I did it and an entry for Allsorts

                    

Yesterday was Black Belt grading for our Karate club. There were students attending from Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and further north too. It lasted 3 hours and divided roughly into 3 sections: Combinations, Kata  and Kumite. I am very happy to say that not only did I survive, but I was awarded my Shodan Ho black belt at the end of it.

There were 5 of us going for our first black belt from our local class (four pictured above). We all made the grade and passed. I was very grateful to be cheered on by my hubby, daughter and partner and my niece. It wasn't very warm in there if you were sitting down or not moving about!

Meg had my camera and was able to take a few action shots. As you can see, I wasn't getting cold or sitting down 😆

Here I am bowing to our Sensei, receiving my belt and certificate. Edit: I am 4ft 11" and he is 6ft 8"

My lovely niece had bought me a present which she gave me...

Today is a very laid-back day. I have paid a brief visit to one of my training buddies dojos to take her a little gift to say thanks for her support. Other than that I am chilling, watching the squirrels in the garden and contemplating what is left to do for Christmas besides baking.
I can certainly find the time to enter a card at Allsorts this week where the theme is Anything goes. I am sharing the Christmas card I made for Meg. It is one of my usual Inkylicious scenes featuring some of my favourite stamps. I used my ink dusters and a mixture of Distress inks and Memento inks. The tree and deer were stamped in versafine Clair.

Thanks for looking and I hope your Christmas preparations are going very well. If I don't manage to pop in again before the big day,  have a wonderful Christmas!

Hope you had a good one

 Hi there! Christmas has come and gone very quickly, but I am happy to say a good time has been had by all, here. As usual we had a quiet Christmas day and then lots of family visiting with a full Christmas dinner and tea time treats on Boxing Day.
Anyway, I thought I would show you the last three Christmas Cards I made. The first was for Meg and Grant who had just returned from a trip to the Galloway Forest Park. They spent an evening at the observatory there, where they watched a meteor shower. Stamps are all from Inkylicious and the background was created with Brushos then sections were bleached for the snow

 My second card was for Steve. All stamps on this one were from Card-io and the background was dusted with Blueprint sketch and chipped sapphire distress ink.

My final card was for my Dad. He loves his scenes so I combined inkylicious stamps to create a snowy mountain and lakeside scene for him. this was coloured with watercolour pens.

I am now 'procraftinating' trying to re-organise my craft table (our big dining table that gets cleared every boxing day) and not put as much back on it as I took off! All I have managed so far is to unwrap my Christmas present stamps and find homes for all but two. There is still a huge pile of bits and bobs in the spare room waiting to return downstairs. When I retire I will have to do some serious sorting! 

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments over the past few weeks. I don't intend to be absent from Blogland as much as I have been. My new years resolution is to look after me a little better and not let work take over.