Crafty Details from my Hen Parties

I blogged about my Papered Parlour Hen Party back in August. Here is a little reminder of the bags we made.

I really wanted to add some fabric and stitch detail to my design but was out of action following my hand operation at the time. The wedding then took over and I didn't have the spare time. I have now finally finished my bag by adding some appliquéd fabric bunting flags to my printed ones, some appliquéd fabric leaves on the tree and some simple stitch lines. I have also stitched some text and the date on the reverse.

With two of my bridesmaids being children (aged 5 years and 20 months) I felt I had the perfect excuse for a second hen party! I therefore organised a Bridesmaid's Tea Party and invited all three of my bridesmaids and their families. We had a wonderful time playing in the garden, eating cakes and ice lollies and making imaginary cups of tea with our new tea set!

(Handmade mini muffins - we soon polished these off between us!)

I handmade the invitations for this tea party based on our sage green and chocolate colour theme adding lots of pink and flowers to make them suitably girly. The images below show details of the face and reverse. I hand-embroidered the design and added appliqué detail before scanning it in to the computer and creating a design for the reverse. The final invitations had a printed version of this embroidered design on the face and a personalised reverse all mounted on a chocolate card base. My finishing touch was to hand-stitch tiny buttons on as the cherries on the cupcakes.

(Face)

(Reverse - Fanchesca's Mum had her own invitation as my chief Bridesmaid!)

Shops now Open!

I am pleased to announce that my online shops have re-opened and I am ready to begin making again. Thank you for your patience whilst I recovered from my operation.


I am also pleased to let you know that my wedding cupcake card is featured on page 22 of the UK Handmade Wedding Gift Guide. Do take a look at the guide as there are some really lovely handmade products featured.

Handmade Wedding Cards

With my mind very much on weddings at the moment and having just gone through the arduous task of cupcake tasting (someone had to do it!) I thought it was about time I introduced a wedding version of my cupcake greetings card.

This card is blank inside making it suitable for wedding congratulations, wedding acceptance and also wedding invitations.


It is now available to purchase from my online shops including my new Facebook shop.


If you would be interested in me designing and making a personalised version of this card for you as wedding invitations then please email me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk and we can discuss your requirements.


Cx

New Baby Cards

Due to customer interest I have created pink and blue versions of my baby chick card. These new cards would be perfect for birth announcements or new baby congratulations. These cards are now available in my online shops including my new Facebook shop.

This little fabric baby chick has been carefully appliquéd to a polka dot fabric base. The chick has been finished off with a bead and sequin eye and hand-embroidered legs before being mounted on to a co-ordinating coloured paper square. The completed motif has been applied to an off-white card base with a pale ivory paper insert. The card is blank for your own loving message.

The card measures approx. 13.5cm x 13.5cm and comes cellophane wrapped with a matching envelope.

Giveaway Competition!

I have a giveaway competition running on my Facebook fan page to celebrate reaching 200 fans.

For the chance to take part simply pop over to my fan page and leave a comment on the competition post letting me know what your favourite product is from my shops. I shall randomly select a winner next Wednesday. The prize on offer is a selection of handmade greetings cards, a handmade fabric cupcake brooch and a surprise Easter treat.

I look forward to seeing you there. Good luck xxx

EDITED 31/03/10 - This giveaway competition is now closed. Congratulations to the winner, Alex Broadbent - your prize will be on its way to you this afternoon x

Handmade Easter Cards Now in Stock

I have just added a new Easter card design to my online shops.


The card features a cute little Easter chick delicately appliquéd in springtime cotton fabrics. The little chick has hand-embroidered legs and a tiny sequin and bead eye. The chick has been appliquéd on to a pretty green spot fabric which has then been stitched on to a co-ordinating green textured paper. This has all then been applied to a pretty lemon yellow textured card base and has been signed.


This card measures approx. 12.5cm x 12.5cm and comes cellophane wrapped with a matching lemon yellow envelope. The card has been left blank for your own personal Easter message.

Please visit my online shop to purchase this card at either Folksy or Not on the Highstreet.

New Mother's Day Card Design

I have just added a new Mother's Day card design to my online shops (both Folksy and NOTHS).

This elegant handmade Mother's Day card has a detachable fabric heart brooch. The brooch has been lovingly handmade and embellished with lace, satin ribbon, button detail and hand-embroidered 'Mum' text. The perfect card for Mother's day with a gift that can be treasured forever!

The heart brooch measures approx. W.5cm, H.5cm. The card itself measures approx. W.10cm, H.15cm and comes cellophane wrapped with a matching pearly white envelope.

I have more new designs and some personal projects to share with you soon. Cx

Cupcake and Heart Cards now Available with Text

My Cupcake and Love Heart cards are now available with the options to have no text, an elegant 'With Love' ribbon threaded through the card face, or with a pretty 'Congratulations' ribbon threaded through.

Take a look at my NOTHS Shop for details.

Mother's Day Cards

Now that Valentine's Day has been and gone it is time to concentrate on Mother's Day (14th March). I discovered some lovely 'Special Mum' printed ribbon whilst out shopping for materials last week so I have added it to a couple of my card designs to create something especially for Mum.

My 'Special Mum' appliquéd cupcake and heart cards are now available to purchase in my online shops (Folksy and NOTHS).

Valentine's Cards

Due to the popularity of my appliquéd love heart card and limited availability of the materials used for this design I have run out!

No panic though, I have taken the opportunity to update my love heart card and also re-introduce my cupcake cards. Cards are still available to order for Valentine's Day right up until midnight on Thursday 11th February.

I shall also be making these cards available soon with ribbon messages reading 'With Love', 'Congratulations' and 'Happy Birthday'. Details will be featured here once they are available.

Claire Hurd Design featured in the UK Handmade Valentine Gift Guide

My appliqué heart 'With Love' card has been featured in the UK Handmade Valentine Gift Guide 2010.

Take a look, it is a lovely guide, beautifully put together with lots of wonderful handmade gift ideas.

Wedding Invitation Commission

Now that these invitations have all been sent out and received by the wedding guests it is safe for me to blog about them.

I received an order for wedding (and evening) invitations a short while back from one of my lovely baby blanket customers (remember my Dylan and Ava blankets?). This was the first time I had produced wedding invitations so I welcomed the challenge. My brief was simply to include the text Wedding/Evening Invitation, heart motifs and if possible tie them in to the colour of the dress.

The fabric swatch for the dress proved very difficult to match a craft paper to so I created my own by pasting a textured paper to a black base and painting it with titanium gold paint. I then handmade a heart motif using the fabric swatch I had been given and photographed it. I used the heart motif and chosen text to create a printed ribbon by arranging it in Photoshop and then printing on to t-shirt transfer paper. This was then applied to cotton tape and threaded through my painted paper on the card base. The invitations were finished off with some co-ordinating machine embroidery stitch lines.

I am really pleased with the results. Now I just need to start thinking about designing and making my own wedding invitations!

Claire Hurd Design on Cuteable!

My 'With Love' heart greetings card was featured on the Cuteable website today. Do pop over and take a look, it is a wonderful site and a real treasure trove of beautiful designs.

Christmas Robin Card Design

My latest Christmas card design shows a cute little Christmas Robin. It is available now from my online shops here and here.

Christmas Listings

I have been trying to hold off listing my Christmas items online as it still feels too early to be admitting that Christmas is on its way. However, browsing online this weekend and also receiving my copy of the Not on the Highstreet Christmas catalogue in the post made me realise that I had better get listing ASAP or risk getting left behind! It seems that the beginning of October is the time to list Christmas items and not mid-late October as I had imagined!

I have now listed my Christmas Pudding card on both Folksy and NOTHS and have plenty more Christmassey items lined up to join it. The only problem with this time of the year is having enough daylight to take sharp and bright photographs. Hopefully I will get a chance to photograph a couple more items tomorrow and list them too.

I shall keep you updated as I add each item and remember if you would like to place a custom order based on something you see here or simply wish to order direct you can email me a studio@clairehurd.co.uk and I will be happy to help.

Christmas Cards Now Ready - Early Bird Special Offer

The first design from my 2009 Christmas card collection is now ready.


I have created a small Christmas pudding motif in felt and appliqued it on to a festive red gingham base. I have decorated the pudding with felt holly and sequin and bead berries. The card base is a lovely pearly white, as is the matching envelope.


The card measures approx. 10cm x 15cm and has been left blank for your own message. The card comes in a protective cellophane wrapper and will be listed in my online shops for £3.80 each.

However, my Christmas goodies will not be listed in my online shops until mid-October. For an early-bird 10% discount and free P&P please email me directly with your order at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.

New Card Design now Available

I have just listed a new greetings card design for sale in my Folksy shop.


This design has been created in a similar style to my cupcake, heart, and boat cards mentioned in my previous post so they sit together as a small greetings card collection.



This appliqued house card has been left blank for your own message but of course lends itself beautifully to be a 'New Home' card. This carefully handmade card combines pretty blue and purple cotton/silk/linen fabrics and has been finished off with a tiny bead and sequin door handle.


If you would like to have one of these cards made especially for you with personalised details or text then email me with your requirements on studio@clairehurd.co.uk.

*100th Blog Post Giveaway* and Small-Scale Bulk Production!

Today I am celebrating my 100th blog post! To thank you all for joining me and for your lovely comments and messages I am having a celebratory giveaway.

To be in with a chance of winning one of my 'With Love' appliqued heart cards and a handmade coin purse (as seen in my Folksy shop) you simply need to follow the steps below.

Either become a follower of my blog and a fan of Claire Hurd Design on Facebook via the links on the right hand side of this page,

Or if you are already a follower and fan of Claire Hurd Design just leave me a comment below this post telling me which of my products is your favourite and why.

I shall number each member/comment as they arrive and use a random number generator to select the winner. The closing date for this giveaway is 1pm on Wednesday 16th September. I look forward to your entries.


I also wanted to share some new greetings cards with you. I have been doing my own small-scale version of bulk production (!) this week and producing stock for my Folksy shop and for a gallery in Yorkshire that also sells my cards.


If you would like me to make a special card for you based on any of my designs then please contact me directly at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.

New Baby Cards - Baby Blue Bear and Baby Pink Bunny!

I have finally listed some 'New Baby' cards in my Folksy shop based on the Baby Blue Bear and Baby Pink Bunny applique characters I made recently.

I have made these cards by creating a textile transfer of my original appliqued characters. I have then applied the transfers to a fine white linen fabric and stitched it, along with a co-ordinating paper border, to the white card base. I have hand-stitched on a button as a finishing touch.

The 'New Baby' message is also a textile transfer and has been applied to a cotton tape with a hand-stitched border. The tape has been threaded through the card and secured neatly on the reverse.

I am still working on a personalised version for my NOTHS shop. So far I have come up with this design but am still not sure about it. It would be great to have some feedback from my lovely blog followers to let me know what you think.

I am not happy with the hand-written text, I feel it does not look professional enough. I am tempted to replace the congratulations banner (perhaps put it inside the card) with a personalised printed ribbon.

I look forward to your comments!

Handmade Boating Greetings Card

Having focused on rather girly cards recently I thought I ought to add a more masculine design in to the mix. With my love of the seaside and taking inspiration from my many photographs taken on a recent trip to St. Ives, Cornwall, the natural choice of motif for me was a boat.

The denim and cotton boat has been appliqued on to a textured cotton base and embellished with fine satin ribbon and a miniature button. The birds have been embroidered by hand and the text is hand-written.

I shall be adding this card to my online shops (NOTHS and Folksy) and as I will be making it to order shall be offering to change the text and personalise the card for free.

If you would like to commission something similar, perhaps in a different colour, then please email me directly at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.