Dolly's Dreamings

Craft Room Storage!

The last three days have been largely about me changing over a lot of the storage in my craft room and having a big big clear out. I have boxes of stuff to sell and have got rid of so much that I will never use and have new paper storage boxes that I think will make it easier to use some of the damn stuff up. I have sorted everything out and I have to say, whilst it has been hell, it looks better and is tidy and organised. It was organised before but this is better. Nigel helped me to do new labels for the new boxes so they were all balanced and provided endless drinks and trips to the bin and his never-ending support when I was tearing my hair out, trapped in corner unable to get out as I had boxed myself in, or just exhausted. .

It is done - prepare for some very boring photos of my little creative space where I scrap and paint.

View into the room

 

 

Flower storage by the door - floor to ceiling - I was an avid collector of flowers

 

 

The kallax over one side which is where most of the work took place

 

 

 

The new slim storage boxes

 

Kallax again

Desk

 

 

Other side of desk and the all important computer and silhouette ... and my view

other side of desk and more storage

 

right side of the desk storage

 

 

This is my little wheelabout unit - also all sorted and labelled inside

 

 

 

 

 

The drawers are great - holds 60 Tim Holtz pads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawers under the desk

 

brads

 

rub ons

inks

 

more storage

 

This is my stamp storage - two boxes

 

 

Inside of the small box

 

more storage

 

close up of the new boxes

 

little 'bits' cupboard I decorated

 

little drawer units

 

rub ons tin

 

Another wheeling trolley

 

Large cupboard opposite the kallax

 

ink pads and stencil drawer

 

other drawers


So there you have it - an organised scrap room. No excuses now.

 

We did enjoy walks the last two days int he gorgeous spring sunshine too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a newly organised scrap room
• washing on the line in the sunshine
• a supportive husband
• a willingness to get rid of - a few - things

 

Vacinated and Spring is here

The vaccination went well yesterday and I am so relieved it is done. No side effects from it - which is even better - and the second date is all booked in.

Indy has healed and so they can now run around with abandon and sleep in their own room so it is a good news week. These two adorable little boys have stolen our hearts completely and the trials of the last week have brought us even closer.

 

 

 

 

 

We have been taking daily exercise separately all week as Indy needed supervision and so it was lovely to go for a walk today in the beautiful sunshine at Kingston Lacy

 

Glorious daffodils - hundreds and hundreds of them - and camelias and there were still snowdrops left too

 

 

 

a real drift of snowdrops

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just two pages to share as I have been painting and also sorting out my scrap room - a lot to do still

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• spring sunshine
• daffodils
• new craft storage
• vaccinations
• KITTEN HEALTH

 

 

Joyous news

There is a lot of good news today

 

Firstly  Indy is healing - slowly but surely. He had a lick yesterday - how did we miss it ... we take his collar off for food and grooming and we looked away for a second and there he was licking ... and he took the scab off but the wound underneath is smaller so we have progress. we think maybe two nights of collar left which is good news.

 

Secondly the boys were good last night and slept pretty much through from 11.30 - 6 ... they took up most of the bed so we didn't sleep well, but they are so worth it.

 

Thirdly I have my vaccination booked for tomorrow which was unexpected and a real bonus. It means by mid May we will both have had both jabs which is excellent news.

 

And finally it is new release day at PBP and there were some utterly lush things to play with.  The pictures of the kits are links to them in store and they are ALL on offer today too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally

My Starbucks cup left a heart behind

 

and some wonderful wood creations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Indy Update and a plea for matchsticks

First the good news. Indy has just returned from the vets and it is healing ell, nothing further needed just another couple of days - and nights - with the cone.  That means another two nights at least with no sleep but it's what we signed up for. They will always come first over and above anything else, us included.

I also want to share other good news. Out of the blue we had a gift from a very special friend, Sue. She loves animals so much - all animals - and sent a parcel to the boys. They were very impressed - they have never had a big parcel before. Inside were two gorgeous blankets from the Lincolnshire Cat Trust that helps cats without mummies and daddies. It was such a lovely unexpected act of kindness. I say unexpected - she is such a special lady that her acts of kindness are very very many.

 

 

 

 

I wanted to nap today but the day has just gotten away from me so some scrapping to share

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Indy healing
• an end to sleepless nights in sight we hope

 

and just some amazing hairstyles I happened upon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few bad days

So most of Saturday was nice – some not so nice.

Had a lovely scrappy day playing along with the GoGo scrapalong and then, Saturday evening we noticed Indy washing the offending area and so checked and oh my goodness. He had opened up the part where the vet accidentally nicked him when shaving him for the op and it was red and open and sore and awful.It is such a shame, as the operation wounds are healing well and so small they don’t even glue them. But this was a bigger wound and had – past tense being key – been glued. It wasn’t now. We tried the cone and couldn’t get it tight enough and the poor little boy then put up with us fiddling trying to fashion a body suit from a sock, from a pair of knickers and from a bandage. All to no avail. Rang the emergency vet and they said the collar was the only answer. So we finally got it tight enough he could breathe and yet not get it off. We would have had him in our bedroom to supervise but Koda howled the house down at being separated and so our bedroom it was, for all four of us. We couldn’t let them have the whole house as we needed to supervise as big brither was trying to help take off the collar. So we had the light on all night, Nigel and I lay awake on two tiny strips of bed and the cats slept in the middle. They slept. We didn’t. And we get to do it all over again tonight.

Indy is being so very very good. We take off the collar whenever he is sleeping on us or so he can groom the rest of him, under supervision, an he is patient having it put back on. He looks so depressed in it and he walks in slow motion, lifting his feet up super high like he is doing dressage which, if it were not so sad, would be funny. As he is so tiny he also has a collar with a fabric tie so he looks like a Victorian maiden in a bonnet with a bow tied beneath his chin. Our poor little boy.

The good news is that it is dryer today and we have antiseptic spray and hopefully will get it checked tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

But it’s been a horrid 24 hours with more to come

On to scrapping … these are the pages I made for the cyber crop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• not working - we can be with them and sleep when we can
• healing - we hope
• our brave beautiful little boys

 

What a difference 24 hours makes

It was not a good day here in Boyzone yesterday

 The boys had their operation and they were done very early. The vet phoned at 10.30 to say there were done and we could collect them at 11.30 and so we were thrilled.

 

Then we brought them home. Oh my goodness.

 

I had read that bengals reacted bizarely to anaesthesia and pain medication and went hyper. You are not kidding. We have had Bengals for 18 years and are used to them being manic. Think a normal kitten then multiply and you have a Bengal. But we have NEVER seen cats react as they did. They were utterly utterly mental. They ran full pelt and jumped and fought and ran for 8 hours solid. They were supposed to be kept quiet - no hope. They were at their little wounds and so I went back to the vet and bought collars home. No way! The record was 1 second but most of the time they stayed on for about 7 seconds. We were told to check their would twice a day so needed a base point and Koda's didn't look right. There was a little swelling red bit. We kept watching and by 3.30 I was worried that it had grown and looked much worse. We rang the vet and they said send a picture which we did. They rang straight back and said bring him in straight away. It was the inner sac inside the scrotum that had herniated out and it needed putting back. They were brilliant and he was sorted again, glued and given a precautionary anti biotic shot and then came home and ran some more. We had no rest, watching, stopping them licking and we were exhausted.

But today is a new day. They have toileted fine, they have eaten extremely well and are quieter and no more mishaps thus far. But oh what an awful day. Goodness knows how we would have coped if one of them had been a girl!

 

I scrapped today though

This was for the Dotty about Flair food challenge - Nigel at Sassagoula Float works

 

 

and this was a scraplift of a page I made about Kira

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely vet - they even rang this morning to see how the boys were doing
• the boys being more normal
• sleep

 

 

A Big Day

Its a big day today for all sorts of reasons - Koda and Indy and Pickleberrypop

 

Koda and Indy were dropped off at the vets at 8.30 for their operation. I know that for boys it is a much smaller operation than for girls but we were still worried - not least because Indy had late descending testicles and he is also so small we were worried there might be an underlying condition. But by 10.30 we had had a phone call to say they were awake and happy and we could collect them at lunch time and they were all microchipped and neutered. We have both been very tense but can relax once they are home. Our poor boys - bless them.

 

It is also a big day at Pickleberrypop as the new releases for the Berry Big Deals are released. Lovely colours and designs again this month and, as always, the kit image is linked to the store if you click it - and I need to be transparent and say I get to work with these kits free of charge as part of the creative team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do go and check out the deals in store available for the next two days.

 

Today I am thankful for

 

• our boys having successful surgery

 

Scrapping fun and better boys

We have had a few better days with the boys. They haven't been ill or anything but it has been an uphill struggle to get their poo to be nice and solid ... sorry too much information. They haven't had diarrhoea just not always firm poo and we have been tweaking their diet to see if we can improve it, but have had good days and bad. We have had three good days in a row now so are hopeful.

When they have their op we are going to ask for blood tests for Indy as he is the one with the most issues and he isn't growing nearly as fast as Koda - though the size difference between them percentage-wise is probably the same as it was when we brought them home. It might be he is always going to be smaller - or should I say normal as Koda is going to be an enormous cat. He is incredibly long, incredibly tall and incredibly solid and strong, but very lean. We will see

 

I took this this morning though which was very cute - they were cuddling on the bed and so I whistled to attract their attention. I think what they are saying is 'what do you mean we have the vet's tomorrow!!!'

 

I have had a lovely couple of days scrapping for the Dotty About Flair cyber crop. Dotty about Flair is a wonderful little company set up by Natalie who I am proud to call a friend. See if you can spot the metal flair on the pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wonderful best friend bought this beautiful bestie cake for me for Valentine's day so I scrapped a page about our amazing friendship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this one has a lot a lot a lot of stamping

and a very naughty boy who seems to love the toaster! We always used to leave it plugged in- we dare not know in case he puts his leg int he slot and electrocutes himself

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• some lovely times
• scrappy friends
• my besties who is so special
• the boys

and some perfectly times photos from t'internet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A painting day

Today was a day I set aside to paint. I tend to always gravitate to scrapping and I neglect painting so I am going to try and paint at least twice a week. Well that's the plan.

 

I followed a tutorial today t try and paint in a more loose style and this is what I painted

 

I left Nigel's hands in the first one so you can see the scale

 

 

I really enjoyed it

 

I also have new scrapping to share as I forgot to blog yesterday

 

I made these two pages using Simple Stories Quarrantine as part of my DT work for A Trip Down memory Lane

 

 

and this one

 

 

 

 

and then also this

 

Today I am thankful for

• creativity
• a lovely day
• new paints (not used them yet

 

 

 

Still no snow but glorious weather

We have still not had the snow the rest of the country has had - but we have had my favourite kind of weather today. Blisteringly cold but beautiful sunshine. It has been lovely.

Once a week we allow ourselves the luxury of somewhere different to walk other than just round our neighbourhood so, within the law as we stayed firmly in our own town, we went to the beach at Sandbanks for a walk and it was glorious. It was bitter cold but the sea was rough, the sun was shining and I even got to wear my new crocheted scarf as it was so cold. And oh how the water restored my soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

very red cold noses!!

 

 

I have new releases from Pickleberrypop to share today too. Do pop into the store to check them out

 

 

 

Both used for this page of young love

 

 

Photos were from the summer at Mottisfont

 

 

 

Fall at Stourhead

 

 

Today I am thankful for

a walk by the beach to restore us

cold windy sunshine

my three boys