Make and Take: You're the Friend

Monochromatic Friend
Submitted to the VC Rocks! group

by Elizabeth Kratzer

Supplies:

Stamps - Friendly Wishes

Ink - Lost Lagoon, Mint Macaron

Cardstock - Pool Party, Mint Macaron, Lost Lagoon

Accessories - Mint Macaron 1" Dotted Lace, dimensionals

1.  Cut cardstock:  Mint Macaron - 3-1/4"x 2-3/4" and 5-1/2"x 4-1/4" card base;  Lost Lagoon - 3"x 2-1/2" and 5-1/4"x 4";  Pool Party - 2-3/4"x 2-1/4" and 5"x 3-3/4"

2.  Stamp sentiment using Lost Lagoon ink.  Add the mat layers behind.

3.  Cut your lace ribbon ONLY after you have used it to frame the matted sentiment!  This gives you more room to make adjustments to your ribbon placement as you go around and after you finish.  Use snail tape runner on all sides of the back of the matted sentiment.  Starting in one corner, lay the lace down, carefully bunching it up in the corner to get the mitred look.  You may need to add more snail to the corner layers to keep them in place.  Go around the card finishing off in the corner where you can hide the beginning of the bottom layer. 

4.  Stamp onto the Pool Party background with Mint Macaron ink.  Adhere to Lost Lagoon cardstock and then to Mint Macaron card base.

5.  Layer sentiment with dimensionals onto the stamped Pool Party.

VC Rocks, Make and Take

"I Think You're Pretty Swell"

That statement and old cameras go together, reminding me of my childhood.

Supplies:

Stamps - Big On You

Ink -  Memento Tuxedo Black*

Cardstock - Whisper White. Basic Black, Flashback DSP

Accessories - 6-1/2" Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon

* I had just reinked my ink pad and didn't want to wait for it to soak in well, so when I stamped my sentiment there were little white patchy spots on the thick black line.  I decided that this gave my card a more vintage look.  

1.   Cut Whisper White cardstock to make the standard card of 5-1/2" x  4-1/4"
2.   Cut Basic Black layer,  5-3/8" x 4-1/8";  using Stampin' Distress Tool, distress edges of layer.
3.   Cut Flashback DSP layer to 5-1/4" x 4".
4.   Stamp sentiment on blue layer of DSP; trim to 3-1/4" x 3-3/8", then carefully distress.  
5.   Punch star out of blue layer and adhere scrap piece behind it;  adhere to 3-3/8" x 3-1/2" basic   black distressed layer.
6.   Tie each end of the ribbon, maneuvering the knots to the right place;  trim ends, adhere.
7.   Layer sentiment over part of the ribbon and  adhere with dimensionals.
8.   Step it up by black embossing the sentiment.          

VC Rocks! Make and Take

I made this Graduation card for my niece, Kellie.

I did have to redo my embossing on another piece of DSP.

You really can burn the paper with too much heat.  Lol!

Supplies:

Stamps - Adventure Awaits

Cardstock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Adventure Bound DSP

Ink - VersaMark

Accessories - White embossing powder, What's Up punch, dimensionals, Stampin' Trimmer, small scallop rotary cutting blade

1.  Cut Basic Black for the base of card, which is the standard 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".

2.  Emboss image using VersaMark Ink and White embossing powder.   

3. Then trim DSP to 4-1/8" x 5-3/8", using the Stampin' Trimmer with the small scallop rotary cutting blade.  You may choose to trim first, then emboss.  Since I am prone to errors in measurement, I trimmed after I embossed.

4. Punch White cardstock using Whats Up punch.  Trim down the length of the smaller arrow and adhere with dimensionals.

VC stands for Virtual Convention.  This year is our 15th year anniversary of joining together with fun and anticipation of the convention and release of the new Annual Catalog.  We have a yahoo group that anyone who loves Stampin' Up! products can be a part of, demonstrator or not.  You can still join if you are going to the Stampin' Up! Convention!  We have fun getting to know other stampers/scrapbookers through conversations, virtual stamp days, challenges, swaps, Make and Takes, like the one above, etc...  This is a high volume email group and new members are accepted only in the month of May.  So if you are interested go to our yahoo group and join in with us.  You will be sent a short survey to fill out and return, then you will be accepted.  Don't wait too late to join!


Have a blessed day!

Elizabeth Kratzer
VC Rocks Make and Take Coordinator

From Our Home

VC Rocks is having its first ever Holiday Blog Hop!  I'm in!!

VC Rocks is a group of ladies who love Stampin' Up! products and join together (virtually) every summer to celebrate it.  I love the games, the chatting, the cardmaking, and scrapbooking  inspiration.  Follow the VC Rocks blog and in May you can join us.

The card I made today is a lot like yesterday's card.  See that post to get the DSP measurements on the sketch image.

Inside:

Supplies:

Stamps - Holiday Home, Good Greetings

Cardstock - Real Red, Garden Green, Whisper White, Soft Sky, Nordic Noel DSP

Ink - Garden Green, Real Red marker

Accessories - 1 3/8", 1 3/4" circle punches, 2 1/8" scallop circle punch

Go to the VC Rocks Blog and see what the other VCR ladies came up with.

Merry Christmas,

Elizabeth K.

VC Rocks Blog Hop

Hello, everyone!  I love these blog hops because there are so many talented ladies in the VC Rocks group.  For this hop we are "rocking our creativity" through colors!  I chose the two complimentary colors of blue and orange. Complimentary means they are straight across from each other on the color wheel. 

I chose Tangerine Tango and Island Indigo.  This card is a CASE, of course, and is a sketch I love to use when trying to use up my scraps. 

Supplies used are:

Starburst Sayings stamp set

Island Indigo and whisper white cardstock

Tangerine Tango ink

Designer papers (ret) from my scrap pile ( I did figure out the dimensions but forgot them & the card at home. I will post them on Mon)

Starburst framelits

White baker's twine

Retired brads

If you love Stampin' Up! products and would like to spend summer months  doing fun activities, join our VC Rocks yahoo group. We also have a blog that you can find great ideas and the rest of the blog hop entries:  vcrocks.blogspot.com 

Elizabeth Kratzer

First Blog Hop of VC Rocks 2013

Hello and welcome to our first Blog Hop for VC Rocks 2013!  Yes, it's time to play.  

Check back at this blog for more links. 

Ok, folks, I am not a photographer and would rather stamp than learn how to shoot photos.

Some of my pictures have an added green splotch in the middle. 

 Don't know why, but I hope you can still see the cards well enough.

I used Print Poetry Designer Series Paper, Garden Green & Vanilla cardstock, along with the new in color Pistachio Pudding cardstock.  I love this Sizzlet's Pinwheel from the Spring Mini Catalog.   The sentiment is from a new stamp set Really Good Greetings.

    

This card is really beautiful, without that green splotch in the middle. 

So pretty with the contrasting colors Raspberry Ripple and Crumb Cake/Very Vanilla.  

Once again I used Print Poetry DSP, Sizzlets Pinwheel and Really Good Greetings.

These first two cards were CASEd from Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty. 

Using this sketch from Operation Write Home,

I tried to showcase the new 2013-2015 In Colors.

OWH has an abundance of sketches, great tutorials & much inspiration!!

The actual colors are a shade or two lighter, more pastel-like in real life. 

The cardstock I used is Whisper White, Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding,

 Strawberry Slush & Crisp Cantaloupe.

I also used mini-brads, ribbon and a sentiment from A Round Array.

My last card is my favorite! 

 I CASEd this from some talented person, but there is no name on the photo.

I used the returning colors in our Color Refresh to make the pencils. 

(I missed you Soft Sky and Bermuda Bay!)

I think the sentiment from Really Good Greetings makes this a great end of the school year or graduate card.

It was so much fun to make, I had to hold myself back from adding other colors!

Since my Mojo is back, I have some extra 

Magic Mojo Sparkling Dust 

that I am spreading everywhere!!

So, Go! Create!!

Do it now!

Elizabeth Kratzer

(P.S. VC Rocks stands for Virtual Convention, which is where we who love Stampin' Up! meet together every summer to make friends, have some laughs and get lots of inspiration.  If you are interested in joining us, go to our yahoo group page http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vc_rocks/ )

VC Rocks Final Blog Hop

I hope you are enjoying the hop!

Can you believe it's the final blog hop already?  VC Rocks 2012 has gone by so fast.

You have come from Shari's Stamp Pad.  Although it's been years since I read Harry Potter, I enjoyed her HP characters!

The first creation I want to show you is actually an ATC.

ATC Kimono template is from Penny Wessenauer and I downloaded it from

photobucket. 

 I used Simply Scored to score for the folding and cutting.

The belly band slips right off to open it.

Inside is supposed to be a tea bag, but I just made these tags instead.

 This is such a great idea for a gift card and it could be adjusted to make a full sized card.

Stamps used:  Bright Blossoms, Perfectly Preserved, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard & for sponging - Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Cajun Craze.

DSP:  Summer Smooches, Orchard Harvest

Cardstock:  Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, More Mustard

Accessories:  Flower from punch pack, 1 1/4" scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, pearl jewels, linen thread, Autumn Accents die, Pumpkin Pie ribbon, ticket corner punch (ret).

This next card reminds me of my dad because he had an old tractor under a tree for years. (Yes, I grew up in Louisiana.  Lol)  I really wanted to stamp a tree over the tractor and hubcaps leaning against the tires.  I may still do that!

And the inside...

Does anyone know why my cell phone made those darker stripes going across the picture?

Stamps:  Harvest Blessings, Lovely Little Labels

Ink:  Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory

DSP:  Subtles Color Stack,  Comfort Cafe'

Accessories: Metallic Brads, Artichoke denim ribbon (retired), Apothecary Accents Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits (then I ended up trimming closer to the "barbed wire" frame)

This card will be going to a classmate's 15 yr. old son, who is getting treatments at St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Now, you are going to Robin's Craft Room.

I know you will love what she creates!

Have a blessed day,

Elizabeth K.

VC Rocks Non-card Blog Hop

Hello!  So glad you hopped over to me from Tania's Blog.  

If you want to start from the beginning, you can go to VC Rocks Blog.

The two items I want to share with you today are shaped keyring post it notes and monogram notes in a box.

These keyring post it notes are handy whether it is hanging on your purse or near your phone.

I used Stampin' Up's Perfect Plum, Concord Grape (ret) and cardstock vellum for these since the post it notes were purple.  I had them in several other colors, which I must have given away.

When using the Butterflies die, I cut out several pieces at a time.  For the notes I just pulled off enough from the post it stack to make the thickness of 3 or 4 pieces of cardstock.  At the back I added one cardstock butterfly.  Then I used my crop-a-dile to punch through the layers, adding the ring and finishing off with ribbon and rhinestones.  I adhered my cardstock butterflies to the front only in the middle to give my wings movement.

Here's a close up:

 And using my Fun Flowers die, here are my flower ones:

I decorated the front and the back with Tempting Turquoise cardstock, Summer Smooches DSP, brads and ribbons.  Notice that it is not necessary to use a ring;  just the ribbon looks great too!

This monogram note box is for my VC Roomie, Mary!  

(Don't look, Mary, if you want to be surprised)

The instructions to make this box are at Splitcoast Stampers.

Stamps used are Broadsheet Alphabet and Everything Eleanor.  Images are stamped in Primrose Petals onto just plain old copy paper cut down to size.

I also stamped on the outside of the box:

The piece of Primrose ribbon is adhered to the inside box bottom.  The button on top makes it easy to pull out a slip of paper when needed.

Just a preview of what is to come next week:

and

I finally learned how to (properly) use my Bind-it-all and made these great mini-scrapbooks.  I love embellishing them with Stampin' Up's Designer Series Papers and ribbons!

It's so much fun!

Speaking of fun, there is more at  Shirley's Blog.

Thanks for hopping!

Elizabeth Kratzer

VC Rocks Card Blog Hop

Hi, did you make it through all of those blogs?  

Wow, that's a whole lot of stampin' goodness!

You have probably come from Pam's blog.

If you need to go back to the beginning, you can go to the VC Rocks blog.

The blog after mine is Loni's Life.

Sometimes it's the little things that make life great.  That's certainly true about this card.

I was inspired by the card on pg 104 of the Annual Catalog.  

(Pictures are not the best, mostly because I was just too lazy to make them better:))

I used Lovely Little Labels and Itty Bitty Banners stamp sets.  The Labels are punched with the Little Labels Punch Pack.  I also used Summer Smooches DSP and Tangerine Tango ink.

For my second card, I really wanted to show off the new Natural Composition Specialty DSP.

 These papers are so natural looking on the backside and the front has this gorgeous raised print on it.

The big flower reminded me of the one from the Everything Eleanor stamp set, so I used that stamp for a lighter image on the sentiment, which is from the Trust God stamp set.  I also used linen thread, crumb cake cardstock and curly label punch.

I tried to pick up the shine on the specialty paper.  I hope you can see it.

My third card is my favorite (mostly because I thought I was cleverly "breaking the stampin' law" using part of the Carry On stamp set, but I see that it is allowed now to use the stamps except the one that says "carry on and").

The stamped frame is from the Everything Eleanor stamp set.  This card also uses vanilla, midnight muse,  cajun craze & suede cardstock, and Comfort Cafe' DSP.

I don't know if you can see it, but I punched about 6 of the little postage stamp from the Little Labels punch pack.  I stacked them behind the cut out of the flower stamp to try to make it look a little 3D.

Other punches I used were the 2 3/8" Scallop circle and the 2 1/2" Circle punches.  Midnight Muse stitched satin ribbon added the finishing touch.

Now, you have one more stop on the blog hop and then you will have all the inspiration you need to Stamp On!

Have a blessed day!   Elizabeth K.

Heartfelt Blog Hop

Having fun on the hop?  I hope so!  

You probably came from Angela's Blog.   

The VC Rocks homepage is here.  

The next blog after mine is Diane's. 

Today I want to share a scrapbook page I made with Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio.  It's a page of my Dad, who passed away in March of this year.  Even though we didn't live in the same state,  I still miss him quite a bit. 

I used the February page template from A Year in Review Photobook in MDS.

It's so easy to just drop in those photos and make a title.

My Dad is playing the accordian - an instrument that is necessary for playing Cajun music.

He wasn't the best player, but he taught several of our family members to play.  My brother even had a band that was nominated for a Grammy Award a few years back. 

This picture taken a few years ago shows Daddy enjoying his music again, after he had been ill for several months with his diabetes.  I have great memories of him from that day.

One of the life lessons he taught all 9 of his children:  

Deal with the crisis at hand,

and then move on with the living of life.

Speaking of moving on - the next blog is Diane's.

Have a happy hop day!

Elizabeth Kratzer

VC Rocks July 2011 Blog Hop

Welcome to the VC Rocks ABC Blog Hop - Anything But a Card.

Today I am excited to show you my Junque Journal.  It's a work in progress.  This "art journal" has also been called a glue book or junk journal or smash book.  (I learned how to make this by watching you tube videos by tangiebaxter.)   My journal is loaded with those little pieces of junk that I know I am not going to scrapbook, but want to keep, like:

concert tickets,

notes that my kids wrote to me when they were young,

prayer cards,

pretty postcards from our trip to Galveston,

letters my mother and grandmother wrote to us....

I used a regular old dollar store composition book and pulled out my Stampin' Up! retired and current Designer Series Papers.  I cut them to size, glued them to different pages, added embellishments from previous swaps (ATCs, inchies), even corner punched some of the pages.  This makes for a big bulky journal and the ribbons I used throughout the book hold it together very well.

What I used for the cover is the current SU Flirtatious Specialty DSP.  I put plenty of glue on the backside. (Stampin' Up! glue is perfect for covering these composition books.)  

Other items I used to decorate the cover are:
Alphabet Simple Letters and 3" circle sizzix dies,

Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, and Melon Mambo cardstock,

Antique and metallic brads,

Victoria Crochet trim,

retired felt and crochet flowers,

Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Seude and Pear Pizzaz inks.

Stamp sets: 

French Foliage, Artistic Etchings, Elements of Style,

Delicate Doilies, Notes and Details, In a Word (retired).

Inside the journal some items I added:

a card from the kids, the year after their dad's cancer,

inspirational cards, ATCs from swaps,

letters from my mom and grandmother,

and hairstyles from the past years.  (My hair was much thicker then. Lol)

Thanks for joining us this month.
Leave a comment for me, and on Monday a randomly picked commenter will win an assortment of items like those I used to decorate this journal!

If you want to go to the beginning of the swap, go to VC Rocks Blog.

 

May VC Rocks Card Swaps

This was for the Get Well/Sympathy swap.  I will miss you, Puns from the Past stamps!

Ebony and Ivory swap - that really is Whisper White & Basic Gray.

The embossing folders for the Big Shot are so easy to use and add so much to a card.

Kindness for the Floral swap.  I used the new Stampin' Up! triple flower punches.

For the Sugar and Spice swap, I pulled out my Heat & Stick powder and my Irridescent Ice.

I love, love, love Tiny Tags!  So cute, easy to punch and adds that little something extra.

For the fancy folds swap, I did a simple gate fold card.  There's that triple punch flower again.

Here it is opened.

I hope you liked these cards.  Tomorrow I will add more of my swap cards. 

Until then, happy stampin'!

Elizabeth