At the blog hop.... at the blog hop, yeah....

Welcome to the second installment of the VC_Rocks Blog Hop for 2011. I am excited to be bringing you some Big Shot Beauty today!

If you aren't one of my regular readers, I'm betting you arrived from Kim Abbott's blog - Stamping Fun with Kim !

I have several samples here to show you today:

Of course, I love me some pretty cards, but I was a scrapbooker long before I discovered SU or started making cards! This layout uses a Big Shot alpha AND flower - Little leaves, Alpha Simple (I believe it is) and the flower from an older Sizzix die - which works easily with Mr. Big Shot!

Did you know that under the new upcoming hostess plan, if you have a workshop of $400 or more you get to select any one item in the catalog for 50% off (even Mr. Big!).

The matchbox makes a great little gift - in this case - a teacher appreciation item - holding chocolate, what else? The matchbox die makes it SO easy!

My last share was also CASEd from or inspired by (which isn't far from being CASEd) someone - and again - my filing system failed me - I cannot find where I saved the inspiration card for this. I did this one a little differently, if I recall correctly - which is up for debate as well... I believe the original card called for a brayer... and I - although I have one, use one, and sometimes like it - could NOT get this to brayer correctly. Therefore I used my DD stamp pad and smacked it on the embossing folder before running it through the Big Shot - very carefully. My biggest piece of advice about this one - lay the cardstock very carefully on the inked surface - and close it as carefully as you can, taking care not to slide it on the surface. I used a blender pen and picked up Old Olive ink that I had smooshed into the lid of the OO ink pad to color the raised flower centers that I did not put bling on. Ribbon and bling and a little sentiment stamp finished off the outside of the card. Colors used were Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Early Espresso (I could use one of those!).

My favorite tip on using the rhinestones and pearl bling that SU now sells is this: Use the Paper Piercer to take the bling off the waxy backing paper and place on your creation - that way, the oils on your hands or fingers do not remove any of the stickiness. Go ahead, try it - I'll wait :)

Back yet? (whistling)

Oh, HI!

For my last share - here is my scrapbook page for today's Stamp Club. There are a couple of special Big Shot things here - first, though - this is based on the sketch I created (the left page of the original sketch was based on someone's progressive layout, but I have changed it up a bit).

To do the title, you need a couple of fonts, some lightweight chipboard from our DSP packs - these are leftovers from another project. I punched out JNEY from (retiring) GoGo Boots upper case and OUR from Alphabet Simple. I did two cuts of each, and used my (latex!) Tombow Multi-adhesive. (Do not use this product if you have a latex allergy, please - unless yo

u are wearing non-latex protective gear:).

After creating this template, I went back to the Big Shot and ran a three-inch by 12 inch strip of Tempting Turquoise Cardstock through the Big Shot layered as shown: clear plate, cutting platform, 2 DSP chipboard shims, the chipboard word that I created, the Tempting Turquoise cardstock, the silicone embossing pad and the other clear plate.

Really hard to see here - but you get the idea... maybe a little better below - anyway - I also used the retiring Sense of Time (I LOVE this set!). On the original sketch the Top Note die was inside a pocket made by the 6x6 square - you could do that - I'm just using it to set off a photo.

Here is the full layout - the CASE on the left and my extension of it into a two page 12x12 layout above. Hope you love it!

Here is the next blog on the stop, followed by the full line-up. Thanks so much for stopping by - comments *always* appreciated!

NEXT STOP: Kim Overholt - Crafting with Kim

Full List:

00-START VC Rocks Home Blog VC Rocks/Debbie Petersen http://vcrocks.blogspot.com/

01 Jane Hignite Stamp With Jane www.stampwithjane.com

02 Eileen LeFevre Stampin' Fevre www.elefevre.blogspot.com

03 Jayne Stenstrom Jayne Stamps http://jaynestamps.blogspot.com

04 Elaine Wright I Reckon I'll Stamp http://www.stampinreckon.blogspot.com

05 Kristi Jaenisch Stamping in the Moonlight www.stampinginthemoonlight.blogspot.com

06 Cindy Lubbert Sew Much Fun with Cindy www.cindylubbert.blogspot.com

07 Barb Furlong The Love of Stamping http://www.theloveofstamping.com

08 Shari Dudek Shari's Stamp Pad http://sharisstamppad.blogspot.com

09 Dawn Dickinson Inkspiration by Dawn http://dawndstamps.blogspot.com

10 Robin Messenheimer Robins Craft Room http://www.robinscraftroom.com

11 Tammy Q Howell Tarheel Stamper www.tarheelstamper.blogspot.com

12 Veronica Miller Bluegrass Stamper Studio http://bluegrassstamperstudio.blogspot.com/

13 Tessa Boulter Tessa's Finds & Stamped Creations www.tessaboulter.stampinup.net/blog

14 Debbie Martin Clever and Cute http://www.cleverandcute.blogspot.com/

15 Kim Abbott Stamping Fun with Kim http://stampingfunwithkim.blogspot.com

16 Nancy Keithley Scrapbook Kits and more http://fancynancykay.blogspot.com/

17 Kim Overholt Crafting with Kim http://craftingwithkim.blogspot.com

18 Stace Coombs Stampin Stace www.stampinstace.blogspot.com

19 Pam Staples Sunny Girl Scraps
https://www.sunnygirlscraps.com

20 Marisol Gutierrez A Touch of SOL www.atouchofsol.blogspot.com

21 Holly (& The Dog) InkPaperStamps InkPaperStamps.com

22 Jackie Watson Creative Designs by Jackie http://jackielwatson.blogspot.com/

23 Kym Schwinkendorf Artful Imagination www.artfulimagination.blogspot.com

24 Heather schlagel Stamp with me www.stampinschlagel.blogspot.com

25 Mary Jo Price-Williams Technostamper http://technostamper.blogspot.com

26 Heidi Sorg Cheekies Ink Pad cheekiesinkpad.blogspot.com

27 Angela Walters Life with a Wiener Dog www.lifewithawienerdog.com

28 Shirley Northey Stamper Shirley http://stampershirley.blogspot.com

29 carolyn sharkas inkingthenightaway www.inkingthenightaway.blogspot.com

30 Diane Clark-Sutton Stampin Ldygflr62 http://www.stampinldyglfr62.blogspot.com/

31 Mary Campbell Mimi To Jett http://mimitojett.blogspot.com

32 Brenda Hugar Brenda's Stamping Corner http://brendasstampingcorner.blogspot.com

33-LAST Loni Holt Loni's Life www.loniholt.blogspot.com