No Potato Parcel

Sob.
Every April Fool's Day, for about 13 years, the same joke was played upon me.
And I fell for it every time - can you imagine?
The door bell would ring and someone would bring me a parcel and I would get very excited and wonder what it could be and open it to find...
potatoes.
Oh how we laughed.
This year - it being the first day of the school hols, my teenagers are still in bed.
I didn't get my boiled egg which turned out to be an empty shell either.

On the bright side I am feeling so much better which is wonderful! There are two different sorts of services to celebrate Maundy Thursday today, a walk of Witness for Good Friday and an early morning service (I just attend that one mind), breakfast and communion on Easter Sunday. I love it all!

And I have two challenges to share today. Being the first of the month it is time for a Get Funky Challenge. Kathy came up with a great one

April Showers

I still had some scraps of my all time favourite new download Retro Fun on my desk and so got to work with my handy cloud shaped Nestie Labels 6. I have used these dies as trees and clouds - don't think I have ever used them as Labels! Lots of inking and faux stitching. I added the raindrops with Diamond Stickles and the sentiment is hand written. So come on, join in with us and you could win a prize!

Here's how to be in with a chance of winning this month's £20.00 voucher to spend at Funky Hand::

1. Add your April Showers project to your blog,

2. Don't forget to say which Funky Hand product(s) you've used,

3. Come back before midnight April 30th (UK time) and leave a message with a link so that we can see what you've made.

It is also Salt challenge day today. Pauline came up with this one

Gethsemane

As He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus made a plea to God to deliver him from his suffering. He knows God has the power to do all things and asks God to use that power to save Him from the trials that are coming. He is agitated because He knows that while as a human He has a choice, He is being called to obedience.
Jesus doesn’t avoid life. In the scripture readings, Jesus is facing life head on and is paying the price for it. The Jesus we find in the garden of Gethsemane isn’t a Jesus we hear much about. This Jesus is distressed, agitated and deeply grieved. This is a very human Jesus in a very uncomfortable position.
A struggling Jesus, a human Jesus, a Jesus that teaches us to face life head on and not to avoid being uncomfortable.

It is a wonderful theme for the time of year and I knew what I wanted to do.

Its another photo-less layout. I wanted to focus on the fact that Jesus was prepared to take on what was dangerous and difficult in love for us and that we ought to be prepared to take up our cross, to take our cup and follow him even if that is very hard.
The layout is made from Basic Grey Urban Couture papers, letters and match books. I put alpha stickers down, glimmer misted them and then lifted them off. The cup was hand drawn and paper pieced. I also used a Martha Steart punch and Banana Frog stamps.
Here is the journaling close up