Almost at the middle of the month...

...and not an April post in sight.

How bad am I?

In fact, not a post since 23rd March...oops!

To be honest, this is the busiest time of year at work - performance assessments, Easter holidays - and there just doesn't seem to be enough time to do everything that I need or want to do.

Back on the 27th March, Members Weekend kicked off and I met my friend Hilary for a bit of retail therapy and a good chin-wag. I had intended to be good on the shopping front but there were some things that I had been wanting - so with 30% off it was too good an opportunity to pass by.

I have a lot of dies but not many of them are sentiment ones...

...so these came home with me along with a considerable number of additions to my Cosmic Shimmer collection. I have a whole new range of colours to have a play with.

 

Talking of colour, I was horrified to realise that I hadn't done any real colouring since Christmas...







 

...that is soooooooooooo not me. However, I have been having trouble with the old arfa-ritus and a couple of previous attempts had ended in the bin because a pen slipped when my fingers locked. A bright blue streak across the face of an image is not a good look. Where as I would normally complete a few of this size image in a evening, this Saturated Canary took me several days because every time the old fingers started to tingle I thought it safer to give it a rest rather than risk spoiling what I had done. The weather has started to warm up and things are improving so I hope to be back in full 'colouring-in' mode soon.

 



Another area of concern was the lack of availability of the new Ranger Distress colours. Cracked Pistashio was launched in January but my local retailer was told that due to demand their supplier would not be able to provide the range until mid/late April. It has been awful seeing all the wonderful creations that folk have made using the new colours and not being able to get hold of them myself. A very kind crafter even emailed me with a couple of possible suggested sources after she saw the comment I left on "Sir Tim's" blog. Imagine my delight to arrive at Pinnacle Crafts yesterday just as Andy was unpacking a delivery of these...

...happy, happy dance. The only thing that didn't arrive was the distress markers (sad face) but the latest news is that Abandoned Coral (Feb) and Mermaid Lagoon (Mar) should be arriving shortly...YIPEE!!!!!

Andy and I have been trying to guess what the next colour will be as we get to the next first Friday of each month. I was actually right this time - the April colour is a yellow, Fossilized Amber. Andy is hoping for a range of proper 'White' stuff (not the wash effect created by Picket Fence) and we both thought that his prayers had been answered when we saw the latest thumbnail on the Tim Holtz blog...but it turned out to be the announcement of a blank die pad that you can custom colour yourself using re-inkers - fabulous idea but the indications are that the cost will be quite high when they hit the UK...shame.

So I have plenty to 'play' with at the moment and plenty of stuff that needs to be finished off, just need the time to do it. Anyone else still struggling to catch up on the hour we lost going into BST?.....................................................................