New on the Website - Gingham Peel Offs

Brand new on the website here Gingham Peel Offs!  These are exclusive to Little Claire Designs and come in a pack of six colours:

Metallic Red

Metallic Green

Gold

Black 

Baby Pink

Baby Blue

And here are a couple of ideas for using them:

This first card uses one of our elephant peel off designs and also one of the Glitter Sheets over the top of the design.  On this card, we've used the black gingham peel off which has been placed on some white card and then trimmed to give two gingham strips. 

On this card we've used the 'Poinsettia Corner' stamp.  The we've used the gold peel off strips and interlayered them with the little 'leftover' squares from the metallic red and green strips.  It's easy to do and looks really effective!

This weekend we'll be at the Sincerely Yours Show at Leigh so please come and say hello!

We Have Winners!!

A big thank you to everyone who posted a comment about Heidi's cards from Ally Pally.

As promised, we have drawn five winners and the lucky recipients are:

Donna

Jo

Hazel

Angelique

Linda

Could you all please e-mail helen@littleclaire.co.uk with your postal address and we'll get your stamps out to you as soon as possible.

Weekly Project - Flowerhead Card

It's time for another weekly blog project and this week it's the turn of Design Team member Gaynor to share one of her great ideas with everyone! 

Here's what you will need to make her lovely card:

Flowerhead stamp

Sentiment stamp of your choice

Scalloped square card blank

Nestabilities Scalloped Square Die (use the largest die)

White stamping card

Memento Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black

Brilliance Peacock Ink Pad

Ribbon (coloured with the Cool Aqua Promarker!)

Diamond Glitter Glue

6 White Card Candi

Promarker Pens (see photo below)

3D foam pads

double sided tape

Here's what you need to do:

1. Cut a scalloped square using your die cut machine and place on scrap paper.  Ink up the Flowerhead stamp with the Brilliance ink and stamp four times on to the scalloped card - go over the edges hence the need to scrap paper.

2. Clean the stamp, ink with Memento black ink and stamp on to the white card.  Colour the image using Promarkers and cut out.

3. Colour the stamens on all the stamped images yellow and colour the white Card Candi with the Promarkers.



4. Place the ribbon on scrap paper and pull through the ribbon whilst holding your Promarker (Aqua) on the ribbon to add colour.  The colour will be even and dries rapidly.

5. Adhere the ribbon to the left side of the card blank using double sided tape - it fits snugly into the first scallop - and makes it easy to line up.  Add a small cross piece prior to the longer piece of ribbon and tie the small piece across in a knot.

6. Using double sided tape, position the scalloped die cut card with the four flowerheads on to the card.  Using 3D foam pads to place the coloured flowerhead on to the die cut scallop.  Add a 3D foam pad to the centre of the flower and place the additional Card Candi to the centre.

7. A stamped sentiment can be added to the bottom right of the card, if wished.

8. Add glitter glue to the Card Candi plus the stamens of the flowers.

We hope you like this gorgeous card - leave us a comment to let us know what you think!



A Wonderful Weekend at Ally Pally and a Chance to Win!

It was great to see everyone at Ally Pally at the weekend and I hope you all enjoyed the show!

Our Design Team member Heidi did a fabulous job demoing on our stand and I wanted to share some of the amazing cards she made.  The first one (above) is made with one of the new Red Gingham Christmas designs 'Good Morning Robin' - it's a very clever design because, if you look carefully, you'll see that the circle with the stamped design on it is suspended by a piece of thread so it spins round in the card!  On the other side of the circle, Heidi has put one of the Red Gingham Christmas Text sentiments.

This next card is a very stylish black and white stepper card using the same stamp - doesn't it look different using the black and white colour scheme?  On the main panel Heidi has used one of our new Glitter Sparkle Sheets - mess free sparkle!

This next card uses the 'Deck the Horns' stamp - a lovely circular card in a blue colour scheme.

And here's another gorgeous Christmas card using 'Mr Darcy's Christmas Post' - a red and white theme complete with bunting!

And finally a card made with the 'Spikey Flowers' stamp - another elegant black and white design.

Heidi was a very brave bunny doing a demo in front of a hundred ladies!  I'm sure everyone who came along enjoyed it - we'd love to hear your feedback!!

It would be lovely if you could leave a comment - let us know your favourite thing about going to shows and also which of the cards in this post you like the best.  On Thursday at 12 noon, we'll pick out five lucky winners who will each receive the stamp used to make their favourite card.  Plus, we've altered our blog so that anyone who doesn't have a blog account should now be able to leave a comment.

Little Claire Christmas Card Class

Today we hosted our first Christmas card class at the home of Little Claire!  Six ladies spent the morning with Helen making Christmas cards using a range of techniques and gorgeous products from the Little Claire range, supplied with plenty of refreshments and the opportunity to chat and have some fun while we were working!

The card in the photo above was made using the 'Star of Wonder' stamp.  It's been decoupaged - one layer is the whole of the image and the next layer is just the scarf on the bigger bear.  The stamped image has then been layered with some Bazzill card and the purple Christmas Scrolls paper.

This card was made using the 'No Peeking Now' stamp - the hat has been paper pieced with the red dotty paper to match the background.  Again, it's layered with Bazzill card and the finishing touches are some White Card Candi and one of the Red Gingham die cut sentiments.

Finally, we made this concertina card with the 'Little Claire's Snowman' stamp and also the Red Gingham Christmas Text set.  The base card is made from Bazill.

There are lots more classes in the run up to Christmas and more to be added to the website next week in the 'classes' section of the website here - we look forward to seeing you at one of the classes very soon!

New Tuesday Bargain!

Brand new on the website is our latest Tuesday bargain featuring the very cute "Victoria" stamp plus the following goodies:

4 x 6" by 6" pink Bazzill
2 x 12" by 6" brown Bazzill (folded into card blanks)
4 x 6" by 6" pale pink spotted paper
1 x white peel off sheet with various sentiments
1 x brown and gold peel off sheet with various floral designs
1 x brown and gold peel off sheet featuring Victoria again and two other cute figure designs
1 metre of pink gingham ribbon
Small asst. of Chocolate and Marshmallow Card Candi

RRP is £9.80 but the pack is available for the bargain price of £6.00 which is a saving of nearly £4.00!!

This is a card we've made using the items in the pack and we have folded the brown Bazzill in to two 6" square card blanks ready for you to make the card!

Only available while stocks last so make sure you order straight away.

You can order here on the website but make sure you're quick!!

Weekly Project - Treat Bag

It's time for another weekly project and this week's tutorial comes from Donna who has made this gorgeous treat bag using the Penguin Stuart stamp which is available on the website here at only £3.50.

To begin you will need a piece of card 6.5 inches by 6.5 inches - score on the blue lines and cut on the red lines as shown in the photo below:

Stick front of A to back of B, sandwiching 1 in between, then stick front of C to back of D, sandwiching 2 in between. You will then be left with a box shape as shown in the photo below:

Die cut 2 largest labels (Donna has used Nestabilities Labels 23) out of card and then the next size down out of patterned paper.  Also, die cut or punch a strip of A4 card for handle as shown in the photo below:

Stick the handles to the sides of box and the labels and patterned paper to the front and back as shown in the photo below:

Stamp Penguin Stuart, colour and fussy cut him or her out - Donna has made a girly one!

Stick Penguin Stuart on the front of the bag and decorate with die cut snowflake and sentiment.  Add two bows to handle.

Fill with sweeties!

What do you think, girls?  We'd love to hear your comments!

A Day with Little Claire!

A big thank you to everyone who came to our day of classes at Thornton Hough on the Wirral at the weekend.  We hope everyone enjoyed the day - we certainly did!

Everyone who was there attended three different classes with three of our Design Team members Gaynor, Helen R and Helen N and you can see everyone hard at work in the photo above!  There were plenty of refreshments during the day, a raffle (a big thank you to our sponsors for the great prizes) and of course the opportunity to do some shopping too.

This is one of the cards Gaynor made with her classes using "Ever So Lovely" - a gorgeous stamp which is one of the big launch of new designs in November so you're getting a sneak peak!

And this is one of Helen R's cards made using the very cute 'Armful of Wishes' - a really versatile stamp suitable for so many occasions.

And finally, one of Helen N's cards using the "Will He Find Us?" stamp.

We will be organising another day of classes soon and if anyone hasn't booked their place yet, there is a Day With Little Claire at Crawley on 15 October - you can find more details here.

Just before I go to bed........

.......... I must show you a gorgeous card created by our DT Louise;

What a beauty!  Thank you Louise, I love this design it shows our 'Good Morning Robin' so well, such detail, one of our favourite designs.
Good night everyone, big day tomorrow for our day with Little Claire on the Wirral, will post photo's of our classes and share our cards very soon.
Hugs
Little Claire x

Red Gingham Christmas Die Cut Sheets - New on the Website!

New today on the website are the Red Gingham Christmas A4 Die Cut Sheets - have a look here for more details.

Each sheet has six different die cut designs - all pre-coloured and ready to put on your cards.  They're great if you're making lots of cards or need to make something at the last minute.

One of our Design Team members, Donna, made some gorgeous samples at the Harrogate Show using two of the dies cuts.  In the photo above you can see a beautiful shaped card and below a twisted easel card.

Keep an eye on the website next week for more exciting stock and even more gorgeous cards and inspiration!

Harrogate Show

It was lovely to see everyone at Harrogate last weekend and we hope you enjoyed the show!  One of our Design Team members, Donna, was demoing on our stand making a range of gorgeous cards using our Red Gingham Christmas designs.  Here are a couple of examples of what she was making.

This first card (above) was made using the 'Cold Crisp Kisses' stamp - Donna's very clever card folds flat for sending and then pops open to display the gorgeous design.

And this second card uses the beautiful 'Good Morning Robin' stamp and one of our centre step cards which are all pre-cut and pre-scored to making creating the perfect card even easier!

Sorry we're a bit late posting this but we're all busy preparing for our big day of classes tomorrow at Thornton Hough on the Wirral - we're looking forward to seeing everyone and we'll have photos of the big day to share with everyone next week!

Weekly Project - Time for a Hug!

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and that those of you who were at the Harrogate GNPE had a great time - it was a fabulous show and it was lovely to see everyone there!

So, it's the beginning of another week already and time for another weekly project from one of our Design Team members.  This week's project is from Helen Nile and uses our very cute owl set "The Right Time" which you can find here on the website plus the matching circle sentiment from "Claire's Sentiments" which you can buy as a stamp set here or as part of our die cut sentiment pack here.

Card Ingredients:
“The Right Time” stamp set and “Claire’s Sentiments” stamp set
Square 6” card blank
White card
Pink and tan gingham papers from Little Claire
Dark brown card
White Card Candi
Circle and scalloped circle dies

And here are the instructions:

1. Place the square card blank in front of you open, with the long edges at the top and bottom.  Score a line diagonally across one half of the card blank from the central fold to the top corner and then fold

2. Open the card out again and decorate the panel that is not folded – this will form the base of the easel card.  Layer the dark brown card, tan gingham paper and pink gingham paper as shown.

3. Cut a panel of card which is the same size as the card blank (ie 6” square) and decorate in the same way as the base – this is the top of the easel.

4. Stamp the larger owl image from “The Right Time” set and then die cut the stamped image using the circle die.  Stamp the matching circle sentiment from “Claire’s Sentiments” and die cut with the smaller circle die.  Die cut scalloped circles to match both of these from dark brown card.  Stamp one of the flowers (from the branch) in “The Right Time” set and carefully cut this out.  Colour the images using Promarkers.  The colours used are shown in the photo below.

5. Glue the single flower to the circle panel as shown on the final card and stick the circles and scalloped circles together.  Stick the larger circle and scalloped circle in the middle of the top panel.

6. Stick the front panel of the card to the folded part of the card blank  being careful to only stick it to one half of the folded panel – make sure you have the right panel by testing how the card will look folded up before sticking the front panel down.

7. Attach foam pads to the sentiment scalloped circle and then stick this in the bottom corner of of the pink panel of paper on the base using the photo at the top of this post as a guide - this will act as the "stopper" and keep the front panel standing up.  Finish with white Card Candi coloured with Sandstone and Pink Carnation Promarkers.

Hope you enjoy this week's project!

Little Claire Monthly Challenge # 13 - 'Black & White' Theme

Good morning, welcome to another challenge. Thank you to all of you who took part in the Little Claire's August challenge, we had a huge response once again and it was so lovely to see so many wonderful cards.

Our winner this month, chosen by random organiser is :-

Judy - Well Done Judy!!! Your card was gorgeous!

Please contact Gill/Carol @ info@littleclaire.co.uk and they will forward on your prize.

Our Top Three are :

Diane
Sylvia
Anne

Well done ladies! Please copy the badge from the side bar, for your blogs.

Now onto September's challenge, we would like to see your Black & White creations. They can be cards, scrap pages or projects. You do no have to use a Little Claire image to join in, but if you do, you can also be in with a chance of being chosen for our Top Three.

Here is the prize for the lucky winner of this month's challenge, wow what wonderful goodies!

It consists of: 4 x Christmas baubles paper, 4 x Jingle bells paper, 4 x Crimson Bazzilll, 4 x Pine Bazzill, 1 x sheet handmade stickers, 1 x sheet Red Gingham die-cut Christmas sentiments and 1 x Little Claire Poinsettia Corner stamp

Here are the Design Team creations, aren't they fabulous? Please leave us a comment, we love to receive them.

Donna using 'Spikey Flower Set' & sentiment from 'Gerbera' set

Gaynor using 'Daisy the Campervan' image & Red Gingham Sentiment stamps



Georgina using Red Gingham 'Oh Christmas Tree' & Sentiment stamps



Heidi using 'Spikey Flower' image, Red Gingham Circle Sentiment & LC Die-cut Circles



Heike using 'A Little Bird told me' Stamp set.



Helen N using 'Single Flower' image & Peel-off from 'Butterfly Tree' set



Louise using 'Christmas Westie' stamp

To enter the challenge, there are a few rules to follow :

•You DO NOT need to use a Little Claire stamp to qualify for the prize draw
•However, only those using Little Claire stamps will qualify for a Top 3 badge
•You may enter the challenge UP TO 3 TIMES and you may combine with other challenges
•You must follow the challenge theme and NO BACKLINKING please, new cards only
•Please provide a link to our blog in your post
•Please leave a link (via link below) to your actual card, not just to your blog
•The challenge will close at 6pm on Friday, 7th October 2011, the winner/top three will be announced on Saturday 8th October 2011 along with Challenge # 14.

Good luck and thanks for joining in!

The Little Claire Design Team

xxxxxxxxx

Little Claire's Weekly Project - Made for Men!

Hello everyone, thank you for all of your lovely comments regarding our first Weekly Project, last week. Here is another one for you, using our 'Made for Men' stamp set. Our Design Team member, Heidi Green has designed our project, (click on the link to see her blog). This stamp set is so versatile, it has lots of great elements to play with and has two different sentiments.



Card Recipe :
'Made for Men' stamp set - Little Claire
14 x 14" White Card Blank
My Mind's Eye Paper 'Portabello Road' Paper
Light Brown Card
Inks : Black Momento & Vintage Photo Distress Inks
Promarkers Used : Vanilla, Tan, Caramel, Crimson, China Blue, Cool Grey 3, Ice Grey 1 & Ice Grey 2
Brown Card Candy
Linen Thread
Glossy Accents

Instructions :
1. Firstly, cut out a square measuring 13.5 x 13.5 inches, another measuring 13 x 13" of MME paper. Ink around edges of white card blank and square of card and paper using Vintage Photo ink pad.



2. Using black Momento inkpad, stamp out bottle/glass, shoes & book/glasses images onto white card. Leave an edge around images and cut mats of brown card, slightly larger thank images.

3. Colour in with Promarkers. Ink around edges as before and doodle a black line around images.


4. Stick down brown card and paper square onto white card blank. Then place and stick matted images around the card at angles. Add two brown card candy to left of project.

5. Wrap around linen thread twice and tie a bow towards the top of the card. Add glossy accents to bottle, glass, shoe tips and glass lenses and leave to dry.

Hope you have enjoyed this week's project, please leave us a comment below.

Happy Tuesday!