Dolly's Dreamings

The Greatest Love of All

My opportunity to blog today is going to be brief I’m afraid, so I will post something very close to my heart at the moment.

Many years ago my very best friend in the world, Jakki (You may know her as her alter ego Frenchy) gave me one of the most precious gifts ever when I was going through a very bad time. (And times have not been fab this past week for all sorts of reasons both at work and not at work actually)

It was a set of lyrics – the words to a song, and since then those words have been a guide for my life; a focus that has seen me through some very tough times.

I decided long ago

Never to walk in anyone’s shadow

If I fail, If I succeed

At least I’ll live as I believe.

No matter what they take from me

they can’t take away my dignity.

Because the greatest love of all

Is learning to love yourself.

In our lives there are times when we have to make tough decisions. There are times when we want to scream and shout to the world. When we want to protest our innocence, explain our decisions, make people understand, clear our names. Times when we are not sure we can cope with the demands on us, on our time, on our thought processes. But do you know what. I believe there are two people, and two people alone, that I have to answer to – and I have to make sure that whatever I do I can answer to them both. And those two ‘people’ are God and myself.

I need to be able to look myself in the eye at the end of the day and know that what I did I am happy with; that I have a clear conscience about my actions. I need to know I have done the best I could possibly do. If I haven't finished all my work by the end of the day - as long as I know I have done as much as I can, that's fine. And the inspectors - well they can just accept it.

Whatever anyone else may feel, whatever tough times are ahead in all aspects of my life at the moment, that is what I am trying to do. Not just yesterday. Not just today. Not just tomorrow. But every day.

My wish for each and every one of you is that you have something dear to you to hold onto when your life gets tough. Whether you are a person of faith and it is your faith that sustains you, whether it is a quote or a poem or whether it is a loved one who is always there for you. I am lucky – I have all three.

Buzz Buzz Buzz Buzz Buzzing

That's the noise in my head from all the ideas flying around in there (and any comments about there being a lot of vacant space in there for them to move around in are simply NOT necessary!)

I am so full of ideas of things I am going to make and projects I am working on - I just need the time to actually bring them to fruition now ... and it is coming, honest. I am so excited about the whole Design Collective thing. One of the nicest things about it is that there are 14 of us all working together to help make sure it is totally awesome. We have such a mix of different and amazing talents - from simple, plain and clean to grungy and altered and layered and colourful and we can share our ideas with each other to ensure that what we bring to you is wonderful. It's so exciting and that is the element that is sure to make this such a hit with all our subscribers. And it looks like it is going to be very well subscribed to if the registrations of interest we have received are anything to go by. Keep watching for developments to be revealed on the Design Collective blog - just click on the logo in the side bar here.

It is grey and dreary here today - which always puts a damper on things, but I refuse to be dampened really. We all have so much to be grateful for. I started a thread on a couple of forums last week which sort of took off about the film, now the oscar winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, presented by Al Gore. See the trailer and web site for yourselves.

A parent at school kindly bought a copy of the film for us at school, and a copy of the book, wanting staff to see it so they could shout the message to the children. I dutifully brought it home to watch and Nigel and I were staggered by it. It was incredibly well made, the message was clearly and graphically portrayed in a very easily digestable format and it was one of the most terrifying things I have seen. If even a tiny percentage of it is true - and I am more inclined to think most of it is true, then we are in for some very very worrying times ahead. I have no clue about politics (I even avoid the politics of the scrapping world like the plague) but I have to say I wondered what America's stance would have been if Al Gore had won his place in the White House instead of Bush. Gore comes over as caring, sane, articulate and in my view definitely presidential material.

We were so impressed with it we bought our own copy from Amazon (It was only £6) so we could force all our friends to watch it too. I do urge you, if you possibly can, to watch the film. I think it is life changing. It is certainly attitude changing. An Inconvenient Truth - an important event

It's just another manic Monday

Oh boy has it been a manic day today - in all sorts of ways. I feel I should have a permanent hose pipe fitted to me as I have been putting out fires all day at work and have had other things to deal with that have been very tough and draining. But hey - you look out of the window and the sun is shining (well it was but it is going dark now) I have three wonderful cats, a saint for a husband, a safe home, plenty to eat (not the stuff I like as the diet is still going strong) and fabulous friends.

I am so chuffed at all the positive feedback we have had for The Design Collective. E mails of interest are pouring in thick and fast and we are just so excited about it all. It is a wonderful opportunity for me to work with such celebrated UK scrappers in such an innovative way and is a challenge I am, really looking forward to.

I was at a crop on Saturday and managed - um - 8 tags LOL. For the first time my team on UKS have decided to do a swap. We have never mustered the energy for one before and so it is very exciting. I am pleased I got the tags done and posted off this morning. I did my usual - start a LO and decide I can't do it - game at the crop. I really must try and take my sewing machine next time as I seem to be unable to scrap at a crop as I don't have my sewing machine. I had a fab time though, catching up with friends. I hadn't seen Racheal for ages and it is always such good fun to crop with her and Jakki and it was wonderful to have a chance to catch up with Jo too ... and share troll bead adoration. And it is always wonderful to spend time with Linda. Her new venture is going to be so exciting as well - I can't wait for it to get up and running.

The layout I played with at the crop did get finished when I came home. It is another one for the new format American travel book and is of Bryce canyon. I am trying to keep these pages simple and to refelct the theme of the place with the colours and papers. Bryce was hot and bright and orange - so hence the colours. It is one of our favourite places and we have been lucky to have visted twice. I can't wait for a thrid time! So ladies - onwards and upward. Exciting times ahead, a lot to be grateful for and scrapping I MUST get done!

I will leave you with an e mail I received this weekend which was refreshing and restores the soul

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there.

When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren. "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!" My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her. "But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience." After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read,

"Daffodil Garden."

We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"W ho did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world .

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start today," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle.

Stop waiting.....

Until your car or home is paid off

Until you get a new car or home

Until your kids leave the house

Until you go back to school

Until you finish school

Until you clean the house

Until you organize the garage

Until you clean off your desk

Until you lose 10 lbs.

Until you gain 10 lbs.

Until you get married

Until you get a divorce

Until you have kids

Until the kids go to school

Until you retire

Until summer

Until spring

Until winter

Until fall

Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

So work like you don't need money.

Love like you've never been hurt, and,

Dance like no one's watching.

Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!

The Design Collective

We are proud to announce

THE DESIGN COLLECTIVE

Fresh, fabulous, inspiring

Introducing a new and exciting concept in scrapbook design inspiration.

Our team of designers are renowned for their diverse and creative approaches to scrapbooking and altered art projects. Their wealth of creative experience in designing new and innovative pages and projects is already being tapped into by leading magazines, retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers in the scrapbooking industry. They now come together to bring you a whole range of fresh, fabulous and inspiring ideas for your scrapbooks and other memory art projects.

The team comprises: Fiona Beckman, Clare Brown, Jane Dean, Amber Harrop-Johnston, Debbie Jewell, Karen Leahy, Elaine Loughlin, Jennie Leon, Ali McGovern, Karen Miller, Debbie Nicholas, Katie Shanahan-Jones, Suzanne Torr and Kirsty Wiseman.

Classes will be issued four times during each calendar month on the 3rd, 11th, 19th and 26th. By subscribing to The Design Collective, on each of these dates you will receive:

 one major class project;
 two additional inspiring projects (taking a variety of formats such as challenges, new ways to use something, themed pages and so on);
 a range of tips and ideas from the design team.

A newsletter will sent direct to your email box with the relevant classes in the form of attached pdf files. Classes will focus on different design elements and techniques and will cover a whole range of projects from layouts to mini books to gifts and altered items. You can choose to print out the classes or save to disk; whichever format you choose, over a period of time you will be creating your very own Design Collection to use over and over again to create beautiful and meaningful pages and projects.

In addition to issuing project pdf files, we will be hosting a blog to keep up to date with all the latest news and a community forum for subscriber chat, help from the design team and a gallery so that you can share your work with us. And we will also host two cyber crops over the course of the year for even more fun, challenges and inspiration!

For just £10 a month (and NO! that is not a typing mistake!) you will be getting four major project classes, eight further classes and a wealth of knowledge and tips from the design team. That works out at under 85p per class! Plus, there will be no having to buy expensive class kits as we will be positively encouraging you to use up that stash mountain in the corner of your room! You choose what supplies you want to use, to match your own photos and themes, you get to stay in your pj’s and scrap in the comfort of your own home, whilst having the class designers to call upon for help and other subscribers to talk to in the community forum. And think of the money saved on petrol!

We will also be incorporating a Loyalty Scheme which will reward subscribers with additional benefits on the completion of a six and twelve month continued subscription with us. Subscriptions will be taken on a monthly basis, paypal is preferred but we will also accept bank transfer. This way you don’t need to pay out a lump sum up front, just the monthly subscription charge of £10.*

We will be taking registration bookings from Monday, 12th March. To make sure you don’t miss out on any important updates and registration details, please register your interest** by emailing to [email protected]
and keep checking for more information on the team blog http://designcollective.typepad.com.

Notes:

* Subscriptions will be due on the 2nd of each calendar month to ensure you continue to receive the classes without interruption.

** Registering your interest at this stage is not a final commitment.

Proud to be Speshal

I am so proud that I can now announce I am speshal - a speshal girl.

I was invited to be part of the team and whilst I could not accept at first due to pressure of work, I am delighted I have now been able to take up my place. I am thrilled to be working with such an amazingly talented group of scrappers whose work I admire so much. 

The theme this week had plenty of scope. Use stash you have had for ages and never use. Well after three years of fairly serious addictive stash buying I had plenty of options!

When I first started scrapping I bought lots of Hot Off the Press goodies. They were easily accessible, simple to use, themed and coordinated and I actually still like some of them. But I almost never use them. So when the challenge was issues I went straight for my Hot Off the Press stash.

The background is from one of the HOTP books - the Ephemera book - and I love that it already looks like is has some layers on it. It takes out a lot of work. (Now I remember why I used to buy it!) I printed the main picture large and then mounted it on mulberry paper. I haven't used mulberry paper for months and months. I frayed the edges with a wet paintbrush and then coated them with Tim Holtz distress ink to pick out the edges.  I printed the date and venue on the HOTP tag and then mounted it and the HOTP slide mount embellishment onto green card. I even used some of my thousands of fibres - and they haven't seen the light of day in a long long time.

The letters were from a HOTP alphabet book which I have had for about three years and do you know - not one single tile had been cut from it. That's plain wicked. I mounted them onto green card and then stuck them on with foam pads. It was a really quick and simple page to do and made me realise I need to investigate my old stash more often.

I hope lots of you will have a rummage through your old stash too. First glance you may think 'Why? Why did I ever buy it?' but tinker with it. Have a go. It's fun ..... honest. Check out the incredible work the other girls have done and remember to post a link to your page too.

Early class page today

I am on the ball today and so I am able to post the class page earlier than normal. I was motivated to start posting these as quite a lot of people on UKS said they would miss the class pages weekly on UKS. There are still lots of class pages on UKS - sponsors now do fabby class pages and you can buy kits for those, I still do a class page each month on there and there are loads and loads of classes you can access from the library; previous Scrapdolly pages and also all the pages from recent cyber crops. Posting class pages on here seems somewhat superflous so I am reviewing this and may go for one a fortnight or maybe give it up as a bad idea altogether LOL

Anyway I digress. This is my class page for this week. Nice and versatile and a great way of using up loads and loads of pictures. As always, if you do use it or are inspired to create from is could you post back here so I know. It gives me feedback about wether this is worth doing and, more importantly, I get to see what you have created. Have fun and have a great Friday x

Here are the instructions

Download round_the_world_in_a_day_feb_07.doc

Actually scrapping

Well for the first time in ages I have actually scrapped of my own free will just for me LOL

And do you know what .... I find it really really hard. I LIKE being told to produce a page using a certain theme, or using a sketch, or using a design team kit. I like that! It's why I love my DT work so much. That and the scrummy stuff I get sent. Once again Mel and Jill have been just wonderful with the goodies they have sent for this month. Such fabby stuff to work with and so much of it. Thanks ladies. I had great fun creating with it.

I made this page in response to a question about what made you smile in your scrap room and also in response to the Speshal dare last week. (I always seem to be behind!) I looked around my scrap room, through the lens of the camera you understand, and saw all the little bits that make me smile. It is such a personal space. I love it. Unlike the page. I went for a different doodled, freer style and it simply hasn't worked. I won't be doing THAT again.

You won't be able to read the journalling so I will explain a couple of things. The diva sign I only just made, but it makes me smile. The little ceramic heart hanging on a cupboard door is not only pretty and cute but it was from my beloved god-daughter Sam. (Emily's Mom) She is like a sister and a duaghter all rolled into one and we love each other every much. She is very thoughtful and often sends wonderful things like this through the post. And she always finds incredible god-mother cards too. I love having a reminder of her hanging right in my line of view.

The spice rack full of primas is there because I LOVE them. They were a pure indulgence but they are so pretty and I enjoy looking at them every single day. I have used one or two of them as well! The view had to be there. I love where we live and my desk is right under the window. I find the view constantly inspires me (and distracts me as I watch the foxes or the birds or the dog walkers or the clouds or the ...... you get the picture!)

The create letters are almost 10 inches high and are mounted on the wall over the window. It reminds me of why I am in here .... I do tend to forget. The Mickey clock was free with Diet Coke years ago and I love it. It is quirkly, cute, reminds me of Disney, which I love, and his leg is the pendulum. Love it. The pill box full of brads makes me smile and symbollic of me having everything ordered and organised and colour coordinated. The comical cats tin was made for a DT project ages ago and is full of funny pictures of the cats complete with cartoon speech bubble. It still makes me giggle. In front of it is the gorgeous pink guardian angel that Jaffne made - it is quilled and so delicate and watches over me as I work.

Finally there had to be cat stuff didn't there. The sign says it all really. Hangs on another door. The two spotty cats that are up on top of the cupboard - well I needed to have two spotty cats in here and the real onces destroy everything so I opted for these two calmer variants. So ..... that's what makes me smile in here.

I also did the Pencil Lines sketch last night - digitally as I was in front of the TV. It was a great sketch this week - just my sort of style. The page is a couple of images from Scrapmanic 5 last April. I haven't scrapped anything from Scrapmanic 6 yet!

Nigel is still on jury service and is excited as he is off to a scene of crime today. A very 'mild' crime I have to say .... nothing gruesome or horrid.

A different sort of scrapping

I never thought I would see work as scrapping - but it is amazing what you can convince yourself of when you put your mind to it.

I have spent a large part of today making a Powerpoint presentation for the children all about the Globe Theatre. It was actually great fun and I know the kkids will enjoy it. I was able to use a lot of pictures I had taken when I visited the Globe and also supplement them with extras from the net. Oh the power of modern technology eh! Gone are the days of passing round a few dog eared photos of a previous trip to try and share some of it with a class of children. Now you just beam it up on an interactive whiteboard.

I am planning to do the same for my trip to Masada as I will be teaching about the zealots soon. The trip to Masada was one of my most moving experiences ever. We toured the Holy land with an excellent guide (he was a second generation Israeli and a graduate of archaeology .... we never did find out if he was Christian, Jewish or Muslim and that was testament to how open and impartial he was wherever we went.) There were only three of us for most of the week long tour so we were very priviledged indeed. Modi, our guide, used to carry a bible with him and when we were at relevant sites he would often get one of us to read an appropriate passage. I remember Nigel reading about Simon-Peter's mother in law from the gospels when we were at Capernaum for example.

Anyway - back to Masada. When we were at the top of this flat topped mountain by the shores of the Dead Sea, a place so steeped in history you could almost touch the force of it, Modi, our guide, gave me Ben Yair's speech to read. It was the impassioned speech he made to all of the zealots facing iminent capture by their Roman overlords. The speech that inspired them to take their own lives rather than have them taken. Sat there, just the four of us, in the heat of the Israel sun surrounded by the ruins it was an incredible experience as I read out the speech. Nigel sat with his arm round me as I almost didn't make it through without breaking. You don't learn things like that from a history book I can tell you.

I have also done a bit of scrapping -but i can't share it as it is for Mel and Jill. However, I did make this little wooden decoration for my scrap room the other day. I saw these little wooden words a while back and couldn't resist them. I did a Princess word for Emily  for her birthday last year and this one is for me.

I painted it in shades of pink and lilac to match the scrap room and then embossed it with kaleidoscope embossing powders before shoving on a load of bits and pieces. the Maya Road ribbon slide actually goes much better in real lie. It looks overly pink here.

Lazy days

Oh how I love lazy days. I woke up at 7.00 as the poor soul I live with had to go to work (tee hee) but I luxuriated in bed reading an extremely good book called The Expected One. Very similar in concept to the Da Vinci Code but I think better. I am loving it. Then I forced myself up and have spent a very pleasant hour or so surfing, chatting to friends and doing nothing much at all. I am nipping off to have some breakfast in a minute and then I really must scrap.

Considering I have always been a scrapper and never an alterer I have been doing an awful lot of altering lately. Making CD covers, little blocks, travel words etc. I must get back to the flat stuff soon. These blocks were made for A Trip Down Memory Lane's design team  this month. Do go check out the gallery - it is awesome.

I loved the blocks and they have proved to be such fun to play with on my desk as I constantly rearrange them. I made them to record the diversity of our Wild West tour in 2004 and each of the six sides is different. One side has the title on  and one has cowboy and wild west images but the others are all photos.

This is the Arches  and Capitol Reef side. I think Arches National Park was one of my favourites, although we were not there for a full day as the weather closed in on us. It was just so darned pretty and spectacular with the incredible Utah red rock (it looks fake in the pictures but it really was that colour and the sky really was that blue)  Like all of the parks we visited it was very very quiet. Don't believe what the guide books say - they say the parks are bombed in the summer - and they simply were not. We saw very few other people and the roads were eerily empty. Capitol Reef National Park was magical the following day. The native Americans called it the land of the sleeping rainbow and we were treated to an incredible rainbow appearing whilst we had dinner in what must be the most unbelievable restaurant in the world - and we were the only customers too. The bottom picture at the right shows the view from our table. Unbelievable.

Bryce Canyon on this side is another favourite. We visited in 1998 and never thought we would go back, but when we realised a mere three hundred mile detour would mean we could visit again we did. (We drove over 3000 miles that trip so the detour was small by comparison.) Again the colours thrill us here and the view from Inspiration Point is one that makes me cry - it is so vast, so rugged, so powerful and so simply beautiful. It makes you feel so small in the great scheme of things and yet so at one with the world.

I loved Teton National Park. It had all the elements I love together - the rugged mountains, the tall pine trees, the crisp mountain air and the ice cold mountain lakes. Just awesome We were lucky to see this all at sunrise on our second day and it seemed, in many places, as if we had this natural wonder to ourselves. At Jenny Lake we were totally alone apart from some chipmunks and ground squirrels. The Snake River, curving around and carving its way through the area is awesome and the view from the top of Signal Mountain was one of Nigel's favourites from the entire trip.

The final side is Yellowstone and I can honestly say I have never been anywhere quite like it There were parts of this massive park that were verdant meadows and lush forests, and other parts where you felt you had left the present day and were in some primeval time zone showing what the world was like when it began. Across the landscape you would see steam vents erupting, we saw geysers, including Old Faithful which was by no means as spectacular as many of the other sights, strange coloured boiling sulphur pools and mud volcanoes. Two of the most magical sights were of animals. We came upon the elk - quite literally - as we drove along at 6 am one morning. As we pulled over on the deserted road to watch him in the dawn mist the sun suddenly forced its way over the peaks and he was bathed in the most incredible light. We both stood, breathless, in total awe at the sight before us. The picture was taken a little after the light changed as neither of us could move or think of anything but the utter beauty when it first happened. The other sight we were blessed to see was a huge herd of buffalo. It was like a scene from Dances with Wolves as they ran across the meadows, kicking up dust storms, They rolled on their backs, they splashed through the river and the blocked the road. You are not allowed to stop within a certain distance of the buffalo as they can be dangerous, but as the stragglers of the herd crossed the road, loitering to look at the strange metal beings invading their territory, we had no choice but to stop. We were there for about half an hour and it was, at times, terrifying as they came so close, but also breathtakingly special.

We truly were blessed ins o many ways on that trip.

CD Holder

I LOVE having time to play and I have played lots and lots, today and yesterday, making the cute little CD holders. I guess it all started when I got my new printer as it prints CD's and DVD's and they are just so cool to play with. I love designing them and thought I would share this one (my fourth so far LOL)

I promised Pauline (Emily's Nana) a CD with the pictures from our trip in the summer and kept meaning to do it - honest. So today I actually copied the photos, printed the CD and made a cute holder to send it in - and one I know she will want to display at home.

People on the internet in the many communities I belong to and in the many blogs I read are always so very generous with their ideas that I wanted to make this a sharable idea to say thank you for all the ideas you have shared with me.  They are so quick and simple to make and in this digital age  I am sure many of us end up sharing CD's with others. The CD's don't have to be printed - regular CD's would be fine too, but holders are a great way to pass these discs on to people.

The downloadable file contains all the instructions. I hope you have as much fun with them as I have had.

Download photo_cd_holder_and_display_case.doc

Enjoy x