Laying out the layouts

My scrapping often gets overlooked - what with me being a rubbish blogger and all, so here is a quick catch up
Crikey - it turns out I have loads!
I won't go into detail then, if you are curious about anything then just drop me a comment.
These are all personal layouts i.e. not for Design team work, although a lot of the embellishments are from Quirky Kits because Leo is so generous with them
This first one comes from a sketch by Susan aka Miniowner who has a great blog here. This is the sketch 

And this is what I did with it
Warning - its bright

 Even all those bright colours don't detract (in my humble opinion) from the riot of colours of the market. All the papers are from Illustrated Faith, as are almost all the embellishments

 And here is the layout that is all about the fruit we paid a king's ransom for in said market. The title sums it up

 That gold mat stuff? I have had that and never used it since I began scrapping 10 years ago.

 Whilst I am in confessional mood, this story needed to be told but I am still cringing...

 The big flower carefully hides a woman who spoiled the view :)
Two more...

No, three!

 I will try and keep up with myself better in future.

Don't panic, don't panic

I am very good at panicking.
Some things don't help.
Like the letter yesterday about the fact that my pension will be frozen as I am changing employer. Seeing that written down made it seem more real.
Then I realised that I only have 4 more services left in each of my current churches.
And my DBS clearance hasn't come through yet and I can't move without it, but I have had to give notice and
aaaaaargh.
Lets just put our trust in God. (But please, police, do my application next)

And perhaps focussing on  crafting would be better.
I still haven't blogged last weeks card and it was my turn and everything.
I chose "Buddha's birthday" as a theme, suggesting that people could go all oriental. I did it in the simplest fashion

I punched out oodles of flowers using a Stampin' Up punch that does three at a time (yay!) I cut them from watercolour paper so that I could paint the middles using Clean Colour watercolour pens. I did cut the branch using a Dienamics die and again used pens to colour it in.
The background is also diecut - a stitched rectangle and as this was watercolour paper I was able to use some different blue and purple paint colours (the Gambai set) that were blended together and spritzed with a perfect pearls wash.
The sentiment was cut out three times and stuck together. 
By this time the background was dry so I was able to put everything together. Some of my cherry blossoms were raised on foam pads and all of them had a little dot of Daffodil stickles in the middle

I've been trying to clear out some of my stash before the move. I'm not being too ruthless yet as I will be working with at least one school who might be grateful for cast offs. I threw out a lot of random die cuts that I had been sent with purchases and never used but I did find a massive word which I decided to hang onto. Lo and behold it turned out to be just the thing I needed for this week's dare which is all about using primary colours.
Yes, I did use watercolour paper, thanks for asking
but no, it isn't pen or palette - this time the colour comes from a rather lovely watercolour dye ink set I have had for about 8 years. Oh I have just found it online here. The colours are really vibrant and I still adore it

 On this card I just used the yellow, red and blue, allowing them to run a little bit. I then die cut the stiched square and attached the sentiment on top with foam squares. I decided the little red gem would be a nice finishing touch  but probably means the card will have to be hand delivered!

I was on a roll so I made another card, this time allowing the background colours to blend and create others. I also used a brand new WPlus9 rose die set on the top.

 the blue ink came up a lot brighter than it was when I stamped the sentiment - but I think it works better than black would have. (I know, I'm surprised I said that too)

I've made a few other cards this week in what Phil likes to call "old lady style". I couldn't resist buying some more WPlus9 flower stamps and they are a joy to colour combined with those Kuretake Clean Colour pens

 You can't really see the Wink of Stella but it is there

all shimmery and lovely

I've coloured the flowers using a few different mediums - but haven't finished off any of the others yet. It is amazing how different all the cards look

 

Some you win, some you lose...

Well Easter is over, Jesus is risen - hurray!
I've been having a lovely week's holiday - hurray!
but the dog just ate the last of my mini eggs - boo!
(I know dogs aren't supposed to eat chocolate. She doesn't pinch any other food and it isn't the first time she has devoured chocolate. We will just have to watch and wait)

Phil and I visited 3 National Trust properties in 3 days - one which will be close to our new house (we were there measuring and looking at what painting needs to be done) and 2 close to here that we always meant to visit and now don't have much time for - Greenway (fabulous) and Compton Castle (very old, doesn't take long to go round). It also means that our NT tickets are already half "paid for" for the year! We hope to revisit Coleton Fishacre before we move as that is absolutely my cup of tea and I would move in if I could!

I've also done a little crafting as well. Its been good to recharge the batteries. I love my card for last weeks Daring dare. This weeks? not so much...
Last week the challenge was to celebrate Spring with spring themed cards that also featured a spring if possible 

 I watercoloured a background using peerless watercolours and then added in some Doodle stamp flowers that have been coloured and on my desk for, well probably a year! So this card also has a spring-cleaning element! I added some doodle stems and then middle flower is on a paper spring so it wobles

I just don't get tired of those flowers and the bright Kuretake clean colour pens.
This week it is an elemental inspiration week as today is April 1st (eek). 

Its a lovely photo butI really struggled with this and don't like the card I have made at all

I like the extra stripes I put onto the pink paper and quite like the rabbit (and the extra arm that comes from one of the other sets) but I'm not happy with the whole thing. Having a splodge from the black ink that needed covering up with a yellow flower didn't help....) The others have made a much better fist of it than I have so do go and have a look.