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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.

Gnome Birthday + announcement

Happy Tuesday and thanks for taking the time to visit the charmed life blog. I have been quiet on the blog for a few days because my son, daughter-in-law and sweet little Phoenix Daisy were here visiting for 5 days.

We had an extended family reunion on Saturday. That was fine and even more special that Brett, Ghilly and Phoenix Daisy were able to come. The other days we just spent enjoying each other.

Their flight this morning left at 6:00 am. When my daughter-in-law brought Phoenix down at 4:15, I kissed her goodbye. She looked at me and said "come". She has limited vocabulary at 19 months but this came across loud and clear. Of course, I was emotional.

I hope to be able to visit with her in September. I will be counting the days until I can go.

So to keep my mind occupied today, I decided to do some crafting. I checked the sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers to get my starting point. The layout was such a cute one and I knew you could add some embellishments to take it up a notch. 

I used some red background designer paper from Stampin-Up for the layout-a retired print patterns pack and some new polka dot parade paper.


My image & sentiment are from the newly released stamp set from Marks Finest Papers - garden art.

I paper pieced the gnome's hat & boots in the Stampin-Up colors of island indigo, his suit in real red and the flower in wisteria wonder. I also used prismacolor pencils and gamsol to color his skin, beard and the leaf.



challenge colors

I used these colors  for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge #385.  The challenge was hosted by Julia and she chose real red, island indigo and wisteria wonder as our colors.




To complete my card, I stamped my sentiment, used a border punch from Martha Stewart and also added a punched dragonfly. i thought this would be a cute kid's birthday card. I have a few nephews with upcoming birthdays.
 
I do have some other wonderful news. I submitted this card to the Great Impressions stamp company because they were looking for another designer. Well they liked it and have invited me to be a part of their fabulous team starting August 1. Whoo-hoo!! I am so excited.

So look for me on their blog as of August 3. That will be my first post for them using their stamps.

This card also was named to the top 3 at Card Crafters Circle.







Some other challenges:
1.  Crafts and Me has an anything goes challenge.
2.  Divas By Design has a happy birthday challenge #45.
3.  Simon Says Stamp has an anything goes challenge.
4.  Top Tip Tuesday challenge #81 is all about circles.
5.  Love To Create has a spots and dots challenge.

Marks Finest Papers July Blog Hop Day 4

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

    July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Asian Delights Featured July 17

Wild & Free Featured July 18

Garden Art Featured July 19

Hot & Spicy Featured July 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

All four winners will be announced on July 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) 

The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 20, 2012.

 

For my card today, I colored the peppers with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. My layout is from last week's Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch.

 

I stamped the single peppers from this set on the background of my card. They are stamped on kraft cardstock with cajun craze ink.  I added some texture by dry embossing 2 of my panels with a sizzix basket weave folder. I also used a Martha Stewart border punch.

 

I chose this sentiment from the set because I will send this card to my friends who will be celebrating an anniversary soon. 

 

Well, this is the last day of the hop. I hope you have enjoyed all my samples as well as the rest of the design team. All the stamps are available for purchase now at the Marks Finest Papers Store.  

 

The next stop on the hop is MariLynn's blog . Just click on her picture below.

 

Marks Finest Papers July Blog Hop Day 3

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

    July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Asian Delights Featured July 17

Wild & Free Featured July 18

Garden Art Featured July 19

Hot & Spicy Featured July 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

All four winners will be announced on July 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) 

The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 20, 2012.

My card for today is using just the sentiment from the garden art set. I love how you can take a sentiment and build a card around it. All it takes is some patterned paper-die cuts or punches-embellishments of choice. 

I started with my layout. This one is from the July fan club on Splitcoaststampers. Teresa Kline designed the sketch.

I wanted to carry the theme of the sentiment into the embellishements. So I chose some patterned paper with a background flower. I then layered a piece of pink paper that I embossed. This was a piece left from another card I made. I wanted to use a doily and I had some in my stash. Many companies makes these now. Mine are from Wilton-bought them in the cake decorating aisle at my local store or you could use a doily die.

I layered another die on top of the white one. This one is a die cut from  Cheery Lynn Designs. Then on top of that I layered my sentiment. I used a corner rounder to get the shape I wanted.

To complete the card I added a die cut butterfly with some pearls. I have a friend who is an avid gardener and she will love this card. She is also an artist so I wanted to step the card up a little for her.

This is another card I made previously  using this set.

That's it for me today. See you back here tomorrow for the final day of our hop.

The next stop today is Marilynn's blog. Just click on her picture below.

Marks Finest Papers July Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

    July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Asian Delights Featured July 17

Wild & Free Featured July 18

Garden Art Featured July 19

Hot & Spicy Featured July 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

All four winners will be announced on July 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) 

The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 20, 2012.

 

For my card today, I used a wax paper technique to create my background. It's an old stamp tv technique. I took wax paper crumpled it up-then straightened it out an then placed it between 2 sheets of white cardstock.  I pulled out my iron and ironed the cardstock for a few seconds.

wax paper background

I then used a direct-to-paper technique and rubbed distress ink all over the cardstock. I used wild honey and vintage photo. The next step is to take a paper towel and rub off the excess ink. The design you see here is what shows up on the cardstock. I thought it looked like animal skin.

I stamped 3 of the giraffes from this fab new set and some grass underneath their feet.  The grass is from a set we previewed last month - scenic selections.

Using my stamp-a-ma-jig for placement I took the sentiment and stamped it on 2 lines. I am going to give this card to a young couple that we mentor. They are pregnant with their first baby. On the inside I am going to computer generate "and baby makes 3".

To complete my card I added some chocolate ribbon and a corduroy button.

That's it for me today. So see you tomorrow for day 3 of the hop. Click on MariLynn's photo below for the next stop on the hop. 

Marks Finest Papers July Blog Hop Day 1

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

    July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Asian Delights Featured July 17

Wild & Free Featured July 18

Garden Art Featured July 19

Hot & Spicy Featured July 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!)

All four winners will be announced on July 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) 

The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 20, 2012.

My card is using the beautiful cherry blossoms from the Asian Delights set. I colored them with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

I used an old sketch from the MojoMonday blog. I love the tilted panel look. The pink & green background panels is done with a sizzix embossing folding. I added some olive satin ribbon and a raspberry scalloped edge under the ribbon.

My birthday sentiment is from another new set "garden art". I stamped it on a Spellbinder pennant die and added some green pearls on the bottom right panel to complete my card.

See you tomorrow for day 2 of the hop. Click on MariLynn's picture below for the next stop on the hop. 

Our Home To Yours

Happy Saturday and thanks for taking the time to visit the Charmed Life blog. We had a rubber stamp show here in Pittsburgh this week-end. I traveled out to the convention center and spent about 3 1/2 hours looking around and of course making some purchases.

One vendor had all the Cheery Lynn dies on display and she was doing some great demos with the dies. I decided not to buy any stamps or paper but the dies are another story. I did get a few of the ones that were on my wish list. I can't wait to use them.

They are not part of this card though. I have been seeing so many people getting a jump start on their Christmas cards. So my card today is a Christmas card. I had so much fun making it. I want to do a few other ones with this particular stamp and using this same idea.

The stamp is from Great Impressions and I have had it for several years and not inked it until now. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I added some corners cut from a Cuttlebug die "vintage" collection. Added some Flower Soft on the snow flakes.

For the winter scene I used a die from PTI to cut the hill and the little sled rider. On the hill I used some polar white Flower Soft for the snow.

On my card base I used a Cuttebug snowflake die for a little background texture. Stamped my sentiment and the card was complete.

Have to get this post completed because I am entering this card on the Great Impressions blog design team call. I am just getting this in under the wire.

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

Challenges:
1.  Great Impressions blog has a stay in the lines coloring challenge.
2,  2 Sisters has a Christmas in July challenge #100.
3.  Card Crafters Circle also has a Chrismtas in July challenge.
4.  Christmas Stampin' all year long has a "no inky yet" challenge. Use a stamp that has not been inked yet. My stamp is several years old but this is the first time I have used it.