~Get Well Soon~

 

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Well today was my weigh-in day for the weight loss challenge at my gym.

 

I didn't get weighed last Saturday because I was in San Francisco. I have lost another 3 lbs. So far I have a 9% weight loss.

 

The challenge runs until the end of March and the top loser gets a years worth of time with one of the personal trainers. Everyone has the same chance because its based on percentage. I really want to win this because the prize is huge. And, workouts with a trainer really bring your body into shape faster.

 

Anyway, I will keep the updates coming. Now lets move onto my card for today. I needed a get well card for a friend who just had a hip replacement. I used the layout from the Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge #478. Cathy was the hostess and she provided a great layout to work into a card.

 

I found this designer paper in my stash from My Mind's Eye -it's their "bohemian" collection. I didn't want to cover up this beautiful paper so, I substituted butterflies for the circles in the sketch. The larger one is cut with a Spellbinders die and my smaller one is a Martha Stewart punch - then added some rhinestones. The smaller one I punched from the designer paper as well as the rich razzleberry cardstock.

My paper bow is made from the MFT blueprints 3 dies. It will be flat for mailing now.

 The "get well" sentiment is from Verve. It was a thank you for an order I placed.

 

Well, it's getting late and time to dim the lights in Charmed Life Land for another day. We move the clocks ahead tonight for daylights saving time. That means losing an hours sleep but when its light until 7:00 tomorrow night it will be good. Spring is coming!!!

 

So until next time.........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Crafts and Me has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Sister Act Card Challenge has an anything goes. 

3.  Crafty Girls Challenge is anything goes.

4.  Crafting By Designs has an anything goes.  

5.  Creative Card Crew has a get well challenge.





~birthday wishes~

 

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. I am back home from San Francisco and my sweet little granddaughter sent me home with her cold. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and time with her.

 

I am also still in the weight loss challenge at my gym and there is another weigh-in this coming Saturday. I tried to watch and stick to my eating plan while I was away as well. the scales don't lie so I will see what happens on Saturday.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #468. Karen was our hostess and she chose some bright bold colors with raspberry ripple, old olive and island indigo. She also wanted us to use pearls on our cards.

My background designer paper is from the Stampin-Up "gingham garden" collection. I used the Cuttlebug "floral fantasy" embossing folder on my 2 raspberry ripple panels.

The flower image is from the Stampin-Up set "flower shop" and cut with the coordinating pansy punch. I don't know if any of you have this set and punch, but I can tell you that it's not the best product that Stampin-Up has put out. The punch doesn't line up with the stamped image.

 

I had to search on google to find out what other stampers are doing to get it to work. I found 3 different sites and all had different ideas. None of them worked for me very well without moving the punch around and around and around to get it to work.

 

One demonstrator has you look for the slightly different edge on the petal of  the stamps and then look for the different edge on the punch. That's a bunch of nonsense for a stamp set. But, I am going to have to do that in order to get this to work properly.

 

I find it interesting that Stampin-Up is not offering a solution to the problem. I checked their website but couldn't find anything. What's up with that? 

 

Stamped 2 flowers in island indigo ink and used dimensionals between the layers. I stamped a 3rd flower in raspberry ripple and then fussy cut the center. The leaves are cut with the die from the Stampin-Up "secret garden" framelits.

I used a Cherry Lynn Designs butterfly die and cut from the Stampin-Up "birthday basics" designer paper. Added my pearls for dessert.

 

For my card layout, I used this week's MojoMonday #335 sketch.  Well, it's late and time to dim the lights in Charmed Life Land for another day. So until next time.......God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Seize the Birthday has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Little Red Wagon has a punch it up challenge.

3.  Loves Rubber Stamps has an anything goes.

4. Crafting From the Heart has an anything goes challenge.

~with sympathy~

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. I am out in San Francisco taking care of my sweet 3yr old granddaughter for a few days.

My son and daughter-in-law went to a wedding in Lake Tahoe and then tacked a few days on the front and back end for a little r & r. Phoenix Daisy misses them but tonight there were no issues at bedtime which was good.

She cried the 2 prior nights but I quickly diverted her attention by talking about all the fun things we would do the next day. That got her mind off her parents and I was able to read a story to her as she drifted off to sleep. She gets up early usually at 7:00 and there is no napping for her so it's go-go-go all day.

I am exhausted by the time she gets to bed. I had cards to post to my blog all week but, I was just too tired to do a write-up. Tonight, I don't feel quite as tired so I quickly ate some dinner and decided to post before anything else.

My hubby is back home this trip and he said we are supposed to get a snow storm of 8-12" and maybe ice as well. That could cause havoc with my planned return on Monday. I will have to wait and see what happens. I may be staying a few days longer than expected.

Now onto my card for this post. This one I created for the inspiration challenge #425 on Splitcoaststampers.

Audrie took us to the Integrity Graphics site for inspiration. I just loved the journals on this site and am going to order a couple of them. 

I chose this journal as my inspiration. I knew I had some designer paper that had the gradient look of this journal. I am using Stampin-Up's "venetian romance" collection. This piece is a crisp cantaloupe color.

I needed a sympathy card so that's the route I took with my card. My stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs "never give up" set. I stamped the cross and flourish directly on my designer paper. I then stamped the cross again on baked brown sugar card stock and cut out with the matching die.
On my background brown sugar layer, I used the Stampin-Up "tulip" embossing folder. The sentiment is from the PTI set "round and round" and I stamped on a Spellbinders pennant flag. 

Well, it's time to dim the lights in Charmed Life Land for another day. Tomorrow will be another exhausting but fun-filled day for both Phoenix Daisy and I.

Card Recipe: Stamps: Never Give Up (ODBD), Round and Round (PTI) Paper: crisp cantaloupe, baked brown sugar, venetian romance dsp (Stampin-Up) Ink: baked brown sugar Accessories: grunge cross die (ODBD), Spellbinders mattings basics A & B, pennant flags, SU tulip ef,

I am also entering:
1.  Bloggers Challenge is for a sympathy card. 
2.  Card Makin' Mama's has a stack it up with 3 or more layers challenge. 
3.  Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge is to use texture.
4.  Sister Act Card Challenge is anything goes.  

~happy spring~

 

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Somewhat of a busy weekend. We had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at our church Friday night. We had a great turnout and some delicious spaghetti and meatballs as well.

 

The Olive Garden donated spaghetti, salad and breadsticks. A church member works for a food distributor and they donated sauce and meatballs. We doctored up the sauce and it was so good. We also had some fabulous desserts that church members brought. In fact, we had so many desserts that we will serve some at the coffee bar on Sunday.

 

I worked in the kitchen and prepared the salads and also cut and plated desserts. We had a good working team in the kitchen. It was an enjoyable night.

 

Now for me since I am in my weight loss challenge, I didn't eat any pasta. But, I brought some chicken from home and had a big plate of salad. It was tough not eating any pasta or dessert. I had my weigh-in on Saturday and lost another 1/2 lb. I have had a 7% weight loss so far shedding 11lbs.

 

Today was a baby shower for one of my nieces. She got so emotional when she saw the card that I made for her. She told me afterwards how it touched her and how beautiful it is. It mad e me feel good. Here is a link to the card.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for this week's color challenge #466 on Splitcoaststampers. Becky was our hostess and she the color palette of wild wasabi, strawberry slush and daffodil delight.

 

I decided to go with a spring card and when I was making this card we were in the middle of another snowstorm that dropped about 4” of snow.

My image is the Great Impressions Stamp “welcome spring”. I paper pieced the eggs and tulips. Added some grass that was cut with an MFT die and some clouds from an A-muse stamp and fussy cut those. Mounted this all on a Spellbinders circle die and used 3-d pop dots to lift it up a bit.

My background designer paper is from Stampin-Up’s “attic boutique” collection. The strawberry slush dsp is from Stampin-Up’s “quatrefancy specialty” collection. Used the  Stampin-Up "fancy fan" embossing folder on my strawberry panel and cut my flag with an MFT die with more of the “attic boutique” dsp.

The butterfly is a Cheery Lynn Designs die. I added a pearl to the center and a pop dot to 3-d it.

 

My pennant trim border is a Verve die and . The cotton lace is from May Arts.

The layout is an old MojoMonday sketch #250.

 

That’s my card for today. Time to close this post because we are on our way to our youngest grandson's basketball game. It's his last one of the year so we want to be there. So until next time.........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Amusing Challenge has an anything goes.

2.  Cheery Lynn Designs has a flowers challenge. I used the CLD butterfly die.

3.  Great Impressions Stamps has a floral images challenge.

4.  Quirky Crafts wants us to pile it high, layer it up and 3-d it.

5.  Feeling Crafty has a die or punch challenge.


~candy heart love~

 

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. I am pushing through with the weight loss challenge I am involved in at my gym. My next weigh-in is Saturday.

I have been roasting vegetables nearly every night. They are so delicious made this way. It really brings out the flavor. Tonight I made some kale chips to have along with the garlic roast chicken I made. They were crispy and delicious and so easy to make. I will definitely try this again. Especially since I have some leftover.

The garlic roast chicken with rosemary and lemon is a Rachael Ray recipe I found on the Food Network. It was really flavorful and the roasted garlic sweet. Here is a link if you are interested in the recipe.

Now, onto my card for today. This was the last of the valentine cards I made. A friend of mine asked me to make one for her to give to her hubby. I don't usually put ribbon on a guy card but on this one it seemed to fit. And, my friend loved it.

I decided to go with this one in non-traditional colors. My card colors are pear pizzazz and wisteria wonder. I used designer paper from Stampin-Up's "afternoon picnic" collection.

My candy hearts jar is a stamp from Great Impressions Stamps. I used a blender pen and ink pads to color the hearts.

Die cut the love word in wisteria wonder from an Impression Obession die. Added my ribbon and a few hearts to complete my card.

My layout is the Wednesday sketch #475 from Splitcoaststampers. Well that's it for me for this post. Time to dim the lights in Charmed Life land for another day. So until next time.........God bless.

I am also entering:
1.  Crafty Ribbons has an anything goes challenge.
2.  Paper Crafting Journey has a love is in the air challenge.
3.  Addicted to Stamps and more has a holidays challenge. Mine is Valentine's day.
4.  Penny's Paper-Crafty has a lots of layers challenge.
5.  Sisterhood of Crafters has a "love is in the air" challenge.  

~Strong Anchor 2~

 

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Woke up this morning to another snow fall. I guess we have about 3" on the ground. But, some good news for the end of the week. We are going to have temps near 50°. It will seem like summer (lol)!! I am so looking forward to it. Seems like my furnace has been running non-stop and my skin feels so dry.

 

We had a stay-at-home Valentine's Day. Since I am in the weight loss challenge at my gym, I didn't want to go out to a restaurant. So, we had dinner at home. And speaking of weight loss, I lost another 1 1/2 lbs. this week for a 1% loss. I was in 2nd place in this competition. Will see if that changed this week.

 

My hubby went to the store that is selling my cards and purchased one of my cards to give me. I thought that was so sweet of him. This is the one he purchased. He also gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #465. I was the hostess and picked 5 colors and gave the option to just pick 3 of them to work with or use all 5. Another option was to make a nautical card.

 

 My card is using designer paper from Stampin-Up’s “high tides” collection. Love this paper and it has all the colors I chose this week.

My stamps are from the Verve set "strong anchor". I stamped the center image and then used a smaller Spellbinder circle die to cut the center. Stamped the sentiment on white cardstock and adhered to the pacific point panel.

The anchor is a Verve die that is a companion to this set. The stars and pennant flags are other Verve dies. The stars are cut in summer starfruit and the anchor and pennants in smoky slate.

I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder "clock works" on my center panel.

My card layout is using the week 2 sketch from the January Viva la Verve challenge. My friend asked for a anniversary card for her hubby so I gave her this one.

 

Well, time to get started with my day. So until next time.........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  A Creative Romance has a "let's get sentimental" challenge.

2.  Brown Sugar wants us to use a die or punch. I used several dies.

3.  Savvy Handmade Cards has a love challenge. I love my dies-used 5 on this card.

4.  Sister Act has an anything goes challenge.

5.  Cardz 4 Guyz has a truly, deeply, madly challenge.

6.  Through The Craft Room Door has an anything goes challenge. 

~Primrose Love~

Happy Thursday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Just sitting here watching the Olympics and the Americans have just swept the slopestyle skiing event. 

We have the gold, silver and bronze medals in this event. This is only the 3rd time that we have swept an event in the winter Olympics.  It was amazing watching all the skiers in this event. They are so amazing with the flips they do.

 

Now onto my card for today.  This one I made for the color challenge #464. Sallie was our hostess and she chose a challenging combination of basic gray, pumpkin pie and primrose petals.  She also wanted us to create an interesting background.

 

My background is done with the wax paper resist technique. I used the Cuttlebug folder “kassie’s brocade” and embossed the wax paper. Then I placed it over my cardstock and used my iron to transfer the embossing. Sponging was done with primrose petals and pumpkin pie ink. Not sure why the pumpkin looks like yellow??

I used the Memory Box die “Chloe Stems” and cut my 3 flowers. Added some Primrose petals ribbon and a primrose dahlia center.

The love word was cut with an Impression Obsession die “love heart” and added it to a pennant cut with a Spellbinders die. It is a simple card but I like how it turned out.

 

Well, it's late and time to dim the lights in Charmed life Land for another day. So until next time ............God bless.

 

I  Crafters Café has a must have hearts challenge.

2.  Crafting By Designs has an anything for love challenge.   

3.  Creative Moments has an anything goes/love challenge.





Crazy 4 U

 

Happy Sunday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. It's another snowy day here in Pittsburgh. there was no snow on the way to church at 10:00 am but when we were leaving at 11:30 the roads were snow covered.

 

Since it's Sunday I suppose a lot of communities don't send out the plows and salt trucks right away. I drive through 2 communities with snow covered and slick road conditions before I get back to where I live.

 

Our borough is great about cleaning roads and sending out the salt trucks. The roads were good once I got back here. Now I am in for the day and watching the Olympics as I type up this post.

 

Yesterday was my first weigh-in for the weight loss challenge that I am a part of at my gym. I was excited because I lost 9 lbs. The grand prize in this competition is a year of working with a personal trainer. I want that prize. So we will see where I am in 2 months.

 

Now onto my card for today. I needed a valentine card for  my grandson Ethan. He is 13 so I knew he wouldn't want anything too babyish or girlie.  I wanted it to be a bit more masculine. So I decided to go with non-traditional colors to create my card.

 

I played along with the Inspiration Challenge #427 on Splitcoaststampers. Audrie is our hostess and she sent us to the Bed, Bath and Beyond site to find our card inspiration. I chose this zigzag shower curtain in gray and turquoise.

 

My layout is this week's MojoMonday 331 sketch.

 

That determined my card colors which I think are more on the masculine side. I had just the right designer paper from Stampin-Up in my stash. It's from the "I Am Me" collection.

I deviated just a tad from the shower curtain colors by adding one red heart and the ticket sentiment. The ticket is from some old BoBunny paper that I have had in my stash. But I thought it was a nice standout against the turquoise.

 

Well that's it for me for today. Hope whatever you are doing on this Sunday afternoon is resting and relaxing. Until next time.........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Gem of a Challenge is all you need is love.

2.  2 Sisters has an embossing challenge.

3.  My Sheri Crafts has a valentine challenge.

4.  ABC Challenge is E for embellish. I have die cut hearts, a die cut pennant flag and my ticker.

5.  A little bit crafty has a man up challenge.

6.  Natalie and Amy's Challenge is love is all around.

7.  Seemacrafts has a valentine/love challenge.

8.  Crafting Café has an embossing challenge.

9.  Brown Sugar has a valentine's challenge.

 

The Love Bandit

 

 

Happy Friday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. I can't believe that it is only a week until Valentine's Day. I have to get my cards addressed and in the mail.

 

I have been a little pre-occupied this past week with a weight loss challenge that I am a part of at my gym. I would love to win the grand prize of a year's worth of personal training.

 

I loved working with the trainer that I had. But it's so pricey to continue it and this prize would be so awesome. I don't have a lot of weight to lose-15 to 20 lbs-and they base it on percentage of weight lost. So its fair for everyone.

 

The challenge runs for 2 months and we work with a trainer in group settings. I have 5 women in my group. Even as I say only 15-20 lbs, that is a lot of extra weight to be carrying around since I am only 5'3". I do carry it well and have been going to the gym since last July and I am getting toned. But, I want to stay healthy and active so I can spend time with my grandkids. I will keep you all posted on my results. Tomorrow is the end of our first week and we go for the 2nd weigh-in.

 

Now onto my card for today. I have my last Valentine card to show. To start I used the week 5 layout from the Viva la Verve sketches.

I used this stamp "Smokey the love bandit" from Great Impressions and colored him with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I also used a red Copic marker on the heart.

Fussy cut the image and layered him on a couple of circles cut with Spellbinders dies. The love word is a die from Impression Obsession-it's from the "love you heart" die set. . The xoxo is a die from Stampin-Up. It's part of the Circle thinlits.

On the bottom black panel I used the diagonal stripes embossing folder from Darice. Well it's time to close this post for today. I am on my way to the gym for some cardio exercise. Until next time........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  Crafty Little Fairies has a love challenge.

2.  Splitcoaststampers WT 465 challenge is to color an image.

3.  Creative Knockouts has a be mine challenge.

4.  Cute Card Thursday has a lots of love challenge.

5.  Divas By Design has a diecuts challenge.

6.  Little Red Wagon has a love theme challenge.

7.  The Male Room wants us to create a male Valentine. This one is for my grandson.

8.  Simon Wednesday Challenge is "have a heart".



~retro fresh birthday~

 

 

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life Blog. Another weekend is upon us and this one happens to be Super Bowl weekend.

 

We will be going over to my son's home to watch the big game and enjoy the commercials. We usually have a big appetizer fest as well. I am not sure what I will be bringing yet. Will have to check with my daughter-in-law and see what she would like.

 

We also have tickets for the Pitt vs Virginia basketball game. That game is at 12:00. So it will be a busy Sunday for us but a fun one. And time spent with family is priceless.

 

Now onto my card for today. This one I made for my middle grandson's birthday. I also used the colors from the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #463.

 

Peggy was our hostess and she chose the fun colors of tangerine tango, so saffron and coastal cabana. She also wanted us to use any wooden element on our card. I had just the designer paper with these colors with the new Stampin-Up “retro fresh” collection. I think the papers are just screaming for a funky design. So that’s the route I took.

I used the Stampin-Up chevron embossing folder on my rectangle panel. I cut a frame with the Verve scalloped frame die in brown sugar. Used a Spellbinders rectangle die cut in very vanilla for my birthday sentiment.

The birthday sentiment is a stamp set from MFT -birthday sentiments.  I cut some chevrons with the Stampin-Up circle card thinlits die in coastal cabana and layered them on my card.

 I found some Basic Grey wooden elements in my stash. I like the accent they added to my card. Thanks Peggy for choosing this dessert option.

This is a birthday card for my middle grandson, Aidin. He looks over my cards very carefully and comments on different aspects of the design. Pretty good for a young boy-wouldn’t you agree??

 

Well that's my card for today. Have to run some errands and take care fo a few things around my home. So until next time.........God bless.

 

I am also entering:

1.  2 Sisters has an embossing challenge.

2.  Bloggers Challenge is embossing.

3.  Crafty Catz is anything goes.

4.  Fairy Tale Challenge wants us to use more than 2 colors.

5.  Sister Act has an anything goes challenge.