I had a trip to the Craft Barn yesterday, after I'd done my duty trip to the Garden centre to get Pelargonium plugs, which by the way is by far the the cheapest way to get them, even cheaper than buying seed as far as I can tell.

I had a loyalty voucher burning a hole in my bag. I hadn't intended to spend much money (when do I ever) but still a few unplanned items fell into my basket. I bought a new PaperArtsy stamps (an A5 sheet), the one with the big bird on it(HP1005), Crafty Individuals chipboard houses, a notebook to alter (it looks about 5"x5"), a Crafty Individuals Miniatures book - People and Places 2, a Crafty Individuals Stamp CI-267 - it's tree with clocks and cakes and teapots on it, the Spica clear gel pen, Wild Plum alcohol ink, on TH's blog recently people were asked which was their favourite colour, this one came up really often, along with Stream and Lettuce (but I have those already :-)) and last but not least 2 pads of the new DI pads, Wild Honey and Victorian Velvet. They had all 12 colours in and I couldn't decide which to buy so I just picked 2 at random (we all know I will buy them all eventually).

I have spent this afternoon in the garden clearing the beds of their winter detritus. Only done a couple so far, my knees can't take much more than that! But it was such a lovely afternoon it just seemed nice to be outside, winter has lasted far too long this year and those of us living in the soft South East just aren't used to it.

Well that' s Easter done and dusted. No fish, no Simnel cake but plenty of lamb, hot cross buns and chocolate. I'm still trying to catch up on some projects that I completed in March. Here's one.

I made this using canvas board that I bought quite cheaply from 'The Works'. I swiped a few colours of distress inks (straight from the pad) over the canvas. I used Fired Brick, Tattered Rose and Peeled Paint. I didn't cover all the canvas. Then I spritzed the canvas to soften the edges. I cut out the poppies from some paper napkins. I stuck them on using Claudine Hellmuth matte medium, which I also painted on over the top of them. The poppy on the bottom left (both layers) left was painted with the medium several times (allowed to dry between each layer) until it was stiff enough to shape. The flower was then attached using a jewelled brad from my stash. The frame on the top left of the canvas is from Crafty Individuals and that has been coloured using Fired Brick and dusted with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls. The image in the frame is from the Crafty Individuals Miniatures books Butterflies and Flowers. On the back card was glued on in a complimentary colour. Then I punched 2 holes in the top and inserted the eyelets using my Crop-a-Dile and threaded through ribbon from my stash. Last but not least the Happy Birthday was made using white glossy card and a Go Kreate die.

I made this card a few months ago using Artylicious papers, an Elusive Images flower stamps. The butterfly quartet is a Crafty Individuals stamp and the 'Happy Birthday' stamp is from HOTP.

Now all I need to know is how to turn this picture around.