A little pink stocking...

Hiya :)

Eeeek! I can't actually believe it's less than a week 'til cristmas! How quick has this year gone? It's mad!

Anyways... here is a stocking tag, i've made to go with the scarf i've knitted mum as a present. I say it's a tag, but it's a bit big so i'm not sure if it'll get used as a tag yet.

I used tim holtz papers, made into a patchwork type background, then i added some bits of broken jewellry, a tag, a bow and some holly leaves cut from felt. The edges are inked with distress inks and distressed with scissors, and all of the stitching is done by hand again. It is finished with a few gems and stickles around the edges.I'm entering this in:

Totally Gorjuss - for someone special

Creative Inspirations - anything goes christmas
Allsorts - anything goes

PaperPlay - anything but a card

Stamp Something - something with a tag or pocket

Right... i'm off to ice the christmas cake now :)
Thanks for looking

Rachel xx

Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

**Apologies for the bad photos. Bad lighting + bad camera + bad photographer = bad photos! hehe**

Hey!
Here is a quick tutorial for the tissue paper flowers which i've used a few times on my cards. I've had a few requests for a tut on these, so i hope this is useful, and sorry it's taken so long!

This is what they look like. If you want to see the full card, go here.

The instruction goes with the photo below.

What you'll need:

-Tissue paper (any colour or you can colour with copics/promarkers)

-Scissors

-Pokey Tool (or similiar)

-Brad

1) Fold your tissue paper 3 or 4 times

2) Cut out 4 different sized circles.

(you can do this with nesties/punches etc, and it doesn't matter if it's a perfect circle so scalloped circles or blossom nesties are fine)

You will end up with little piles of each size

3) Put the circles in a pile with the smallest on top, and poke through the whole lot with your pokey tool.

4) Insert a brad into the whole.

5) Starting from the middle, scrunch the circles around the brad and play about with it until you like how it looks.

Voila! A cut little flower :)

To make a bigger flower, you will need bigger circles and more layers.

There's tonnes of stuff you could do to make these extra special! Try inking the edges of each circle, adding glitter or spraying with coloured sprays. You can also put a dab of glue on the brad and bring the middle in so that it looks like a closed flower :) Just have fun!

And here's another card made with them a couple of months ago. You can find this card here :)

If anyone makes any of these, please let me know so i can come have a nosy! hehe

Thanks for looking

Rachel xx

Patchwork Tilda

Hiya :)

Here's a card i've made for the Magnolia Down Under challenge, which is to make your own patchwork background. I wanted to do something a bit different for the challenge, so instead of using sqaures of patterned paper, i did it like this...

I used K&Co papers, Tilda with curls coloured with distress inks, blue ribbon, and pearls. The edges are all inked with Walnut Stain distress ink, and tilda is glittered with stickles. All of the stitching is done by hand as per usual.

Tilda is coloured with distress inks:

Hair - Wild Honey & Walnut Stain

Skin - Tattered Rose, Antique Linen & Walnut Stain

Dress - Broken China & Walnut Stain

Socks - Victorian Velvet & Walnut Stain

Shoes - Walnut Stain

Flowers - Victorian Velvet & Peeled Paint

I'm also entering this in:

Magnolia-Licious - pink, blue & green

Thanks for looking

Rachel xx

Simple birthday

Hiya

Here's a card i made just for fun last week, but silly Mr Blogger hasn't been working for me so here it is now! I'm trying to make a few flatter cards which are cheap to post, but it's harder than you think you know!

I used K&Co paper, nesties, a printed seniment, prima flowers and lace from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. The edges are distressed and inked with walnut stain distress inks, then i hand-stitched round the edge twice! And added pearls to the centres of the flowers.

Thanks for looking

Rachel xx

***Blog Candy WINNER***

Hello lovely bloggers!

Thanks sooo much to everyone who entered my candy, and hello to all my new followers :D

I was sooo suprised at how many entrants there were. I just wish i could've given something to you all but obviously that's not possible, sooooooo....

Here's the bit you're all waiting for

.....

The winner is.....

No. 106 which is

***Dragonlady from Crafty Dragons***

Congratulations hun :D Please can you email me your full postal address at the link in my side-bar (left) and we'll sort your prize out.

If i havn't heard from you by next Tuesday (30th) i will redraw the winner

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel xx

200 followers candy!!!

***This candy is now closed***

Hey everyone!
Well, here's some candy as promised to celebrate my little blog getting 200 followers! (well 205 as i write this!) And to say a big *thankyou* to you all for being so amazingly fabulous!!!

It is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, and you have until midnight (uk time) on the 22nd of November to enter, and i will post the winner the next day (23rd).

The candy includes;
1 x Magnolia stamp - Noble Tilda
1 x Magnolia stamp - Tilda with Bell
1 x K & Co paper pad - McKenna (6x6)
1 x K & Co paper pad - Baily (6x6)
1 x Tim Holtz distress ink - Victorian Velvet
1 x Tim Holtz distress ink - Broken China
1 x Ranger distress stickles - Rock Candy
9 x tissue paper flowers (made by me)

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is:
1. Become a follower (or if you are one already...even better!)
2. Post this photo somewhere on your blog, with a link back to mine
3. Add your name to the linky below before midnight 22nd of November

Docrafters - If you do not have a blog, please leave your name, email and a link to your docrafts gallery

Aymers - If you do not have a blog, please leave your name and username, email and just a link back to my blog in the url section.

Thanks for stopping by

Rachel xx

Wedding Card + a photo :)

Hello lovelys :D

We've been away this weekend at my cousin's wedding and i've had the most amazing time! We went on friday, and had a fancy meal in the hotel with the rest of the wedding guests, and then the wedding was on the Saturday at a lovely manor house about 5 minutes away from the hotel. The venue was sooooo stunning! Full of victorian decor, it was sooooo pretty :D Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the house or the bride and groom so i can't show you that, but here's a photo of me (right) and my sister just before we left the hotel to go to the wedding.

I havn't worn a dress since i was about 6 years old, so big shocker there! lol

And here's the card i made for them, with its box...

Sorry about the awful photos. I didn't finish the card until about an hour before we left on friday and we'd already packed the camera, so i had to take them in the hotel.

I used off-white card and embossed a border around the edge, nesties, a printed sentiment, prima and wild orchid crafts flowers, and a charm and ribbon from my stash. The frame around the sentiment has crackle paint on, but you can't see it in the photos.

Ooooo and i almost forgot... i've won some challenges with my advent calender!! Yippeeeee :D

Thanks for looking, and don' forget to enter the candy. It closes tomorow evening!!!!!!!

Rachel xx

Countdown to Christmas!!!

Hey hey hey!

Have you noticed that i've been awol for a couple of days? Well this is the reason!

I've seen a couple of these advent calenders around blogland this year and last, so i thought i'd have a go, and i've now decided that i'm a complete idiot! Any normal person would just buy 24 match boxes for a couple of £££s, but me being me decided to make them...duh! It took me about 5 hours just to make the boxes lol

Anyways... it was fun! And it hasn't taken long to put it all together :)

I used-

Scraps of different papers, Viva swirl stamp set, Papermania stamp, blossom nesties, embossing powder, flowers, (lots of) buttons and bits and bobs from my stash.

I'm entering this is:
The Stampman Challenge - christmas
Pocket Full of Posies - winter Bouquet
A Spoon Full of Sugar - snow and/or snowflakes
ABC Challenge - H is for holidays
Paperplay - ribbon, lace and flowers
The Secret Crafter - red and gold
Bunny Zoes Crafts - christmas...but not a card
Crafty Creations - buttons

Thanks for looking, and good luck in the candy!
Rachel xx

Baby Boy Nappy Cake

Hey!
Here's some piccies of a nappy cake i've made for one of mum's friends who is having a baby boy :)

I've never done one before so am pretty pleased even though it looks nothing like it looked in my head!

I used:

31 pampers nappies

1 hooded bear towel

3 teddy bear bibs

1 teddy bear rattle

1 bottle of baby bath stuff and talc which are inside

The random bow is to cover up the writing on the paper. I always forget 12x12 papers have this on...doh!

Thanks for looking

Rachel xx

Knitted Wrist-warmers & baby hat

Oh yeah... i knit now too! hehe

Hello

I havn't made much this week as we've been busy busy decorating mine and my sisters bedroom, and now the holidays are over already! How dare it go so fast lol

Anyways, i started knitting a couple of weeks ago so i thought i'd show you some things i've made :)

Here's some wrist-warmers made a couple of days ago from my own lets-make-it-up-as-we-go-along-and-see-how-it-goes-pattern!

I love making these and am on with another pair today :)

And here's a cute little baby hat made a couple of weeks ago. This was the first thing i made from a pattern :)

Thanks for looking

Rachel xx