At Last//Weekly Creative

I actually have some layouts to share today!!! Shocking huh? I've been scrapping but not very often - usually just at our crop which is just once a month, I need to get back to it. Anyway here you go:

He ain't heavy, he's my brother - I used some prima printed cardboard for the background of this, as well as some flowers and prima enamel pieces. I had a really good time making this - I even used texture paste for the first time. The photo is Robbie helping Kristofer on his rollerskates:

 Old man of Hoy - this layout uses Glitz Designs papers and elements, and a few random bits from my embellishment box. The old man of Hoy is one of the country's tallest single standing rocks, it's up in Orkney:

 1, 2, 3, Blow - This is my favourite of the 3, the photos were taken last year and are of Robbie blowing dandelion clocks. He had a great time doing this, and I loved making the resulting layout using prima printery:

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back later in the week.
V xx

The Puppet Master//Weekly Creative

Wow I can't believe it's been nearly a week of my 45 minute challenge; it's going well and I'm sticking to it; I'm just squeezing alot into my 45 minutes and getting so much more done outwith computer time. It's great. Anyway's I'm popping by to share this, it's called The Puppet Master:

It's my first steampunkesque piece, and I love her. I used mostly Graphic 45 papers, grungeboard and some little trinkets we had stored away for times like these. I ended up really enjoying making this and it's quite a poignant piece for this period of my life.

Right that's me for now, I have other creative things to share in the next little while and I'm planning some kids baking soon so I'll be sharing that.
All knitting projects have moved to my new blog, It's a good place to knit, so go check it out.
V x

Something Creative//Weekly Creative

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments this past week; it's good to be back!!! Today I have a couple of creative things to share.

Firstly is this layout of my MIL, this was on our wedding day and I used Glitz papers for it:

 And secondly, I made this canvas using Bo Bunny Zoology papers ages ago but never got around to sharing:

I used some prima and maya road things too, and the photos are from our visit to the safari park a few years ago - the giraffes were beautiful.
I'll be back Sunday with something Pinteresting.
V x

Texture Box//Weekly Creative

Last month I made a quite large shoebox into a piece of art; I have always been a huge fan of anything with texture!! I have hundreds of photos of doors, floors and so much more just because I love the textures involved. So this box will eventually contain a minibook with the photos and some other pieces that I love....

I started out gessoing my whole box; then layering up acrylic paints, inks and glaze paints. I wanted purple and orangey colours while keeping my steampunk look:

For the lid I used some grungeboard wings, some glitter thickers that I filed, the gorgeous new Prima resist canvas and a lady shape playing card (that I covered). I decided quite early that everything was going to have quite alot of texture so that everything came off the box.

For the front I used some small grungeboard wings, a piece cut from some graphic 45 paper, a grungeboard name plate and a few other bits. The handle came from a giftbag - I thought this was a great use of recyling.

In these 3 photos you can see just how much everything pops off the page; I definitely want to try some of these boxes for birthday presents etc next year. I love to do handmade gifts and boxes are always a great source of storage!!!

That's me for today, I'm taking it easy as I've injured my back but I still have some studying to do. I'll be back tomorrow for Pinterest Sunday/

Vxo

Cropping//Weekly Creative

I thought I'd do a very quick post before school today and share some layouts; I did these at our crop on Saturday - along with one other but I need to make a few adjustments to that. Anyways here they are:

I created this using Graphic 45's Le Cirque collections; together with a photo of Robbie playing on some rings during the summer; I used loads of chipboard too:

This one features Prima's Printery collections; with a photo of Robbie and Kristofer with my Gran (their Nana) - I used lots of cut out pieces, some prima lace, various journalling cards and some maya road canvas banner pieces:

I had a really fun crop at the weekend; I've started making plans for our christmas crop at the end of November - I can hardly wait. Thankfully the kids are feeling better today, and my cough is starting to clear a little more now. Tonight I have an OU tutorial; so I'll be off out later.

V xo

Boy In Tree//Weekly Creative

Just a quick post from me today, dropping by to share this:

I did this layout at a crop during the summer; I can't believe I haven't had the chance to get it photographed and shared on here. The photo is of Robbie sitting in a tree at a local park; I think it was around May because I remember it being unusually warm. I used Bo Bunny Gabrielle for this layout; I love to use a little pink on my boy pages, especially when they look so serene and relaxed in the photos. I hope you enjoy this little share; I have a couple more layouts to share soon and an altered box.
love, V xoxo

Giving Back//Weekly Creative

I was hanging around on Twitter earlier this month, when I noticed a tweet that caught my eye...... the chance to create a wooden block with the theme of HOME - to be sold at a festival in Yorkshire; with all proceeds going to the charity Shelter. I jumped at the chance, contacted the lovely Josie and my block arrived pretty soon afterwards. Around the same time, I won a prize from Graphic 45 which included their whole range of Magic In Oz - perfect for the theme of HOME, with that in mind I got started and here is what I came up with:

The top connects a keyhole with a key; with the simple word "home"...... I melted hot wax over areas of my block and I love the results - I will be trying this again:

 

Here is a close up of the top, you can see the effect of the wax and the string better:

This is the front, I went for alot of gold and red for this block; and used the image of Dorothy's shoes as they play such a huge part in her story:

Side 2; features the key (I stuck it on because it looked to floppy otherwise), a shoe tag and more wax - I used both tissue paper, sheet music, paint and modge podge to create the underneath layers:

Side 3 features a small picture of dorothy, and some more of that sheet music:

Side 4 features Dorothy again but this time on a chipboard tag, which I painted over lightly and modge podged to seal:

The bottom is really just a little saying, but I won't show that because it's nice for the person who buys it..... something a little special. I went for images on all sides, so that it can be displayed in any direction - although my favourite side is the first one!!!!

So if you want to play along contact Josie through the ArtisOn website; facebook or her twitter; remember this goes to support people who don't have any place to go - that is difficult and they need help.

love, V xoxo

Bo Bunny//Weekly Creative

Happy Friday,
Just a quick post as I have to pick up Kristofer soon, we are off swimming and to have some lunch - hopefully it won't rain!!!!
Anyways I did this layout at the crop in August, here is a wee close up of some of the detailing:

And the whole layout:

I used Bo Bunny Gabrielle for this layout; lots of prima flowers and some felt thickers - this was a fun one to make and has alot of depth. It also features a paper flower that I made for my class (see my scrap class post).

Lastly my assignment is in, I'm excited to get my grade back and then it's the last assignment which is a portfolio of my 4 designs and an essay.

love, V xo

Scrap Class // Weekly Creative

Happy Saturday all,
Just swinging by to share some pics of a class I taught at our August crop. I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to do a quick tutorial on making flowers from the leg of a pair of tights, and another using 3 book pages:

We also did a layout using the flowers, and lots of pretty layering - I did the flowers above and this layout as my example before the class:

I also did another flower in the class, this time I used a tan tight leg that I sprayed with lime glimmer mist, I liked that this one turned out flatter (I used thinner tights for this flower):

And I created another layout, I did a few different things on this layout because I didn't want 2 identical layouts - I always encourage the crop ladies to feel their way around their own creativity and see how it goes, no-one comes out with identical layouts, it's fun!!!! I did create another paper flower but I didn't use it because it just didn't fit. This layout documents the Yelland part of our name; which came from Jay's nana's father (I think - my MIL will correct me if that's wrong) - I took this picture of our family plot up near Letham Glen and decided to scrap it:

Right I better go, I'm off out with my Gran for some lunch - she's doing better since her surgery and she feels like having a few hours out of the house.

love, V xo

PS - Pinterest Sunday is coming back soon, please bear with me.

Guest Scrapper - A Trip Down Memory Lane

Happy Sunday all,
I was asked to be the guest scrapper for A Trip Down Memory Lane (a fabby scrapping shop here in the UK); and I got to create with the awesome awesome Graphic 45!!!! Here is what I created:


Dotty
I made Dotty with the Magic of Oz papers; I made an altered mannequin last year (Morgan) and so I bought a smaller version in the hope that one day I would gain the inspiration to alter her!!!! I went for a completely different look for Dotty, with a tophat (including birds in a nest); leggings; a web and a pretty top:

Also, in spirit on Morgan, I put her name on her arm:

Happy Birthday
I made this card using the Once Upon a Springtime papers, I love the pretty fairies from this range and the beautiful tags - the opportunity to do some intricate cutting was good too:

Happy Halloween
I used the rest of the Magic of Oz papers to make a halloween card; I love the tin man paper although cutting them out was tricky, we did have a few amputee moments!!!! I really love these papers, they are darker than what I usually go for, so it was nice to try out something different:

In Love

This range is Botanica Bella; which, to be honest, isn't a range I have seen or used before but it is very beautiful - full of birds, leaves and butterflies:

Once Upon A Time
This is definitely my favourite piece from being a guest scrapper; the paper were so easy to work with and making this page was so fun to do..... I explored different things with the papers, and just had a good time:

So that's me for now, a huge thank you to ATDML for having me - I really enjoyed it.

love, V xoxo

PS - regular posting will be back soon(ish); but it's assignment time again xx

Summer of Instagram

 Happy Friday all,
So this summer i decided to start a Summer of Instagram book; I love Instagram - it's nice and easy, plus it saves having to take my camera out every day (or those days when it's not raining). Anyhoo on my birthday I found a very gorgeous kraft binder at Paperchase ( i filled it with plastic wallets with different sized sections!!!):

I chose some pretty tissue paper, covered in flowers and got started pretty much straight away, this is it with the closure opened:

And here it is with the closure done up:

I used loads of pretty journalling blocks, I got my MIL to make the shaped piece on her big shot and some pretty thickers that I smudged some ink over. I sprayed the 2011 with some glimmer mist and dabbed on some paint...... I went for quite a layered look, and modge podged the whole thing.

Here is another photo taken at a different angle, you can see the layers better:

I will share some of the pages from it soon; but here are a couple of the photos I will definitely be using.... this is Kristofer trying out his roller skates for the first time, and Robbie supporting him.... cute right???

This one is Kristofer on one of our rainy day baking adventures:

I plan on doing some quite arty pages for this, as instagram lends itself to all sort of medium!!!! If you want to add me to  your instagram my name is theduchess

love, V xoxo

Monday Creative

Happy Monday all,
I won't go as far as to say I am back from my blog break; because this is going to be a hectic few weeks with my assignment due. However I thought I would pop in with a few creative pics from my tutorial on Saturday. As it's group work week we had alot of fun creating wallets for horses; and phones for Johnny Depp (that might have been my favourite).
Anyway here are some pics before I get back to study:
My group table:

The "Cheekbones" Phone for Johnny Depp - based on his Willy Wonka character:

And here are a couple of random Edinburgh shots that I took and fell in love with; the city art centre:

Taken from just below the Scott Monument; standing in it's immense shadow (in Princes Street Garden):

Of course being in Edinburgh gave me the chance to get starbucks - sugarfree soya hazelnut latte; so good. I also went and bought Kristofer's stuff for his football club (he started today) and had a look at new make-up in boots.

I'll hopefully be back later in the week; but I have to prototype at the end of the week.

love, V xoxo

PS - if you get a chance, please click HERE and go fill out my form, all replies help.

Monday Creative: weekend layouts

Happy Monday;
And Happy May Day..... I can't believe it's May already and we are sure getting the weather for it!!! I've got bedding on the line and another load in the machine..... We've also spent alot of time gardening this weekend which was fab AND I did 2 layouts. Ok one was started at the crop and the other was semi started last year but still......
Autumn Morning
Ok so this was the layout I started about a year ago; I had the photo originally backed on cardboard; and well that's all I had done. I knew I wanted to use the Basic Grey Granola collection; and when I found the kit yesterday I thought, well let's get it finished. I was also on the Webster's Pages blog and got inspiration from THIS layout by DT member Gabrielle. Anyway here is what I did:

I love the Prima leaves; and I just used a gold dabber to give them a slightly more rustic, autumn feel; I used some crackle paint too and lots of distress ink!!! The photo is of me a few years ago; on one of those days when you can see your breath - I just happened to get a photo!!!!

Girls (& Goggles)
This is the layout I gave sneaks of on Tuesday Creative last week; I used plenty of Websters Trendsetter papers; some cute film strips; buttons and Prima centres. I cut up one of the sheets of websters to get the mannequin shapes; and I used some orange glimmer mist:

The photos are from our wedding; they are Jaynee; Clare; Lisa and Sharon (the last 3 are my sisters)..... I loved these photos and when I saw the Trendsetters photos I knew the 2 would work just perfectly. I can't wait to play with more Websters - we got another Angel Crafts order through at the weekend ; my part was full of Websters and Prima (oh and crop prizes!!!)..... so excited to get scrapping; and I really really want to get knitting this week.

love, V xoxo

Tuesday Creative - layout love!

Happy Tuesday all,
Today is yet another busy day - we have several appointments today but we're hoping to fit in going to the outdoor gym again (if it's not raining later). Anyways I thought I would share with you the layout I got done at the crop on Saturday.
I don't usually include detail shots but this layout kind of needed it; so here is the first one, you can see that I used a photo underneath the framing of this Websters Pages paper:

And here I used an old jeans label, which just summed up everything really well and tones with the gorgeous Ladies and Gents range:

This is the whole layout; I used some prima letters for the title and some of the canvas flowers which you can colour yourself (I love them) - I took the photos on my dayout to St.Andrews with Kristofer:

The last photo for today is the beginning of a layout using the Trendsetter range from Websters; I love this range too and I thought I would struggle to relate to it but it's really quite fabulous. I haven't done much yet; just some cutting and sticking:

I am hoping to get this layout finished during the week; so check back!! I'm not sure yet if I'll be around tomorrow as it's another packed one; but I'll definitely be back this week.

love, V xoxo

Monday Creative - Teaching

Happy Monday all,
Wow it's been a busy weekend here; what with a crop to run and teach at on Saturday and then obviously the Easter bunny came yesterday (pics in the week)...... I did completely enjoy myself though. Anyways I have some pics to share today from my class on Saturday.
I taught this class, I used Websters Pages but you can actually use any papers and any embellishments! Various ladies from my crop had asked about the tearing/cutting technique to create the triangular shapes on this layout..... so I thought why not teach it???

Everyone really enjoyed it; and alot of the ladies said they enjoyed my teaching style (which is always what you want!!!!). There was a variety of different scrappers joining in so it was nice to see what they all came up with. Here they all are busy working:

And the layouts; as you can see all very different uses of the shape; and 7 very different layouts (not everyone got finished!!):

I liked that some of the ladies brought a whole new dimension to the technique - it was fantastic; and I learned some too!!! I can't wait to teach again - I have already been requested; although I have no idea what I am going to teach. I know some of my crop ladies stop by - HI!!! and thanks for doing my class yesterday; I really appreciated it.

I'll be back tomorrow with the 1 layout I did at the crop; and a wee sneak peek of another I need to finish. Right now I'm off to the ourdoor gym with my wife; I'm down 5lbs..... just another 10lbs to go to get to my first goal.

love, V xoxo