Setting Up at Harrogate ....

All set up and ready to go for the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza tomorrow and Sunday!!

For more details about the show, click here

See you there!

Weekly Blog Project -Easter Treat Basket

 

Hi everyone this week it's my turn to make the weekly blog project .

I have made a Easter treat basket.

Using this lovely stamp Duck mum.

You will need

Stamp -Duck mum

Pro markers

Die cut scalloped triangles

Die cut triangles using backing papers

sentiment

Border punch

Die cut circle

Yellow card stock

embellishments

and Easter chocolates.

cut a strip of card 2" x 12" and score at 1\2" and 1 1/2"

score a line in the centre and cut 2 small triangles as above.

Fold as above and stick the sides together at the narrow end..

Trim the strip down to fit onto the scalloped triangle and adhere.

Turn over and adhere the second die cut scalloped triangle.

Punch a long strip of card to make a handle and adhere to the inside of the basket.

Add the backing paper triangle die cuts.

Stamp the image and colour.

Mat and layer onto the die cut circle.

Adhere the image to the basket.

Embellish with flowers and a sentiment.

Fill with Easter chocolates.

A Sneak Peek Plus Shows This Weekend ....

If you're coming to one of our breakfast workshops at the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza this weekend, here's a sneak peek of one of the cards you'll be making!  If you're not able to make it to the classes, the full range of Flossie stamps plus the die cut sheet (pre-coloured and great for last minute cards) will be available to buy on the Little Claire stand together with lots of other goodies.

If you want more details about the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza which is in Harrogate, click here for more information.  It's a really good show and we can definitely recommend it.

We're also at the Stitch and Craft Show at Olympia at the moment - the show started today and runs until Sunday 18 March.  For more details of this show, click here.

Don't forget we've got a Design Team call open at the moment - see our previous post here for more information.  Plus we have a brand new challenge starting this weekend so keep an eye on the blog for that!

We've got some great new stamp issues coming up very soon and we'll be previewing them all here on the blog - watch this space ......

A Little Bit of Inspiration .....

Here's a little bit of inspiration for everyone from Heidi - a selection of the cards she made when she was demoing at the Make It Show at Farnborough. 

First of all, a cute card made using Elephants in Squares and also some of our gingham stickers:

Next a beautiful card using the Flowerhead stamp:



and a cute card using Chimney Sweep Bert, Georgina's Buttons and Stitching Set and one of the Little Beauties sentiments:



and finally a beautiful card using the Swirly Whirly Cats plus another of the Little Beauties sentiments:

This weekend we'll be at the Great Northern Papercraft Extravagnza at Harrogate on Saturday and Sunday 17 and 18 March - for more details click here.

We'll also be at Stitch and Craft at Olympia from 15 to 18 March - for more details click here.

Make sure you come and say hello!

Weekly Blog Project - Elephants in Squares Tag Card

This week's blog project is this gorgeous elephant tag card made by Helen R - isn't it cute?

Here's what you need to make the card:

Elephants in Squares stamp

Sentiments Mix stamps

White stamping card

Dark Brown cardstock

Patterned paper- Back to Basics II

Memento ink- Black

Purple and green baker’s twine

ProMarkers: Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey 2, ,Lavender, Lemon & Meadow Green

Small gems- purple and pale green

Tag Card

Purple ink

Nestabilities- classic & scalloped rectangles, Lacey Circles

Glue, 3D foam pads



and this is what you need to do:

1.     Using Nestabilities dies, cut out 3 scalloped rectangles of dark brown card as well as 3 rectangles of patterned paper. Cut out one Lacey circle in dark brown card too.

2.     Stamp out ‘Elephants in Squares’ image and the sentiment stamp out onto white stamping card using black memento ink. Colour 3 of parts of the elephants stamp in using ProMarkers.

3.     Cut out the coloured images and sentiment and lightly ink the edges with purple ink.

4.     Mount the patterned paper into the brown pieces and stick to the tag card. Then add the images and gems to embellish.

5.     Finally add purple and green baker’s twine to the top of each part of the tag card to finish. 

Isn't that great?!  We hope you like it as much as we do.

You may also have noticed that we have a brand new Customer Gallery page here on the blog so if you have any cards you've made with Little Claire products, e-mail a photo to helen@littleclaire.co.uk and we'll feature them on the gallery!

A Birthday Celebration .....

Just been to a special birthday lunch for my step-mother who is celebrating her 91st birthday!  Thought I'd share a photo of her with the cushion she received as a present from  her grandchildren.  Doesn't she look good for her age?!

DESIGN TEAM CALL

We're having a Design Team Call! 

We'd like to add five new people to our Design Team for an initial term of six months.  Interested?  Here's what we're looking for:

1. You need to have a blog to which you post regularly and the ability to take good, clear photos.  We would also ask that you promote Little Claire actively on your blog.

2. We will send you about six stamps each month (sometimes less) and you will need to make two sample cards with each stamp which you will then send to us.  You need to be able to include lots of different elements in your cards - different shapes, styles etc.

3. You will need to make an additional card each month for our blog challenge and also take part in commenting on entries - at the moment each Design Team member comments on roughly half the entries every month.

4. Approximately once every two months you will need to a card for our weekly project, take step by step photos and write instructions - you will then post this on the Little Claire blog.

5. From time to time, we'll ask you to make cards for magazine articles and write instructions.

6. If you live close to one of the craft shows, we may ask you to come and demo for us for which you will be paid.

In return you'll receive lots of gorgeous Little Claire stamps before everyone else and will become part of a friendly team.

If you'd like us to consider you, please e-mail info@littleclaire.co.uk with the heading 'Design Team Call' on your e-mail giving us your blog address and any other information you'd like to include.  The DT call will be open until Monday 26 March.

Have You Seen ......

... the latest issue of 'Making Cards' magazine?

Have a look at pages 26 and 27 and you'll see a gorgeous concertina tag card made using our 'Garden Set' by Design Team member Helen R plus step by step instructions to make the card.

Here's a closer look at the card:

Isn't it gorgeous?!

You can find our exclusive concertina tag cards here in the 'the card that we use' section of the website and the stamp set here.

We'll be back tomorrow with a great new blog project!

Some Cards from Our Talented Customers ....

We love receiving photos of cards from our very talented customers and today we'd like to share some of the gorgeous creations that have been sent to us recently - we know you'll love them too!

First of all, here's a beautiful tag card from Tracy using some of our die cut Cutie Patootie designs.  You can find the tag cards here and the die cuts here on the website:

and using the Cutie Patootie stamps (which you can find here on the website), here are two gorgeous door hangers made by Marianne:

Next some beautiful bunting made by Angela using two of our new Flossie stamps which you can find here on the website:

and here's a beautiful card made by Stef using our 'Butterfly' stamp which you can find here on the website:

next some great men's designs starting with a fabulous card made by Nichola using 'Drive My Car' which you can find here on the website:

and finally, another fabulous card from Kay using one of our very versatile outline stickers which you can find here on the website:

Thank you all for your great cards - its so good to see different ways of using them and we hope everyone else enjoys seeing them too.  If you have any photos of cards you'd like to send to us, please e-mail them to helen@littleclaire.co.uk 

Brand New Class Dates!

We've just added two more dates to the website for classes here on the Wirral.

First of all on Saturday 19 May we'll have two classes:

Garden and Flowers - a selection of beautiful cards using our brand new 'Garden Collection'

The Best of Little Claire - a selection of gorgeous cards using our favourite Little Claire stamps

Then on Saturday 30 June we'll have two more great classes for you - further details to follow but you can be sure of gorgeous cards and quality products!

On each of the days the classes will run between 9.00am and 12.00pm and then 1.00pm and 4.00pm.  Everything is provided for you (including tea and coffee) but if you're staying all day, you'll need to bring some lunch.  The price is £20 per class or £35 if you're staying for the day.

For more details, please have a look at the website here or give us a ring on 0151 342 5715.

Here are some more of the cards we made at our 'Butterfly Tree' class last Saturday:

first of all, a card designed by Heidi:

and then three cards designed by Helen N:



And we also still have places left on our workshop days in Kent and Crawley in May - have a look at the top of the blog for more details.  Gill has some places left on the breakfast workshops at the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza - again see the top of the blog for more details.