Thanksgiving Blessings

Happy Wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog.
Well, today didn't exactly go the way I planned it, but then some days are just like that.

I was supposed to have my first Photoshop Elements class tonight but the start of the class was postponed until next week.

The community college called me to let me know, fortunately. It will still run for the 10 weeks just end a week later than was originally planned.

I didn't go over to meet my grandsons school bus today. That was part of the plan along with the class. My son was able to make other arrangements. I was there on Monday so I didn't miss any time with them this week.

I ran some errands one of them being the grocery store. We were pretty low on basics. My husband is so wonderful and he doesn't complain. As long as he has food for his lunch and some snacks he is good.

Later this afternoon,  I checked out splitcoaststampers to see what the sketch challenge looked like for today. I really liked this layout and went to work on my card.

I knew I wanted to make another thanksgiving card so that determined the papers and the colors I would use.

My designer paper is from Stampin-Up's "autumn vine" collection. The pumpkin image is the cuttlebug pumpkin spice die & embossing folder. Such a great combo.

It was  discontinued but I found one online at this store. I called and ordered it and she shipped it out right away. So easy to do business with. If you are looking for this die check out the link provided.

I popped it up for a 3-d effect. My sentiment is from stampabilities and that completed my card. Another thanksgiving card to add to my collection. I usually send out around 8 or 9 so I am halfway there.

Have to start thinking about what I will be sending to my grandsons. They save all the cards I send them so I need a different card each year.

Time to put the wraps on this post and the day actually. God Bless, my blogger friends

card recipe:
stamps: thanksgiving blessings (stampabilities)

paper: su ww, more mustard, choc chip, autumn vine dsp
ink: memento rich cocoa
accessories: cb ef pumpkin spice, nesties

curtain call harvest card

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. This was such a perfect late summer day here in the 'Burgh. Lots of sunshine and warm weather.

I thought I was going to a phootshop elements class at our local community college tonight. But, when I called to find out where the room was located, they told me the class was canceled.

I wasn't a happy camper. I was looking forward to taking this 10 week course and really learning how to use photoshop elements. They claim they sent me a notification last week but I never received it.

They have another class that starts tomorrow at the North campus. It's in the area where my son lives. And, that is 45 minutes away from me.

I decided to take the class anyway. I will go and meet the boys school bus and help them with homework and get them to football practice and then head over for my class.

So I had some time to create and decided to check out the current challenges:

1.  The curtain call color challenge was having us use crumb cake, always artichoke, early espresso and white.
I thought the colors were definitely ones for fall so I made a thanksgiving card. 

My base layer is the artichoke and then I added some artichoke designer paper from the Stampin-Up "autumn traditions" collection.
I used a cuttlebug embossing folder on my white panels for texture.

My image is from Stampin-Up "autumn days" set. I don't have the espresso color yet so I used stazon timber brown.

My sentiment is a rub-on from Stampin-Up's "autumn harvest" collection. I decided to rub it on the next layer of artichoke designer paper. I added some kraft ribbon to complete the requirements of this challenge.


2.  The Paper Sundaes blog was challenging us to use at least 3 embellishments on our project. I used ribbon, a pearl, rub-ons for my sentiment,  and a border punch

3.  I have a new challenge that  I found. It's the Shabby Tea Room challenge. We were to be inspired by nature and/or make a green card. My card is done in always artichoke and I used a pheasant image on my card.

Well, my friends that's my card for today. It's late and blogger has been giving me such trouble tonight. I finished my post but it wasnt there when I went to view the blog. So I had to write it all again.
Time to sign off and hope the entire post is there.

mojo155 card

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

We had a great service at church today. Our worship team was so awesome. I just love the songs that we sang today.

Our pastor's message was so inspiring as well. I left feeling ready to tackle my week.
That is how I think we should feel when we leave church.

Our afternoon started with our neighborhood block party. There were about 24 people who came for a fun afternoon that went into evening. We ended the night with about 11 people sitting around the fire pit just talking and telling stories. It was such fun.
This is the 2nd picnic that we have had and already we are planning one for next summer.

I had to sneak out for about 1 1/2 hrs to go and watch Aidin play football. He was playing about 5 minutes from my home. Usually his games are at least 45 minutes away from me and we travel to them. He plays for his school team and they travel to other Christian schools in the area for Sunday afternoon football games.
They lost today 12-6 but I still enjoyed being there and watching him. My hubby didn't go because he was the grill man at the block picnic.

So onto my card. I made this one for 2 challenges:

1.  The Mojo Monday sketch blog had their weekly sketch and this one is actually a contest. I loved the sketch and the idea for my card came together quickly.
I knew I wanted to make a Thanksgiving card and also use the leaf die from spellbinders. I decided to cut a circle and just use the outer edge and place the leaf inside.

I stamped my sentiment on the leaf.

My thought on this one was to look back over the year as we typically due at Thanksgiving. So we are giving thanks for a year of blessing.

My designer paper is Stampin-Up  "autumn traditions" pack. I added some eggplant ribbon and little silver pearls for some bling on the leaves.

2.  This is also for the challenge on the Ooh La La creations blog. We were to use stripes on our card.

3.  The Paper Cutz challenge blog wanted us to use tags on our card. This was a new challenge for me but a fun one.

4.  Another new challenge that I just found is fab 'n' funky. They had a fun challenge this week called "what eva". That means you can make anything that you like. So I am entering my Thanksgiving card.

Well that's my card for today and the challenges I entered. Good night and God Bless!! 

card recipe:

stamps; verve year of blessing, 1 chron 16:34

paper: su elegant eggplant, mustard, vv, autumn traditions dsp

ink: always artichoke

accessories: circle nesties, spellbinders leaf die, eggplant ribbon, silver pearls

This is the sketch we were to use to create our card.

gratitude and thanksgivings

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. We had Ethan on an overnight for his birthday celebration on Friday.  He likes coming over without his brothers for some one on one time.

This is what hechooses as his birthday gift.  I pick him up after school which he also likes because he doesn't have to ride the bus home.

Then after dinner and he chooses the meal,  we go to our high school football game. He doesn't live in our community so for him to want to go to root for our team is a big deal. He chooses this also as part of his birthday gift.

Last year after the game he asked his parents for new sneakers in our school colors. How cute is he!! He did get them by the way and wore them proudly.

Our team lost the game last night 24-3. We were just outplayed and made several mistakes that cost us the game. Ethan didn't care. He was with his Gram & Pap and having fun.

I had to take him home early this morning because he had a football game himsefl at 11:00. Our time together went by so quickly and he asked about coming again (of course). We owe him another sleepover for something else so now we just have to work out the day.

I had time later today to check out the challenge blogs to see what was going on. I found several and went to work on my card:

1.  The Saturday inspiration challenge took us to the Cost Plus World Market site today. I immediately found my inspiration on the home page of this site. they were displaying  Lisbon dinnerware that reminded me of a new Stampin-Up Thanksgiving set. It's the "day of gratitude" set.

My paper doll friend, Joanne Travis, was kind enough to stamp some images and send them to me. She did this about a month ago and I finally had the opportunity to use them.
Thanks again Joanne!!

2.  The challenge from Speedy the cat's friends was to use fall colors on our card. My main color is pumpkin pie. That's a fall color in my book.

3.  This next challenge is a new one for me. It's from the Paper Play Challenges blog. The theme is "autumn is a comin" and we were to use a fall color scheme. My pumpkin pie color falls right in there again.

4.  This last one is also another new challenge for me. It's from the Anything Goes blog and they also have an autumn theme this week as well. My card was made as one of my Thanksgiving cards so I am good with this challenge as well.

Some details on my card. My background was made with the cuttlebug embossing folder "autumn type". I love the words in this folder. It just reminds you we are blessed and to be thankful.

My image was cut out and then popped up on 3-d dots to give it some dimension. The sentiment is part of the images that Joanne sent to me.

I added some pumpkin pie rick-rack and a large button and that completed my card.

It's time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day my friends. We have church in the morning and then a neighborhood block picnic in the afternoon. Good night and God bless!!

my concord crush butterfly

Happy Thursday and welcome to the charmed life blog. Today was kind of a laid back day for me.

Nothing really on the agenda (for once). It's been run-run-run all summer so I was really looking forward to today.

Had a few quick errands toget done and laundry to do but I was free to live my charmed life today (lol)!!

Of course when the schedule is light, crafting is there to keep me occupied. Here are my challenges for today:

1.  The Tuesday color challenge on splitcoaststampers used the new Stampin-Up in-colors.

I really liked using these colors together.

2.  The Sweet Sunday Sketch blog had another great sketch this week so my card layout was covered as well.


So what I had to cover was my designer paper-the image and the sentiment. I wanted to use my spellbinders butterfly die and then I remembered that I had a sentiment with some words about a butterfly. So my part was covered now as well.

My card base is pear pizzazz, then peach parfait and then the greenhouse gala designer from Stampin-Up. I really like this paper-such pretty prints and colors.
I worked in the concord crush color on the butterfly and the scallop border on the sentiment panel.

I added some white lace and silver pearls and that completed my card.

Until next time.............

card recipe:
stamps: time enough (stamp camp)

paper: su pear pizzazz, peach parfait, concord crush, greenhouse gala dsp
ink: pumpkin pie
accessories: lace,spellbinders butterfly die, su border punch, recollections pearls

pals paper artist winner

Happy Wednesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. This is a quick post to announce an award I was just given by the Pals Paper Artist blog.

I entered this card into their contest last week. We were to use pearls on our card. I was so excited to receive an email announcing that I had been chosen as one of the  3 winners.

Now I can sport this badge on my blog. Whoo-Hoo I am so excited!!

Thank you girls for picking my card.

great pumpkin

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend or if you are across the pond I hope you enjoyed the week-end.

We spent time on Sunday with family. On Monday we had some friends over here for a cook-out to celebrate the last holiday of summer.

Today, I had some errands to run and had the chance to spend several hours at Whole Foods and then Trader Joe's. I really like both of these stores and picked up some great cheeses and olive oil and lots of other stuff to numerous to mention.

After my shopping, I headed over to meet my grandsons school bus. We had a few hours together then I dropped them off at football practice and headed home.

It's now the end of the day and almost the night so I wanted to post my latest card here on my blog.

But, before I do that let me mention that if you currently use one of the free Leelou blogs templates for your blog design you need to check her announcement on her blog.
She is changing servers and all the blog templates need to be re-loaded by Friday. You could lose your design if you don't.

Now onto my card for today. I made this one for 2 challenges:

1.  The Saturday inspiration challenge on splitcoaststampers had us visiting the site of "Elizabeth Embellishments.  This is such a great site with lots of inspiration for rubber stampers!!

I chose the "great pumpkin" as my card inspiration. I had this embossed pumpkin die-cut from "we r memory keepers" so the pumpkin part was easy.

2.  I needed a card layout and that's where the 2nd challenge came in. The Waltzingmouse sketch challenge blog had a great one this week. I knew it would work so well with my pumpkin.

My designer paper is from Stampin-Up's  "sweet pea collection".


I added some rick rack and stamped just the words "give thanks" from a verve set called 1 Chron 16:34.

That completed my card and also this post. It's time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. God Bless!!

an aviary hello

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. What a drastic change in weather we had overnight.
 It was only 62 degrees here today and that was a 25 degree difference from the day before.

Last night we shut off the air conditioning and opened the windows because the temperature dropped. It was perfect sleeping weather.

Then sometime during the night the wind started blowing and we had to pull the comforter up. Not quite ready for that drastic of a change in temps yet.

Football season has started and two of our grandsons are playing this year.
Ethan (our youngest grandson) is playing in a midget football league. I think that's what it's called. He is only 9 years old.

They lost 6-0. It was sweatshirt and jeans weather for sure. Even then when the sun hid behind a cloud it was very cool. But, it was time spent with the family so that's always good.

Now onto the details of my card. This one was made for 3 challenges:

1.  The Friday "free for all challenge" on splitcoastampers had a "birds of a feather"challeng. we were to use a bird or birdcage on your card. The twist was to use a color that is out of your comfort zone.

2. That's where my 2nd challenge comes in. The Tuesday color challenge also on splitcoasstampers was more mustard, melon mambo (raspberry) and baja breeze (blue).

I like these colors but I had the toughest time trying to put them together until today. I was trying to get designer paper to work in these shades and it wasn't happening for me.
But, when I stamped the bird cage and stand in the required colors bingo!! It worked great.

3.  The 3rd challenge was also from splitcoasstampers. It was the Thursday "ways to use it".

Our hostess, Julia, challenged us to make a card with only one layer of cardstock. We could add embellishments etc.

I used a new cuttlebug embossing folder "scrollwork" to frame my image. Then I stamped the birdcage and stand using the "aviary" set from Stampin-Up. Here is where I was able to use the colors from the color challenge.

I cut out the bird cage to give it some dimension and popped it up on 3-d glue dots.
I added a piece of melon mambo ribbon and a baja breeze button to complete the card. I placed it in the middle of the stand to make it look like a table.

That's it for this card and for this post. It's late and we have church in the morning. God Bless!!
 
card recipe:
stamps: aviary, cheep talk

paper: su whisper white
ink: odbd raspberry
accessories: melon mambo ribbon, baja breeze corduroy button, cb scrollwork ef

 

wishing you.......

Well, I did make a 2nd card today and I wanted to get it posted to the Waltzingmouse sketch blog because the deadline is tonight.

In just a few minutes to be exact (lol)!! Nothing like getting in under the wire.


I am not happy with this photo but I couldn't seem to get a good one. I am going to look into photo lights tomorrow at the camera store.

I spend time creating a card and then the colors don't come out right. It's so frustrating.

Anyway, I made this card for the sketch on the Waltzingmouse blog.

I really liked the layout that Claire provided for this week. And, I just received my new Waltzingmouse stamps in the mail. They are designed to work in the Labels 4 nestabilities dies. I really am pleased with this purchase. It's the vintage labels 4 collection.

If you are looking for stamps that work with your nestabilities check out Waltzingmouse. She has lots of them.

The arrival of the stamps was perfect, I had the perfect paper and layout, but the camera didn't co-operate. Oh well, somedays you win somedays you lose.
Here are my card details. I used designer paper from Stampin-Up's razzleberry lemonade collection. It coordinates with melon mambo paper. I used melon mambo ribbon and added a pearl button on my bow.

It's the ribbon that didn't photo in the right shade. It looks like it doesn't match with the ink I used.

My sentiment is from the Verve set "framed wishes". That's my card for this challenge.

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

live well love much laugh often

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Well life is starting to settle down once again in my household. My grandsons are back in school and that frees up some days for me.

I will go over one day a week and meet the school bus. But, it wont be an all day thing. Just a few hours late afternoon.

Today was another beautiful sunny day with high heat and humidity. I stayed indoors and got caught up on household stuff that was put off all summer. Filing bills-recording entries in Quicken -it took most of the day but it's finished and I am happy. 

Itt 's now late afternoon and I was so ready to create so I made a card that covered 5 different challenges. 

1.  Tuesday's sketch challenge from Mercy Kerin provided my card layout. I really liked the layout and made it a long card 3 3/4" x 8". Just something a little different.



2.  The color throwdown this week determined my card colors. We were to use choc chip, kraft and so saffron. I thought this was a great color combo.


3.  The Saturday challenge from Our Daily Bread Designs is to add some texture to your card. I did that by using a  brocade Cuttlebug embossing folder on my kraft panel.

4.  The Pals Paper Arts blog issued a challenge to use pearls on your creation. I added a pearl button in the center of my flower and 3 pearls as accents down on the bottom right.

5.  I found a new challenge today on the stampin royalty blog. Well it's new to me. The challenge there was also to use pearls on your card. So my card fit right in with the pearls I added.

My flower is from a new Verve set "great friend". I stamped it on so saffron, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals. The so saffron designer on my long rectangle panel is some old Stampin-Up.  I added a punched scalloped border in so saffron and some taffeta  kraft ribbon and that completed this card.

It's time to close this blog post so I can go and create another card.

card recipe:
stamps: Verve "great friend"

paper: su choc chip, so saffron, kraft, vv
ink: choc chip
accessories: cb ef kassies brocade, kraft ribbon, su border punch, pearls