LOD 2021 | February 15th - Rachel Jefferies

Love Our Designers | February 15th

Rachel Jefferies is our daily crush!

This event isn't a traditional CHALLENGE in that there aren't any real rules. It's just...Scrap with the featured designer! It’s a fun event to just scrap with products from a fave designer or try a new (to you) designer. It’s all about having fun and celebrating the uniqueness of all of our Lilypad Designers!



First off, Rachel is having a 30% off Sale in her store - Plus there are some buy more save more offers as well where you can save up to 40% in total!!!
(Note that M3 Main Kits and subscription are excluded and sale ends at 11.59 PST Feb 15th)
(Click on the ad below to take you to the store!)


Rachel has also created a stunning Freebie for her e-mail subscribers! New subscribers will automatically receive a welcome e-mail with the download link. She will be sending a message to existing subscribers with the download details asap! Bear with her though as her little ones are off School and Nursery on Half-Term break and she needs to make sure the sale is live in the shop first before she sends the e-mail notification out.
Newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/dB5YZb



To stay in touch with Rachel and keep up to date with what she is doing, keep these handy links close by:
Shop: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Rachel-Jefferies/
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dB5YZb
Blog: https://www.racheljefferies.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/racheljefferiesdesigns
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/racheljefferiesdesigns/ @racheljefferiesdesigns
(Use hashtag #racheljefferiesdesigns to share your creations with her on Instagram)
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/racheljefferies/
E-mail updates sign-up:http://eepurl.com/dB5YZb
TLP username: Rachel Jefferies

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I discovered Rachel’s designs quite a few years ago and was lucky enough to be on her CT for many years and loved every single minute of it. Fast forward to the present and I am still in love with her designs and enjoy working with them immensely whenever I can. I love how versatile her designs are and how they lend themselves to being used in creating a variety of layouts using different scrapping styles including mixed media, minimalistic, art journaling and pocket style.

I especially love Rachel’s Pocket Art Signature Kit Series and have made several layouts with them! Looove all the stitching and how easy those pocket style templates are to use, dressing them up as much or as little as I want. This is a layout I created, ALL I NEED, using Rachel's POCKET ART: SIGNATURE KIT No.8.

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As you may already know, Rachel is also a contributor to Mixed Media Monthly and honestly, it’s always one collection that I always look forward to seeing and using every month. The variety of goodies from each designer, in each month’s issue is stunning but then on top of that, there are also some gorgeous add-ons created by the individual designers, in support of that month's overly theme. To date, my most fave Mixed Media Monthly collection was Dec 2020. Just wow!! Absolutely loved the colour palette in this one and the theme of the entire collection resonated with me deeply. When I signed up for hosting Rachel’s LOD day, I challenged myself to use her Dec’20 M3 addon And So Here I Stand: Mixed Media Kit and only her products from the main M3 kit Dents & Scratches. I had a ball!!!

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RESILIENT
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As well designing products, I really love the fact that Rachel also scraps with her own products. Here are some of her favourite layouts at the moment (check out the Let’s Chat section below for some more):

A Collection of Moments & Tranquility in the Woods


Into the woods I will go & April Favourites

and a Hybrid one: Be(e) the change - Hybrid Junk Journal


Some Art Rachel has recently shared on her Instagram Feed:


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Let’s Chat:
Chatting with designers is always fun, I love finding out how they go about designing their products and also learning a little more about them personally so I asked Rachel some questions about her work and personal life.

Designing work:
1. You started out as a predominantly Art Journaling designer in 2008. How has your style evolved over the years?

I think it was around 2012 when my Art Journaling really started to influence my digital scrapbook designs. I remember taking a class by Roben-Marie Smith and she got me hooked with using spray inks in my spreads and at that time I started to incorporate more of my art journals into my background papers and elements of my Kits.

As time went on, and two babies later, I began to experiment with different ways of satisfying my creative muse. I had less space, less time and just wanted to try something new. This was when I experimented more with collage, sketchbooks and other mediums and my style took another little mini evolution. My husband also bought me a sewing machine for one of our wedding anniversaries and I quickly fell in love with messy machine stitching and threads in my art and scrapbook layouts.

At this point in my life with the kiddies I have the desire to document all the little joys and the little details of everyday life. My product portfolio has naturally shifted to more memory keeping focused products with a mixed media twist. I still create Art Journaling products from time to time and infuse art and textures from my Art Journals into all of my scrapbooking products. I also love being a part of the Mixed Media Monthly team where I can experiment more with art and explore deep and meaningful themes! And of course work with Val, Paula and Lynn every month!!

2. What is your process for designing your products? Do you always start with a specific product, like papers, and build your collection around them?

It's funny you ask, as I always used to start with the papers and build my collection around them but lately I have been working much differently. As with scrapbooking I go through ebbs and flows with my design mojo and I have to match my creative energy when designing products.

It always almost starts with my sketchbooks and art journals etc. This is where I experiment with colour schemes, texture, mark making and mindless collage. I pull from my own life experiences and moods when picking themes and it's much easier for me to get into the flow of a digital kit if I have something tangible to work with first.

The process is an eclectic one, and I will just react to what is in front of me. If I'm inspired by the composition or textures in my artwork that I'm looking at it's likely that I will start working on my papers first. If I'm inspired by my marks or paper pieces or illustration then it's likely I will work on the elements etc.

Lately when I was struggling I tried something completely new and started with a photo. Yup, just a photo! A photo that I wanted to scrapbook! I placed it on my canvas and pulled the colour scheme from the photo, and immediately started designing a Kit for myself to match my photo and ended up creating my Kit and Layout hand in hand!

That was a new way of working for me and I found it very efficient and satisfying at the same time.

JUST DO YOU:

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Make Art and Journal 5 collection is dear to my heart, because I will always remember my daughters photo on my canvas and her being the inspiration behind the whole thing.




3. Do you have a fave kit/collection at the moment? If so, tell us what it is and why you like it so much.

That is not a fair question!! I had a look through my shop, and in addition to the collection above, honestly, the ones that pull at my heartstrings the most are products that include a lot of raw handmade art and textures. There are obviously many many of those, so here are just a few highlights from some of my favourites.

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And I can't resist adding this one, from my beloved Pocket Art Signature Kit Series, it's a bestseller and I just love it so much!!

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Personal thoughts:
1. How did you and your family cope with Covid in 2020? Were there any positive outcomes for you and your family?

What a year huh? I have to be honest that there were some really tough times and challenges that I wasn't prepared for. At one point I really was struggling and we have all cried (many a time) for various reasons. We are in our third national lockdown as I type this, so it seems never ending.

It was easier in a way to deal with the first time around as we had heat waves during our first lockdown, it was as if summer had come early and then we had the summer break following that. We have just tried to spend as much time outdoors as possible but that's hard this time around in the winter and it's been bitterly cold.

But hey, we are all safe and healthy. My husband has been working at home for at least twelve months now which of course has had many challenges, but on the flip side, he feels blessed to have spent more time with the little ones, has enjoyed being involved with the school runs and in particular has a closer bond with our daughter.

2. Your children are growing up quickly, what new challenges are you coming up against at the moment with them?

Yeah! I wish they would stop growing lol! My son has Special Educational Needs so the Pandemic and disruption to his routines and schooling has been particularly hard on him. We have continued to juggle things around and are in a good place right now but there is always the risk that more change is coming. Mackenzie has just started Nursery three days a week, has made some friends and is enjoying it so far!

3. In a perfect world, Covid is gone and you can travel anywhere you want to in the world? Where would be your ideal travel destination with your family? and why?

Oooh?! I would have to say that we would visit the States and do tons of exploring, my sister and brother-in-law live there now so we could visit, the kids would love Disney etc. and there are a few sights in the USA that my son is obsessed about so we would have to visit those and there would be something there for all of us I think!!

Thanks Rachel!

Rachel’s current Captivating Sistas creative team are really such a talented bunch of artists, I always ooooh and aaah when I see their layouts in the gallery or on social media. Take a look at these stunning pages:

Remember by ajm & This by DivaMom96
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The Real Me by Annsofie & create by Alinalove
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Christmas by Ga_L:
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Now it's your turn...
- Scrap a page using (mostly) Rachel Jefferies products.
- Meet the gallery guidelines of 50% TLP product
- Post in Rachel Jefferies Gallery and share your page in this thread.
- Bonus!! Rachel will be back a couple of times this week and will be awarding coupons to lucky scrappers who upload new LOD layouts!

Be sure to check out our Love Our Designers event daily since you never know WHO is going to be featured when! And who knows, the designer(s) may pop in here and there with special surprises and interactions while we are scrapping!!!

Looking forward to seeing your layouts!

 

Thanks Jennifer, will fix them up now. and yes, just dive in, you will certainly have fun with Rachel's products, and that is the beauty of them, you can use them for any style of scrapping you want to do!

 

awww thank you Cheryl! xx