A super quick journal page

Hi There! I am here with a super quick journal page today as I was busy at the weekend with a karate tournament. I found this cute 12cm square Talens notebook and it had to become a journal for super quick mini projects! 

I began by cutting a piece of A5 Catalyst card to fit the page, rounding the corners to leave a narrow border. I attached it using Matte Medium.

Next I used a tag inkable from set 5 to add some black soot Distress oxide to the middle of the page before setting it aside to dry

I stamped the doodle Art Dragonfly in Black Versafine Clair onto mixed media card and cut it out. I coloured it using coordinating colours of ecoline markers and added a few white highlights with a white gel pen 

Using Matte Medium I added the dragonfly to the page, sticking it down just by the head and body, leaving the wings free. 

Finally I added wordy stickers to finish the page. 

I used:

A5 full colour catalyst cards #1

Bee Crafty tag inkables set 5

Bee Crafty Doodle Art Dragonfly stamp set

Wordy stickers 3B

Ecoline pens

White gel pen

Black soot distress oxide ink

Black Versafine Clair

This was super quick and easy and something similar would be a perfect entry for the challenge this month over in the Bee Crafty Stamps Facebook group. I hope you can join us!

As I said earlier, it was a very busy weekend, but I was delighted and a little shocked to come away with a silver medal for Team Kumite and a Double Gold for individual Kata and Kumite. Here's a photo of the over 55s medal winners. Region 30 bagged over half of the medals on offer and I was very proud of all of my students that entered. 

Thanks for looking! 

Time for a change

 

It's a very long time since I shared anything that wasn't a craft tutorial or samples but I thought I would take a moment to let you know a bit of news.

The end of 2023 was very hectic with highs and lows. There was the GKR karate nationals in November, Black Belt grading in December. I gained a silver medal for kata and a bronze for kumite at Nationals and then was awarded my second Dan (Nidan) at grading. Never in a thousand years would I have thought I could achieve so much in Karate, and I am eternally grateful to everyone who has helped me along the way. 

It is truly humbling to see how much love and support comes from my Karate family, both instructors and students alike.  I feel very much valued and appreciated. 

When Steve's Dad passed away only a few weeks off his 103rd birthday it wasn't really a surprise, but when Mark (63) passed only days later it was both shocking and thought provoking. If there was one thing to take from it, it was that life is too short, and to be stuck doing things that you no longer love was wasting it. After some soul searching, I decided that after 4 years it was time to step down from the Crafty Individuals DT. In the early days I loved their stamps so much, but as time has gone on I was struggling to find the inspiration to work with the more recent designs. I don't intend joining any other DTs but am very very happy doing what I am doing with Bee Crafty. Bev and Sam have been so very kind and supportive and crafting with their products is my happy place. 

Some more positives that came out of 2023 were re-connecting with my cousins. As the 'baby' of the family I have 5 female cousins who are all older than me and some I hadn't seen since I was about 5! 

I also spent a few weekends in May and June looking for wild orchids at various sites around Notts with a very knowledgeable horticultural friend, and hope to do more in 2024. My other project is going to be turning most of the vegetable patch at the bottom of the garden into a woodland garden. The trees have grown a lot since we moved in 24 years ago! 

I am looking forward to spending time with family and friends who need some support, like Dad, who will be 95 next month, and a close friend who is recently bereaved. 

Now life is as normal as it is going to be post-pandemic, I want to enjoy my retirement a bit more. During lockdown we got into the habit of doing an hours bird watch in the garden once a month. This fell by the wayside in the past 6 months, but we will make time for it once more. I am also looking forward to spending more time and head space keeping fit and healthy, going out walking and of course continuing with my karate. 

Anyway, that is enough from me for now. Hope your 2024 is full of things you love. 

A sneaky peek step by step!

 

Hi there! I thought I would show you a step by step using the brand new stamps out tomorrow from Bee Crafty! The new Robin stamps are absolutely gorgeous and I can't stop making with them!  Here's what I did...

I began by blending versamark ink through the multi snowflake inkable and the large bauble #1 easy frame. Then I heat embossed it with ranger silver embossing powder.

Next I placed the bauble easy frame over the embossing and blended some peacock feathers distress ink around it, making it darker at the edges and paler in the middle.                                                            

I used a silver sharpie pen to outline the bauble.

Next I placed the innie from the inkable over the bauble and lightly blended some black ink around it to create a shadow.

I stamped and coloured the medium robin and some foliage from the new stamp set. I cut it out and added some glossy accents. 

Whilst this dried, I trimmed down the card that the bauble was on, Stamped and embossed the Believe sentiment and splattered with turquoise and silver sprays.

when it was dry I mounted it onto a blank card and added the robin and foliage using ultra thick gel medium

Here is the finished card again. 

I used:

Robins Art stamps set

Inkables 6" Easy Frame Bauble 1 

Inkables 6x6 snowflake multi

Embossing ink

Ranger silver embossing powder

Peacock Feathers and black soot Distress ink

Silver Sharpie

Glossy accents

memento black ink

alcohol markers

Ultra thick gel medium

I hope you can join us for the Launch over on the Bee Crafty Facebook page tomorrow! 

Whilst I am here, here's a few photos from the Nationals on Saturday! 

We had an absolutely amazing day and I managed to get a bronze for Kata in a group of 7 qualifiers for my age group, so I am delighted! 

Thanks for looking! 

Gallivanting...

Hi there! 

Not my usual post today as I am on my way to Sheffield to take part in the GKR National Tournament! You may remember I entered the qualifiers back in September, not expecting to get through, but I managed to get a bronze medal for both Kata and team Kata. 

As you read this I will be bowing in with my fellow competitors and no doubt be feeling very nervous. As they say, though, if you don't try, you will never know. I see it as much of a learning journey on what tournaments are about as anything else.

Probably the best part is being part of the team. My karate family are just awesome.

I will also be helping out as an official again as it helps to keep me from getting too nervous.

Our students are amazing and wonderful people. I really hope they do well again. I am so proud of them for getting this far. 

I will be here on Monday with a sneaky peek and a step by step using brand new stamps out on Tuesday by Bee Crafty, which I absolutely love 😘

Thanks for looking x

A play in my journal and some karate photos

Hi there! I am here with a colourful journal spread for you this week. I created the background ages ago, just by blending candied apple and seedless preserves distress oxide inks around the page and through the Bakewell inkable. Once this was done I added a little bit of speckled egg  distress oxide spray.

I stamped the mesh stamp from Journal art elements 3 and some coffee stains in Versafine Clair Nocturne

I stamped the numbers in Hero Arts unicorn white ink too

Setting the journal aside I stamped 5 butterflies ( I did 4 originally but then thought an odd number would be better)

I coloured them with Ecoline pens and cut them out

Next I added the butterflies to the page after stamping the antennae directly onto the page where I wanted to position them

Finally I added three of the black sentiment stickers and a few splatters of white gloss spray

Here's the finished pages

I used: 

Dylusions mini Journal

Distress oxide ink in candied apple and seedless preserves

Distress oxide spray in speckled egg

Bakewell Big one inkable

Journal Art Elements 3 stamp set

Coffee Stains stamp set

Birds and butterflies regular stamp set

Versafine Clair nocturne ink

Hero Arts unicorn white ink

Ecoline pens

Distress Collage Matte Medium

Dina Wakely white Gloss Spray

Bee Crafty Wordy Stickers

Apologies that I didn't get round to posting last week. I've been a bit busy with power of attourney duties for my dad, followed by a karate tournament! I got my level one in Judging and refereeing which was loads of fun as well as competing. Here's a few photos. Our region brought home 68 of the 144 medals. Super proud of all of our students and senseis.

 Thanks for looking! 

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!