Friday 28 September 2012

Friday's Project...Babies

Hello me lovelies

Its Gemma here with my Friday's Project...now as there are some new arrivals in the Little Claires family as their eldest daughter gave birth to the most gorgeous little babies ever...yes you did hear right, i did say babies...a little boy & a little girl, oh they are ever so cute...please read Wednesday post because there is a beautiful photo of the twins :D

So my thought was to make a card for the Little Claires family so no peaking {Little Claires family}, i made this card using one of yesterday's new release's called 'Baby Changing Tree' embellishments stamps...you can find them here and you can also find the actual tree here or if you would like to get on top of your Christmas cards you can find a Christmas tree here.

Hope you likey!!

You will need
Spellbinders Large Circles dies
Xcut nesting 'Bloom' dies
Xcut decorative 'Tags & Bookplates' dies
8x8 scalloped white card
Blue, Pink & white card
Blue and Pink gingham backing paper
Congratulations sentiment stamp
Promarkers
Embellishments of your choice

1) Cut your blue & pink card to 14.4cm x 14.4cm square, now cut your blue & pink gingham to 14cm x 14cm square and matt & layer these on to your blue & pink card.
2) Now attached some pink grosgrain ribbon around your pink layer...just like in the picture above.
{don't worry you will add a pink bow later}

3) Now adhere these layers to your 8x8 scalloped white card...as you can see i have adhered my blue layer to the bottom right corner and the pink layer to the left top corner, please remember to adhere your blue layer first!!

4) Using your Xcut nesting 'Bloom' dies {largest in pack} and your Spellbinders large circle dies {largest in pack} cut one of each out of white card.
5) Now stamp your tree {out of 'Changing tree' stamp set} onto your plain white circle, the next step is to stamp any images from your 'Baby changing tree' embellishment stamp set...like picture above!
6) Now colour your image...i've added coloured dots in some of the white spaces but don't worry you don't have to do this, i just like the way it looks. Now the next step is to adhere your image layer onto your shaped layer.

7) Using 'Daisy Dot' stamp set...i stamped TWINS onto white card, coloured the little flowers with my pastel pink and pastel blue promarkers and cut them out leaving a little white border around each letter.
8) Next i cut out a white tag using my Xcut decorative 'Tags and bookplates' dies and then stamped  a 'Congratulations' sentiment onto it. 

9) I now adhered my image layer and my twin letters to my card using foam pads to give it some dimension.
10) On my Congratulations tag i added a pink & blue brad through the holes at the end of the tag.
11) Next i attached 3 foam pad squares together...one on top of the other to make a little tower and then attached this to the back of my tag but in the middle and then i added a 2 little strips of red tack tape at either end of the tag where you see the backs of the brads, attached the tag to your card...the middle should be raised and the ends should lay flat on your card.

12) Now is the fun bit...pretty up your card using any embellishments you wish!!

I hope you have enjoyed my Friday's Project and you have found it easy to follow...if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask in the comments box below and i will get back to you.

If you need any crafty top up to make this card...please stop by Little Claires online shop because they have lot of gorgeous crafty goodies for you!!
Thank you for stopping by today and for any comments you may leave me...
hugs and xxx

Thursday 27 September 2012

Here we go......

...we have 3 super NEW PRODUCTS to show you today and we will feature them next week with more samples too:

Little Owl Family
First we have our cutie 'Little Owl Family' stamp design, too cute by far, we have been itching to have a good play with this one and it sure didn't disappoint - just by simply changing the colours we created many different card designs:

designed by Helen N
designed by Gemma


designed by Heidi
You can decoupage the trees, the little owls and the flowers - such a lovely design & on our web now for £5.50!

Next off we have a new addition to our Changing Tree range - Baby Changing Tree embellishments - a super set of 6 designs to add to your Changing Tree collection:
designed by Donna
This new pack contains 6 stamps which include the baby bottle, rattle, bootees, hanging heart, baby in sling & baby basket and you just stamp away to create your own unique Baby Tree!
Don't forget that you can use these stamps separately with all your other projects, pack doesn't include the tree base as this is supplied within our original Changing Tree set (which comes with the stamps to make an Owl Tree, Music Tree & a Wedding Tree)  Baby Changing Tree embellishments is available now £3.99
designed by Heidi
Here is the same Baby set but this time in blue and used without the tree!!! WOW how good is that?
Heidi has made this card by attaching the stamps to Bakers Twine and used the new little pegs (in stock with us) and completed the card with our Georgina's Buttons & Stitching stamp set and 'BABY' from our Dictionary Definitions stamp set (which is currently on offer as our Stamp of the Month - 12 stamps for £6.00 rather than £12.99 until end of September)

And finally for something completely different........................

designed by our very own Georgina - how's this for a really useful, time saving big set of stamps:
Georgina's Rosettes
designed by Donna
This super A4 sized set contain 6 different Rosettes, a 'tail' and 8 unique circular sentiments to fit right inside for your greeting.
designed by Helen R
Clever idea above from Helen R who has stamped the Rosettes onto paper, attached to her card with a circular hole in middle through which you can see the sentiment and Helen has uses different shaped Rosettes on her card.
designed by Lyndsey
The A4 pack of Rosettes & Sentiments is available now and costs £17.50 for a big pack of stamps -
Special Message to all our Club Members: If you have been tempted to order, please wait until you recieve your newsletter in your new club packs coming out to you from today - these new stamps are all on offer at a very special price.

If you have been following our blog & facebook (and a very big hello to all of our new followers especially Sally - we said we would mention you! as we know you are very excited to hear about our new premises)
You will know that we were very excited yesterday with the arrival of twins, a lovely little girl & boy (Leo & Laila) so, going with the baby theme if you would like to leave a comment telling us YOUR favourite baby names then on Monday 01 October, we will pick out 3 winners to receive our new Baby Changing Tree embellishments!
Little Claire x













Wednesday 26 September 2012

New arrivals at Little Claire......

...Tomorrow - we have 3 new stamp designs to show you, two sets and a simply adorable single stamp and here is a sneak peek of one of them:

sneaky peeky
ooooh! That's a little taster - tomorrow we will reveal all, so excited (lots of card samples too from our design team ladies)

And today, we are pleased to announce a new arrival at Little Claire in the form of twins!
Our eldest daughter gave birth to a baby girl & boy this morning and I was lucky enough to be there, incredible experience and here is a pic:

1 hour old!
So lots of 'new arrivals' here at Little Claire and very exciting too - talking of new & exciting we are very pleased to announce that we will finally be ready to open the doors of our new premises from next Tuesday 02 October - 11am to 3pm - hurrah!
We will post some pics of the inside soon and give you more information nearer the time.

Don't forget, check out our blog tomorrow for full details of our New Releases!
Little Claire x


Friday 21 September 2012

Friday Project- Christmas Tags :)


Hi, it is my turn (Helen R) to share a Friday Project with you this week J I have chosen to make some simple Christmas Tags using the embellishments from the lovely Christmas Changing Tree stamp- but without the tree! 



You need
Kraft card
Tag die
Lacey Circles Nestabilities
Patterned papers
Pearls
Ribbon


1. Die cut 3 tags & 3 lacey circles from kraft card.
2. Then stamp out 3 of the Christmas sentiment stamps and cut them out.


3. Cut out some small pieces of patterned papers (the size will depend on the size of your tag) and mount onto kraft card.
4. Stamp out some of the embellishments from the Changing Tree set, colour with ProMarkers & cut them out.
5.  Arrange your elements as you wish on the tag. I have stuck the sentiments to the lacey
circles and then mounted these using 3D foam pads.
6.  Embellish your tags using pearls and add some ribbon to finish J

There we go; I hope you enjoyed the project! Have a lovely weekend!

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Girly Tuesday

We are feeling girly today and to help us along we have this sumptious card creation from our Lyndsey:

Loverly Jubblie - Daisy Bunting
Such a pretty card featuring one of our Loverly Jubblie range of stamps 'Daisy Bunting' she is a little cutie pie clutching her teddy at the party, but we love Lyndsey's layout; the choice of papers together with the ribbons, swirls & flowers.........so nice!

Little Claire x



Saturday 15 September 2012

Little Claire Monthly Challenge # 25 'Stand Up Straight!'



Welcome to another monthly challenge here at Little Claire's.  We had lots of wonderful entries last month, now to announce the winner, drumroll ........
 
# 45 - Sarah - here is her winning card - just gorgeous!

 
 
Well done, please contact carol@littleclaire.co.uk who will forward you your prize.

Our top three this month are :

# 6 - Claire C
# 26 - Jocelyn
# 43 - Sarah

Please feel free to take the Little Claire top three blinkie to display on your blogs.
 
Now to this month's challenge, our theme this month is ''Stand Up Straight' so we want to see your easel cards or cards that stand.


The prize is month is :
 £10 to spend on the Little Claire website
 
 
 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 12th October 2012 @ 18.00pm and the new challenge (#26) will be open on Saturday 13th October 2012.
 
 Now for some inspiration, here are our Design Team creations
 
Donna
using 'Good Things/Wheelbarrow' image

 
 
Gaynor
using 'Robin Redbreast' stamp and Christmas Sentiment Stamp

 
 
Gemma
using 'Swirly Whirly' Westie

 
 
Georgina
using 'Butterfly Tree' stamp set and sentiment
 

 
Heidi
using 'Garden Fun' stamp & sentiment


  
Helen N
using 'Delivering Christmas Wishes' stamp set


 
Helen R
using 'Little One' stamp set

 
 
Lyndsey
using 'Bright Blue Skies' stamp set

 
 
 We are all looking forward to popping by your blogs to see what you have created.

Good luck and have fun creating your shaped cards.

The Little Claire Design Team

xxxxxx

 


Friday 14 September 2012

Little Claire Weekly Project - New Home Card

 
Good morning, it's my turn (Heidi) to do the project this week.  I have made a very quick and simple little 'New Home' card using the gorgeous 'At Home' stamp set.

Here are the products I used to make my card -

 
Little Claire 'At Home' Stamp Set
White card blank measuring 9.5 x 9.5cm
Scallop and Circle Dies
White, blue & pink cardstock
Cottage Cutz 'Key Die' from Little Claire's website
Small heart punch
White Pearls
 
Promarkers : Blossom, Soft Green, Khaki, Marsh Green, Warm III, Pastel Beige & Ice Grey I

 
How to make the card :-

(1)  Die-cut, scallop, circle shapes and key with a die-cutting machine.
(2)  Stick the blue scallop shape down centrally onto the card.  Punch out heart shape using pink card and place on left hand side of card at the bottom.
(3) Stamp out sentiment and image.  Colour image with Promarkers, stick circle down on top of scallop shape.
(4)  Stick sentiment to rectangle of blue card and attach small piece of ribbon to edge, stick down.
(5) Thread ribbon through key and tie a knot.  Stick to top of card using small piece of tape.
(6)  Add two small white pearls as shown.


Hope you have enjoyed this little project, please leave us a comment to tell us what you think.

Have a crafty weekend!
 

The Little Claire Team
 
xxxxx



Thursday 13 September 2012

A selection of cards from one of our DT's:

Tidying up my inbox in preparation of Little Claire's BIG MOVE - did I say 'move'?

Yes! Little Claire has just got bigger, we have found new, bigger premises from which we can design & manufacture our products, and best of all it means that we can open our doors and invite all of our lovely customers in (not all at the same time please!!) to see our products and lovely samples, meet the team and join us on classes too!

We are nearly done and hopefully over the weekend we will be able to post pictures of our new home to let you see it in all it's glory, we have been very lucky to have found an 18th Century Barn, complete with free parking nestled in pretty countryside yet literally minutes from motorways, we are so excited!!!

Anyway, back to the main reason for this blog, clearing down my inbox and I have 3 cards sent in from one of my DT's Helen N, so here they are to share her ideas with you:

Here is our wonderful Christmas Changing Tree set, this set includes the tree base and then lots of embellishments to build you own design of Christmas Tree, have great fun hanging the images off the branches and look how Helen has used some of the individual embellishments to stamp a border down the side of the card too, the circular sentinent is also one of ours.

Here is a great male themed card stamped with elements from our 'Oh Man' stamp set, you can see this is such an easy card to make yet so simple, Helen has paper pieced the chair and stool to match the background papers (love the kraft paper too!)

And here is an old favourite of ours 'Single Flower' such a simple stamp but it has so many uses, here is another of Helen's cards made using this stamp so you can see it in full:


We have another great PROJECT to share with you tomorrow and then keep a look out over the weekend for the first pics of our lovely new barn and details of how to find us and of course opening times, Steve is getting very excited at the prospect of showing all you lovely ladies around his new premises, wish us luck!

Little Claire x



Tuesday 11 September 2012

Is time speeding up?

It doesn't seem like a whole month has passed since we proudly showed off our Little Claire column in the new issue of Quick Cards made easy magazine - but here we are letting you know that the new October issue is on sale now with the back two pages full of Little Claire goodies, chat & information.

Quick Cards made easy issue 105
This month features our fantastic club stamp set 'The Magic of Christmas' and the featured card project has been designed by Georgina from our Design Team, all the materials used to make the card are listed together with instructions and here is the card in close-up:

designed by Georgina
We also feature our 'Sleep Tight' stamp and here are a couple of cards made using this design:

designed by Donna
designed by Helen R

designed by Georgina
Don't miss out on your copy and read Steve's column!

Little Claire x




Monday 10 September 2012

Hope you have all enjoyed a great weekend...

... and hello to our new followers, welcome aboard - we hope that you will enjoy our posts, we hope to keep our Little Claire blog interesting, show lots of lovely card ideas and keep you up to date with all that's happening with us (some very exciting news to tell soon, watch this space!)

We have a winner of our blog competition from last Friday 'The Magic of Christmas' thank you for your comments and the lucky winner is:
Rachel who said: fabulous stamps - I especially love the geese - they are so versatile and I love that you've put one in front of the door on one card - fabulous xx

designed by Heidi Green
Well done Rachel, please email Carol with your details and a September club pack will be sent off to you, and thank you to everyone who left a comment.

designed by Gemma
We had a full day of crafting last Saturday on the Wirral with two of our fabulous DT's Helen N & Gaynor and a super bunch of ladies who all made a great selection of cards and enjoyed lots of teas & coffees curtesy of Steve, we hope that you all enjoyed yourselves very much and we will blog a selection of the cards made on the day in future posts - a big thank you to everyone who came along and to both Helen & Gaynor for helping make it all happen.

As mentioned at the top of the page, we will very shortly reveal details and pictures of our BIG news so keep logging on!

Lots of love, Little Claire x

Friday 7 September 2012

Weekly Blog Project - I Can See Clearly Now!


Good morning everyone!  This week it's my turn (Helen) to share a card for the weekly blog project and I've made this card using the very cute 'Bambino' stamp, one of my favourite Little Claire Christmas stamps and also one of the new 'Christmas Tags' sentiment stamps.  I've used acetate to make the card blank and paper piecing for the image.

Here's what you will need to make the card:

'Bambino' stamp (from Little Claire)
'Christmas Tags' stamp set (from Little Claire)
A4 sheet of acetate
white stamping card
red gingham paper (from Little Claire)
kraft paper (from Little Claire)
 circle and lacey circle Nestabilities dies
border die or punch
red self adhesive gems
sheer ribbon
Promarkers - Cool Grey 1, Poppy and Pear Green
anti-static bag or tumble drier sheet
Memento Tuxedo black ink pad (from Little Claire)
Versafine Onyx black ink pad (from Little Claire)
 
Here's what you need to do:

  1. Score and fold the piece of acetate in half to make an A5 card.  Cut away a piece from one side to leave a square card blank.



2. Open the acetate blank out and wipe it with the anti-static bag or a dry tumble drier sheet to remove any finger marks or dust.  Put double sided tape round the four sides of the inside base of the card.

 
 3. Attach a piece of kraft paper to the base, covering the entire area and then add a piece of red gingham paper on top, leaving a border of the kraft paper visible.


4. Cut two border strips from kraft paper using your punch or die.  I've used a Die-Namics 'Simply Scallops die on my card.


5. Close the card and add a scallop to the top and bottom of the front of the card using narrow double sided tape.


6. Stamp the Bambino image on to white card using the Memento pad and then die cut in to a circle.  Stamp the image again on to a piece of kraft paper and finally just the scarf on to a piece of red gingham paper.  Die cut two lacey circles from kraft paper.


7. Cut out the head and body of the Bambino from the kraft paper and the scarf from the gingham paper and then attach these to the base image using glue.   Colour the trees and the Bambino's nose and then trace the lines of the snow using Cool Grey 1.  Layer the two lacey circles together to form a doily shape and then put the image panel on top of this shape.


8. Stamp one of the Christmas tags on to a piece of kraft card (or the paper stuck on to white card) using the Versafine ink pad.  The Versafine pad is great for stamping words or anything that you don't want to colour with Promarkers like silhouette stamps - it is a much 'wetter' pad than the Memento and picks up the detail on stamps to give a really good dark, defined image.  Cut out the tag, punch a hole in the top and tie through a scrap of red ribbon.  A little tip - if you don't have any red ribbon, colour a piece of white using your Poppy Promarker as I did for this card.

9. Attach the main image panel to the front of the acetate card blank and then the little tag as shown in the photo.  Add some gems to the tag, card front and to the scallop borders.  To finish the card, add a square of white card on the back of the card blank and a die cut white circle on the inside - this covers the tape where the main image and kraft papers were attached.


I hope you've enjoyed this project - I'd love you to leave a comment to let me know what you think!  

Hope everyone has a great weekend - I'm really looking forward to our Wirral workshop day tomorrow!

Helen x