VC Rocks - May Blog Hop

Meet MR. BIG SHOT

Welcome to Stop 32 on VC Rocks June Blog Hop!  If you are following this month's Blog Hop, you have arrived here from Mary Campbell's blog, Mimi to Jett.  If you are a follower, you can begin the Blog Hop here.

This month we are featuring cards, scrapbook pages and many other projects using the Big Shot Die Cutting Machine.  VC Rocks is a Yahoo! Group that is open from the middle of April (for returning members) to the end of August each year.  The members love to stamp, scrapbook, chat, share, teach and have fun!  AND, I would say that 99.9% of us love our BIG SHOT machines.  They are so versatile and can be used to enhance all your projects.

The Big Shot Die Cutting Machine is fantastic.  You can use so many different items with it to create numerous designs.  One of the most diverse items is the Magnet Movers & Shapers die base.  It is used with moveable magnetic pieces such as a star, a dove, a heart, an ornament and many more.

For my first project I used the moveable magnetic ornament  piece.  This piece is very versatile -- it can be used for an ornament die cut, the bottom cut off to create a vase, turned side ways with fins and tails attached to create a fish, a top placed on it to create  an acorn and as many other ideas as you can come up with.

I have created this card using the ornament as a vase.  I also used a new punch that will be in the New 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog (Lace Ribbon Border).  With the card are two tags created with the ornament piece.

 Below is an acorn tag using the ornament piece.  I have shown the pieces used to create the tag and how to create the top of the acorn with the round punch and scalloped circle punch.

Other popular items are the Bigz Dies and the XL Bigz Dies.  Below are two cards using the Top Note Die two ways.  The first way is folded in half creating a purse and the second shows it being used as the second layer on a card.  In addition, there are two cards shown using a Sizzlet Die -- Little Leaves.  This die adds depth and dimension to any project.

The Large Scallop Circle Die is ideal for many projects.  Here it is used to make a Christmas Card and a card to send to a friend.

Some of my favorite items are the Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  These folders make beautiful backgrounds for cards, scrapbook pages and texturing card stock to be used for 3-D Items as well as die cuts to accent your work.  The new Framed Tulip Embossing Folder is used on the first card, the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder  is used on the second card, and the Polka Dot Embossing Folder is used on the third card.

Embosslit Dies not only emboss the card stock, but cut it out at the same time.  One of my favorites is the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die which creates five butterflies at one time as shown on this card:

Many of the dies (Bigz and Bigz XL) can be used with a variety of mediums; such as, card stock, cork, wood, material, magnetic strips, aluminum and many more.  Butterflies were cut out of pieces of material and used to create this card.

I hope you have enjoyed my impromptu "singing the praises of the Big Shot Die Cutting Machine".  Can you tell this is my favorite tool?

Be sure to hop on over to the very talented Loni Holt's blog, Loni's Life and see what she has in store for you!

In case you become lost or disoriented during this month's blog hop, you can find a complete listing of the blogs here.