Friday, August 30, 2013

The Way You Made Them Feel

thankyoumaureenplut

Hey friends!  I have another card using Verve’s Teachers Count set today :)  This card, however, is for a different teacher in my life, my trainer at the gym.  I finally found a FABULOUS trainer and we’ve been working together since January.  She’s the real deal when it comes to trainers and has the creds to back it up…she’s been training and competing in bodybuilding competitions for over 10 years.  It’s been very exciting and though she’s “tough” on me (at my age!), she does it with caring gentleness and humour.  She is patient and answers my “million” questions during each session.  We’ve come to the last set of our sessions and are both heading back to school (she’s entering the 4th and final year of Nursing).  I wanted to let her know how much I appreciate our time together and for helping me feel “strong and young.”  I thought this quote from Teachers Count was perfect to convey that feeling.  Do you have someone in your life that makes you feel that way?  Have you told them?  It’s never too early or too late!  Thanks for stopping by and sharing a few minutes with me!  Have a lovely day!

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stamps: Teachers Count, On Occasion (Verve)

dies: Occasion frame die (A Cut Above by Verve)

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

A Thank You and a Farewell ~ CASE Study #155

thankyoumaureenplut 

Dickens once wrote,

“Reflect on your present blessings,

which always causes me to

pause, and think of you.”

Hi everyone!  I’m here today with my very last CASE Study post.  Some of you know that I am starting my Masters of Education next month and so I sadly have to cut back on my Design Team duties.  I thought that these sentiments (on the card and the one by Dickens) were perfect to convey the feelings in my heart towards Chupa and the whole CASE Study Design Team.  I have LOVED being a part of this wonderfully creative challenge.  What a Muse I’ve been able to go out with!  Here’s Jennifer Mcguire’s last card with us…

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It’s no secret I’m in love with banners and hope the trend continues for 2 or 10 years!  I added 3 red dots instead of the hearts and picked a sweet thank you sentiment.   EEK!  It’s our last week with Jennifer (and with ME!) so I hope you’ll come a play one last time with us both :)  Head over to the CASE Study blog to see what each DT member came up with,then join in the fun!  Thanks for visiting and thanks for all your wonderful CASE Study comments over these past 2 years! HUGE GROUP HUG!

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what’s in it?

stamps: pti delightful dahlia additions

ink: versafine onyx

paper: pti white, bobunny family is collection, pebbles seen and noted

accessories: mft fishtail banner dies, mme enamel dots

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Let’s End with some Coffee!

coffeefrinedsmaureenplut

Well, here it is, the last post…and what better way to end than with a cup of coffee and friends :)   Thanks for all your sweet comments and staying with me during this marathon of a weekend.  It’s been tons of fun here and I’ve made a definitely beaten a path from the studio to the kitchen and back again!  LOL  This last card is for the Scent-sational challenge and was created for the new set Scent-imentals that will be released next month.  It was cool to see how easy it is to make a scratch and sniff card! 

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Now, truth be told, I don’t really know if this card smells like coffee when scratched as my fingers still smell like coffee from when I mixed up the embossing powder!  LOL  I’ll try it out on the DH when he gets home :)  So onto the finale…

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There are all 10 of my challenge projects :)  I learned some cool new techniques and recipes and can’t wait to keep using them.  A huge thank you goes out to Nichole and her incredible Design Team.  It’s been an amazing event full of great videos, samples, new products and crafting camaraderie.  So, from the bottom of my coffee loving heart, thank you :)

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It’s Your Birthday

yourbirthdaymaureenplut

Hi everyone!  This is my second to last post and then I’m done, finished, finito!  I just took the last 3 photos for this year’s Papertrey Ink’s Stampafaire marathon!  This one is for the Sugar Coated Challenge.  I’m using Dawn’s technique of adding glitter to the tips of flowers and leaves.  It truly is a shimmery delight!  See you in a few minutes for the grand finale!

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Celebrate Today

celebratetodaymaureenplut

Hey friends!  I’ve been able to complete the Stampafaire projects that I started yesterday.  The Tea Staining Technique was one of them.  Here are the pieces I decided to tea stain.  I’ve got some seam binding ribbon, burlap trim, canvas butterflies and some canvas banners.  The canvas really took to the staining and the butterflies were so sweet, I had to use them.  Will totally be making some of Melissa’s flowers, thought…weren’t they precious?

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I used Melissa’s idea of stamping a text onto the pieces.  I layered 2 of the butterflies together then sewed them together with the button and twine.  Only 2 more challenges to to!  The next one involves chocolate!  YUM!

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A Whole Lot of Happy!

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Up next is the Sprinkle of Salt challenge.  Here’s the set up yesterday…

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I made 2 pieces, one with white cardstock and one with watercolour paper.  I’ve used the white cardstock sample on my card…I liked the muted background for my card.

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My paperclay pieces were ready to use again today so I die cut the Friendly Flower shape and then stamped the image.  It feels like it’s made out of styrofoam…very cool!  Not cool, though, was the black smudge that happened at the VERY end!  EEEK!!!  I said some “not so Christian” words when I saw that.  Hence, the extra bling in the final photo ;)

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Thanks for stopping by and for tolerating all the extra posts this weekend :)

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A Most Beautiful Day

happybirthdaymaureenplut

ah, a most beautiful weekend actually.  It’s my last BIG hurrah in the studio before heading back to work.  I’ll be continuing the set up in my classroom and in a 2 day professional development workshop this week, so Stampafaire has been great for me :)  Up next is the Limited Ingredients Challenge…hmm, I’m not very good at them as I have tons of things I can potentially put on a card.  But I took some inspiration from Dawn’s card and then went to it!  Here is a list of the things we were allowed to use along with what I used…

  • white cardstock  CHECK!
  • white or transparent glitter(Prisma Glitter)  CHECK!
  • 1-3/4" circle punch or die  CHECK!
  • 1" strip of light gray cardstock (Soft Stone)  CHECK!
  • melon cardstock & ink (Melon Berry)  CHECK for cardstock!
  • aqua cardstock & ink (Aqua Mist)  CHECK for ink and cardstock is under the glitter banner!
  • golden yellow cardstock & ink (Harvest Gold)

Whew!  Made it!  I so wanted to add some bling or ribbon, but was happy enough to add some sparkle with the glitter.  Okay…see you soon :)

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Awesome, Wonderful, Amazing

awesomewonderfulmaureenplut

Hello again!  This is my second card for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop as I couldn’t narrow down which colour palette and sketch I wanted to use.  I am stretching the sketch a bit to fit what I wanted to make for our new secretary.  We want to welcome her back (she’s worked at our school before and was amazing) with a special card and flowers on her desk :) 

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Thanks again for stopping by!  Now back to the SAF challenges!  Have a lovely day :)

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bloghop

 

what’s in it?

stamps: pti the sweet life, movers and shakers sentiments

ink: versafine onyx, su plum, navy, kiwi, olive

paper: pti rustic white, soft stone, pebbles seen and noted

accessories: pti sweet life dies, royal velvet ribbon, spellbinders circle and scallop circle dies, paper doily, stitching

Wishes are the Magic

wishesmaureenplut

Good morning!  I’ve got 2 cards for today’s Papertrey Ink Blog Hop so I’ll keep both posts short and sweet as I may have some  more SAF posts :)  I flipped the sketch while keeping the card orientation the same.  This cake reminds me of the 6 layer chocolate skor cake my sister makes :)  YUM!

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Thanks for visiting! 

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bloghop

 

what’s in it?

stamps; inside and out: birthday 2

ink: versafine onyx

paper: pti

accessories: pti beautiful beads die, circle die, enamel dots

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Celebrate with Shrinky Dink!

celebratemaureenplut

uh, I mean Custom Made Accents!  Okay, I can’t be the ONLY one who still calls polyshrink, Shrinky Dinks!  When I worked as a McDonald’s hostess in my teens, we had all the characters in Shrinky Dink form.  LOL  Fast forward to 2013 and I bought some “polyshrink” at Michaels so we could make Father’s Day charms.  The woman was like me and called it Shrinky Dink.  So I’m no newbie to this technique.  I made several shapes at one time, not knowing what I would create from kitchen to studio.  I do know that you can stamp on the medium with StazOn so that’s what I did, making a couple of little clear banners with some Think Big favourites :)  Oh, I LOVE clear banners!  Here they are just before entering the oven…

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And here they are, some clear, some matte/opaque, after the oven…

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I didn’t use any vellum or wax paper…just on the pan at 350 degrees for about 2 to 3 minutes…I just kept watch until they shrunk.  I think the clear banners are my favourite and need to make a whole batch more :)  Well, that’s it for me for today.  My tea stained items and salted paper should be dry by tomorrow.  I’ll start with those in the morning.  Sweet Stampafaire dreams, everyone!

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Little Ones Count ~ CASEing Danielle

teacherscountmaureenplut

Hey peeps…dropping in with one more project before the DH takes me out for dinner…I know I shouldn’t complain, but I’m on a roll! ACK!  This card is for the Gallon/Quart/Pint challenge…or as we Canadians like to call it…the 4 litre/litre/500 millilitre challenge ;)  (I hope I’ve got my conversions correct…I’ll either blame or congratulate Siri ;)  LOL  Anyways, when I saw Danielle’s GORGEOUS and AMAZING card, I dropped my scissors, carefully, and just went with a CASE ‘cause Moe don’t mess with perfection!  I didn’t have a PTI teacher/apple set (anymore) so I went with my Verve’s Teachers Count set that I helped inspire :)  I also used PTI’s mini scrapbook library ledger set to create the interlined paper :)  Love it!  To get the texture onto my apples, I stamped my solid apple image onto 2 different background blocks from Clearly Besotted Building blocks…and old technique but one that helped me out today!  Okay, I’d better go and trade my PTI apron in for some leopard print…talk to you later tonight…I have one more card I want to post before bedtime :)

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Smile ~ Rolled Dough Flowers

smilemaureenplut

Hey everyone!  I’m sort of using my misting sprays I made earlier and Dawn’s card as my total inspiration for this layout…can we all say GORGEOUS together?!  However, I’m using Melissa’s flower technique with the paperclay that was part of the SAF kit.  It’s really cool and you can colour it!  I have some sections drying for tomorrow, but Melissa’s technique dries much faster so I used it today.  This Pampered Chef pie pastry mat has never seen pastry yet ;)  LOL

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The dh will totally bust his gut when he sees this rolling pin…I’m saving it in my apron pocket for the right moment to show him…teehee ;)  Here’s the result of me dying the paperclay…I don’t have to tell you what kiwi kiss dough on my hand reminded me of…ACK!

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Notice my Ohio mug?  It’s the second one…the first one’s handle broke :(  so my sweetie and bestie, Lynn, sent me another one :)  Which reminds me, I need a refill!  LOL  See you later :)  I think I’m on the sea salt challenge!  Oh, I do this in my class!  Should be fun!

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Wishing You ~ MYO Misting Sprays

wishingyoumaureenplut

I’m back!  I’m finding that I make 2 projects, then do photos and post…that seems to be my groove today.  I love this make your own misting sprays as it’s fast and easy!  No wait time :)  I am feeling the Fall fast approaching (I say while biting my tongue!) so wanted to use Pumpkin Pie for my first spray mist…oh yeah, I made 3 bottles…

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I had the fancy bottle that came in my SAF kit, but I also had 2 empties from the $1 store ;)  I used Nicole’s recipe and technique for my card, but also made a purple mist with Dawn’s instructions to use water (see that on the next card coming up).  Oh, and I couldn’t resist making one with Cool Caribbean!  Remember that fabulous colour from SU?  How smart was I to get a reinker at the time!  Whew!  And before I leave you…I want to show you a little trick I did with that leaf die…one big leaf was in the wrong position so I cut it off and repositioned it ;)  Can you tell?

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See you in a bit!  I need to get some food in me and check on the tea dying!  LOL

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(Brunch) Bake and Take

dearfriendmaureenplut

Hi friends!  I thought I’d better post something in case y’all thought I was sleeping in today!  Nope, I was up at 7:00 PST, made coffee, had breakfast while perusing the PTI Stampafaire challenges that had already been posted.  They started without me! ACK!  LOL  So this is my first card for the first challenge.  We had to choose one colour combo and one sketch…and this was supposed to be easy! LOL I made the card sketch vertical…that’s the kind of morning it’s been!

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I’ve been busy prepping the tea dye staining and paperclay projects and am letting things dry while I move onto making my own misting spray.  This card is dedicated to my blogging bestie, Lynn Mangan, who shared the first Stampafaire experience with me :) 

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Love you, Lynn!  Okay, off to the next challenge!

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Friday, August 23, 2013

Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire


Good evening everyone!  I'm posting late tonight as I learn how to blog on my new MacBook without using Live Writer!  LOL  Here's a picture of me donning my Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire apron in the studio with all my PTI supplies ready to go on my counter :)  I'll be by my lonesome but will have good company in spirit with the photos of SAF 2011.  Oh what memories!


Lynn, Miss Dawn and me!  EEK!





Anyways, I'm off to bed now to rest up for the BIG day!  Be prepared for tons of posts this weekend!  ACK!  Sweet dreams...

ox

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