Dolly's Dreamings

Days like this

Some days  are very gentle - nothing much happens and other, well others are busy busy busy. Really busy.

But mostly good busy. I have had some lovely moments today which remind me very vividly about what a privilege it is to work with children and engage with lively little minds who love learning. It really is a blessing.

And ... I can't quite believe it .... but it is Friday again. Already. How cool is that.

I have another page to share today made with Dawn Inskip's fab new kit called weather report.

Now I did promise myself this was N OT going to be another post about the weather. But it has to be a little bit - so sorry in advance.

The page records a momentous weather experience we had.

 
We had gone to stay with my brother-in-law over Easter. He lives in Concord Mass and had arranged to take us to Vermont for the weekend. I had never been anywhere really snowy and he said Vermont would still have lots of snow. I kept joking with him on the phone, 'You promise I will get snow?'

Vermont was fab with lots of snow. We returned to Concord and spent Easter Sunday in t shirts looking at spring flowers. Monday 31st March 1998  Jim knocked on our bedroom door before he went to work and told us if the man came to clear the drive of snow that afternoon we were to ask him to come back a little later. We laughed and told him to stop winding us up. I went to the local school (how sad am I ... but I am always keen to visit other schools and the Alcott School is lovely ... named after Louise May Alcott who lived int he town) It started to rain and then they started sending kids home. I asked why and they said it was a snow day! There was NO SNOW! These Americans seemed crazy. At lunchtime it started to snow and wise old Karen, weather expert extrordinaire, sat by the window saying 'Well it's not going to lay is it ... it's far to warm and wet'. It was about that time the temperature started to plummet and the snow began to settle.

What started being called the Spring No'oreaster quickly became the Blizzard of 98. It closed the easter seabord of the US, paralysing all travel. By April 1st it was NO April Fool's joke. We had been due to fly home that afternoon but all airports were closed. 28" fell in under 24 hours. It was a record breaker. I guess Jim promised me snow and delivered ont hat promise.

But Oh my it was so pretty and I am so glad I saw it. I wouldn't want to live with that happening all the time but as a one of ... well fabulous.

 and this is my photo of the day. After not having it for over 4 weeks because when they went to fix the problem they broke a bit off inside the engine and couldn't find it so had to strip the car to pieces (hey ho!) Nigel got his beloved car back today. A month without it and he really really appreciates it.

 

Today I am thankful for

• being part of a fabulous team
• sorry - I have to say it - Friday

and finally my page from my calendar today

 

Dr. Erfle flipped on the light box and affixed the X-ray of my horse Dancer’s hind leg. “I’m afraid I don’t have good news.”

I gritted my teeth.

Dr. Erfle pointed to the kneelike stifle joint. “It was broken right here. And now her body is stabilizing the joint by fusing into one solid bone. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything that can be done. She’ll never be sound enough to be ridden.”

Tears streamed down my face as I loaded Dancer into the horse trailer and drove home. I had purchased her a year ago as a saddle horse. As soon as I’d brought her home, my 20-plus-year-old gelding Czar had fallen in love with her. I’d ridden Czar over 20,000 miles in the mountains; he’d saved my life more than once. He’d never cared for any other horse until she showed up.

The following day, one thought plagued me. What value is a broken horse? I can’t even ride her at a walk. But as soon as I thought of selling her, I knew I couldn’t.

That evening, as I pulled open the file drawer to put away the veterinarian’s bill, I thumbed through the Ds. Right behind the file labeled “Dancer” was “Divorce.”

Again tears streamed down my face. I’d been broken by my divorce. It was almost as if God’s still small voice was saying, “It doesn’t matter to me if you’re broken. I still cherish you.”

Dancer had enriched my life by being a companion to Czar. She might be broken, but she was valuable to me—just as I was valuable to God.

Lord, thank You for cherishing me, even though I’ve been broken.

—REBECCA ONDOV

Weather Report

Oh dear - I feel very British today as it appears that, for two days in a row I have posted about the weather. But they do see we are obsessed by it in the UK. Probably as it is so varaible. And today has been another of those days where it is brilliant sunshine one minute and black as thunder the next with unexpected downpours hitting frequently.

Heck I am so obsessed by it I even ran an assembly on the rain.

NBut that's not the weather report I wanted to focus on today. Dawn Inskip has a brand new collection out called, not surprisingly, Weather Report, and it is amazing. There is every weather imaginable there somewhere and there are so many different elements to this collection. I love the little word strips and the tags and I adore the map papers.

You can get it from her store at Scrapbookgraphics. It's lush isn't it and, as always, such attention to detail.

This is one of the pages I made with it.

 
It's for a qutes album I have and is one of my all time favourite photos as it is of a truly magical moment in our lives.

We had been touring the 'Wild West' and eneded up in Capitol Reef National Park. The weather (oh back to that again) had turned a little stormy, typical of August, and so we had returned to our hotel a little early and went out to the only local restaurant which was called The Rim Rock Restaurant. And it was, quite literally, on the rim of the canyon. With huge glass walls overlooking the most spectacular scenery ever and with hummingbirds feeding outside and eagles swooping below it was amazing. The food was incredible and just when we thought it couldn't get better - it did. The Native Americans called this area the Land of The Sleeping Rainbow beacuse of the amazing changing colours of that rugged scenery. As a rain shower passed over in the distance and as the sun began to sink lower the beautiful rainbow appeared and that bow was the percect finishing touch to tie the gift of the evening. It was something we will never forget.

And isn't it funny how things work out.

5.46 today - my photo of the day. How cool is that for today's post

 

Today I am thankful for

• working with Dawn on her CT for so long. I get to create with the most beautiful things that she creates and I am truly grateful for that - and for her friendship over the years.

and my one minute devotional today is a really good one. I think I may have to introduce this one myself. What a fabulous idea.

In our household, I’m the go-to guy on laundry day. And, truth be told, I’m pretty much a wiz. Grass stains? Can do. Mud, lasagna—does anyone know how a teenager gets lasagna on the back of a T-shirt?—no problem. There’s only one thing about the laundry that week in, week out would send me around the bend: clothes coming out of the dryer inside out.

No big deal, you say? For whatever reason, it was to me. Until I went back to school.

Not laundry school but third grade. A teacher-friend of mine had invited me to visit her classroom whenever I wanted, and, Curious George that I am, I dropped in unannounced one day. Frankly, the room looked like every third-grade classroom you’ve ever seen, with one notable exception: All the children, absolutely every one of them, had their clothes on inside out. Shirts, pants, caps—I didn’t ask about their underwear! But I did ask what was going on.

Here’s what one of those third-grade students told me: Occasionally, they wear their clothes inside out to remind themselves that with people it’s what’s on the inside that counts the most.

You won’t find me at work today with my clothes reversed, but every time I do the laundry now and clothes come out of the dryer inside out, I don’t grumble. I remember it’s what’s on the inside that counts most.

Lord, whatever my outward circumstances may be today, let Your love shine from my heart.

—JEFF JAPINGA

Too chilled to blog

 
This is going to be a very short post - I am too chilled to blog.

I have just come back from a very relaxing couple of days at Forest mere Champneys in Hampshire. It was wonderful.

We had a great deal and had a really bargain price and thoroughly enjoyed two days of chilling and pampering. Champneys is beautiful, the atmosphere so relaxed fromt he minute you arrive. Everything is included which is just as well as you all swan around in towelling robes and slippers so no space for purses etc.

The food was superb - very healthy but certainly not carrot sticks and lettuce. It was really full of flavour with so much and such great quality, from the 6 different types of muesli for breakfast (and other stuff too) to the salads and steak (oh and wine) at dinner.

 

This is the entrance to the spa section

 

I had an aromatherapy back massage, a treatment called foot heaven - which was heaven and my feet look and feel amazing - used the gym before breakfast (how dedicated was that) and did two classes and an aquarobics class which was fabulous. We walked round the beautiful grounds and spent yesterday afternoon lying in the sun at the outdoor pool. A real girlie get away and we loved it.

This is my room and the view from the window

 
 

I feel tired, but pleasantly so, rejeuvenated and pampered. However, it is lovely to be home.

If you get the chance I recommend Champneys - I will be going again!

Views around Forest Mere including the restaurant and lake

 
 

 

Today I am thankful for

• treats and pampering, relaxation and home

Get a grip

It's a good job I have long holidays. What with school work, decorating and sorting I don't know how I'd cope without them.

Today we tackled 'the cupboard'. A huge understairs cupboard full of crafts I used to do, unwanted gifts, rucksacks (how many rucksacks does one family need), christmas decorations etc etc etc . 7 bin bags full of junk and now we have space. But NOT to keep more junk in.

Scrapping today is for the California album. One of the places we loved - and there were not many - in san Francisco was Alamo Square witht he beautiful old Victorian buildings, the Painted Ladies.

They were incredibly pretty.

 

We also have the shots where you can see the old buildings and the city skyscrapers behind them, but I chose to use the one with just the pretty houses.

Today I am thankful for

• The local tip - a place to meet people too LOL
• Tidy spaces

 

Scrapping, Mapping and a little light lunch

I really feel like it has been a holiday day today - and that is a very welcome feeling, I can tell you.

I started this morning by scraplifting a page for the play along with scrapfactor challenge.

i was inspired to scraplift Nic-B's page with the huge folded rosette. I have made the small rosettes as flowers for embellishments on pages and the idea of making a huge one was intriguing.

I used a sheet of 12 x 12 and cut it into three strips, punched the edges and then concertina folded it to make the rosette.

Sticking it down was a bit of a challenge and it needed a Nigel to help as 2 hands were not enough.

Then I set to decorating it and making it into what I feel is quite a pretty page.

 

This close up shows the folding a little more clearly

 

 
 

This i s just a close up of the pretty things LOL

 

This one allows you to read the simple journalling

 

This shows some of the stitching

 
I am actually quite pleased with it.

I went out for lunch with three other head teachers. Gosh I bet that sounds boring but it really wasn't. It was so nice to meet up. We rarely get to actually meet in term time as we are all so busy, though we do keep in touch via e mail. It was lovely to get together, relax and chat and enjoy some great food.

When I cam home I started on my explore prompt for today. It was all about maps and I had great fun going on line and printing off maps of places we know well. I printed them off for home, of course, for Newport Beach California, for WDW and for Vegas.

 I printed the maps off, annotated them and put them in my play along book and then I made this little summary page for my play along book - which kind of sums it all up really.

 
It is interesting that the prompt was about maps as I used maps on my page yesterday for my letters.

 

I still need to do my circles bit but I will get to that later.

Today I am thankful for

• inspirational pages to scraplift
• Lovely lunch with colleagues

 
and finally I share this received from a cousin in Oregon.

 

“The Dilemma

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk rejection
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing
She may avoid suffering and sorrow, but she cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love
Chained by her certitudes, she is a slave
She is forfeiting her freedom
Only a person who takes risks is free”

California Album, a bit of beach and an adventure

My holiday project this summer is to use our gazzillion photos from numerous trips to California to make a California album.

I have already made a few pages but decided to do the title page today. I knew what I wanted to achieve and it didn't work out in the way I expected, of course, but I think it works anyway.

I wanted a beach sort of feel as there are some wonderful beaches but I also wanted to express the great outdoors as we have loved some of the national parks we have visited and that was the bit that didn't work out as when I tired sequoias witht he beach it just didn't work. In the end I opted for just the beach and a map.

 

 

The letters echo the map theeme with letters filled with maps and then printed, mounted on to chipboard and cut out.

They are buried in the sand.

 

And yes I also used some real sand from years ago and some teeny shells.

The palm treees were printed (a Dawn Inskip special) and then mounted onto thick card and cut out.

The map was just downloaded off the internet and printed on cardstock and I used some old California stickers.

 

Continuing the beach theme there is a great Studio Mix collab released today and as Dawn Inskip was one of the contibutors I got to play with the kit and it is all beachy and summery (we just need the sun now)

So this was one of the pages I made with the kit.

 

Emily, of course.

I went out for coffee with Jakki this morning, which was lovely as I hadn't seen her in almost a week. Then Nij and I went and bought the new suite ready for the Downstairs cloakroom which is being fitted in september. We had finally - after a long time - found what we wanted so didn't want to wait until September and find it was no longer available. So all done. A little light shopping in Matalan and the Range and that pretty much sums up my day!

And so to day 2 of the Explore class. Adventure.

I guess if you were looking for a word to sum me up you may well go with cautious. I am very cautious in everything I do. I will always look for pitfalls and try to eradicate them with anything i do. I have had my moments of adventure. I rode a Harley down the Strip in las Vegas to celebrate my 50th birthday last year. I have swum with dolphins, I have cuddled a fully grown tiger, I have held a tarantula (and I am a died in the wool arachnaphobe) and I do own a Fiki monster, but I am not the world's most adventurous person. My adventures are carefully planned.

But I knew just what I wanted to record for this prompt.

I made my own postcard.

This is the back - I will address it and send it later.  I have also copied the text here as you will never be able to read it from the image LOL.

 
It reads ....

Note to self,

I was at my most adventurous when I went to America for the first time in 1983, totally unprepared. I had never travelled out of Europe and yet crossed the Atlantic at the drop of a hat. I had no visa, no passport, no money and three days notice. Nij asked me on the Wednesday if I fancied a holiday; we’d been dating just over a month. I said sure, where and he replied America. I’d always longed to go and figured it would be exciting to plan. When I asked when he said ‘Saturday!’ A new job meant now or never for him. 4 am on the Thursday I drove to Newport to get a passport . 5 am on the Friday I drove to London to the American Embassy to get a visa. I borrowed the money off my parents and on the Saturday we flew, standby, to America.

These days I am a planner. I plan everything meticulously. Every detail. Every possible eventuality. Where did that young carefree girl go? Where did that free spirit that was prepared to travel across the world at the drop of hat disappear to? When did I become the planner and worrier that I am now? Age and experience is the answer I guess. I had no conception of any possible pitfalls, so I wasn’t worried about them. But do you know what ... things did go wrong on that trip, but we survived. It wasn’t all plain sailing, but we figured it out and we had a great time. Maybe I need to re-kindle some of that impetuosity, some of that carefree joi de vivre and worry and plan less. Maybe I need to focus on putting the adventure back in my life a little.

From your older, more cautious self, with careful consideration x

 

 

 

This is the front - a photo from that very trip. Me at 23 being very very adventurous.

 

 
I need to re-kindle that less cautious approach to life .... at times and with careful consideration of course!!!

Today I am thankful for

• time to scrap
• Coffee with a friend
• Remembering to be adventurous and what that felt like.

 

 

A day of mixed blessings

It's funny how you don't actually realise how tired you are until you stop isn't it.

I have been shattered today - very very sleepy. Woke late (for me) and then dozed off several times int he morning. I thinkt he last 5 weeks have caught up on me.

We had to go to a funeral this afternoon. It was the father of one of Nigel's close friends and so we went to upport him. there were lots of people there we hadn't seen for a long time and boy was it a shock to see how much older everyone looked - and realise they must notice exactlyt he same in us. The years seem to go by so fast and so many changes.

After the funeral we went for some retail therapy and bought the curtains and lights and accessories for the library we are decorating next week. We are doing the walls cream (no surprise there then LOL) and the furniture is a very dark walnut and so we have picked out accents in peacock blue. It is lush. We have cutains which are cream with peacock blue and brown stripes, a peacock blue lamp and new shade and some lush peacock blue and brown dried grasses. I think - I hope - it will look lovely.

I have another page to share using the are we there yet kit by Dawn Inskip.

 

We both still regard our wild west trip as the best holiday we have ever had.

Today I am thankful for

• Seeing old friends and having faith that makes us remember that death is not the end
• Pretty home furnishings

 

Let's hope my new curtains don't share the fate of these.

 

 

Double Take Hybrid fun

It's been a bit brrrrrr here today. We went for a nice walk first thing but i confess to have been snuggled up indoors the rest of the day, scrapping and listening to the news most of the day. I have very mixed feelings about the news - I can see why a lot of people wanted him gone, and the idea of anyone being a terrorist and taking the lives of other people is wrong,but the idea that he was killed and buried so hastily sits a little uneasily with me. I can almost accept if there was altercation when they tried to take him and he ended up shot, but I feel uncomfortable about the idea that people feel they can make themselves judge and jury - I don't think that is our place and we have due process. However, the world is, today, a different place than it was yesterday.

Anyway, on to other issues and some scrapping. Nij occasionally sets me scrapping challenges. Oh come on - you know by now I have to have challenges. I love them. I have to be challenged LOL.

Today's was to scrap soemthing that was a double take and however I could interpret that.

So this is what I came up with.

 
It looks a lot nicer in real life as it is far more textured than it looks on screen.

The photos were taken six months apart. The one that is clearly warm was taken in July in Santa Monica and the one where it is clearly very cold was taken in December in Bournemouth - both in 2010. I have since added the dates and the venues to the layout. I had forgotten to do that before I scanned it and couldn't be bothered to rescan it.

The journalling block was printed on canvas paper that I then tore. I used a new digital kit called The Sea by Natalie Designs to make the background for the title block.

 

I also used the same kit to make up the design in the bottom corner of the page. The background card is very textured and I printed the design I made up straight on there. I then sewed this card ontot he background card.

 

I also added some swirls cut with the Tim Holtz dies.

It was a fun hybrid page to make.

Today I am thankful for

• days in and scrapping fun

 

Running stitch

I am loving the new weekend workouts on Its a Creative World.

I know I might be a tad biased as I am part of the team over there, but I do think it is a great blog. There are so many wonderful and totally different ideas that are featured on the blog each day. So many of the team are so innovative and creative and there are things to cook things to sew, things to make, things to learn.

Plus now there are weekend challenges to get the mojo going.

This weekend challenge was set by Eleanor (whose work I so admire) and was to use running stitch. I would have liked to have come up with something awfully clever. I didn't! I used it on a layout I'm afraid.

 
It is another (almostt he last actually) for my 50th anniversary album.

We love the Venetian in Vegas. The rooms are lush but the shopping area, all themed so beautifully, is just wonderful. the canals and the buildings, and even the clear blue sky, are just perfect. I have only been to Venice once, very briefly, on route to Rome when I was 15. I'd love to see the real thing one day, but for now I will enjoy the pretend version in Vegas.

 

I made a border at the bottom with lots of photos and stitched that onto the page, using running stitch of course.

 
Today I am thankful for

• being married for almost 25 years to the day. I am so looking forward to the big day itself.

 

 

The End of Rome

No, not some strange obscure reference to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, just my final Rome pages to share today.

The hotel we stayed at has a lovely roof terrace. Although the weather wasn't wonderful when we were there in late October, the late afternoon on this day was truly wonderful with that magical Autumn light and we had such great views across the city, to the coloseum one way, St Peter's the other and just across the street to the amazing monument to Victor Emmanuel II.

 
and a close walk fromt he hotel was the Trevii Fountain where we walked one evening - and there was a wedding couple having pictures taken. we didn't know if they were a real couple or if it was just a publicity shoot as they didn't seem to be surrounded by family - just the two of them.

 

As I said, a very simple book but one which records the memories of a trip 8 years ago.

Now I have to share the most amazing Powerpoint slide show I have seen in a long time.

It is a must if you love photography, or animals, or art, or Africa.

Awesome and it came to me from my cousin Joyce.

ENJOY Download Africa_black_an_white

 

 Today I am thnkful for

• stunning works of art like those photos
• THE CALL (our inspection date is set ... at last ... for next week. Bring it on. )