Dolly's Dreamings

Wonderful wedding

We had such a wonderful day yesterday - if long!

Nigel's niece Fiona got married and it was such a beautiful occasion. There is absolutely no doubt about the fact she has found her soulmate and they are so very obviously in love. And his family welcomed Fiona in with so much love. She is cherished by everyone and so it was an absolute joy to be able to share in their special day.

I took a lot of photos as I wanted the family to have access to a good choice - but just a few select ones here.

Nigel's brother and son

 

 

and the three of them together

 

 a very proud Dad walking his daughter in

 

Her dress was absolutely perfect. The detail was superb but it had a real quality of understated elegance that personifies this beautiful young lady - a Doctor no less!

 

The happy couple signing the register

 

 

 

 

 

Proud parents

 

 

and a new mother in law who absolutely adores her

 

 

 

 

 

oh and I went with this handsome silver fox!

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that we

• saw our niece embark upon the next phase of her life and we are confident it will be a happy one.

 

Our wedding

I have had a bit of a mammoth couple of days and have completed 15 pages and ... drum roll ..

 

ready for it ....

 

only 34 years late ....

 

our wedding album is complete.  Phew.

 

I started it a while back and then it got shelved due to our holiday and wanting to do those albums so I decided to crack on. It is an 8 x 8 album and many pages are quite simple but it is so much nicer to have than our proper wedding album which is large, heavy and, quite frankly, dated. I found it hard to scrap the pictures as I was nervous on my wedding day  and don't like my picture being taken and there was way too much of it on a wedding say so I look grim in most of the pictures, plus they are the 1980s and so they are dated and not like lovely wedding pictures these days. However, it was one of the happiest days of my life and so it deserved to be scrapped properly.

 

These are just a couple of pages

The first page/cover page

 

 

 

 

The final page

 

a couple of bits between

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have a new painting, finished yesterday, to share. It was a watercolour we all did the same version of - took about 4 hours and had to be in a particular style. I was quite pleased with it in the end.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a completed album
• my husband. I thought I was happy on my wedding day - I am so very very much happier now. Our love has deepened and matured and I really am blessed
• art - it brings me great joy

 

 

Things here are bright

Things are bright here - and no it is not the weather which is still pants. The only colour we will be going this summer is rust coloured.

 

Bright is the film Brightburn we went to see this afternoon. It made me jump a few times I can tell you. It was a pleasant diversion - not outstanding - kind of 'if Superman were bad'

 

Also bright is the fireplace and Daddy's treasured shell case which have been brasso'd to within an inch of their life and boy did they need it. The shell case is one of my most prized possessions. It is not valuable at all but was a mortar shell carved for my Daddy when he was int he navy. It bears the name of his ship, his name, the date, the village of  ... oh how I wish I could find it but I think he said it was takari? ...and various other images. It is beautiful and so special to me - and it shines again now.

 

It is Berry Big Deal date at Pickleberrypop today with new terrific value packs from all of the designers and I worked with many of them this month

 

Natalie Designs Beautiful Day - and I scrapped a very happy picture of us at Banana Wharf on the quay

 

 

Summer Poetry by Dita B Designs and used for my little boy washing - in our bath!

 

 

 

Beautiful Tropicana by Tiramisu just had to be used for the Caribbean Beach Resort which was so beautiful until the ttotally ruined it by putting in Riviera and the Gondolas.

 

 

 

 

Little while by our newest designer Simplette

 

 

 

Sunny Disposition which I had fun with by Fayette Designs

 

 

 

 

and Getaway by Heather T - another fun page of our trip

 

 

Oh an one more - Draw your travel by Jasmin-Olya designs - too lovely to miss

 

 

I am very lucky to get to work with such lush goodies.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a shiny new fireplace and hearth
• films
• scrapping opportunities
• being signed off by physio

 

 

 

Major destash

Today I managed to box myself in completely sorting out stash. The good news is I have three massive boxes of stash to get rid of. I am doing a sale in July which is purely for unwanted crafting items. I have loads to sell - all at 10p - £2 (most of it is 50p an item) and what i don't sell I am binning. There are loads and loads of mini album blanks, chipboard items, word books (you know the ones that spell LOVE, FAMILY, HOME etc) dozens of scrapbooking books and loads and loads of embellishments. Oh plus a load of paper and vellum (never use vellum) 

I feel so much better now it is done and I have an empty cupboard. OK so it is a small one but heck.

No new scrapping today but I realised I didn't share the four pages I made for scrap whispers on UKS recently, so here they are

 

The streets of Paris with a cute cut file and faux stitching

 

 

Winter Summerland mini golf in Disney

 

mad moments at Park Fair character breakfast

 

 

and an old photo from 2010 of us on my 50th birthday.

 

Now I just might do some scrapping!

 

However, one more thing to share. I wanted a small watercolour sketchbook to play with just as a workbook for techniques and styles and so I ordered a watercolour sketch book which came yesterday. The cover was plain so I prettied it up.

I was quite pleased with the watercolour painting I did for the centre of the cover and even more pleased as it took less than an hour from start to finish.

 

 

 

 

Can't wait to start using it now. I am a great believer in pretty books making you want to work/write/draw

Today I am thankful that

• I have now finished work until mocks in November - yey
• I have sorted some stuff out and I will get better at de-stashing
• painting - I do love my new hobby

 

 

 

Back on my feet

Yesterday was a bit of a no day as I was poorly - just an IBS flare up and it was OK as we had nowhere we needed to be and nothing we needed to do, but glad today has dawned so much better.

I didn't even scrap yesterday - how bad was that.

I do, however, have some new scrapping to share.

First a couple of digital pages. I have actually started to get on with the digital album of our trip and whilst I have done lots of random digital pages, I wanted to do a daily double for this album too, so I have been cracking on with that. They are not state of the art pages but digital records of the trip day by day.

Pages for Day 1 - left hand and right-hand side.

 

 

 

Day 2 left-hand side and right-hand side

 

 

and day 3 - though simple they take ages to do

 

 

and I had a class go live on ATDML at the weekend and so this is one of my class pages and I had such great fun with it - both making it and taking the daft pictures in the first place.

 

 

 

 

This week looks like being a cinema week as we had to cancel Friday and Sunday films so we kick off with Men in Black 3 which should be fun. It has had awful reviews. We will see!

 

Today I am thankful that

I feel so much better than yesterday

a reading day yesterday to catch up on books - 40 this year so far

 

 

Thank goodness for a great health service

It was quite a day yesterday.

First thing in the morning Nigel just casually dropped into conversation that he thought he might get his eye checked out! He said he had developed a huge floater like a spider's web in his right eye yesterday and it hadn't gone overnight and so he thought he might like to get it checked.

Um -yes!

We both knew that a change like that, a sudden increase in floaters etc, was a warning sign of something like a torn retina or even worse a risk of a detached retina. We got up straight away and went to Poole.

We figured, rightly, our best shot was the optician where Nigel knows the manager at Specsavers well. He was fab and booked us in for a couple of hours later with one of the specialists there. We went back and Nigel was dilated and examined and yes, he had a possible tear and so they phoned the hospital and checked us in there. A drive across from Poole to the Eye Hospital in Bournemouth (highlighting the fact that when the two hospitals merge and Poole loses its A and E department people are NOT going to survive that journey if they are critically ill - but that is another story)

The hospital was fabulous and we were seen within the hour. They confirmed a small tear which had taken a bit off the disc at the back and so it would need to be lasered which acts as a sort of welded seal to stop any more fluid leaking and stop a detached retina. It sounded horrible but Nigel said it wasn't bad. It was a bit scary but it didn't hurt. His eye is safe now but the big floater is still there and whilst it might lessen a little it is unlikely to go away however his brain should learn to compensate for it.

Once again we are left amazed by the quality of our NHS, the service we received, the care of everyone involved, their kindness and their expertise. We are truly lucky in this country and yet again we cannot speak highly enough of the NHS. 

No scrapping yesterday but I do have new things to share

 

This is a page documenting the amazing PATH station at World Trade Centre - it looked like a dove of peace

It was breathtaking

 

 

This is a page about St Augustine and how pretty the huge number of B and Bs were

 

and this is another page made for A Trip Down Memory Lane using Simple Stories Simply Vintage Botanical and shows Thomas Hardy's cottage in our home county. Love Dorset!

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a happy and positive resolution yesterday
• great stuff to play with from such super people at A Trip Down memory Lane
• retirement - we were able to deal with yesterday without any letting people down at work. For that we are both so grateful.

 

 

Blooming June

Well, the plants are blooming - but the weather isn't!

I can't remember having to have the heating on in mid-June before - but we gave in last night as it is really cold. I was even cold at work today and it is never cold there.

 

Hey ho - imagine how much nicer summer will be when it comes.

 

I have some new scrapping to share today

 

This is a design team piece for A Trip Down memory Lane using Simple Stories Sunshine and Blue Skies (I wish eh!)

 

 

and another Design Team piece using Simple Stories Vintage Botanical and featuring our little wild girl!

 

 

 

Another Design Team piece with sunshine and blue skies

 

 

 

 

and finally, a mojo piece using Heartstrings Scrap Art collection called Companions - Fiki this time!

 

Today I am thankful for

• scrap time
• central heating
• the fact the garden is getting a good watering!

and today's random musings ... Disney wisdom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buses for Nigel

Today has been a lovely day - warm and sunny and one of those sort of free flow days that just evolves.

We headed out to perhaps pop to the bus rally in Boscombe. No definite plans but we took lunch!

We took a wrong turn and ended up headed for  Christchurch. There was a parking spot near the priory and so we headed there and caught most of the sung matins for Pentecost which was wonderful and very special. We were both glad that that happy little accident happened. 

 

We parked on the cliff top to have our lunch in the sunshine watching some sort of powerboat race in the bay which was interesting. Then we meandered to the bus rally which was small but interesting. Nigel loves his buses and we enjoyed a pleasant half hour. Nigel enjoyed the buses and I enjoyed the wildflowers in the hedgerows. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some were smaller than anticipated!

These are actallyEVC's that a local man made into buses - they were pretty fab. 

All in all a lovely day.

 

I came home and did a few more pages in my Fabulous Fall travel journal ... remember the sketches are deliberately basic!

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely Pentecost service
• days out
• simple pleasures
• biological washing liquid. Hopefully, most of the choc ice I ended up wearing will come out!!!

 

 

 

Happy 18th and 21st birthday

Ok

I am the first to admit it might seem a little odd at my age to be celebrating my 18th and 21st  birthday - but such is life.

 

Let me explain.

 

When I was 18 my mom and dad bought me a beautiful gold bracelet made of three colour gold links. It was beautiful. I wore it rarely as it was 'for best' For my 21st birthday they bought me an antique gold necklace with an antique locket. I wore it every day but I lost it - somewhere between Thurrock cycle speedway track and the toilets in South Mimms service station. It had been a filthy daya nd I was in layers - all wet. We stopped ont he way home at the services to go to the toilet and when I was in the cubicle the chain dropped on the floor. Clearly it had broken at some point and fallen down inside my clothes. I stipped - everything - in that cubicle but I couldn't find the locket anywhere. Two other ladies helped me. But we never found it. I reported it and with the insurance money I eventually bought another gold necklace. It was never the same.

 

About twelve years ago I stopped wearing gold. I have no real idea why. I just didn't like it any more. And eventually - for my 25th -Nigel even bought me a new wedding ring and engagement ring when we renewed our vows that were platinum. I only ever wear silver jewellery. And not a lot of that!

I had always - for years and years - wanted a Tiffany bracelet. Now we are not 'designer' people. I don't think between us we own anything that is 'designer' or expensive. It just doesn't float our boat. I have friends who have designer bags and shoes and clothes but it's just not us. We are not interested. Apart from a Tiffany necklace. We went to Tiffany in New York back in the 90s and the only thing we could afford to buy was a Tiffany pen (which was beautiful)  But I had always wanted a Tiffany silver bracelet but of course I'd never buy one - such a waste of money and the one I bought from a craft market for £20 worked just as well - almost!

A couple of months ago I decided to sell all of my gold jewellery - I never wore it, it sat in a drawer as a reminder I never wore it. So I sold it and decided that with some of the proceeds I would buy that Tiffany bracelet - an 18th and 21st birthday present from Mommy and Daddy. I knew they would approve of me having something I would wear everyday instead of something that sat in a  drawer.

Yesterday Nigel took me up to Tiffany in London and we picked my bracelet and it was such a lovely experience. The staff were lovely (I was worried they'd realise we were not 'real' Tiffany customers and not be very nice. They were loevly. And I LOVE my 18th and 21st birthday present and the perfume I also got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple things really - but the fulfillment of a dream. Thank you for my birthday present Mommy and Daddy

 

And in other news - some new scrapping.

A digital page for a challenge on Pickleberrypop

 

 

and the first page for my DT work for A Trip Down memory Lane this month using Simple Stories Sunshine nd Blue Skies.

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a fabulous day fulfilling a dream

 

 

Gosh I am tired

No idea how doing nothing all day can make me so tired. It was a full day of invigilation today and I am shattered. 

 

It is new release day today though so I do have some fab new kits to share

 

This lush collection is from Chunlin Designs called Kisses from ... and it is one I will use again and again

 

 

 

 

Endless summer by Natali is just gorgeous

 

 

 

I used Lavender Fields by Lara to scrap a beautiful picture of Abbie and Penelope

 

 

 

 

And finally this is the new Berry Blends you can get for free with purchases

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that

• I have the chance to work
• that is isn't hard really!
• that I get to scrap with so many great collections