A Couple of Last Minute Christmas Gifts

Good morning everyone - it's Helen N here with a couple of ideas for last minute gifts using some gorgeous Little Claire products.

First of all I've made a very simple calendar.  For the base I used half of a shaped card blank but you could die cut a shape or just use a square of card.  I covered the base in kraft paper - I find it easiest to cut a square of paper which is bigger than the base, attach it to the base and then cut the paper to fit.  To neaten the edges I ink with brown ink using an old very dry pad - it's much easier to build up the ink that way.

The stamp I've used is the the very elegant 'Cherish, Hope and Dream' which you can find here on the Little Claire website.  I coloured it with Promarkers and then layered it on to some red card before adding the little calendar pad which I also layered on to red card underneath.  To finish I added some Card Candi coloured with my Poppy Promarker.

Next is a desk top notebook and calendar.  Anyone who has looked at our December challenge post will have already seen this but hopefully won't mind me sharing it again!

The photo above shows the cover and this is the inside:

The base is a piece of blue card measuring 28cm by 21cm - with the longest side towards me, I scored at 13cm and 15cm to give the 'spine' which you can see in the middle.  This size and the scoring measurements can be adjusted depending on what you want to put inside.

I created a pocket on the left hand page for receipts, appointment cards etc - this is simply layers of blue and white card which I then attached with tape along the bottom and two sides.  I would suggest red line tape for this to make sure it stays in place.  I created a separate little cover for the note pad and die cut the word 'notes' - an alternative would be to use letter stickers or a computer generated label.  The calendar pad is matted on to blue card and then attached to the base.

The stamp which I've used on the front and also on the pocket is the beautiful 'Butterfly Blossom' which you can find here.  I've also used pale blue gingham paper which you can find here - anyone who has been to the Little Claire classes will know I have a bit of a gingham paper obsession!!  I love it because it makes it easier to line things up using the squares as a guide - perfect for a project like this.

I hope you've enjoyed my two projects - don't forget our current blog challenge which is 'make a gift' - you can find all the details in the challenge post here.

Have a lovely weekend and a fabulous Christmas!

Helen N x

Little Claire Likes .... 'And so to bed'

 

 

Good morning, we do hope you took advantage of our great Friday 13th Sale that we had over the last weekend, lots of bargains to be had!

 

 On our regular Monday slot,  'Little Claire Likes' is sharing a very non-Christmas girly tag, that Heidi has made using the gorgeous stamp set 'And so to bed'. This cute little set is great for anything girly and especially a child's birthday or a new baby girl card.

 

 It is being offered at a very special price of £4.50 (normally £5.50) until Thursday, 19th December or whilst stocks last.  Just call the office on : 0844 800 4376 or go to the website directly HERE.

 

It comes complete with a little pair of shoes, that makes a great embellishment. The tag shown has been decorated using some gorgeous papers, a doily and some lace.

 

Here is a list of products from the website :

 

Little Claire 'And so to bed' stamp set - £4.50

First Edition 'Floral Pavilion' 6 x 6 inch paper pad - £7.50

Dovecraft Kraft Card Pack 6 x 6 inch - £1.99

Dovecraft Christmas Twine (in sale) - £0.90 per pack
Cream Self-Adhesive Lace - £1.99 pack

Promarkers Used : Khaki, Pastel Beige, Sandstone, Caramel, Satin, Putty & Ice Grey I

Momento 'Rich Cocoa' inkpad - £3.90
(Scraps of white stamping cardstock, butterfly charm and large pearls from stash)
Tools : Small scissors, Crop-a-dile, Flower, Circle Punches, double-sided tape & glue pen

 

Instructions for Tag :

(1) Cut a tag shape from the kraft card blank, punch a hole in top.
(2) Cut a piece of green spotty paper to fit tag, ink edges of both.
(3) Stamp up image onto white A4 stamping cardstock, colour in.
(4) Stamp another of the image and one of the shoes, onto green dotty paper.
(5) Cut out and stick to image. Stick down onto craft card, ink edges.
(6) Stick doily to tag, add lace to bottom and top of tag as shown.
(7) Stick elements down, punch out around shoes and matt onto kraft card, ink edges.
(8) Punch out three flowers using flower punch, edge with ink and stick to tag.
(9) Add cream twine, butterfly charm and white pearls to tag.

We do hope you have enjoyed our project today, please do feel free to leave us a comment.

We will be back next Monday to share another project.

The Little Claire Team

xxxxxxx

Little Claire Monthly Challenge # 40 - Make a Gift!

Hello and welcome to our last challenge of 2013.  Thank you to all that took part in our 'Christmas' challenge in November, we had lots and lots of lovely entries.

Our winner of the Little Claire goodies is :

Sharon G - The Little Stamper (Entry # 41)

 

 http://thelittlestamper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/bearly-mine-red-and-green.html

 

 Here is Sharon's card

Well done! Please contact our Carol (carol@littleclaire.co.uk) who will forward you your prize.

Now we have some sad news, we have to say goodbye to our teamie Georgina, who has been with us for a long time and is now leaving our design team.  We all wish her well in the future.

 

Our last challenge theme of 2013 is - 'Make a Gift'.  So please create something to give away, we do not want to see any cards this time. We would love to see a Little Claire stamp/digi/peel-off on your creations, you can of course, still enter if you use another image or no image at all.

 

Here is the wonderful prize that you could win :

 

 

It includes :

 'Man Made' paper pad

Little Claire 'Stopwatch' stamp

Little Claire 'Seascape' stamp

'Men' die cut sheet x 2

Assorted male themed outline stickers x 4

Papers (4 designs)

Now to our Design Team - 'Make a Gift' creations -

 

 Diane has made this fantastic scrap page in a frame, using

'Flowerhead' & 'Silhouette Cats' stamps, a wonderful keepsake!
 

  

Gaynor has decorated a recycled glass jar and has turned it into a tea light holder

using Little Claire 'Butterfly Blossom' outline stickers and beads - just beautiful!

  

 

 

Gemma's has made a lovely candle holder using
'Feed the Bird's' Stamp set and mono colours- just gorgeous!
 

  

Heidi has altered a small box frame using
'Butterfly Blossom' stamp and has stamped the edges of the frame
 

 

 

 Helen N has made a lovely Desk Calender/Notepad set using

'Butterfly Blossom' stamp set - a wonderful gift!

  

 

Lozzy has made a gorgeous calendar using
'Ever So Lovely' stamp set in bright, beautiful colours
 

  

Here are the Challenge instructions :

Can we please ask that your card is an original design of your own and not a copy or remake of another card. This is plagiarism and these entries WILL NOT be included.

 

(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 blog.

(8) The challenge finishes on Friday, 10th January 2014 @ 16.00pm and the new challenge (#41) will be open on Saturday, 11th January 2014.

 

Good luck and enjoy creating!

 

Thank you so much for entering our challenges and for all of your support in 2013, we have all been so inspired by your creations.

 

Have a wonderful happy Christmas and a peaceful 2014.

 

Gill, Steve, Carol,

Diane, Gaynor, Gemma, Heidi, Helen, Helen & Lozzy

The Little Claire Team

xxxx

 

 



Friday Blog Project - Pink Elephants!

Good morning everyone - it's Helen N here with this week's Friday Blog Project.  I thought we'd have a change from Christmas projects this week and instead I'm sharing a card made with one of my favourite Little Claire stamps, the very cute 'Elephants in Squares'.  

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

Elephants in Squares stamp set (also available here as a digi download)

white stamping card

pink polka dot paper

grey card

black self adhesive gems

Happy Birthday outline stickers

Promarkers - Cool Grey 3, Pear Green, Rose Pink, Blue Pearl

Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad

And this is what you need to do:

1. Cut a piece of white card measuring 21cm by 17cm.  With the longest sides of the card facing you and working from the left hand side, score lines at 5cm, 8cm, 13cm, 16cm and 21cm as shown in the photo below.  A little tip - if you don't have a score board, use your paper trimmer to measuring and score.  Lift up the arm and blade, measure and score along the cutting groove.

2. Next stamp the 'Elephants in Squares' on to the white card using the Memento ink and colour in using Promarkers.

3. Cut out the four squares and then mat on to pieces of grey card measuring 4cm square as shown in the photo below:

4. Next, fold your base card.  It folds concertina style to give six panels - three wider and two narrow as shown in the photo below:

5.  Next cut three pieces of grey card measuring 16.5cm by 4.5cm and three pieces of patterned paper measuring 16cm by 4cm and mat these together as shown in the photo below:

6. These are then attached to the three wider panels of the card (leaving two narrow panels in between) as shown in the photo below:

7. Next, attach two of the elephant squares to the middle paper covered panel - use the dots of the paper as a guide to get them straight both horizontally and vertically as shown in the photo below.  Remember only to put tape or glue on half of the square!

8. One of the other squares is then attached in the middle of the first paper covered panel and the final square in the middle of the last paper covered panel as shown in the photo below.  Again, use the dots on the paper as a guide to line up the squares:

9. Finally, attach he outline sticker sentiments and black self adhesive gems as shown in the photo below:

This style of card would work with any small stamps - here's another example using 'Daschunds in Squares':

I hope you've enjoyed today's blog project - don't forget to pay us a visit tomorrow for our final blog challenge of the year!

Plus we've got a special treat for you:

Lucky weekend - 20% online discount (30% for club members)!

Here at Little Claire we want to make Friday 13 a lucky day for all of our wonderful customers  SO for this 

weekend only - place an order online and use Discount Code: lucky13

a massive 20% will be discounted from your order - and if you are a club member you will receive 30% WOW!!!

Just think of all the lovely crafting you can do over the Christmas holidays with your bargains!

Helen N x

An old favourite...

...we dusted down our crackle stamp, took a fresh look at it and our teamie Helen N made this lovely card:

The Crackle stamp makes a great effect on the face of the stopwatch stamp:

and also makes for an interesting background:

So that's one of our old favourite stamps and our lovely Gaynor used a selection of our peel off stickers in her school with her year 6's to make Christmas gifts to sell at the school fair, and this is what they made:

Little Claire stickers on glass jars, coloured in all ready for tea lights!

Well done Year 6 and what a great idea too x

Little Claire xxx

Little Claire Likes - 'Room with a View - Garage'

Hello and welcome to another 'Little Claire Likes'  We are sharing another card made with products and instructions shown below.

Here is the stamp set for this week, its one of our special 'Room with a View' sets.  It is a great male-themed set called 'Garage'.  There are lots of great elements to mix and match and a really useful set of sentiments.

We are offering this stamp set at the special price of £6.99 (normally £8.99), but only until this Thursday, 12th December 2013.

Heidi's card has taken three of the elements and matched with the car papers in the paper pad.

Little Claire - Room with a View - Garage stamp set - £6.99

First Edition - 'Man Made' paper pack - £7.50

Glossy Accents - £2.50

Momento Inkpad - Rich Cocoa - £3.90

Promarkers used : Honeycomb, Spice, Caramel, Tan, Tea Green, Putty, Denim Blue, Khaki, Pastel Beige & Ice Grey I & II

Dark Brown Twine - please contact office to order

(Brown card & White card blank from stash)

Card Instructions :

(1) Matt and layer brown card and two of the papers from the pack, as shown. Stick together.

(2) Tie brown twine around the top of the card, tie a bow attach at back.

(3) Stamp up images and colour in.  Cut out oil can and paint pot.

(4) Using the scrap from the stripy paper, stick a strip along the bottom of card.

(5) Stamp up 'Happy', 'Birth' & 'Day', matt onto brown card.

(6) Stick image down onto brown card, leaving a brown surround.

(7) Stick paint pot & oil can to side of sentiments.

If you would like to take up our special offer on the stamp set, do pop on over HERE to the website.

We will be sharing another 'Little Claire Likes' with you next Monday.

The Little Claire Team

xxxx



Our Monday winners...

...we ran a little competition last week for two lucky winners to receive our wonderful December club pack containing the new 'Canal Scene' stamps

and the pack which contains everything to make this lovely card:

designed by Heidi

and without further ado, our 2 lucky winners are:

Elaine  who said: I would travel round America in a caravan - route 66 ! That would be awesome. I would also love Southern Ireland. Thanks for the chance to win

and Susan R who said: Love these stamps!! I would set off around the canals from near Findern - my friend has a narrow boat moored at the Marina there!!

Well done ladies, please contact carol who will arrange the delivery of your prize x

Weekly Blog Project - A Christmas Notebook

 

Good morning, it is my turn (Heidi) to share a blog project with you.

 

I have turned a plain little notebook into a Christmas Notebook using the gorgeous 'Good Morning Robin' stamp, some white embossing powder and some white Liquid Pearls.

 

These little books are great for jotting down your Christmas shopping in, mine is full of lists of things that I still need to purchase.

 

Here are the products I used :

 

Little Claire 'Good Morning Robin' stamp set available HERE

Small notebook

Kraft cardstock

Versamark Inkpad

White Embossing Power

White Dotty Ribbon

White Liquid Pearls

Heat-Gun

Strong Double-sided tape

 

and here are the instructions

 

Christmas Notebook Instructions :

 

(1) Cut a piece of kraft card to measure : 7cms x 11.5cms.

(2) Using the Versamark inkpad, stamp up 'Good Morning Robin' onto kraft card.

(3) Cover with white embossing powder and heat with the heat-gun until clear.

 

 

(4) Stick card onto notebook, using strong double-sided tape.

(5) Attach white Liquid Pearls down side of kraft card and do dots along edges.

 

 

I do hope you have enjoyed my little blog project today.

 

Another teamie will be sharing their blog project next Friday.

 

Heidi

 

xxxxx

 



December's club stamps...

...'Canal Scene' stamp set:

Little Claire's club stamps for December

What a lot we've got!  Lots of stamps on this set to use together or mix and match - the choice is yours!

Here are a selection of cards from our teamies to give you ideas and Diane has paper pieced the canopy:

designed by Diane

Two images used together along with both sentiments create a beautiful card from Georgina:

designed by Georgina

and here is the card designed by Heidi for which our club members will receive all the ingredients in their pack to make - Heidi has created a clever effect with acetate (can't quite see it here)

designed by Heidi

Just a taster of the lovely cards from our teamies, all our packs have been sent out so if you are a member you should have received yours - we hope you enjoy!

Not a member?  If you would like to sample one of our lovely club packs we have 2 to give away!

Leave us a comment telling us where you would go if lucky enough to have your own caravan or barge - we would take off around Europe, heading for Italy (all that sunshine, food & wine - mmmm)

We will draw two lucky winners on Monday 09 December, so tell us your travelling dreams!

Little Claire x

Little Claire Likes - 'Winter Aga'

Hello and good morning!

 

Every Monday, we showcase a much loved stamp from our extensive range in our 'Little Claire Likes'. Today's featured stamp is :

 

'Winter Aga'

 

Its a gorgeous set that comes complete with a great sentiment 'Keep Warm & Carry On'. We are offering it at the special price of £5.50 (normally £7.50) until Thursday, 5th December or whilst stocks last.  Just give the office number a call : 0844 800 4376 or order online HERE

 

Here is Heidi's quick & easy card, using the stamp set.

 

 

Products Used :

 

Little Claire 'Winter Aga' and sentiment - £5.50

Dovecraft Kraft Card Pack (x10) - £1.99

Craft Creations - White Dots on Pale Brown Paper - £0.50p per sheet

White A4 Stamping Cardstock - £3.50

White Dotty Organza Ribbon - £3.80 per reel

Momento 'Rich Cocoa' Inkpad - £3.90

Promarkers Used : Dusky Rose, Sunkissed Pink, Sandstone, Caramel, Putty, Almond, Khaki, Pastel Beige & Ice Grey I & II - £1.70 per pen

(Punches & brown pearls from stash)

 

Card Instructions :

 

(1) Cut a piece of paper to fit the kraft card blank, edge both and paper with brown inkpad.  Stick down onto card.

(2) Stamp up image and colour in with Promarker's, matt onto another piece of kraft card, edge with inkpad.

(3) Stamp up sentiment, punch out and attach to scallop circle of kraft, once edged with brown inkpad.

(4) On a piece of spare kraft card, attach two pieces of white dotty ribbon, tie two bows at one end, stick to card base.

(5) Stick down image and sentiment.

(6) Add brown pearls.

 

We do hope you have enjoyed our quick card project today.

 

The Little Claire Team

 

xxxx