Lifetime of Happiness

Happy Wednesday everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life blog. I am away for a few days at a women's conference in Lancaster, PA. So I love the scheduling feature of blogger. It allows you to plan for posts days in advance.

This card I made for the fan club challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Lydia was the hostess and she wanted us to do an all white card. That in itself was a big challenge for me. I have never made an all white card before.

But, I took on the challenge face to face and I was the victor. Oh yes.

For my card, I used several Cheery Lynn dies. The oval, the butterfly and a scallop border die- this one is just barely visible.

I stamped my sentiment using the Verve set - Wishing You. I added a white satin bow with a satin flower and pearl trim to complete my card.

I have an upcoming wedding so this one will work perfectly. That's it for me today. More about the conference in a later post. So until next time.......God bless.

Christmas Sleigh Ride

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life blog. Two beautiful days of sunshine and low humidity here in Pittsburgh. Just lovin' our summertime weather this year - intense heat and all!!

On Monday, we sat in the sunshine and watch our middle grandson in a regional pony league tournament. It was a step to the Pony League world series being held this coming week-end in Washington, Pa. Teams from all over the world will be here participating.

They lost 10-8. He was disappointed as well as we were. We were so impressed that his team made it as far as they did. He along with his teammates are some good baseball players.  So proud of  you Aidin!!

Onto my card for today. This one I made for two of the fan club challenges on Splitcoaststampers. Barbara (aka Bar) & Mona Pendelton were the challenge hostesses.
More info here.

My neighbor sent me a card with this beautiful vintage scene on it last year so I cut out the image for future use. Well, today was the day for upcycling.

My card base is marina mist. The next layer is bashful blue-I used a corner rounder on this layer and added a vintage die cut corner.

I used some May Arts white mesh and marina mist grosgrain ribbon to layer. I also used the same ribbon for my bow with a snowflake button center.

That's my card. So until next time.....God Bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Craft Your Passion has an anything goes challenge.
2.  Stamps & Fun = Creativity has a Christmas in August challenge.
3.  The Ribbon Girl has a bingo challenge. I chose -button- bow-flower. The flowers are part of my image and alos on my die cut corners.
4.  Craftyhazelnut's Christmas blog wants us to use our favorite colors. I love blue    and white cards for Christmas.

Friendship Grows

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I am so happy to be playing along with Great Impressions Challenge as a designer this month. I have participated in the previous challenges but as a submitter.

This month I will be part of the team  visiting your blogs to take a closer look at what you have submitted for the "animal challenge".
So if you're just visiting my blog -check out the challenge from Great Impressions. There is a prize to be won.

For my card , I used this super cute mice stamp- "friendship grows G184".  I colored the mice with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I decided to paper piece their little outfits. I cut the image with a Spellbinders circle die and layer that onto a Burgundy scallop die. Added some punched butterflies -using a Martha Stewart punch.

The background designer paper is from Stampin-Up's - "Paisley Petals collection". I layered the paper over some bravo burgundy cardstock. The paper has shades of tangerine in it so I decided to use some other paper from the collection with this color.

My top smallest rectangle layer is a 1/2" piece of burgundy cardstock that I used a cuttlebug "just my type" embossing folder on for a little texture.

I am still participating in the fan club challenges on Splitcoaststampers so this card is for the challenge that Jessie Rone &Sweet Miss Daisy are hosting.

Well that's my card for today. So until next time ......God bless.

If Friends Were Flowers

More from me today.  Something I don't usually do but I wanted to show another of the cards I did for the fan club challenges.

Late afternoon we went to watch one of our grandsons play in his baseball tournament. He is in Pony league and they are on regional playoffs right now. If they win a couple of more games they will advance to the world series.

But, today the game was rained out after 2 innings. We left to drive home in a heavy downpour. After we arrived home safely, the local TV station announced there was flash flooding on one of the roads we take to get back home. We passed the intersection where the flooding occured not 20 minutes before we heard the report.

There was flooding on this same road and intersection 2 weeks ago. We haven't heard how bad it got today because the Olympics have been on all evening.

So for my card today. This one I made for the color challenge #386. Peggy was the hostess and she chose 3 great colors for us this week - primrose petals, summer starfruit, and baja breeze.

I used some of the new Stampin-Up designer paper - the "patio party" collection.
It has all 3 of the colors that Peggy chose. My baja breeze paper is from the ski slope collection.

I added some ribbon tabs and a punched flower with one of the new in-color dahlia buttons.

I also used the fancy fan embossing folder for my vertical strip. My tilted sentiment panel is using Verve's "great friend" set. I stamped it in baja breeze and added some leaves from the same set.

This is also for Angela's (aka jellybean74) & Teresa's (VA.sunshine)  fan club challenge.

You have to be a member at Splitcoaststampers and a member of the fan club to enter these particular challenges. Click here to get more info.

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

Some other challenges:
1.  Avadares Challenge blog has an anything goes for August.
2.  Simply Create also has an anything goes.

Reach For Your Dreams

Happy Friday everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life blog. Today is a special day for me. I am joining the Great Impressions Stamps design team. And, today was the first day that I posted on that blog. See post here.

I used the Great Impressions Ladybug & Daisy image for my card. I colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol, copic & spectrum noir markers.

She looked like she has a goal in mind and is reaching for the top. So I used the "reach for your dreams" sentiment.

I used some Stampin-Up designer paper in black & daffodil delight. The red background is the cuttlebug embossing folder "birds and swirls". I added a ladybug button from my stash to complete my card.

My layout is from another of the Fan club challenges on Splitcoaststampers.  Susan aka rainy was our hostess for this one.

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

Some other challenges:
1.  Crafty Ribbons Challenge wants us to use spots & dots.
2.  DYSU has a polka dots challenge.
3.  Paper Play blog has a layer it up challenge.

Brayered Birthday Scene

Happy Tuesday everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. Today, I took my bff out for her birthday and treated her & I to a spa pedicure.

It was such a great time together and I loved all the pampering with my feet. They exfoliated, applied a mask, massaged, took card of the cuticle-used hot towels-several layers of cream-our chair was a massaging chair. It was so wonderful and my feet look great.
I just wish I had a special place to go with hubby and wear some heels and a fancy dress.
We have a wedding next month so I plan on going back for more of the same treatment.

I wanted to take her to some place special for lunch. After talking we decided to go to a Chick-Fil-A restaurant and support them for their stand on marriage. Their was a nationwide call by many Christian leaders to go there today. So we felt that would be a good end to our day together.

When we arrived at Chick-Fil-A the line was out the door. The drive-thru was to the street and there were so many people waiting inside for orders. It was heartwarming to see so many people that believe in the same definition of marriage.

There are so many pictures on FaceBook of this scene being repeated across the country. Love it!!

Well onto my card today. This one is another I made for the Fan Club challenges on Splitcoaststampers.  It's a paid subscription, but I think its worth the $24.95 price. Check it out here.

For my card I pulled out my brayer to make a background scene. I used bashful blue, turquoise and not quite navy inks for the sky.

I used a torn post-it-not and sponged in my mountains. In front of the mountains, I sponged old olive and some basic black.

My tree images are from Stampin-Up's Plant Hope set and the birthday sentiment is from Marks Finest Papers -North American Woods set.

I used a deer die from PaperTrey Ink and a tag die from Sizzix to complete my card.



My layout is from this weeks sweet sunday sketch challenge.

Well, it's another late night so time to close this post. Until next time.......God bless

Some other challenges:
1.  Crazy Amigo has a dies/punches challenge.
2.  Die Cuttin' Divas has an anything goes challenge.
3.  Party Time Tuesdays has an anything goes.
4.  Alphabet Challenge Blog has a for men only challenge.

On Safari

Happy Tuesday everyone and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. We have been watching the Olympics like so many households I suppose .

The USA has won 23 medals so far. At least that was the total when I was typing this post. The swimming & gymnastics are so exciting.

Loved it when Missy Franklin -the 17 year old won the gold on Monday night.

So onto my card for today. I made this card for some challenges they are having on Splitcoaststampers. They have a fan club on the site-it's a paid subscription but I think it's worth the fee. Check it out here.

Anyway, once a year they have these challenges with prizes. This is the first year I took part and I am so glad to be playing along. There are going to be about 35 challenges in all. I don't know how many I will be able to finish. I have only done 5 so far and the deadline is Sunday.

This is my card for Kim Teasdale's challenge.

For my card I used images from the Marks Finest Papers set- be wild & free.

I used the "giraffe skin" image and stamped it in soft suede on so saffron cardstock. That is the background frame.

The giraffe image was stamped and then I did some fussy cutting and placed it on my Spellbinder oval.

Stamped the sentiment on a pennant die and cut some smaller pennants all in riding hood red to complete my card.

It's time to dim the lights in Charmed Life land for another day. So until next time.......God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  The Stamping Boutique has an anything goes challenge.
2.  Twisted Tuesday Challenges has an anything goes.
3.  Crazy Amigo has a dies/punches challenges. I used dies for the ovals & pennants.

Triple Blossom Birthday

Happy Monday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I had a busy day today but now that it is the end of the day I am not sure what I did besides card making (lol).
I did make a delicious dinner. I experimented with some of our garden tomatoes, basil and oregano. Added onion and olive oil and made a pasta sauce. Then to that I added some Kraft cooking creme in savory garlic. tossed it with some whole grain pasta and wha-la dinner was ready.

My hubby really enjoyed it as did I. I like it when my experiments turn out a nice meal.

I have so much basil so I am looking for ways to use it besides making pesto. I made some pesto last week and made a pizza- that was really good as well.

Well lets get onto my card for today. This one I made for the technique challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I don't often do techniques but I am so glad I did this one.  It is called triple stamping. You can get more info here and a video here.

In a nutshell, cut 3 layers of cardstock that are graduated sizes. Line them up, the smallest on top in the middle and work down. Choose a stamp that will cover over all three layers or use several stamps. Stamp over all the layers and then adhere the matting to the layers and adhere the layers together.

I used a  cherry blossom image  from the Marks Finest Papers set - asian delights.

I stamped in melon mambo and used an old olive marker to get some green leaves.

My happy birthday sentiment is from the North American Woods set - also from Marks Finest Papers.

To complete my card I added some trim and a bow. This is really a great technique that produces a beautiful card.  Give it a try.

It's time to dim the lights in Charmed Life land for another day. So until next time......God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Whoopsie Daisy challenge has a lots of layers challenge.
2.  Fashionable Stamping Challenge has an anything goes challenge.
3.  Crafts 4 Eternity has a brillant birthday challenge.

Chili Peppers

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. It is such a beautiful day here in Pittsburgh- sunny and warm and low humidity. I love it.

One of those days you could sit out and enjoy dinner on the deck. But, my hubby isn't home so I am inside watching the Olympics and posting to my blog. Oh well!!

My card today is one that I made for 2 challenges over on Splitcoaststampers. The first one is the Queen For A day challenge. This week the honors went to Bev Gerard aka texasgrammy. She has a beautiful gallery filled with gorgeous cards.

I chose her garden hop card to recreate ala Mary Marsh style. I kept the same layout & Spellbinder dies as Bev used but changed the card colors and designer paper.

Instead of a floral image I used hot peppers. Being a Texas girl, Bev knows all about these hot & spicy peppers (lol)!!

My image is from a new set by Marks Finest Papers - hot & spicy. The sentiment on the inside of my card reads " you make a hot & spicy couple".

I thought I would send this as an anniversary card to my sister who lives in Houston. She will love it!!

I am also entering this into the the July Fan Club word play challenge.

H - hot peppers
E - early espresso cs and embossed die-cuts
A - art pencils
T - trim -ribbon

Well that's my card for today. So until next time ........... God bless.

Some other challenges:
1.  Secret Crafter has a bright and cheerful challenge.
2.  Dutch Dare Card Challenges has a color challenge. I used brown, red, green and white.
3.  Inky Impressions has a dies/punches challenge. I used dies.
4.  Simon Says Stamp has an anything goes challenge.

Happy Birthday

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. We have had some crazy thunder storms here the past few days. But the upside is everything is lush and green again. Our flower gardens really perked up after 2 days of rain.

Today, I decided to go with a friend to the Outlet Mall about 20 miles from my home. We only made it through 5 stores before it was time for us to head back. We got stuck in the Carter's store. I found quite a few outfits to send to my sweet Phoenix Daisy.

When I called my daughter-in-law to confirm the size she said Phoenix was walking around the house with my picture and kissing it. They were just here for a visit and I know I miss her. She is only 18 months old so I don't know how infants deals with a separation?

Well onto my card. This is my card for Thursday's  ways to use it challenge #385. Hannah was our hostess and she offered us a musical challenge.

It could be that your card is inspired by a song or perhaps has a musical element on it. My card has both.

The layout is this weeks MojoMonday sketch #251.

I used some musical background paper from Creative Imaginations for my panels. The doily is a die cut from My Favorite Things. I did some layering of circles with Spellbinders dies and then stamped my sentiment.

The sentiment is from a new set from Marks Finest Papers - Asian Delights.

I added a rhinestone flourish and several rhinestones on the sentiment circle to complete my card.

Well its late my eyes are heavy with sleep so its time to dim the lights in charmed life land for another day. So until next time.......God bless.