It's been a while...

So, although I have been happily crafting away for the last few years, I have not been quite so frequent in blogging my activities here!

I now have a lovely spangly new blog over at www.houldinghands.co.uk/blog and will be sharing my latest creations and inspirations a little more regularly - I hope you will join me there, with my first post and updates starting soon!

Alternatively you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Fishing for compliments!

So I am still playing with my Paper Nation (or is that Jolly Nation now?) men's stamps. This time it is the huge fish catch of the day stamp (that's my name for the stamp not the actual name!).

Firstly I stamped on cream card with a metallic black stamp. I then coloured the stamp in with Whispers pens in a very similar style to what is on the stamp itself. Maybe next time I will colour the fish in a more tropical style! As I used a smaller A6 blue ridged card I didn't add too much extra to the card, I just matted the stamped image and added DAD in brown felt letters to another couple of coloured mats below this.

For everyone who is on Twitter I have now signed up for an account and you can follow Houlding Hands (that's me!) here.

Back on top!

I have really missed blogging and most of all making time to go and visit lots of other lovely blogs with very crafty creations on - you know who you all are! I will be catching up with you all soon to see what I've missed.

So because I have been easing myself slowly back into things I have skipped quite a few great challenges so that I can stretch my creative muscles before I throw myself back into things - so here is another Father's Day card.

I started with a pale green A5 folded card and stamped the T-shirt image with the text "Top Dad" using a dark blue inkpad onto an aqua blue card. I highlighted certain elements of the image with Whispers pens and then mounted this on DCWV super glittery green card from one of their mat stacks.

I then used the same blue ink to stamp the sentiment: "Happy Father's Day" on the same card as the card blank and mounted this on the matching aqua card and glittery green card for extra depth.

Back in the swing!

I am returning to blogging, and thank you to everyone who has viewed the blog in my absence, it really is appreciated.

I have been very busy since my last post - which I am quite shocked to see was almost 11 months ago!

In that time I was very happy to accept a marriage proposal from a certain Mr Simon Houlding and we are now engaged! Plus we have been working very hard on getting the Houlding Hands Website up and running and we are now beginning the mammoth task of listing all those extra handmade cards I have been making.

This weekend I was busy crafting lots of new cards for Father's Day, which this year is on Sunday 20th June.

For this first card I started with a golden octagon card and mounted a diamond argyle patterned paper in different shades of blue. I then used a Jolly Nation stamp of a man swinging his golf club and coloured this in with Whispers pens in matching blue and orange tones. I mounted this on a darker orange card and fixed this at an angle with a stamped message of Happy Father's Day in a metallic light blue ink mounted on the same diamond patterned paper. I then used 3d foam pads to raise this above the stamped image.

Work, work, work!

Okay, after quite a long hiatus I am back up and running! I can't quite believe it has been almost a month since my last post!

I haven't been completely neglectful of my craft room, there has been a few Father's Day Cards (which I will try and upload tomorrow). Now I am back and I have a lot of challenges to catch up on! Plus, I donated 2 handmade cards a month for a whole year to the Institute of Education's Promise Auction and I have a request for a graduation and 2 birthday cards on my to-do list!

That's kind of the reason I've not managed to get back to blogsville, I am a fundraiser at the IOE and we had our first Summer Fete on 4th June and it was fantastic! Lots of hard work, but definitely worth it, we raised over £1,500 for Centenary Scholarships!

Then, no sooner had we finished packing away the stalls than I had to start getting into gear for the IOE's first telephone campaign! Plus trying to get fit for our 2 holidays in September (and my 25th birthday!) doesn't leave me with a whole heap of time! I don't know how you ladies with a family manage to squeeze everything in! I only have me and Simon (and the 2 kittens!) and I never feel like I get everything done that I need or want to!

Before I go any further I would like to thank some fantastic gals for the fantastic awards they have left for me (you know who you are) and top of my to-do list is to proudly display them, thank them again, by directing you to their very creative and fabulous blogs and to pass these onto so many more talented crafters out there!

Until next time!

You're so plaid!

I'm a bit behind this week, but this card is for Day 80 (using plaid) over at 365 Cards and using the sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You.

The flower paper and matching ribbon are Bo Bunny and the Plaid paper and Mom sentiment are both DCWV, the flower gems are from my stash.

Spot the dog!

I have missed quite a few challenges this week, I have just been super busy, late nights means no early morning crafting! On the plus side I am the Supreme Bowling Champion! Well, that might be overplaying it a little! I won at the Staff Association bowling with a score of 102!

I was hoping I might be able to get a little more caught up today but, it hasn't happened, although I did manage to complete the 365 Cards challenge, which was to decorate the matching envelope, also using the sketch over at Papertake Weekly.

I used DCWV's All Dressed Up stack with cream cardstock and the dog and paw print stamps are both Anita's

The name's Bond!

The challenge over at 365 Cards today was to use our favourite manufacturer, which of course for me is DCWV! In this case the All Dressed Up stack! Then I used this sketch from Just Christmas & Birthdays and used the theme at the Pink Elephant of Monograms/letters.

This is what I came up with!

I'm not sure if you can see it but what looks like a dimple in the centre of the ribon is actually a bow, I will try and get a close-up tomorrow when the light is a little better.

I only recently got these cream card blanks and now there is a whole range of the black and cream mats in the All Dressed Up stack that I can use with these, fantastic!

You will also probably notice that the circle isn't quite a circle, well that's because I don't have a die-cutting system at the moment or a punch big enough so it was free-handed!

For those of you wondering what the M is for, it will be for my fabulous sister Mandy, not for M in James Bond as Simon thought! Although it would be every easy to change to a card for a guy, by choosing a central monogram without a floral pattern.

Now I'm off to try and calm the kittens down, after a huge, furry black and white tom cat snuck in the house and frightened them!

Little animal!

Using the sketch over at Card Patterns, this 10th birthday card is made using DCWV Animal Cracker paper, with the little monkey fancy cut out of another sheet.

As you can see I have rotated the sketch so that I could fit the paper with text in the right way!

Jobbin' along!

I see Mr. Linky seems to have broken down...again! If it was Mrs. Linky, I'll bet it would be lot more reliable!

Oh, well, I'll just have to hope I remember to link this up later!

The sketch is from Truly Scrumptious Challenges and the theme was: spots, circles and dots!

Button crazy!

Using the sketch over at 365 Cards today and the colour challenge at The Pink Elephant, I started with a white base and used American Craft papers, then added lots of buttons.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment using Paper Mania stamps and added larger versions of the buttons to add dimension.

Top of the Class!

Using the sketch over at Mojo Monday I have created this School themed card.

I haven't added a sentiment as it is quite nice in that it could be used for a Teacher or as a well done for doing so well for a pupil. Or even as a good luck on your first day of school, which is coming up for a few special little ladies soon.

The papers and rub-ons are both from Fun-Tastic!