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!)

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.


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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Preview of Christening Card Development

Here is a little sneaky preview for my blog followers.

I am currently working on a contemporary Christening card for a private commission and am at the same time trying to develop a design that can be personalised and added to my Not on the Highstreet shop.

The image shows work in progress. I am creating digital designs from a scanned image of a handmade appliquéd teddy bear. I am then applying the images to the Christening card with layers of co-ordinating paper. I have added ribbon for that hand-finished touch.

I shall post about this design again once it is finished and available in my shop.

Private Commission - Party Invitations

I have just completed an order for a set of 30 invitations for a 60th birthday party.

I began making these invitations by creating an appliquéd and embroidered tea party artwork. Finishing touches were achieved with hand-embroidery. The artwork was then scanned and the blue gingham border was added in Photoshop. I printed the artwork on photo paper and then attached it to the blank cards using zig-zag stitch for that final handmade touch.

This is a Cornish tea party hence the pasties on the cake stand!

'Mum' Cards

I have just finished designing three different 'Mum' cards all on a floral theme.

All three cards have been created using collaged textured and patterned paper with hand-sketched details. Ribbon has been added to cards 1 & 3 for a more tactile quality and the text on cards 2 & 3 has been added digitally.

Easter Cards - Now Available

I have just added these two cute Easter cards to my online shop.

Both designs were created by scanning hand-drawn images and various fabric textures and trims in to my computer and then manipulating them in Photoshop. The resulting designs have been printed on to high quality coated paper and then mounted on to textured/pearly paper before being applied to a white card base.

The cards come sealed in a protective cellophane bag with a matching white envelope.





Regular visitors to my blog will recognise these motifs from my previous blog post in April 2008 when I first created the cute little creatures. I did not have an online shop at the time so I am pleased to be able to share them with you for Easter 2009.

New Design - Fairy Garden

Today I finally completed a design that I started working on a while back. It is an appliquéd and embroidered artwork for the children's market. This design would be suitable for both interior textiles and stationery products. It is a bright and cheery design with lots of nice fabric textures from suedette for the flower pots to glittering sheer polyester on the fairies' skirts.

Greetings Card Collection (part 3)

My previous commission for floral greetings cards for any occasion has led to another commission for more of the same. I am therefore filling all my free time with card making once again. I am making each design in small groups so that although each card remains individual I have a small amount of stock ready for any future requests.

With the starting up of my online shop this year (keep your eyes peeled - coming soon!) I need to keep building up stock as I make things in the most time-efficient way I can. I am enjoying the challenge of making items in this way whilst still giving each product an individual touch to make it unique. The quality of my work and attention to detail is very important to me and I intend to maintain this in all that I produce.

Greetings Card Collection (part 2)

Following my previous blog post regarding the production of a collection of greetings cards suitable for any occasion here is my range contemporary floral cards. These have all now been passed on to the customer and I am pleased to have positive feedback.


I have also produced a small range of fish cards suitable for any occasion but mainly designed for the male recipient where a floral card is less likely to be appropriate. The images have been created by printing from a perspex plate on to which the fish have been etched by hand based on original drawings.

Christmas Cards 2008

The image above shows the appliquéd and embroidered christmas fairy that I made for use on this year's Christmas cards. The fabrics have been secured using freehand machine-embroidery and satin stitch. The features have been hand-embroidered and button, sequin and ribbon bow detailing has been added by hand.

I have not been able to take a photo showing the background fabric well (it is difficult with so little natural light at this time of year) but it is a white-on-white print with a little floral repeat pattern reminiscent of snowflakes. There is a nice contrast between this crisp white and the bright red resulting in a cheerful fairy motif that I feel would work well on many Christmas products from stationery to tableware and ceramics.

This is a much more simple design that I have also used this year. The Christmas tree has been created by first applying ribbons and ric-rac trim to a green wool base. The tree motif was then cut to shape and top stitched around the edges to prevent fraying. The fabric motif was then applied to the card base and hand-drawn running-stitch detail and 'Merry Christmas' text was added as a finishing touch.

Greetings Card Collection (part 1)

Last week I received a private commission to produce a selection of greetings cards suitable for any occasion and my studio has subsequently been a hive of card making activity. The images shown here are a preview of the first cards in the collection. They have all been produced using printed images of details taken from embroidered and appliquéd artworks from my portfolio. The images have been layered up with handmade/coloured and textured base papers and have had button and jewel detail added where appropriate.
The next group of designs for this card collection will be contemporary florals. I shall post some images of this group once they are ready.