Framed Artwork Commissions and a Cake!

I have just had some lovely feedback regarding a framed artwork commission I did earlier this month so it is now safe to share it with you without spoiling any birthday surprises.


I was asked to produce a customised version of my Boating Artwork to sit alongside a customised version of my Afternoon Tea Artwork that I was commissioned to do earlier this year. Both artworks were to celebrate 60th birthdays. It is always so lovely to be asked to produce gifts for such special occasions.

 'Love of the Sea since 12th November 1950'

'Loving Tea since 13 May 1950'

If you would like to order one of my personalised items or would like one of my products customised to suit you then please email me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.


Now, on the theme of Birthdays; Having received lots of lovely cake making goodies as wedding presents I have been eager to do a bit of baking. The perfect occasion came up with my Husband's birthday so I made this..........

A real chocolate feast! A true 'boy' cake with homemade chocolate Lego men and Lego bricks. I really enjoyed making this. My next cakey makes will be cupcakes so a bit easier to ice!

Personalised Christmas Stockings

I am rather late with these this year, many apologies. Thank you to all of those that have enquired about these and placed your orders already.


My handmade personalised Christmas stockings are now available to purchase from my Folksy shop!

A generously sized handmade Christmas stocking personalised just for you. These bright and festive Christmas stockings are handmade to order making them a truly special gift that can be treasured forever. This Christmas stocking measures approx. 59cm tall, 37cm from heel to toe and 22cm across at the opening. The hanging loop measures approx. 9cm and is stitched downwards inside the stocking hiding it from view when not in use.


Click HERE or contact me directly at studio@clairehurd.co.uk to place your order 

New Products Official Photographs

At this time of year there seems to be just a half-hour slot on sunny days between 10am and 10:30am where I can take photographs in the garden. At this time the sun is high enough in the sky to avoid too much shadow and has not yet gone behind the trees and become dappled. Therefore when I saw the weather was good yesterday morning I dashed out to get my new photos taken.

I now have images ready to list my new Personalised Liberty Print Make-Up Bags online, I have been able to list my Christmas Pudding Hanging Decoration, and I can give you a preview of this year's personalised Christmas Stocking design.

So, firstly here are my Make-Up Bag/Make-Up Purse photos ....

This is my new Christmas Pudding Decoration ....

And, this is my new Christmas Stocking to be listed in my online shops soon ....

If you would like to pre-order a personalised Christmas Stocking as shown above please email me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk. Cx

New Products

Firstly, please forgive the quality of these photographs. I have had to take them indoors using flash, it has been so dark here today. I shall be taking proper photographs and listing these items in my shops next week but wanted to share them with you before the weekend.


My Personalised Liberty Print Make-Up Bags have been hugely popular recently and I now only have enough fabric for two more. For these make-up bags I buy a length of Liberty Print fabric and then work my way through it as the orders come in, the fabrics are seasonal therefore effectively making my bags 'limited edition'. Once the fabric is gone, i'ts gone!


I am therefore introducing two new colourways for the winter season. The first is berry cordurory / olive pin-cord teamed with a bright and cheery pink and green ditsy floral Liberty print. The second is a lovely chocolate brown pin-cord teamed with a contemporary Liberty floral print in shades of brown and teal. 

I shall be introducing a new smaller make-up purse size that is personalised with a lower case initial (my make-up bags are personalised with an upper-case initial).


I shall also be adding a handmade Christmas pudding hanging decoration to join my existing Christmas Robin decoration already available in my shops. The pudding is made from felt and brushed cotton and embellished with a button and tiny black bead currants.

Must get on with completing more orders now. I hope you enjoyed having a little sneaky peak at my new products. Cx  

Handmade Boating Artwork now Available

The sun has finally come out and I have managed to take photographs of my new Handmade Personalised Boating Artwork. I am relaunching my design from last year in a new larger size with more space for text (personalisation now available with up to 30 characters).

The centre boat can also be personalised with three initials of your choice.

This artwork would make the perfect gift for a new born baby boy, for boat lovers of all ages and would be ideal as a Father's Day gift. For more details please visit my shop.

Handmade Baby Goodies

My handmade personalised elephant baby bibs have proven to be very popular so I have added a new boys design and made my cupcake bib personalisable too. These bibs can be found in my online shop HERE.

I have also listed two one-off appliquéd and embroidered textile artworks in my NOTHS shop. There is only one of each artwork available making them a truly unique gift to welcome a new baby in to the world. I am offering these artworks to my Blog followers and Facebook fans at a 15% discount (with free P&P). Payment needs to be by paypal. As there is only one of each artwork available they are offered to you on a first-come-first-served basis. If you would like one of these artworks then please email me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.

For full details on these artworks click HERE for the baby blue bear and HERE for the baby pink bunny.

Baby Pink Wash Bag and a Surprise Parcel!

I managed to nip outside today during a brief 5 minutes of sunshine and photograph my pink personalised Baby Wash Bag. I have had the blue version listed online for a while but had to wait a bit longer to get hold of suitable fabric before being able to make a pink version.

You can find both the pink and blue versions listed in my online shop HERE.

I also had a lovely surprise parcel in the post today. Sam from 'Incy Wincy Stitches' very kindly sent me an unexpected parcel of buttons. It was a lovely mixture of coloured buttons, which I look froward to using, and three handmade buttons she embroidered herself. I think I shall be treasuring these beautiful buttons for a while (how cute is that little sheep made from French knots?!) and may consider using them in the future when I find the perfect project.

 Thank you so much Sam, you brightened my day!

Another Blog Feature and De-Stash Purses

I have been featured in another lovely Folksy Friday treasury today. Kate from 'Buttercup Boutique' featured my  Personalised Framed Cupcake Artwork in her Pink themed blog post today. Thank you Kate x

I am continuing to create de-stashing projects in an attempt to reduce the amount of fabric scraps, ribbon, off-cuts and odd reels of cotton that I have. This is clearly going to be an on-going activity!

I have been making 'De-Stash Purses' to sell at the upcoming Handm@de Craft Fair in Winchester (Sunday 4th July, Winchester Guildhall). I have lined them all with the same acrylic coated linen/cotton lining that I use in my make-up bags making the finished purses really durable (and also using up my lining scraps!).

Handmade Baby Bibs

I have been designing and making new baby bibs recently to appear in my online shops. I have had some great feedback from Facebook fans regarding their preferred fastening method for baby bibs (velcro) and have a bib sample I am sending to a friend to do a user trial for me. I want to be sure that all details are right, such as does the bib wash nicely (I have washed it a couple of times already but only from clean and not after a baby meal!), does the amount of velcro I have used hold well and is the size good?



As soon as I have some more feedback and have secured a plentiful supply of the base fabrics I shall be listing these. I have used a soft cotton jersey for the face and a brushed cotton reverse for both designs. I used 'anti-snag' velcro for comfort and have made the bibs nice and wide to keep baby as clean as possible.

I have also been experimenting with making my own baby blankets and am quite pleased with the results. I shall share pictures with you as soon as I have some. At the moment my little niece has the blanket to see if it gets her seal of approval!

Personal Project - 1st Birthday Gifts

I have been working on a personal project alongside my other work this past week. My gorgeous niece turned 1 on Sunday and I wanted to make some truly personal handmade gifts for her.

I created some personalised birthday bunting which was used at her party and now hangs in her beautiful little bedroom. I also made a personalised Cupcake Brooch for her with 'I am 1' embroidered on it.

My main gift was a rag doll which I made from a combination of different patterns and with a little creative licence! My Mum made me a similar rag doll when I was little with removable clothes and a vast wardrobe of handmade outfits. I want to do the same for my Niece and will be making new outfits and accessories for her doll to be given as regular treats. I am really pleased that she seems to love her doll and has been cuddling and playing with it lots.

60th Birthday Artwork Commission

I was recently commissioned to design and make an embroidered and appliquéd framed artwork to celebrate a 60th birthday.

This was a really enjoyable commission and I created the artwork based on the recipient's favourite subject matter, flowers, and the colours she will soon be decorating her living room in. The customer had seen my previous designs for Mother's Day cards and particularly liked my Aqua Flowers design, I therefore based the flower motifs and layout on this card design.

I built up the background using a white pigment print floral fabric and a beautiful lilac silk stripe fabric. I added lace trim, miniature ric-rac and satin ribbon to disguise the join. The flowers were appliquéd on and then detailed with beads, sequins, miniature buttons, lace trim and a combination of machine and hand-embroidery.

The recipient was really pleased with her present and said that she was very impressed with the quality and detail of the artwork and looks forward to putting it on display in her living room.

Handmade Valentine's Love Heart Framed Artwork

My latest addition to my online shops (Folksy and Not on the Highstreet) - a lovingly handmade embroidered and appliquéd Valentine's Love Heart framed artwork.

The fabric heart has been teamed with gingham ribbon, cotton lace trim and a natural mother-of-pearl button. The motif has a soft grey printed heart tag and hand-embroidered 'Love' text. The artwork comes framed in an off-white locally made textured wooden frame with stand and hanging hook. The artwork has a pale cream mount with a red border and is signed and dated with the year. The frame measures approx. W.16cm, H.16cm, D.1.5cm and has a glass front.

If you would like to order one of these artworks with a personalised message then please contact me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! I hope you have all had a wonderful festive season and are feeling fresh and inspired ready for the new year.

I have had a lovely family break and am now eager to get back to work and start filling my shops with new products. I have all sorts of plans for 'Claire Hurd Design' this year and I look forward to sharing them with you.

I have pictures to show you of my final Christmas stocking commission for 2009. This stocking was extra special to me as I was making it for my gorgeous niece's first Christmas. She is an absolute bookworm and has already discovered a love of Fairies (a girl after my own heart!) so I personalised her stocking and added a pretty Christmas fairy for her. The embroidered 'Christmas 2009' text is on the stocking foot-arch reverse.

Just before Christmas I was lucky enough to win not one, but two blog giveaways. I have been extremely lucky recently with giveaway wins as I really do not enter many, only those where I am a real fan of the products!

My first was a lovely festive package from Monda Loves. I received some beautiful handmade tree decorations, some lovely handmade cards, a little stash of red and white fabrics and buttons and some of my favourite chocolates. Such a lovely surprise - thank you very much Monda!

The second was from Ruby Wren Designs. I received a lovely assortment of Ruby Wren handmade greetings cards including the 3D butterfly one below. I now have lots of lovely eco-friendly cards to send to my friends, great motivation to send more hand-written letters. Thank you Hayley for my lovely prize, I look forward to using them.

Handmade Make-up Bags

Whilst working on an order for one of my personalised handmade make-up bags from my NOTHS store I decided that it was about time I made some in the lovely new Amy Butler and Tanya Whelan fabrics I bought recently. The result is this Contemporary Handmade Make-up Bag now available in both my NOTHS and Folksy Shops.

I thought I would also take the opportunity to re-photograph my personalised make-up bag with the bag filling more of the frame.

More Christmas Goodies

I have been listing more Christmas goodies in my online shops today including my personalised Christmas stockings in my NOTHS shop and a cute little Christmas robin decoration in both my NOTHS shop and my Folksy shop.

As always, feel free to contact me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk if there is anything you would like to order directly.

The Last of my Baby Blankets and Re-framed Embroidered Artworks

I wanted to share my final two personalsed baby blankets with you. My final girl's blanket for baby Ella was produced as part of a set with a matching personalised bib. This is the last of my stock of plain blankets. I am now searching for a new wholesale supplier with small minimum quantities so I can produce personalised baby blankets for my online shops.


I have also re-framed my embroidered artworks on sale in my NOTHS shop and introduced my new Boating artwork. These frames are made locally and are a nice solid wood design with a textured white finish that makes me think of natural linen. They are glass fronted and have a sturdy stand and hanging hooks on the reverse. I think they show my artworks off nicely.

To purchase any of the above artworks please contact me directly at studio@clairehurd.co.uk or visit my NOTHS shop here.