories: Happy Easter Greeting die (CottageCutz), gorgeous grape enamel dots (Stampin' Up)

I am also entering:

1.  Alphabet Challenge is "Y" for yellow flowers.

2.  Creative Fingers is anything goes. 

3.  Cardz 4 Galz is Spring Flowers.

4.  C.R.A.F.T. Challenge is Seasons/Weather or ATG. I chose the Spring season. 

5.  Just us Girls has a Spring or Easter Card challenge using die cuts.