Dolly's Dreamings

Thing 1 and Thing 2

If you are a pet lover you must head over to A True Friend pet blog and check out the latest challenge. Not only have the girls come up with great pages as always, but there is a superb prize this week as well.

All you have to do is enter!

The theme was all about Dr Seuss (and I am a major fan) but the first thing that sprang to my mind were the cute (cute????) little characters of Thing 1 and Thing 2. I can't think what made them spring to mind LOL.

I have no idea why, when I have nothing to do, i simply do nothing. When I am rushing round from 6 am till late, I find time to squeeze in so much - scrapping, reading, shopping, cleaning etc. Now i have nothing to do i am doing nothing. I have no idea where today has gone. I did a little ironing, popped out to Asda for bread (and cookies hence the photo of the day as Asda are the only store who can bake proper American cookies - the benefits of an American parent company I guess) read a little and half-heartedly sorted some bits for the retreat this weekend and whoosh - the day is gone.

Truth to tell I did play quite a lot of Mah-Jong on the computer! I fear THAT is going to have to go.

Free Spring word art

Haven't played at making any word art for ages

Had a chance to sit and play this evening and so thought I would share it here - it is a png file

If you would like to download it you can download it here

Traditional day

Isn't Monday meant to be wash day?

It usually isn't here, but it was today.

As I languished in bed having a lie in I thought through my day and realised YIKES - the man was coming about the windows at 10.30!!!

We have a couple of windows where the double glazing has gone all misty in places and soemone was coming out to quote for replacements. BUT - the windows needed a jolly good clean, the sills were a mess and the net curtains needed salvaging.

I don't like net curtains and we only have nets at two windows where we have no choice really. But they were sooooooo dusty. Thankfully it was a lovely day so they were down, washed, windows cleaned and measured, and they are now back up all sparkly and white and dust free.

The photo at the top of the page was my photo from yesterday. My all time fave album ever is bat out of hell and we went to see bat out of Hell the symphony yesterday. It was awesome. Steve Steinman is NOT Meatloaf, nor could he be as he is so distinctive, but he gave a very good performance. His voice is superb, it was a fabulous show, the musicians and other singers were brilliant and all in all it was an amazing evening we both enjoyed.

The photo here is my little boy. All this cleaning and Mummy playing at domesticity has left him so bored. He can't stop yawning LOL

Such a lazy day

I have had one of those marvellous Sundays where I have really done nothing. I love it.

Slept lateish and had a lazy breakfast in front of the TV. Did a bit of scrapping, a bit of sewing, wtahced a bit of Tv and played Guitar Hero. I LOVE days like this.

Poor Nij is dealing well with the broken computer. We have no idea what happened. He was working on excel yesterday and the black screen of death appeared. It would not restart so we unplugged everything and left it for a couple of hours. When it booted up it went through the longest scariest DOS cleaning mode ever and now it will not start. we think the hard drive is cooked. And no - not backed up at all. Hellish problems for him. I would be hysterical - he is being Nigel .... very very clam.

My Photo of the day will come later - I know what i am taking. It will be posted tomorrow I guess.

The two cards here are two I made for Charmed Cards and Crafts last month using the K and Co papers.

It was murder!

We went out last night to a murder mystery dinner. We have done dinner shows like that in America several times and they have always been very good. This wasn't! It was a very odd format and the man presenting it - and it was just one man - was not very good. there was also a large party of about 30 who dominated the evening and kind of spoilt it for all of us smaller groups. the food was OK but I drank way too much wine to get through the evening LOL

We went to town today and I took a photo of one of the things that makes Poole unique. I don't think there are many towns where a level crossing runs through the high street and opens and closes with alarming regularity! I think it is rather special.

I bought a lovely new knitted jacket I had oggled before but wasn't prepared to spend the money on. It was half price today so i now have it! I also accidentally bought 5 new books to read. They just sort of fell into my basket as I accidentally went into Waterstones. Ooops.

I have two new pages to share today which are made with a great new kit by dawn Inskip which is available at NDISB and PBP. It is called A Brand New day and it is great to work with. there are some lovely doodles and some really nice papers.

The first page is of one of the gorgeous dolphins in Florida.

I love dolphins, almost as much as I love cats .... they are just not quite so cuddly to sit on your lap.

The second page is a spring page. the weather has been lovely lately ..... a little chilly, but lovely. And it made me feel all springlike and Dawn's new kit was very springlike.

I love the little sleeping rabbit. I may yet use him for my easter cards.

Now I am planning on tackling one of those new books with my feet up and a glass of sparkling water.

have a great rest of Saturday.

Just a little tiny garden

I wanted to use another part of my Dolls' House for Show and Tell Friday today.

The people who play along with show and tell Friday hosted by Kelli at Kelli's House always have such special things to share and they are often vintage items.

I have very few things like that and watch what they post in awe.

However, I thought it might be appropriate to share the extension to my dolls' house as I added to it just under a week ago.

Being bored one Sunday a few years ago I set about making a garden to stand alongside the house. I never really expected it to become as detailed as it was.

I bought the basic structure just made in MDF - the wall, the base, the pergola and the fencing and then set about making it into a garden.

I painted the top half of the wall and then bricked the rest.

Yes - each of those bricks was laid individually by hand - believe me ... I did it!

I used a textured stipple effect onthe wall and then painted it white and I stained the wood on the pergola.

I had such fun witht  he paths and paving and used stone effect paint for the first time on some of the pots. The paving was great fun to lay as I had never done that before and I loved it.

The garden has lots of little treasures in it.

I love the cat on the bench, busy having a good scratch and soaking up the sun in his shaded spot.

The hanging baskets which I confess I did not make are so detailed and they are even more gorgeous in real ife.

The little blue tit on his hanger and the bluetit on the wall display and the sundial are all by peter Clark who is such a talented man.

The trees and greenery and heather bushes were great fun to make and I love the tiny garden tools and watering can.

One of my special favourite bits has to be the muddy wellies just left lying around.

 

The tree is new as I wanted something taller to balance the garden next to the house and it now has ivy twisted around the trunk, but I took the picture before I did that.

Thank you for looking at my little garden - I would love to know what you think of it.

I managed to get a fab photo of the day today.

well actually it is a very bad photo of the day because it was taken with my liuttle camera which has a poor zoom. But it is still a photo I am pleased with.

We have a family of 4 deer who live where i work. they are gorgeous and I see them often, but never when I have my camera. As i arrived this morning two of them were grazing and I took a whole load of very very small pictures of them!

Not a great work of art but i see these little guys a lot and am so pleased I finally snapped them.

Fabulous Fall

I started a 12 x 6 album a while ago. I found it hard intially to scrap int his format but I actually enjoy it now. The album is a sort of landscapes around the world thing and most are views in America and Canada.

I did want to include this view though. It was taken two years ago at Stourhead - one of my favourite stately homes and gardens. The colours in fall are spectacular.

I made the page as part of my DT work for Charmed Cards and Crafts and it uses papers and embellishments from the K and Co Life's Journey range. I loved the range and it was very versatile to use.

My picture for today is grim. But then I felt grim as I took it LOL.

They are doing roadworks on a road I travel down daily and it is irritatingt he hell out of me! The lights seem to alter at different rates and the way i am going - whichever way that might be - is always the way that lets through only three or four cars as opposed to 20 the other direction!

As I was sat waiting for them to change today I thought I would snap a photo!

And it went 'boom'

As I sit here blogging my boiler is hopefully being fixed. It is a newish boiler - just 3 years old, but has had a couple of niglin faults and the latest one is quite dramatic. It makes quite a boom when it ignites - sort of like the whole thin is going to blow up. they came and fixed it two weeks ago but it's back! It is very scarey and I hope they fix it for good this time.

The cold is drippy and my chest hurts but I have had a fun day making Easter baskets with children.  What I haven't done is take many photos even though it has been the 25th - and the last 25th of the whole project as well.

My life seems to be very boringa nd so the album is boring - but I guess it is a true reflection LOL

My picture of the day at the top was of the finished easter baskets. Not bad for a group of 10 year olds. I have said that the Easter Bunny might come and fill them with eggs. I have 'inside information' that he will!

The page I am sharing today is one I made for Karen at Charmed cards and Crafts.

The K and Co Life's Journey range is so versatile - it doesn't have to be just heritage stuff.

This was a very impromptu picture of Nigel and I - Nij took it. I was ill (the January cold .... I now do my months by which cold it was) and I know it was the 25th jan as the only reason we went out was so I could take some pictures for the 25th.

The heart is stitched on and I used lots of Autumn leaves stamps as well.

Not another one!!!! and a right royal pair

Fed up to report I  have my third cold this year. Started today and explains why i have felt pants for a few days. Seems I get one each month now and I know from others int he same situation it seems as if this virus doesn't go away but keeps re-emerging again and again.

Bored with it now.

At least this one doesn't seem as violent as the others. I wouldn't mind but i take 1000 mg vit C, eat loads of fruit etc etc. I may as well go back to the chocolate!

Anyway I digress. The page here was made for A True Friend blog challenge. The team worked onw hat the world would be like if (not there is a joke .... if!!!!) our pets ruled the world. They do rule of course.

I used an old page of Fiki about what he would do if he were king for the day and made a new companion piece about Kira. We  actually call her Princess Kira as she is such a princess. I swear she would wear a real crown if we bought her one. She is such a diva and has to have everything exactly how she wants it or she shouts the house down. (Her other nickname ... mouth of the south ... wasn't given lightly!!!)

Anyway - the page captures our princess Kira.

Do go over and check what the rest of the team have done. there are some great pages. And just you wait till you see what we have in store for the next challenge!!!!

 

My picture for today is springlike - because let's face it we all need a bit of liquid sunshine.

The daffodils are in full bloom and looking gorgeous in the sun.

So that was spring then!

We had an absolutely gorgeous week last week. Then we got Monday! Mmmmmm. Seems spring sprung and it has vanished again for a while. Ah well.

I have yet to take my photo of the day, but as we are having haircuts later I have a shot in mind!

The page I am sharing here is one made with Dawn Inskip's new Jungle fever collab kit. I just couldn't resist the page.

The pictures were more from the big cat photo shoot and yes, they are a bit gruesome but it was such a priviledge to watch the lions munching away I could almost forget it was meat they were eating!

I am also sharing another quick and simple card made for ATDML last month.

I have never been one for a lot of stamping but I have to say I am loving the new clear stamps from both Hero Arts and SU so much. 

I will be back later with my photo of the day once I have taken it LOL.

Well my photo of the day was meant to be us having our hair cut - but I forgotted!!!!

So my photo of the day is of my wonderful hubby Nij with my fabulous new printer he had just installed.

I am an Epson girl through and through and love the quality of the prints but my printer developed a fault which I have tried to live with for months.

Then the driver didn't work properly with vista and it was the final straw so he went out today and got me a brand new replacement - and a later model as well.

I have just printed my first photo with it and it is fabulous.