Little George

Another Christmas card today - this time made with the very cute 'Little George' from Little Claire - isn't he cute?!  I've used some HOTP papers that came free with a magazine recently - they're beautiful colours.  I've also used some green card and Card Candi coloured with Promarkers.

A few challenges for this card:

The Poodles Parlour - 'Christmas'

Totally Papercrafts - 'Christmas'

Craft Your Passion - 'tis the season'

Ice Skating Chloe

Here's a card I made yesterday using 'Ice Skating Chloe' from Pink Gem - a really sweet little character!

I've used a card from Craftwork Cards (with some additional dry embossing down the side), some paper from Craft Creations and also some silver paper.  I finished it with some Card Candi and a strip of silver embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Some challenges for this card:

Crafters Companion - 'let it snow, let it snow, let it snow'

Papertake Weekly - 'Christmas crackers'

Charisma Cardz - 'snowflakes'

Paper Sundaes - 'winter wonderland'

Cutie Pie Challenge - 'pastel Christmas'

New Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - Jacaranda

This is my card for the brand new challenge on The Squirrel and the Fox Blog.  For all the details and to see the gorgeous cards made by my fellow Design Team members, please click here.

This time, our challenge is to take your inspiration from this beautiful photo:

It's a photo of a jacaranda tree in Sydney and was taken by Tracey - isn't it amazing?!

Our challenge is sponsored by Jen's Digis and the prize is $5 to spend in her store.

Jen supplied the cute little digi that some of the Design Team (including me!) have used on their cards.

My card also uses some paper from Craft Creations and an X-Cut flower shaped cutting die that seemed perfect for this challenge!

I'd like to enter my card in a couple of challenges - 'anything goes' at I Love Promarkers and 'free for all' at Creative Craft Challenges.

More Little Claire Class Cards!

Over the past two weekends I've been doing a Little Claire class using the Red Gingham 'Swirly Whirlies' - a gorgeous new collection of six stamps featuring various animals plus a beautiful poppy design.  There's also a matching set of six circular sentiment stamps.  The sentiments are also available as die cuts if you prefer as are the main designs.  You can find the stamps here on the website.

We made six cards in the class - one using each of the different stamps.  The first one (above) uses the little owl family with some Glitter Sparkle over the top of the stamped image.

Next a card using Little Tammy, the very cute little dog.  This one also uses one of the sentiment stamps.

Next we have the cats, with a little bit of decoupage:

Then Little Harry the hedgehog with a little bit of faux stitching:

Next the tortoise with some Glossy Accents on his shell:



And finally, the beautiful poppies:

A few challenges for these cards:

Creative Craft Challenges - 'free for all' (the poppy card)

Passion for Promarkers - 'swirls and sparkle' (the owl card)

Dream Valley Challenges - 'stitching' (the hedgehog card)

I Love Promarkers - 'anything goes' (the poppy card)

Totally Gorjuss - 'sparkle' (the owl card)

Sweet Stampin Challgenges - 'dies and punches' (the poppy card)

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the brand new Squirrel and the Fox challenge!

We Three Kings ....

This is one of my favourite Christmas stamps from Little Claire - really simple and great for batch card making.  You can see it here on the website - the words are actually separate from the image but it's easy to line them up on an acrylic block so they stamp together.  I stamped the image and words in black and at the same time, put some Versamark on the star.  I then embossed the star with silver detail embossing powder and added some embossed lines round the edges of the card with my score board.

A few challenges for this card:

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge - 'Christmas music' (I was thinking of the song "We three kings of Orient are")

Creative Craft Challenges - 'minamalistic'

Less is More - 'silhouettes'

Allsorts Challenge Blog - 'one layer card'

Paper Creations Ink - 'Christmas theme'

Another Little Claire Class ...

Over the last two weeks I've taught another Little Claire class called "One Stamp, Five Ways" using the beautiful and very versatile 'Single Flower' stamp.  The first of the cards (above) was a very simple single layer card - we used embossing boards to add embossed lines at the top and bottom of the card and used a Promarker to add lines between the embossing.

Next we did some simple masking:

Then some decoupage:

And next some paper piecing using a tag card:

And finally an easel card which doubles as a little desk calendar:

A few challenges for these cards:

Passion for Promarkers - 'white on white' (first card)

Crafts and Me - 'simples' (first card)

Sweet Stampin Challenge - 'gingham' (third card)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ....

This week's project on the Little Claire blog is my easel card made using the stamp "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - you can find all the details plus step by step instructions here on the blog.

I've used some Craft Creations Purple Scroll paper plus Bazzill card and silver paper.  You can't see it very well in the photo but the stamped image panel is covered with Glitter Sparkle Sheet from Little Claire - definitely one of my favourite products because it gives you a lovely glittery effect without the mess!!

A few challenges for this card:

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge - 'whatever lights your candle' (glitter without mess!)

Totally Gorjuss - 'Christmas traditions' (decorating the tree)

Sweet Stamps Blog - 'non traditional Christmas colours'

I Love Promarkers - 'Christmas trees'

New Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - Summer!

Today there's a new challenge on The Squirrel and the Fox challenge blog and the theme is 'summer'!  You can find all the details plus the amazing cards made by my fellow Design Team members here plus you can find out if you're one of the lucky winners in our last challenge here.

The challenge is sponsorted by The Paper Shelter and the lucky winner will receive a $20 gift certificate.

For my card, I've used "Sunny Day" from the Paper Shelter with some Kraft paper from Craft Creations.  My patterned paper is from Dovecraft and the circular greeting is from Craftwork Cards.  I finished the card off with some white Card Candi coloured with my Sandstone Promarker and some ribbon which came from a perfume gift set!!  Finally, I added some Glossy Accents to her sunglasses which you can see if you look carefully as the photo!

A few challenges for this card - Paper Sundaes where the theme is 'digital images', Alphabet Challenge Blog where the theme is 'under the sea' and Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge where the theme is 'use a digital image'.

New Little Claire Challenge - Shaped Cards

There's a new challenge today on the Little Claire Designs blog and this time our theme is 'shaped cards'.  You can find all the details plus the winners of the last challenge here on the blog - you can also have a look at all the gorgeous cards made by fellow Design Team members.

The prize for the challenge is a package of goodies from Little Claire which includes stamps, peel offs, some gorgeous pink spotted paper, Card Candi and 'Bling' self adhesive gems:

 Form my card I've used the 'Daisy Pitcher' stamp plus some of the Kraft paper and green dotty paper and a centre step card all of which are available from Little Claire.  The stepper cards are great because they are pre-cut and scored - they just need folding!  I finished my card with some white Card Candi coloured with a Sandstone Promarker and a sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

So please head over the the Little Claire blog to take a look at all the inspiration from the Design Team and enter your own shaped card in the challenge.

A couple of challenges for my card - Crafts and Me where the challenge is 'birthdays' and Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog where the challenge is 'floral frenzy'.

Pretty in Pink ....

Here's anothe card made with the new Red Gingham Swirly Whirlies "Poppies" stamp which you can find here on the website.  The little circular sentiment is one of the new "Super Six" set available here and complements the main image.

This time I've used a pink and brown colour scheme for the card - the paper is from Little Claire and I've just used some white Card Candi to decorate it. 

A few challenges for this card:

Creative Craft Challenges - "Minimalistic"

Crafty Creations - "brown, white and one other colour"

The Paper Shelter - "all in pink"

Ice Skating Marci

I've had a lovely crafting day today - lots of new cards for Little Claire which I can't show anyone yet but also a few others including this one.  The stamp is called 'Ice Skating Marci' from La La Land Crafts and it's one that I bought with a voucher I won a little while back from a challenge blog.

She stamps out beautifully and is really easy to colour.  For my background I used some paper from Craft Creations and some silver paper and the little sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Some challenges for this card:

La La Land Customer Gallery - November

The Paper Shelter - 'Christmas Fun'

Charisma Cardz - 'cutesy'

Allsorts Challenge Blog - 'anything but square'

By the Cute and Girly - 'Christmas girls'

Crafty Calendar Challenge - 'Christmas wardrobe'

Paper Sundaes - 'rectangle'

Craft Your Passion - 'anything goes plus brown'

The First Ever Little Claire Blog Hop!

We've just launched our first ever blog hop at the Little Claire blog and the lucky winner will receive a full set of the brand new Red Gingham stamps!

My card was made using the 'Poppies' design which I love - it's so versatile and would be suitable for a range of different occasions.  I've also used some red gingham and kraft paper from Craft Creations plus some Card Candi coloured with my Sandstone promarker to match the kraft paper.

You can find full details of the blog hop here.  To take part you need to visit the Design Team members' blogs and leave a comment on their posts.  You also need to leave a comment on the post on the main Little Claire blog.  Each Design Team member will have a letter in their post and once you've collected them all, rearrange the letters to form a word.  E-mail that word to me at Little Claire - helen@littleclaire.co.uk and we'll pick a winner after the blog hop closes at midnight on Sunday 13 November.

My letter is I

The next person on the list for you to visit is Heike

Good luck and I hope you enjoy the hop!!

More Little Claire Class Cards

These are the other three cards I made for the class I taught last Saturday - again all using the Red Gingham Christmas stamps from Little Claire.

The first one (above) uses the 'Oh Christmas Tree' stamp on a centre step card.  I used paper from the Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas collection and some Bazzill card for the panels - I've kept it very simple by just added a Card Candi to the middle of each section.

This next card uses the 'Robin and the Ivy' stamp with a little bit of bling in the form of a red foil gingham peel off which I put on to green Bazill and then cut out to make a 'ribbon'.  The paper this time is from Craft Creations and the greeting is a Little Claire die cut.

And finally, a card using 'Oh Little Town of Bethlehem' - I stamped this one three times to creat the little scene.  First the whole stamp on white card, then just the sky and buildings on the patterned paper (again from Dovecraft) and then just the buildings on white card.  I layered the patterned paper over the base image and just coloured the ground and then coloured the buildings and put these on with foam pads.

A few challenges for these cards:

Sweet Stampin - 'anything goes'

Crafty Sentiments - 'more than one fold' (the first card)

Papertake Weekly - 'anything goes'

The Paper Shelter - 'Christmas fun'

Winter Wonderland - 'clean and simple' (the last card)

November Club Stamps from Little Claire

November's Little Claire club stamps are two of the very sweet new Cutie Patootie range - now named Mary and Bert!  You can find them here together with details about the Little Claire club.

My card (above) is one of those in the club pack.  I've used Craft Creations Kraft paper together with pale blue and pale pink gingham paper.  The Card Candi were coloured with Promarkers to match the colouring on my stamped images.

Just a couple of challenge for this card, both with the 'anything goes' theme - Pollycraft Monday and Dream Valley Challenges.

Little Claire Christmas Class

Here are a couple of cards from a class I taught on Saturday morning for Little Claire Designs using some of the Red Gingham Christmas products. 

This first one uses the very cute Little George stamp.  The base card is one of the Little Claire blue tag cards and some of the snowflake paper plus two of the Christmas die cut sentiments and some white Card Candi.  The ribbon is white organza with little blue snowflakes on it which fits perfectly with the rest of the design.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Jingle Belles - 'not a creature was stirring'

I Love Promarkers - 'tags' (second entry)

And this is my second card:

Not an easy one to photograph!  I've used some of the Red Gingham printed acetate with a piece of the Glitter Sparkle Sheet on the reverse - it's a bit like the old sticky backed plastic but sparkly rather than clear.  It's a great way to add sparkle to a card without the mess of glitter!  The backing paper I've used is from Dovecraft and across the middle of the card I've used the red and gold Gingham Peel Offs.  I used a strip of the red peel off and then placed the squares from the gold sheet into it (a bit fiddly but worth the effort!)  I used a couple of red squares in each corner and a peel off greeting.

A couple of challenges for this card:

Crafty Purple Frog - 'sparkle'

Totally Papercrafts - 'glitter it' 

New Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - Hats or Flowers

It's time for another new challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and our theme for this challenge is 'Hats or Flowers'.  Click here for more details plus some gorgeous cards from my fellow DT members.



Our sponsor for this challenge is Make It Crafty and the prize for the challenge is a AU$15 voucher to spend in their online store!

The image I've used on my card (above) is a brand new digi stamp from Make it Crafty created specially for our challenge - she's called 'Chantelle at the Races' and you can find her online here.  I've also used some bakcing paper from Kanban, some white paper flowers and some tiny self adhesive pink pearls.

A few challenges for my card:

One Stop Craft Challenge - 'no sentiments'

Charisma Cardz - 'anything goes' (third entry)

By the Cute and Girly - 'anything goes'

Cutie Patootie Tag Card

Here's a tag card that I've made using two of the new Cutie Patootie stamps from Little Claire - you can find them here (the little girl) and here (the chimney sweep).  They are also available as a pair if you are a club member or want to join the club this month - see here for more details.  The two little tags are from the new sentiment set 'Little Beauties' which you can find here - they're really cute little tags that are perfect for finishing off cards.

I've used one of the new tag cards from Little Claire and some of the pale blue and pale pink spotted paper.  I added some lace at the bottom of each panel and also some Card Candi coloured to match the images.  The two figures were cut out and then added to the base card with foam pads.

Here's a closer view of the first two panels:

And the other two panels:

I'd like to enter my cards in the following challenges:

I Love Promarkers - 'tags'

Totally Gorjuss - 'I remember'

Saturday Challenge - 'whimsical'

Another Cutie Patootie

Today on the Little Claire blog it's the final day of our week showcasing the brand new stamp sets which have just gone on sale.  Have a look here for all the details plus some gorgeous cards from my fellow DT members.

My card (above) was made using the Catapult Boy stamp which you can find here and also one of the new cute little tag sentiments which you can find here - a lovely set and perfect for adding a finishing touch to cards.  I've used some blue Bazzill plus some backing paper from a Christmas pad - I thought it worked well with this image and didn't look that much like a Christmas design!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - 'for a child'

Charisma Cardz - 'anything goes' (second entry)

The Poodles Parlour - 'let's hear it for the boys'

Moving Along With the Times - 'no girls allowed'

New Red Gingham Owl Family

Today I was going to give you another sneak peek of one of the new stamp ranges from Little Claire Designs but they have in fact already all gone on to the shop website so this isn't a sneak peek at all! 

For this card I've used one of the new Red Gingham stamps called 'Owl Family' with some Craft Creations paper and a little bit of pink and white ribbon.  I used some Card Candi in the corners of the die cut shape just to finish it off - nice and simple (as always!) as I wanted to showcase the lovely stamp.

Just one challenge for this card - 'anything goes' at Charisma Cardz.

Another Sneak Peek from Little Claire!

There's another sneak peek today on the Little Claire Designs blog here of the new 'Cutie Patootie' range.  Today's card uses the two little characters on the swing and this is one of the cards I've made with the stamp.

I've used gingham and kraft paper from Craft Creations plus some Card Candi - a simple card with lots of layers.

A couple of challenges for this card - Craft Your Passion 'let's get krafty' and The Paper Shelter 'anything goes'.

New Stamps from Little Claire!

Little Claire Designs will be launching four new ranges of stamps over the next couple of weeks - two different image sets plus two new sentiment sets.

If you head over the to the Little Claire blog here you'll find a gorgeous tag card made by Maxine which shows the two characters who feature in one of the new ranges the 'Cutie Patooties'.  There's also a competition to win a set of the new 'Cutie Patootie' stamps - all you have to do is tell us what you think the two little characters should be called!

Keep checking back to the Little Claire blog all week for more sneak peeks!

Chloe and Reindeer

Another Christmas card today - this time made with a very cute Pink Gem stamp that I bought a little while back and have finally got round to using!  It's called 'Chloe and Reindeer' and is so sweet - lovely to colour in too. 

I've used a scalloped card blank from Crafwork Cards and papers from a Hot Off the Press book that was free with a magazine recently.  I've added red nail head gems to the corners of the image panel and Card Candi either side of the image.

A few challenges for this one:

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - 'seeing spots' (strip across the middle of the card)

ABC Christmas Challenge - 'U is for unused stash'

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - 'girls, girls, girls'

I Love Promarkers -'ain't it cute!'

Another Halloween Card

Here's another Halloween card made with a DigiStamp Boutique image called 'Witch Zoe' - another really cute image!

For this card, I embossed the orange card with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and then attached a strip of Craft Creations paper across the middle.  I neatened the edges of the strip of paper top and bottom with black line peel offs.  The image has been die cut into a circle and then layered on to a black scalloped circle and I finished the card with Card Candi coloured with my black Promarker.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge - 'Halloween'

Corrosive Challenge Blog - 'Flying Things'

Paper Creations Ink - 'Halloween'

Crafty Cardmakers - 'cute with a dark twist'

Papertake Weekly - 'spooky hues'

DigiStamp Boutique - October competition

Pumpkin Bella

I couldn't resist the set of Halloween images from DigiStamp Boutique and here's a card made with my favourite of them, Pumpkin Bella.  I've used some Craft Creations black and white paper and some orange card together with Card Candi coloured with Promarkers.

I'd like to enter the card in the following challenges:

The Poodles Parlour - 'spooky Halloween'

Crafty Calendar Challenge - 'spooky'

Dream Valley Challenges - 'Halloween'
Paper Sundaes - 'Halloween'

DigiStamp Boutique - 'October customer competition'

I'll be back tomorrow with another Halloween card made with a Digistamp Boutique image.

The Squirrel & the Fox - One for the Girls and I've Been Published!

The new challenge at The Squirrel & the Fox has just been launched and this time our theme is 'one for the girls'.  You can see all the details, plus the winners of the last challenge and lots of gorgeous cards from my fellow DT members here so please go and take a look!

My card was made using one of my Greetings Farm Anya stamps - this one is from the 'Miss Anya Collection' and I thought it was perfect for this challenge!  I've used some patterned papers from a pad that was free with one of the craft magazines and some Kraft paper from Craft Creations.  The little sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

A couple of challenges for this card - Papertake Weekly - 'get in shape' (oval, rectangle and square) and Craft Your Passion - a card for all occasions.

And my other news - if you've got the latest issue of "Simply Cards and Papercraft", I'm featured on pages 46 and 47 of the little booklet that comes with the magazine, "Designers' Guilde to .... Christmas Cards"!  The card is one of the ones I made with the Red Gingham Christmas stamps from Little Claire, "The Robin and the Ivy".  I was really pleased with the way it looks although I must get a better photo!!

Think Pink

One of the first stands I visited at the Port Sunlight show yesterday was Nutcrafters - they have some great stamps and their prices are very reasonable.  I took advantage of their 'four for £10 offer' and my purchases included this stamp which is called 'Huddle Together' - it's such a cute image!

I've made this card for the current Nutcrafters challenge which is 'think pink'.  I've used Craft Creations papers on the card and some Card Candi coloured with my caramel Promarker.  The die cut is one from X-Cut.

I'd also like to enter the card in One Stop Craft Challenge where the theme is 'anything goes' and to Paper Sundaes where the theme is 'your favourite colour combination' - definitely pink and brown for me!!

New Little Claire's Challenge - Christmas

I've had a great day at Port Sunlight today - got some lovely LOTV stamps, some new Nutcrafters stamps and twelve rolls of double sided tape!  I also bought a few bits for Christmas presents - trying to be organised this year!!  It was lovely to catch up with Maria and Gaynor and I bumped in to some others during the day too.

Today is also the start of a new challenge at the Little Claire's blog and this time our theme is 'Christmas'  You can find all the details plus the winners of the last challenge here.  There's also lots of inspiration from the Design Team.

And here's what you could win:

Included in the prize is:

Little Bear stamp

Pretty Garden stamp

Pack of Back to Basics Christmas buttons

Pack of Fizzy Moon Festive Fun buttons

Pack of self adhesive gems

1m of red dotty ribbon

1m of green dotty ribbon

1m of blue dotty ribbon

My card (at the top of this post) was made using the very cute 'Bambino' stamp combined with papers from the 'Christmas Back to Basics' pack.  I finished it off wtih a couple of peel off greetings plus some Card Candi coloured to match my stamped image.

 

Just a couple of challenges for this one - Totally Papercrafts where the theme is 'animals' and Raise the Bar where the theme is 'furry friends'.



Something a Little Bit Different and Port Sunlight Show

Just to prove that I don't just do stamping, here's a card I made at the weekend using a Lacé template I bought a little while back and have just started experimenting with!  I've got a couple of the traditional templates that you cut with a blade but this one goes through the Cuttlebug machine and cuts the shape out as well as the little pieces to fold to make the shape - very clever!!

I've layered the card up with black and white card - the main white layer was put through the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug folder but it doesn't show up too well on the photo.  I finished the card off with some Card Candi coloured with my black Promarker.

A couple of challenges for this card:

Dream Valley Challenges - 'monochrome'

Anything Goes Challenge Blog - 'use die cuts'

And if anyone is going to be at the HSNW show at Port Sunlight on Saturday, please say hello if you spot me!  I'll be around most of the day and will be at the card competition table at the end of the day if you're still around by then!

Happy Mail!

This is one of the stamps I bought recently from 'Simon Says Stamp!' with a gift voucher I won on a challenge blog.  It's called 'Happy Mail' and is a Belles and is a Belles and Whistles stamp - I couldn't resist it!

I've kept my card fairly simple (as usual!) because there's so much detail on the image itself.  The paper I've used is from Pink Petticoat and I've also used some pink, white and black card for my layers.  I've coloured the Card Candi with my Caramel promarker.

I'd like to enter the card in the following challenges:

Just Tracy's Crafts Challenge - 'anything goes'

Crafty Cardmakers - 'anything goes'

Sweet Stamps - 'anything goes'

Halloween Chloe

For this card I've used a Pink Gem stamp called 'Halloween Chloe' - it's a variation of another design of Chloe with her little cat with the addition of their hats and the stars and moon!  I love the Chloe stamps - they're so easy to colour and stamp really well too.

I've used some card from Dovecraft and black and white paper from Craft Creations plus some plain black paper.  The little accents are punched card dots.

I'd like to enter the card in the following challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog - 'lots of layers'

Simply Create - 'older than six months' (I've had the stamp at least a year)

Crafty Calendar - 'spooky'

Saturday Challenge - 'halloween'

Paper Sundaes - 'lots of layers'

Paper Creations Ink - 'use black and/or orange'

New Challenge at The Squirrel & The Fox - Make it Sporty

Here is my first Design Team card for The Squirrel and The Fox challenge blog - our theme for challenge two is 'make is sporty'.  You can find all the details plus the great cards from the other DT members here so please go and take a look!

For my card I've used an Elzybells stamp plus paper from Craft Creations and red Bazzill card.  I've coloured my Card Candi with a poppy Promarker to match my stamped image and the little tag sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

We're looking forward to seeing all your sporty creations so please head over to the blog to have a look!

I'd also like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - 'if you go down to the woods today'

Cards for Men - 'sports'

Cute Card Thursday - 'animal crackers'

One Stop Craft Challenge - 'just for men'

The Crafty Pad - 'one for the boys'