Dolly's Dreamings

What a stupid girl.

Now it's not like I don't KNOW I am doing photo a day. I mean don't they say that something becomes habitual after you have done it for 2 weeks.

Obviously doesn't sink in that quickly with me does it!

I can't get my act together for this project and today was a good failure. I downloaded yesterday's picture and forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. So I came to take the photo of the day today and no memory card.

BUT - all is not lost - the camera has a built in internal memory too. Great

Well great if you know what the heck you did with the lead that came with the camera that you have never used and the camera is 6 months old and quite frankly it could be ANYWHERE!!!

So, there MIGHT be a photo of the day one day for today. IF I ever find the lead.

I do, however, have a new page to share which I kind of like. It was made using another of Dawn's wonderful Photo emphasis templates and also her happiness and nature walk kits.

The photo is of Nigel at Arne - a place we love.

 
I love the picture and so it was perfect to use on a page where the picture was the main emphasis.

Today I am thankful for

• keeping my focus when I heard something quite distressing
• being home, having Nigel and the cats and good friends

  

and finally - in those infamous words ... 'a little something for the weekend'.

These are some amazing chalk drawings on pavements or sidewalks. They are all completely flat and just look so dimensional.

 

 

Brand new goodies and a poor old bear

I am a bit of an arctophile .. a teddy bear lover.

We always say ...'no more bears' and somehow it just seems to happen. We end up with new bears. Some come and some go and some remain lifelong friends, such as this little chap who came to take assemblt today.

He didn't always look like this. Hew all new and shiny once. I had this teddy for Christmas when I was 2  as this photo shows.

He was actually one of twins. His twin brother was a little bit older, having been bought when I was first born, and was a little shabby and so I had a 'spare' that year. And just as well really. The twin bear (with a blue ribbon) slept with me along with his twin brother in the red. They slept with me for years and were still sleeping with me when I was 15 and went to Majorca on holiday. I only took 'blue' with me as two bears  was simply one bear too many to pack.

It was then that disaster struck. He got left behind in the bed. We tried ringing, we had friends who were still out there and they tried, but no joy. Poor teddy had vanished and I am sure was comforting a little Spanish child by then. So 'red' has the love of two lavished on him.

That's why he looks quite 'real'. Those of you who know and love The Velveteen Rabbit will know exactly what I mean by that. Much of his fur has been loved off, he has a few fairly serious holes which can't be repaired as the surrounding fabric is weak and tired, he has a very nasty stain from helping me make enamel badges when I was about 7, but he is still loved and cherished every single day. He is special and irreplaceable. And he made a great focus for assembly.

That's the old ... now I have some new. A new page made with stunning new stuff from Dawn released today at her Scrapbookgraphics store.

She has some new photo templates (I adore her templates) and also some more of those cute plastic pockets and a great set of nibbled and chewed masks.

This page took me ages to make as there are lots and lots of layers, but I am pleased I did it as it is a great summary of a fab year in 2011.

 
Today I am thankful for

feeling a little better

the strength to stay as positive as possible

a full fridge that is COOL in every sense

My one minute devotion today is lovely and reminds us of the special people who touch our lives.

Carmen is what Victorian novelists would call simple. She can barely read, she’s not very good at remembering names, and her conversation doesn’t go much beyond “How are you today?” Sixty years old now, she still lives with her mother, and when she comes to church and sits in the pew, there’s something of an eight-year-old about her. She alternates between rapt attention and fidgeting, her head swirling to the back of the sanctuary to see who’s there, her feet swinging from the pew.

And yet, Carmen has an intuitive sense about people. When new people come to church, she makes a beeline for them at the coffee hour, grabs them by the hand, and leads them to meet others. When a parishioner has been away for a long time, she goes up to that person with a big smile and puts out her hand. When a name has been read from the pulpit with a request for prayers, she’ll give whoever it is a hug later in the back of the church. I remember her best at our wedding, when she appeared at church in her prettiest party dress and shiny Mary Janes, wreathed in smiles as she celebrated our happiness.

Some people are a gift by their presence: the calming influence at a contentious meeting at work; the good listener who makes you feel better just by hearing your concerns; the enthusiast who adds energy to a room the moment she walks in the door. What is comforting about Carmen is her goodness. Her kindness arrives unedited, disarming everyone she meets. She brings out the best in people through simple warmth. That’s her gift.

Still on a 3

I guess life is about balance.

You weigh up the good and the bad and some days the balance tips one way and sometimes it tips the other and sometimes, within the course of a day it swings from one side to the other with no real rhyme or reason.

So let's not dwell on the negative swing today - positive thinking is the best healing in the world anyway.

Let's look at the positive. When I came home from work - sadly early again :( - there was a brand new shiny fridge in situ. It's not on yet as we have to wait six hours before switching it on, but it looks very smart. It is all silver and shiny and there are lots of different shelves and drawers and stuff. We are, quite sadly, very excited about the switch on later. Heck, based on past form we'll just be glad if it cools.

Photo of the day - fridge inspection.

I have something very different to share today - very unusual for me and a totally new departure.

UKS are having an art journal journey. I have never really 'got' art journals. They are generally not my style and the only ones I had ever seen were paper based and by their very nature not something I would ever do as it was messy and involved paint and gesso and glitter and ink and stuff. So totally not me.

However, it was made clear there are digital art journals and that this is fine too. And looking on digital sites - wow - there are loads of them.

I am not sure I am 'free' enough or 'creative' enough for this art form, although everyone says there are no rules and whatever you do is fine because it is you.

However, I figured you never know if you don't try. So on Sunday I did try and this is my first ever art journal page.

I'm not sure quite how I feel about it. However, I am determined to try and make myself  a digital art journal exploring my creativity. We'll see eh! What I will say is that I was very touched by the generous comments everyone made on the boards.

Today I am thankful for

• tentative reassurance
• a new fridge

 

My one minute devotional calendar is, appropriate to today, about art and life.

 When I was a little girl, I loved coloring books more than anything. I’d choose a purple crayon for the leaves of a tree instead of the expected green, and my mother, a first-grade teacher, would smile and pronounce it perfect. “If leaves look purple to you, honey, then that’s the color they are,” she’d assure me. “Don’t worry about what other people say.”

But when I grew up and had my own home, I found myself monitoring the trends portrayed in glossy decorating magazines. Before long I was succumbing to them. Better not paint the family room buttery yellow; hunter green is in this year. And Use an antique Hoosier kitchen cabinet for a desk? What would the neighbors think?

Then one day this year, when I was out shopping, the craziest notion came to me: Buy a coloring book and a big box of crayons. Before long, I wasn’t just coloring leaves purple; I was coloring outside the lines. And enjoying every minute of it!

As I ignored the rigid rules of Coloring 101, I experienced a wonderful new freedom. Suddenly the world looked full of endless possibilities. When I nailed antique wooden shoe forms to a board to create a one-of-a-kind hat rack, I received compliments galore, a few of them even from the neighbors. Armed with newfound confidence, I retrieved that forgotten Hoosier cabinet from the garage, scooted a ladder-back chair up to its porcelain top, and had the most serviceable desk ever. Its little drawers are ideal for housing pens and paper clips.

This year I’m celebrating both my Creator and my God-inspired creativity … and coloring outside the lines every step of the way.

 Thank You, God, for the wondrous world You created. Help me to be fearless in beautifying my little corner of it.

 I just thought that was so apt for today - funny how that happens isn't it!

Not a 10 - more of a 3

Some days are 10s. You bounce along - well not literally but metaphorically speaking - and life is good. You feel a picture of health ... well apart from the arthritic knees, the duff ankle and the short and long sightedness ... and life is good. Other day .... mmmm, not so much. Some days are just plain poorly days and much as you try to pretend they are not, it sort of catches up on you and you end up just having to give in.
Thankfully they are not the norm. Thankfully they are few and far between. Thankfully it is a very minor blip compared to the awful stuff some people have to cope with. And actually, they serve to remind you not of your own fragility, but rather of how lucky you are that the poorly days stand out as odd rather than the good days being the unusual ones.

Plus, along the way there is ually a very very kind hubby who, as luck would have it, was working in a chemist today, and so was able to shop for what you needed. See, every cloud has a silver lining.

 
I will get better which is more than I can say for our fridge.

It was just two weeks ago I posted that we were a little disappointed that having steeled ourselves that we would need a new fridge and picking one out, the fridge was mended after all. Mmmm .... seems not actually. It is back to not working againa nd the next stage would be to replace a fairly major part and we'd be looking at over £200 and still having a fridge that, to be honest, we didn't entirely trust. I am bored with throwing chicken away now and so last night, terrifying as it might be, we ordered a new fridge that arrives tomorrow. Bang goes any dreams of saving for an iPad!

However, we did manage to find it at Boots, £150 cheaper than the next cheapest, which was also a sale price at £200 less than usual, so a saving of £350 plus extra Virgin miles for shopping through their gateway plus air miles for using the Virgin card plus Boots advantage points - heck, it is almost like they are paying us to have the thing!

I guess it may - fingers crossed - be the picture of the day tomorrow.

I have a page to share today which was made for the weekly challenge on UKS.

It is very much a hybrid page as I made the butterflies digitally then printed and coloured, I made the word art digitally and printed.

 

The word art was fun to do and I had forgotten how much I like making those little title blocks up

The challenge included using butterflies and I do love butterflies. Not only are they pretty but they are also so symbollic.

 

Today I am thankful for

• giving in and being gentle with myself
• General good health ... too easy to take for granted.
• Nigel getting to do something he enjoyed today

 

My one minute devotional calendar page today was lovely and reminded me very very much of a trip we made to Big Pit in wales 25 years ago. It was the darkest blackest thing ever and I still can't beleive I managed it. My claustrophobia is worse now and I don't think I could do it now ... but I am glad I did it and could experience total blackness.

TOUR A COAL MINE! The billboard fairly shouted as we drove along Canada’s east coast. “Can we, Mom? Can we?” The two youngest kids, ages nine and ten at the time, were game to do anything that held even a hint of adventure.

“Oh, I suppose we could,” I replied without really thinking about it.

The grizzled old coal miner who acted as our guide handed each tourist a waterproof cape and helped us adjust the lights on our miners’ helmets. As we rattled down underground in the steel cage of an elevator, the guide proceeded to fill us in on the gory details of every disaster that had ever occurred in this particular mine. The elevator cage jolted to a stop at the bottom of the shaft. “Okay, everybody, turn the lights out on your helmets, so you can experience how dark a coal mine really is!”

The darkness was impenetrable. “Gee, Mom, I can’t even tell if my eyes are open or not!” our son exclaimed. Nor could I. We stood for a moment, experiencing the absolute absence of all light: pitch blackness. Scary, real scary. And cold, clammy cold.

“Okay, you can turn your lights on now and come this way.” The beam of light from my miner’s helmet caught the fluorescent heels of the running shoes worn by the tall tourist ahead of me. By bending my head just so, I could follow in his steps, while he, in turn, focused on the guide. Playing “follow the leader” spared me from succumbing to my absolute worst fear—being left alone in the twists and turns of that pitch-dark mine shaft.

The tour over, we squeezed back into the elevator cage. I held my breath as it creaked and groaned its way to the surface.

“That was neat, huh, Mom?” exclaimed our son. “What did you like best?”

“The fellow’s shoes who walked ahead of me,” I replied.

Father God, thank You for those whose lives are so focused on You that I can safely follow in their steps. And thank You for offering to be the guiding light to us all.

Week 3 completed

Today's post is brief as I have such a lot to do, but I did want to update my project 366.

I am managing, just about, to keep up with the Project 366 and I have completed my week 3 page. I meant to do it on Saturday but it just didn't happen. I managed to finish it last night.

I used Dawn's Muggles collection and also some of her Project 365 dates which I love. I also used some frames I have had for a while which I love.

It wasn't a very exciting week and so it is a very boring page, but I guess recording everyday life over the course of a year means a fair bit of it will be fairly  mundane.

I have been on a course about iPads todayand came home with a real burning desire to have one. I know I don't NEED one and I certainly don't have the money to buy one, but heck - they can do some cool stuff. They are certainly the way forward educationally too.

So here is my photo of the day - the closest I am likely to come to having my own LOL

Today I am thankful for

• emergency supplies I needed

Home Decor budget style

Today I have a home decor idea to share and some pretty general ramblings.

I did a fair bit of work yesterday so that I truly could have a day off - and a lovely day it has been too.

I have scrapped, I have read, I have watched TV and I have switched off and relaxed.

My photo of the day is the new bird feeder as Nij finished re-siting it where we hope it will stay.

I really hoped that we would see birds straight away but i knew that was unlikely and it would take them a while to get used to it.

So imagine our joy when we saw my favourite little bird of all, the robin, on the feeder. We had bought special robin suet cakes with mealworms (lovely!!!) and he obviously knew they were just for him and he has spent a lot of the afternoon on his little robin cake. So much so we doubt he can still fly!

We have also seen several tits - we think coaltits or great tits, but we think we have also seen greenfinches on there as well. I have spent a fair bit of the day just sitting and watching. And smiling.

I have a project to share today that I haven't shared before but was made a while ago. It is a clock for the library downstairs.

The clock was one I have had for ages and I think it was a Creating memories clock - just a big square piece of wood with the clock mechanism.

First I painted the edges and then I covered it with some beautiful paper. The paper is K and Co from the Blue Awning range  (my favourite range of papers ever)  It is just so subtle with browns and creams and blues - the perfect colours for the library. It is flocked and so has a lovely texture to it.

I cut several butterflies from an off cut of a wallpaper sample that we almost used int he room. The room is brown and cream with this bright peacock blue as an accent colour and it made the perfect thing to cut the butterflies from. I cut several and overlayed them to give real dimension.

I also made several paper roses from the same papers. I stamped some with text and added different inks to change the tones.

The letters were cut on the robo. I couldn't use chipboard as there wasn't quite enough clearance for the hands. They were cut from another paper sample we didn't use.

 

 

I love projects that are cheap to make and just take  little time to do.

Today I am thankful for

• a truly restful day and a good recharge of my batteries.

A bit of a messy day

It's been a bit of a messy day today - messy in that it is broken into lots of bits and messy in that paints came out.

They came out for one project I cannot share and one I can.

Shimelle is running a monthly class on UKS which is called and now for something completely different - and hands up everyone who is my sort of age who just sees python at this point!

Anyway, the challenge this month was a reall challenge for me. It involved paint and glitter and mess and I don't do paint and glitter and mess. I did like using the little camera stamp and a very old Autumn Leaves circle seal stamp. Must use those more often.

I did do the paint. I have never spattered paint on a page before - and I probably won't ever do it again either as it is not an effect which works for me either in style or in effort. But at least I tried it.

The class was a 12 x 12 page so it had to be adapted from the outset. I used pictures from my 50th birthday and yes - it really is him!

I managed to sneak lots of sewing in too ... and I never did bring myself to use the glitter.

 

 

It did what it said ont he tin. It made me do something different. This is the completed page which is for 50th album (hence the size and format)

I didn't share my picture of the day yesterday as I knew it wouldn't be taken until the evening. It was my Mother-in-law's birthday yesterday and we went out to eat and when we came back had this little cake with candles.

and todays is very mundane - but heck, some days are mundane.

We had a 25% voucher for pets at home that had to be used this week and so we went and stocked up on cat litter and food and saved over £20 which made it well worth doing.

 
I was asked yesterday how I save my digital work. I save my creations in 3 formats to begin with. First I save the original png file (though these are massive) then I save a full size jpeg and finally a web sized jpeg. Once I am sure I am happy with it I delete the png file. I keep the full size jpeg until I have either backed it up or had it printed or printed it myself and then I delete that too.

You could easily save the jpegs to a memory card and play it on a digital frame. It is something i have long thought of doing.

Today I am thankful for

• blustery walks
• wet wipes (it was messy messy messy)

My one minute devotion today is

MYSTERIOUS WAYS
“Be bold; mighty forces will come to your aid.” That’s an adage I’ve long believed in. But there was a moment in my life that has led me to believe if you’re lost, sometimes mysterious forces will come to your aid.

At that time, when my family was struggling, I sought a job with Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services. This was a bold move, for I had no diploma, having dropped out of school to marry. Eventually, though, I passed the test and got the job.

My assignment was to locate and assist needy families, but locating them was sometimes difficult because they often lived in remote places with no obvious address. This particular day I’d been asked to help a needy family (no father present, little money or food, frightened mother and children) living near Lake Texoma, in rural Oklahoma. This was dangerous country, but I felt it was my duty to find them. I drove all morning with little to guide me, and in this gun-crazy backcountry you didn’t knock on just any shack and ask for directions.

Finally, in early afternoon I parked in the shade of a cottonwood tree and began to pray, asking God to direct me. I then looked down the lane I’d already driven over twice. There was a lone mailbox plainly emblazoned with the family’s name!

My visit went well; we’d be able to help this family with food and clothing.

As I was leaving, the grateful mother marveled that I’d found her house. “It wasn’t hard,” I said, “once I saw your name on the mailbox.”

“My name?” the woman said to me, mystified.

Going back to the road, I examined the mailbox again. There was no name. No name at all.

Friday - we LOVE it

Oh I do like a nice Friday feeling - the endless possibilities of  a weekend looming ahead.

Such a nice feeling.

Time to catch up, time to sleep, time to scrap, time to remember to be 'us'.

It's gone pretty cold today. I went out to the garden as soon as I came in to put the new bird feeding station up with Nigel and it was cold cold cold. I will take a photo but it is  too dark now.

I have another new page to share made with Dawn Inskip's new Muggles Collection from Scrapbookgraphiics. The photos were taken at Stowe this summer.

Nigel and I love visiting our National Trust properties around the country and Stowe has to be one of the nicest - we love it so much and will certainly go again. It was kind of like Stourhead but on a much bigger scale.

Today I am thankful for

• FRIDAY!
• a fabulous clean house
• Teddy bears

 

 

Feeding the Birds

Nij and I love all wildlife ... well OK all wildlife that doesn't fall into the category or spiders ... well OK that doesn't fall into the category of spiders or insects in general. But you get the general idea.

When our neighbours fence came down as a result of the high winds a couple of weeks ago, it forced us to look at our bird feeders. We love to see the birds in the garden and do get quite a variety. We get usual suspects like blackbirds, starlings, thrushes, a lovely cheeky robin, lots of blue tits and finches, loads and loads of woodpeckers and way too many magpies and pigeons. We also occasionally get some stunning birds of prey and our most unusual visitors, seen quite often either on the roof or the top of one of the trees, are a pair of herons and we are very grateful to our next door but one neighbours for keeping a well stocked pond to keep the herons happy!!!

We used to get dartford warblers when we first moved in, but a big fire in 1995 destroyed some of their habitat and they haven't returned to our garden. We also used to have wild pheasants who were so cheeky. We used to feed them every day - there was a male and three females and they had chicks and came for a couple of years. They were so cheeky that if the food wasn't out they would come onto the patio, up the steps and tap on the dining room window asking for their food. They were gorgeous but they too disappeared int he big fire and we think their homes were destroyed too.

Anyway - I digress. We decided to invest in a new multi feeding station as well as our squirrel proof feeders (oh yes we have loads of squirrels too) and it arrived today.  We will hopefully erect it at the weekend and see what comes to feed.

 
I have a new page to share today which was made with a brand new collection by Dawn Inskip called Muggles and it is available at her store at Scrapbookgraphics.

It has some really neat things in it including some wonderful plastic pockets.

The photos were from our 2010 elephant hunt in London. Somehow the Bournemouth lions, whilst lovely, didn't quite do it for us in the same way.

Today I am thankful for

• managing to sit down for 10 minutes .... just
• my little boy being so adorable standing on his back legs for ages just to be next to me.

My 1 minute devotion today is

Although I enjoy my privacy, there are a lot of reasons that I don’t like being single:

• There’s no one else to eat the leftovers.
• No one is there to tell you that you forgot to remove the price tag from your new dress.
• There’s no one to share a prayer with.

Small things, really. But they loomed large for me during a period of bitterness about my marital status. My only sister, Natalie, had just gotten married and it made me all the more unhappy about being single. Suddenly, couples holding hands in the mall made me jealous, and babies gurgling at me over their parents’ shoulders in church would prompt me to angrily remind God about the joy He was withholding from me.

Finally, after some prayer, I decided to come to terms with this resentment and write it all down. By the time I’d reached the end, two things stood out. One was that my real complaint was not having anyone special in my life. And the second—which surprised me—was that there actually were some things I liked about living alone! By the time I’d finished my second list, I could actually laugh.

Reasons that I like being single:

• You don’t argue with anyone about money, sex, or kids.
• You have lots of funny stories to tell about nightmare blind dates.
• The last chocolate chip cookie is all yours.

Well, as you can see, it helps to have a sense of humor, and to remember there’s always a good side to every “wrong.” God knows what He’s doing with my life—and it seems I need to learn, over and over again, to trust His plan.

On the road again

I came home to a lovely surprise. My bike arrived, was all set up and ready for me to use.

I guess that means I had better use it!

It was a special offer - very much a starter bike. It was £30 on offer and is really just to see if I like it. I used to cycle a lot but I lost my confidence after a fall and am terrified of falling off my real bike. I am hoping this will get me back into it by ensuring i am fit and then it is just the nerves to conquer.

I have a new page to share today which is another for my California album. Very simple and Barb, how spooky to read your comment yesterday having just made this. You will TOTALLY identify with this page.

We do have a few Outback restaurants in the UK and Nij and I sought out the one in Richmond and were so disappointed. It was way more expensive than in the US and the food was NOTHING like as good. We always try and go to Outback at least two or three times every trip and I always have their Victoria fillet.

The strips at the bottom look a little bent but that is just caused by the scanner as it is a thick page. Under the stitched pocket is a curbside menu and a receipt and a photo of the Victoria fillet and salad. I can't wait to go eat at Outback again this summer. And Barb, you are on. If I ever get to Alaska then you betcha!

Today I am thankful for

• my dinner all ready and prepared when I got home even though Nij had to go out. I am very lucky. I knew he had cooked my veggie sausages (I only like them cold) but when I opened the fridge there was a fabulous salad all prepared

My Daily Devotion calendar today is

The door to the hotel bathroom crept open. Inside, I had set up a makeshift office so I could work late while the children slept. My 11-year-old daughter Rebecca announced, “I can’t sleep.” I turned off my laptop computer while she sat on the edge of the tub and began to talk. She told me about her frustrations with having a younger brother, about her recent trip to Disney World, and about her upcoming elementary school graduation. Suddenly, she wiggled her toes and yelped, “Ugh!”

“What?” I said.

“An ant was crawling on my toe.”

We looked down at this insect, hardly big enough to see. It was climbing over mountainous tufts of fuzzy bathroom mat. After watching it struggle for a few minutes, we realized it was going in circles. So we decided to help it along its journey. We picked it up, removed the mat, and placed it on the smooth tile.

“I think ants have a good sense of direction,” I said hopefully. “Maybe now it can find its way home.” Soon, it was crawling in circles again.

As we watched the ant, I felt as if I were watching myself. I’d been lost a few times in my life: when my parents divorced, when my father died, when I was laid off from a job. Each time, I struggled to find my own way.

Suddenly, Rebecca said, “Let’s put it in the flowers.” There was a vase of fresh flowers on the counter. After letting the ant crawl onto a piece of tissue paper, she gingerly placed it on an iris. “At least it will feel at home there.”

I smiled at Rebecca’s innocence and at her caring heart. And I said a silent prayer for the people who, each time I was lost, were there to comfort me, help pick me up, and put me back on the right road.

Lord, thank You for Your guidance and the comfort You give through others.

and finally - Barb thank you for sharing this that I have just sat and cried through. What an inspirational video and I am proud to share it on here.