Heartful Sympathy

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

Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was a quiet one. My hubby got a new iPhone and iPad so I had to set those up for him. Verizon and Apple make it so easy to transfer data from the old device to the new. I just had to move his widgets back to the home screen instead of the folder our grandson put them in a while ago. He never knew where any of the apps were. It was a crazy setup that I undid for him.  

I also did some house cleaning and cooking. Friday night we had some delicious salmon with an herb butter. Saturday night I made homemade pizza. We like ours with a pesto instead of a red sauce. And the crust was a cauliflower crust. The crust was ok, but I prefer the usual flour crust. 

Now onto to my card for today. I unfortunately needed a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her husband. I used a stamp set from Gina K for the frame, palm trees and sun. I thought the setting sun would work for a sympathy card.

I used a variety of distress inks to create my background. The clouds are done in kitsch flamingo, squeezed lemonade and wild honey.

For the water I blended shaded lilac, wilted violet, stormy sky and faded jeans.

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

Card Details:

Stamps: framescape tropical skies (Gina K designs), with heartfelt (Rubber Cottage)

Paper: polished pink, basic black (Stampin' Up), bristol smooth (Canson)

Paper Size: A2

Ink: tuxedo black (Memento), daffodil delight (Stampin' Up), kitsch flamingo, squeezed lemonade, wild honey, shaded lilac, wilted violet, stormy sky, faded jeans distress inks (Ranger)

Accessories: mini cloud stencil (MFT)

Techniques: ink blending

I am also entering:

1.  A Perfect Time to Craft has an anything goes challenge. 

2.  Crafts Galore Encore has an anything goes challenge. 

3.  Lil Patch of Crafty Friends is anything goes. 

4.  Crafty Calendar is anything goes. 

5.  Crafting Happiness has a sunny days challenge. 

In Sympathy & Friendship

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

Hope you all had a great July 4th celebration. We had friends over on Friday night for dinner for an early celebration. Then On Saturday and Sunday night we had neighbors who had some incredible fireworks displays. The neighborhood skies were lit up with color. It was quite an expense for them I am sure. Just because of the length and the type of displays they both had. 

Now here we are in the midst of summer. I am enjoying the long days and warm nights. We had our first harvest of banana peppers today. Hubby picked about 7 of them so I will stuff them with a combo of hot and sweet Italian sausage. Our pole beans are also coming in at a fast and furious rate. I am planning on cooking up a big batch for dinner tonight. Just need to search my recipes for a tasty one. 

Now onto my card for today. This one I created for the color challenge #843 On Splitcoaststampers. Karen was our hostess and she chose rich razzleberry, pear pizzazz and highland heather for the color trio. Option is flowers.

I started this card by stenciling an oval with an oval stencil from MFT. I used a blending brush and wilted violet distress ink. I stamped the image and sentiment in rich razzleberry ink. The image is from Great Impressions Stamps - Queen Anne's Lace. The Sentiment is from MSE- Sympathy sentiments. 

I added a pear pizzazz strip on the left, punched a few butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch,  and scattered a few rich razzleberry enamel dots. And that finishes off this card. The card will go into my collection for when I need it. I like to have them on hand. 

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

Card details:

Stamps: Queen Anne's Lace (Great Impressions), sympathy sentiments (MSE)

Paper: highland heather, whisper white, pear pizzazz

Paper Size: A2

Ink: rich razzleberry (Stampin'-Up), wilted violet distress (Ranger)

Accessories: oval stencil (MFT), rich razzleberry enamel dots (Stampin'-Up), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart)

Techniques: stenciling

I am also entering:

1.  Make My Monday has an anything airborne challenge. 

2.  We Love Chocolate Baroque has a beautiful blooms challenge. 

3.  Gem of a Challenge is anything goes. 

4.  Crafty Calendar Challenge is anything goes.

5.  Creative Fingers has an anything goes challenge. 

Heartfelt Sympathy

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with The Charmed Life Blog today. I can't believe almost  3 weeks have gone by and I haven't posted on my Blog. It's not like I haven't been creating because I have. 

It's still harvest time in our garden and that has taken a lot of my time. When I finish the garden stuff and then make dinner I am usually pretty exhausted. But things are coming to an end in the garden so my time should free up. 

Today I roasted another batch of tomatoes. And I still have at least 2 more batches to go. But this winter I will be so grateful for a bountiful harvest. Even if it takes a lot of time and work, it's a blessing from God to have a garden that produces. 

We are also having a garage sale at my son's home this coming Saturday so I have been pricing items that I am selling. They are a lot of work so I hope what I have will be sold. If not, we have a group here in our community where you can give items away that you don't need any longer. It's a successful group and everything I have listed always gets taken. It helps if you are giving away things that are in good condition. 

Anyway, let's move onto my card for today. This one I created for the color challenge #807 on Splitcoaststampers. Karen was the hostess and she chose rococo rose, highland heather and pear pizzazz. Optional was to use a rose. 

rococo rose, highland heather, pear pizzazz

I have needed some sympathy cards lately and I didn't have any on hand. It's always best to make them when you don't need them.

I like to keep sympathy cards on the clean and simple side. So for this card, I used some Stampin'-Up designer paper from the "Timeless Elegance" collection and colored the rose with Stampin' Blends. The Blends are Stampin'-Up's version of alcohol markers. 

For the leaves I used a Copic Marker in a shade close to pear pizzazz. I decided not to color the other flowers on the paper. Stamped my sentiment in black ink and added a few rococo rose enamel dots to complete my card.

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

card details:

Stamps: with heartfelt (Rubber Cottage)

Paper: basic black, highland heather, timeless elegance dsp(Stampin'-Up)

Ink: tuxedo black (Memento)

Accessories: highland heather stampin' blends, in-color faceted enamel dots (Stampin'-Up), Copic G20,

I am also entering:

1.  Crafty Creations has an anything goes challenge. 

2.  Creative Moments has an anything goes challenge. 

3.  A Bit More Time to Craft has an anything goes challenge. 

4.  A Perfect Time to Craft has an anything goes challenge. 

5.  Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge is anything goes with patterned paper. 

Fishing Boat Sympathy

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

Another Saturday is upon us and here's hoping you have some fun plans. I am planning to wash some of my windows today. I have my hubby to help me so I am taking advantage of it. Doesn't sound like much fun though - right (lol)!

It's one of the final chores on my summer to-do list. And once I complete them, I will have the rest of the summer to do whatever I want. That means a steady diet of my craft room before school starts. Whoo-hoo that's exciting to me!!!

So let's get started with some details on my card for today. This one I created for my weekly DT post on the CottageCutz blog. My card today is featuring the Fishing Pole & Boat die. I need a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her husband to liver cancer. He was an avid fisherman and even the remembrance pamphlet they gave at the funeral home reflected that.  It was such a beautiful tribute that I will use it for the inside of my card.

Step 1.  I sponged some clouds in my lake scene using a cloud stencil and tumbled glass distress ink. The cardstock is taped with repositionable tape to my craft mat. I do this to keep it from moving while I am stenciling. And the craft mat makes clean-up easier.

Once I was satisfied with the look, I stamped my background mountains with basic gray ink.  I used the Stampin'-Up Waterfront set. It is supposed to give the look of watercoloring. I wanted the mountains to have a misty appearance since they were in the background. I thought I achieved that.

Used marina mist ink (medium blue)for the water. I stamped off once before I stamped the water to give it that same look.   I wanted the fishing boat and die cut water pool to be the emphasis.  

For the sun and rays, I used a sun ray stencil and daffodil ink. Taped the stencil to the corner of my scene.

I also sponged some kraft ink at the waters edge for the lake shore.

Image Panel: 4 1/8" x 5 3/8"

Step 2: Cut the boat and fishing pole using different shades of brown cardstocks. The water is cut with marina mist cardstock. It's the same ink I used to stamp the water.

Step 3: Time to start the card assembly. I layered the die cut pieces onto the sponged and stamped scene I created.

I adhered the image panel to a marina mist cardstock base. Once I did that I decided I didn't like the fishing lure that I used. So I cut the one that is part of the fishing pole die in red and a light gray cardstock. I thought the smaller lure looked better in my scene.

 I wasn't sure about adding a sentiment on the card. But, I wanted this to be more personal for my friend so I gave in and stamped "sharing in your sorrow" to complete my card.

Well that's it for me for today. Time to get busy on my windows! So until next time...…...God bless.

Die I used to create card:

I am also entering:

1.  Crafts Galore Encore has an anything goes challenge.

2.  Create and Inspire has an anything goes challenge.

3.  Creative Fingers has an anything goes challenge.

4.  PolkaDoodles has an anything goes challenge.

5.  Simply Create Too has a no patterned paper challenge. 

6.  The Male Room has a fish/fishing challenge.