Look what we've got that's new.....

......here's a super idea - a fab pack that contains everything you need to make a gorgeous card, and for our first pack we have chosen the lovely Christmas Joy stamp:

Isn't this such a beautiful card?  We love it!

So what do you get in the pack?  You get: 'Christmas Joy' ready stamped (just colour in), the paper & card (red gingham & red bazzill card) for matting & layering - all pre-cut to size, circular sentiment, rosette, gingham circle - all cut to size, snowflakes, pearls and super, lovely snowflake & heart ribbon mmmmm.....and of course, the blank greetings card & env, in this instance it's a blank kraft card.

Not forgetting full colour instructions - what a super pack, so it's everything you need apart from adhesives and, the cost?  Just £3.80!

This super pack is available on our web: and you can find it in the 'new' section.

Little Claire x

Here is the latest addition to our Changing Tree collection...

... look at our fabulous Girly Changing Tree stamps!

by Helen R

We have designed a set of 7 stamps all sized to fit onto your Changing Tree base, you just stamp where you wish to create your own dream tree!
On her card below, Georgina has built up her tree with accessories and has her shoes hanging from a bow together with a hanging basket of flowers.
The number 21 is from our  Daisy Dot Alphabet & Numbers set of stamps and the 'Sister' sentiment is from our Dictionary Definitions set of stamps.

by Georgina

 On her card below, Helen N has used her hanging hearts, which look lovely and like Georgina, she has placed the wine bottle & glass at the foot of the tree, although if you look back up at Helen R's card it does not have to be in this position - it's all up to you where you place your stamps!  'Mum' sentiment is from our Dictionary Definitions stamp set.

by Helen N

Three lovely cards, all in various shades of pink!  We will show you more during the week; our Girly Changing Tree embellishements consist of 7 stamps: Hairdryer, Lipstick, Hanging Basket, Hanging Shoes, Perfume, Hanging Heart & Handbag, all designed to fit our original Changing Tree - and the best bit:
these 7 stamps are available for just £3.99!
Of course all the 'Changing Tree' stamps in our range don't just have to be used to make your dream trees - you can make borders or use them with other projects and stamps - so much choice!

A Winner from our competition last week:

Last week we offered one lucky person the chance to win their own RWAV Nativity stamp set and the lucky winner is: Kate
Well done Kate, please contact Carol stating your prize and contact details

More Girly Tree ideas to follow AND we will be able to reveal our NEW Club Stamp for November very soon - wait till you see the cards our girls have made....stunning!

Little Claire x

Friday Project - It's a Gift!

Hello everyone - this week it's my turn (Helen N) to bring you the Friday Project and I thought I've give you a couple of ideas for very simple hand made Christmas gifts.  

For both projects, I've used Bazzill card which is now being stocked by Little Claire and will be on the shop website very soon.  If you haven't used Bazzill before, it's a gorgeous product and a definite 'must have' for all card makers.  The card comes in 12 by 12 sheets and most of the colours have a slight texture on the surface.  Keep an eye on the 'new from Little Claire' section on the website here for the new stock of Bazzill card.

First of all a calendar:

and then a post-it note holder:

First of all, to make the calender you will need:

Little Claire Joie de Vivre stamp set

12.5cm square card blank

white stamping card 

white dots on pink paper 

kraft paper 

pink Bazzill card

calendar pad

Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad

brown ink pad

Promarkers - Pink Carnation, Blossom, Rose Pink, Tan, Caramel, Blush

foam pads 

And here's what you need to do:

1. Stamp the main image from the Joie de Vivre stamp set on to a piece of white card measuring 10.5cm by 6.5cm.  Colour the image using Promarkers and then layer on to kraft paper, pink card and a second layer of kraft paper leaving a narrow border each time.  A little tip to add depth to the layers - use a brown ink pad (ideally a pad that's been well used and is quite dry) to ink around the edges of the paper and card.  

2. Fold one panel of the card blank in half to create an easel card and then add kraft and pink spotted paper to the base and top flap leaving a narrow border each time as shown in the photo.  Again, I've inked all of the edges of the paper to add some depth:

3. Layer the calendar pad on to a piece of pink card and then on to kraft paper leaving a narrow border each time.  This is the stopper for the easel which is then attached to the base with foam pads:

Next, to make the post-it note holder you will need:

 Little Claire Garden Set stamps

white stamping card

blue Bazzill card

kraft paper

blue patterned paper

Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad

brown ink pad

post-it note pad

Promarkers: Pear Green, Moss, Sandstone, Caramel, Pastel Blue, Denim Blue, Blue Pearl

And here's what you need to do:

1. Cut a piece of blue card measuring 17cm by 8.5cm.  With the longest sides towards you, score the card at 8cm and 9cm to form the holder and fold it along the score lines:

2. Open the holder out and stick the post-it note pad to the right hand square of the holder, butting it against the score line.  Leaving the middle 1cm spine blank, attach kraft and patterned paper to the left hand square of the holder as shown in the photo.  Again, I've inked the edges of the paper with a brown ink pad:

3. Stamp the flowerpot image from the Garden Set on to a piece of white card measuring 7cm square and colour with Promarkers.  Layer this on to kraft paper leaving a narrow border.  Close the holder and attach the image panel to the front of the holder:

I hope you like these projects - hopefully they will inspire you to make some hand made gifts this Christmas!  It would be lovely if you could leave me a comment.

And don't forget to visit Little Claire's new premises on the Wirral - all the details are here on the website.  I had a trip there last weekend and it's a great place to pick up lots of ideas and inspiration and see all the Little Claire goodies.  I'm also going to be teaching classes there starting next month - both of the classes in November are now fully booked but there are more dates in the New Year - all the details are on the website here.  I hope you'll be able to join me!

Helen x 

Edging ever closer to Christmas....

...so with that in mind we thought we'd show you a couple of cards made with our favourite religious stamp set RWAV Nativity:

by Heidi

 

This is a large DL set of stamps which contains:

• exterior of the stable
• the interior scene
• a sheep
• a crown 
• circular sentiment 'a new king born today' 

 Below Georgina has used the stamp without the stable doors to create her card and you can see the sentiment:

by Georgina

And then, also by Georgina, the two cards below show the doors closed and then open to reveal the nativity, Georgina has placed the sheep in the foreground and if you look closely you can see that she has used the crown to create a sublte background onto the white card;

and finally here is a lovely blue card designed by Donna, again showing the doors opening upon the Nativity:

by Donna

A great set for Christmas, lots to use and a little bit different from most other designs.

We have one set up for grabs (rrp: £8.99) for your chance to win your own RWAV Nativity please leave a message of love & warmth to us here at Little Claire - the grey weather has us feeling a little glum today :(
and we will announce the winner on Tuesday next week 30 October.

Little Claire x

Coming to the end of the month...

... and we are gearing up here ready to send out our Little Claire club packs, our printer is doing us proud printing out all the Project Sheets & Newsletters, all project packs are prepped and the stamps have been cut and packed, we really are just like busy little elves!

But, as always our new club design must remain a secret until all our lovely ladies receive their parcel - we will show our new design here next week, it is not a Christmas design, its....... well, let's just say we all love it and have a great selection of cards from our teamies.

One of our teamies, Lyndsey, has sent in a pic of a card she made using stamps from our new 'Georgina's Rosettes' stamp set:

Georgina's Rosettes

This fab stamp set is A4 in size and contains 6 different rosettes, a 'tail' and 8 unique circular sentiments to fit right inside (they also fit the Nestie dies), here is Lyndsey's card:

from Lyndsey

See how Lyndsey has layered the rosettes and used the 'tail' twice, the sentiment is from our Dictionary Definitions stamp set (pack of 12) - it makes a really effective & striking male card, but these rosettes are great if you just want to send someone a bit of recognition or a thank you.

Donna has designed the card below with a girly feel and she has used the 'friend' sentiment which comes with the pack, so just by changing the colours, papers and adding a few butterflies your whole card can become so different!

designed by Donna

And from Helen R, below, various Rosettes have been placed onto Kraft card and then Helen has cut out the middle of the rosette on the front of the card to show the greeting from the inside.

designed by Helen R

So there you are, a little blog post inspired by our Lyndsey's card this morning!

Little Claire x

Friday Project - Triangle gift box

Good Morning! It’s my turn (Donna) to show you a project using a gorgeous Little Claire Designs stamp. I decided to make a cute little gift box.

You will need

Merry Kissmas stamp

Patterned, plain co-ordinating & stamping card 

Spellbinders Labels 18

Martha Stewart snowflake punches

Promarkers: Burgandy, Ruby, Sandstone, Pastel Beige, Pine, Pear Green, Cool Grey 1, 2, 3 & 4

Hole punch

Ribbon

Pearls

      Take a piece of patterned card measuring 28 x 14 cm. Score as shown

      Fold in half length ways and then bring A to B and glue as shown

 Punch a hole through both glued pieces as shown

 Bring C to D, do not glue ( this will be opening ) and punch as before

Thread ribbon through holes and tie in a bow as shown

Stamp image onto stamping card & colour, also stamp onto patterned card as shown

Cut out dog coats glue on image. Die cut image using largest of Labels 18, emboss and trim off embossed edge, (this will create a tight mat) die cut again but this time in co-ordinating cardstock. Stick image to mat as shown

  Stick image to front of gift box and decorate as shown

A view from side 

Hope you have enjoyed my little tutorial, please call back next Friday for another one from one of my lovely teamies.

Well done to Heidi...

...we have to share this with you, our Heidi has had two of her cards published within the current issue of Making Cards magazine (Nov 2012):

Two pages of card making projects featuring our 'Christmas Joy' stamp with step by step guide to create Heidi's two stunning cards.

Here are the cards in close up:

Christmas Joy stamp which also includes the greeting: 'the best time of the year!'

Christmas Joy stamp with the greeting from 'Magic of Christmas' stamp set

We hope you agree that these are two stunning cards and if you buy the magazine which is on sale now, you can follow Heidi's instructions and make them for yourself!  (well, usually not for yourself - to giveaway lol!)

So well done to Heidi, and thank you for showcasing our lovely Christmas Joy stamp x

Little Claire x

Here's a card....

...made using our very popular Butterfly Tree stamp set

this is such a great set, it includes everything you see above here, 8 stamps in total for £8.99 and here is a card that Georgina has sent in made using just the butterflies from this set:

What a great effect, made just using the one group of butterflies!

Here is a close up of the butterflies in the corner of the card, Georgina has cut them out and decoupaged the image, and you can see here how she has drawn a dashed edge around the card with a Fineliner pen.

And here is a close up of the top left corner showing the butterflies coloured with a variety of pink ProMarkers: Baby Pink, Cocktail Pink & Antique Pink and the outside edge has been coloured around with  Pastel Blue, the 'Happy Birthday' Sentiment is from our Lazy Days stamp set.

Thanks to Georgina for sending in her card, and here are a couple more cards made with our Butterfly Tree stamps:

from Heidi, using the Butterfly Tree, Butterflies and one of the sentiments

From Helen N, you can see the little kitty in this image and the sentiment which is included 'Dream a little Dream'

From Helen N, showing the cute little birdhouse included within this set

And from Georgina again, this set works really well with Kraft card

We hope you likey and this has given you some inspiration - remember 'it's not hard to make a card!'

Little Claire x

WOW!

Have you seen the cards posted by our Design Team for our latest challenge (new arrivals?)

Such inspiring cards, see post below, thanks girls for a selection of great ideas.

It's been a busy weekend for our blog what with our fantastic Friday project from Gaynor with our new monthly challenge and here at Little Claire we enjoyed a busy morning in our new premises when we were open from 10am - 1pm on the Saturday.

We had a great time with lots of customers and look who paid us a visit:

Tracey from Lavinia Stamps & me!

A lovely surprise, and the best bit is they are based not too far from us so maybe we can get together for some card making sessions in our barn!

some inside piccies

another room!

We are open this week today, Wed & Thurs 11am - 3pm and we are open this Saturday 20 October from 10am - 1pm - hope you can visit us!

Little Claire - The Old Barn, Ledsham Village, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire CH66 0NE T: 0151 339 2322

Little Claire Monthly Challenge # 26 - 'New Arrivals_

Good afternoon, welcome to another monthly challenge. We had another great response last month, lots of beautiful creations and our winner, chosen randomly, of the £10 on-line credit is drumroll ..........

 Sarah Bell # 18

here is her winning card! Sarah has used our 'Bufferfly Tree' set of stamps

 

 

Well done Sarah, your card is lovely! Please contact Carol at carol@littleclaire.co.uk, who will sort out your £10 credit.

We have a top two this month and they are :

Diane # 3
Rachel # 16

Please take the blinkie from the side-bar to display on your blogs. 

 

Now to our challenge for October.  We would like to see your cards with the theme of 'New Arrivals', babies, new pets etc. The prize you can win this month is a lovely pile of goodies :

Some Trimcraft Garden Party items -
A paper pack
Two sets of stickers
Ribbons
Little Claire Die Cut Sheet


Our Design Team have been very busy creating some wonderful cards, feast your eyes!

 

 

Donna using
 'Changing Tree - Baby Elements' & 'Dictionary Defitions'
stamp sets

 

 

Gaynor using

 'Babies are such a lovely way to start people' stamp set

 

 

Gemma using
'Daisy Alphabet' stamp set

 

Georgina using

'Changing Trees' with 'Baby Elements', Bunting & 'RWAV Christening'
stamp sets

 

 

 

Heidi using
'Babies are such a nice way to start people' stamp set

 

Helen N  using

 'Babies are such a nice way to start people' & 'Dictionary Definitions'
stamp sets

 

Helen R using
'Changing Tree - Baby Elements' & 'Bunting' stamp sets

 

Lyndsey using
'Changing Tree & Baby Elements' & 'Dictionary Definitions'
stamp sets

 

 

We have a few rules that we would like you to follow, when entering our challenge, they are :

(1) You DO NOT need to use a Little Claire stamp to qualify for the prize draw.

(2) Only those using Little Claire stamps will qualify for a Top 3 badge.

(3) You may enter the challenge UP TO 3 TIMES ONLY PLEASE and you may combine with other challenges.

(4) You MUST follow the challenge theme and NO BACKLINKING please, new cards only.

(5) Please provide a link to our blog in your post.

(6) Please leave a link (via link below) to your actual card, not just to your blog.

(7) Please turn off Word Verification on your blogs,it makes it so much easier & quicker to leave a comment on your blogs.

(8) The challenge finishes on Friday, 16th November 2012 @ 18.00pm and the new challenge (#27) will be open on Saturday, 17th November 2012.

Also, don't forget that Little Claire have now opened a new Design Studio, pop on over to the Website  for details.

Good luck and enjoy making your 'New Arrival' cards.

The Little Claire Design Team

xxxxx