VC Rocks June Blog Hop.

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

Yes, that's right, we have another fantastic VC Rocks Blog Hop for ya this weekend.

The theme of our second Blog Hop is Punches, and Dies. Ooh La La, I love me some punches and dies. Why you ask??? Because, the possibilities are endless as you will soon find out lol. Follow our Hop and you will see for yourselves how several very creative ladies will inspire and delight you with Punches and Dies.

I created this fun Gift Set to share with you. A pretty card, a Decorated Envelope and a Mini Gift Bag. All made with punches and dies and a little creativity.

Lets look at each piece separately starting with the card.

 

 

 A pretty Birthday Card in an  elegant Whisper White and Blackberry Bliss combination. The sentiment is mounted on trimmed decorative Modern Label Punch pieces. The Whisper White background piece was run through the Big Shot in a Fancy Fan Embossing Folder. I first colored the image with three shades of markers on a flower image from the Mixed Bunch stamp set on the inside of the card. Then punched a 1 3/8" circle directly over the flower on the card front so that the center floral image pops out. I dressed up the little floral image  with rhinestones. It has a very elegant look to it. And has a delightful little surprise on the inside. Shown below.

 

I thought it would be fun to dress up the envelope as well. I followed the same color scheme on the flower image as on the card. I can see how using the new Envelope Punch Board would make punching the circle on the front of the envelope much simpler than the way I did it. I gently removed the back flap from the back of a standard envelope so that I could get the 1 3/8" Punch punched where I wanted it. Then I had to reattach the back flap. I had to make sure that the image lined up. I attached the center of the flower to the back of the card so that the floral image would show through the envelope.

Now for the Mini Gift Bag that was made from the Top Note Die.

 I attached to a strip of Whisper White card stock to the back of a similarly decorated Top Note Die piece, and a second solid Top Note Die  piece of Blackberry Bliss to the back of the strip to make the bag. The handle was made by attaching a long strip of Blackberry Bliss  card stock to a long piece of Organza Ribbon. I did that to make the handle stand straight. I punched a 1/8" hole in either side of the Bag and tied off the ribbon so as to secure the ribbon to the bag. I used a 1 1/4" and a 1 3/8" punch to make the circles in the front of the bag. Here is a look at the side of the bag.

I sure hope you enjoyed my little gift set and were inspired enough to grab your Punches and Dies and go create something fun.

Please click here and you will find out who is up next.
http://vcrocks.blogspot.com/2014/06/VC-June-Hop.html

Blog Candy  for VC Rockers??? Leave me a message a and we will select a random winner from the names off the comments.

Thanks for stopping by.
Chat Soon,
Patrice

Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/27/14

Hello to all my blogging friends. I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

STOP BACK BY TOMORROW FOR ANOTHER VC ROCKS BLOG HOP

Are you ready for another great sketch this week? Well we have one and it's a fun one. Very simplistic, but soo much fun to work with! Elizabeth Harris created it and I thought it was fantastic. Thanks Elizabeth!

Here is Elizabeth's sketch,

and this is what I came up with.

 

I needed a really fun focal image for the left hand side of the sketch. I had some thick Bakers Twine on my desk and started to mess around with it and came up with this pretty flower. What do you think about that Twine Flower for a bit of extra fun? I really like the DSP called Maritime, not only does it pare with the Sea Street stamp set it also has a great assortment of solid color papers, like this red graff paper. I cut out a row of flags from a piece of another one of the Maritime papers. I often use images from DSP as part of my embellishments for my card.

Now for a look at the inside,

The flags here are not cut out. I simply just cut a strip of flags from one of the Maritime papers for the inside and used a piece of Night of Navy as a mat. I am told that Maritime flags are like an alphabet and spell something? I wonder what this says??? I know "Google It" right!

Supplies used to create this card.

Ink- Night of Navy.

Paper- Whisper White, Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana.

DSP- Maritime.

Stamp Set- Really Good Greetings and Itty Bitty Banners.

Embellishments- Coastal Cabana Thick Bakers Twine, Rhinestone.

Framelits- Bitty Banners.


That's all there is to this weeks card. I sure hope you are inspired and want to play along with us. If so please leave a photo of your card here, we would love to see it and appreciate you stopping by. http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com

PS  STOP BY TOMORROW FOR OUR SECOND VC ROCKS BLOG HOP 
It is sure to be a good one!!!

Chat soon,
Patrice

Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/20/14

Hello to all my blogging friends. I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

Where has the time gone? I think the summer clock is on over drive! I have been outside in the garden a lot lately. But it has been really hot.
I am so happy for SFF sketches because these sketches really do give me so much pleasure. Just to be able to slip into my craft space and play with ink and paper when I have some free time is such a blessing! And a delightful change of pace!
I was surprised to see that it was my sketch that was to be used for this week. I wasn't expecting that, sohere it is.

This is what I came up with.

This card took me about an hour to create. Really! Sometimes that just happens and this was one of those days??? Especially when I didn't need a particular card and there was no inspiration for it. But I chose the sentiment and the sketch for my inspiration instead "It's time to celebrate".  I'm sure I will have many uses for this card. It is so cheery.
I just love this cute stamp set called "In this together". There three stamps total,  two singular ladies that has a sentiment with each one. Then there is a stamp with two ladies under an umbrella with a cute poodle on a leash, that  also comes with a sentiment.
This little lady is really holding a Martini glass under the cake. I don't particularly like that part of the image so I made a cake out of DSP instead. I would think you could put flowers, animal or a gift in her had if you didn't want to use a Martini to change her up a bit. The options are endless.
 I wanted to keep with the celebration theme, so I added Candy Dots to the background DSP and made three coil streamers out of card stock in-lieu of the bow to add some color and interest to the image.

Now for a look at the inside

This sentiment came from the Bravo stamp set. Most of the images are large and make quite a statement.

Supplies I used to create this card

Card Stock- Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss and Whisper White.
Ink - Bacig Grey and Lost Lagoon.
Markers- Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey Tango Twist.
DSP- Moonlight.
Ribbon- Stitched Satin in Lost Lagoon.
Misc. Candy Dots.
Stamp Sets- Bravo and In this together.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you too find some time to slip into your craft space to create something fun this week. Please use our sketch for inspiration and make sure you let us take a look by adding it to our blog here,
http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com

Have a great week and let's chat soon,
Patrice

Update on the garden June 17, 14

Hello to all my blogging friends. I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I can't believe how big the garden has grown. Just see for yourselves. I'll start with the Straw Bales. A look from inside of our dining room looking out.

 See the round Strawberry Patch on the left. There are 20 straw bales, 5 in each of 4 rectangles.

 

 Crooked Neck  and Patty Pan Squash, Broccoli, Calaflour,

Zucchini, Watermelon, Spaghetti Squash, Eggplant white and red, Cabbage, Edumame (young soy beans), Cantaloupe...

How about the ground garden next

Onions, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and various herbs and sun flowers in the back.

 2 Pumpkins- Mini and Giant

  Concord Grapes

 Lettuce and Radishes

 Corm, Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Rhubarb and Carrots

And now for the rain gutters.

 

 

5 varieties of Tomatoes, 4 types of Chiles, 1 Tomatillo plant 2nd bucket on right the bigger plant in the-bottom photo, oh and Basil.

 

I'll show you some more photos very soon of the other things we are working on.

Chat Soon,

Patrice

Sketch Frenzy Friday 6/13/14

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

Where did this week go? It has flown that's for sure. I have been working on three swaps for my VC Rocks group Just one more to go! As well as working out in the garden. I really do have to show you up dates because I am sooooo amazed at how big everything has gotten. We already harvested our broccoli it was yummy, and I picked three 6" beans lots of Cilantro and Parsley for our salads. All that in just a short time. It is fun to see that we are getting results. We are going to have veggies coming out of our ears. That's a corny joke haha.

OK enough of that funny business. I know you are here to see what this weeks sketch is and what I have done with it right!

Here is the sketch Diane Etchfield created for us. I really had a lot of fun with it, thanks Diane.

This is what I came up with,

I was given a challenge by my friend Bobby to make my own Designer Background Paper (DBP). So I took her up on her challenge and made my own  entirely from the Work of Art stamp set. Bobby also chose the color combination? It was to use Real Red, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive. I was wearing a T-shirt with those colors in it she said that's where she got her inspiration. I wasn't quite sold on those colors but what the heck, a challenge is a challenge right!.  Thanks Bobby and it was a fun challenge! I haven't made my own Designer Background Paper in a long time, but with this stamp set anything is possible. I just love this set the water color images are so fun  to work with! At first I had a flat Old Olive mat circle behind my sentiment but decided to give the card some texture so I cut slits all along the edge of the circle. I really like the look much better than the flat that it that it originally had.

Now here is a look at the inside,

I used some of the left over DBP for the little strip on the left side of the card. I used a sentiment from the Really Good Greetings stamp set for the inside sentiment.

That's it for me this week. It's a short post because I still have another swap to get to. I hope Diane's sketch gets you inspired and you find some time to create something fun also. We would love to see what you come up with from it just leave it on our blog so we can see it OK.

Sketch Frenzy Friday- 6/6/14- Way T Go

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I really loved this weeks sketch, and I really loved how my card turned out. I don't often really, really like one of my cards but this one just gave me such joy in making it. Don't you like it when that happens!
Stacey Tomkowiak designed this sketch and it is one of my favorites. Thanks Stacey!

Here is Stacey's sketch,

this is what I came up with.

I turned the sketch on it's side that way I felt like I had a little bit more  room to work with. I just had to play around with a piece of the Graff paper that comes inside the DSP paper pack! It is yummy and works so well with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I earned a free Stampin' Up stamp set called Bravo for signing up two people into Paper Pumpkin in April. The stamp set can be found in the New Catalog on page #133 check it out. There are 13 stamps in this set. I think it is a really fantastic set and I like all of the sentiments. Many of them are on the larger size so they make for very stunning focal images, that give you lot's of pop to your card!

Here is a look at the inside too.

I'm going to send this one to my daughter. She just finished her first semester in Cosmetology school. I am really proud of her for going back to school. She has wanted to do this for years and now she is making it happen. Way To Go Jeanne'!


Supplies I used to create this card are as follows.

Ink- VersaMark, Basic Blask, Calypso Coral, Marina Mist and Wild Wasabi.

Card Stock- Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Marina Mist and Wild       Wasabi.
DSP- Moonlight- Graff Paper.
Stamp Set- Bravo, Point and Click (PL) and Gorgeous Grunge.
Misc. Tiny Waves Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Cutting Blade and Candy Dots in Brights.

Well that will do it for this weeks card. I hope you are as inspired by this sketch as I was and find some time to create something fun too! We would love to see your creation so please add it to our blog here- http://www.sketchfrenzyfriday.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by.
Chat soon,
Patrice