Dolly's Dreamings

Rome and more Free Spring bits

I apologise in advance - not being a  great time for us at the moment so blogging will be short and sweet. Any prayers to keep us going would be much appreciated! I am not ready to explain why at this point but just keep Nigel and I in your thoughts and prayers for a while to see us through a bit of a tough time.

I promised the rest of the Spring bits I had made and said one bit wouldn't work. Well I haven't been able to fix it I'm afraid so have just decided to upload the bits that did work. If they are of any use to you at all please snag them as a freebie.

You can find the file here

The page is one I made last month for A Trip Down Memory Lane and was a picture from our trip to Rome back in 2003.

I had printed it in sepia tones as I wanted an even more aged look. (as if 2000 years wasn't old enough apparently)

I used swirls and flowers cut on the cricut and the journalling block was from a Shabby Princess kit.

I am not sure if there will be a blog entry over the next couple of days, though I do find recording my thoughts very theraputic. But in case there is not I wish you all a fabby weekend.

What an unusual colour

I am having real trouble with my knees (and yes, I do know that losing a mess of weight would help) and so in desperation I bought some Deep heat thinking it might help. Not sure it agrees with me too well. The smell is making my already watery eyes run and my knee if the brightest red I have ever seen. It's luminous!

The other unusual colour is this page which I did quickly from my poor sick bed last night for the weekly UKS challenge. You had to use purple and water and 29 of something and ribbon, so that is why there is purple on it which was a tough colour to use with the picture!

I love the picture though. My fantasy is to swim with Shamu one day. Actually the full fantasy is to be that girl in the picture (and have her figure) but I am trying to stay in touch with at least some measure of reality!

I was hoping to upload the last of the spring overlays today (I made three sets in all as I couldn't get it quite right) but I have a glitch in one so need to sort that out and will hopefully upload it tomorrow.

Now, me and my knee are off to see if there are any lighthouses that are broken that we can step in and substitute for!

Yawn - both of us

It's not been a fab day today what with one thing another.  I think I am coming down with a nasty bug. I have a very high temperature, amd shivering like crazy and ache everywhere. Doesn't bode well. I am therefore one of the yawns today!

Now ... before I come to yawn 2 ... something else.

Various announcements in forums and e mails have now all been posted and it is now official - The Design Collective will end at the end of March. There is an element of saddness about it as I have loved being part of such a fab team. I have gotten to know the other girls so much better - yet am still in awe of their talents both in scrapping and organising - and it has been a great project to be involved with. I thrive on dealines and the like (yes I know .... that makes me very very sad) and have loved the challenge of it all.

So yes, I am sad in many ways that we are wrapping it up. But I am also incredibly proud of what we, as a team, have achieved. It was a very innovative thing to have set up, was managed so incredibly carefully and was an act of faith on behalf of us all. The mailings were always on time, packed with goodies and inspiration and were very very well received by our subscribers. We were, indeed, victims of our own success as we gave subscribers so many classes they couldn't complete them all in a month. But how much better is it that we gave too much rather than not enough! We are all very proud of running the business successfully for a year and are now ready to move on to other things within our scrapping. It doesn't mean you won't see us all - you most certainly will. But after March you won't see the Design Collective as it has been. I would like to add thanks to all the people who I know personally who signed up and subscribed, many of you who I know from crops and who read this blog.

So now to the second yawn of the day which is Fiki.

I have never known a cat who is caught yawning quite so often on film. I have loads of pictures of him yawning. I think, in all honesty, the camera may bore him. He ALWAYS yawns during a photo shoot!

The page was made for A Trip Down Memory Lane this month. There were great varied papers to work with last month - I loved the variety. This paper was so interesting to cut and use in the pointed circle framing his little (did I say little!!!) yawn.

I stitched them in place, which was an interesting exercise!

I also stamped the title and text onto the card which is not soemthing I am brave enough to do very often. I prefer to stamp onto a scrap and then stick that on, but I was brave this time!

Now I am off to snuggle into bed. It has been a long day and I really do ache. I just have to convince the cats to leave me in peace and then flutter my eyelashes at Nij and hope he makes me something nice for tea.

In 7th heaven

Nope - not me in 7th heaven. Not after the day I have had. But clearly Kira was in 7th heaven when this was taken.

She was rolling around on the floor in an absolute cat nip ecstasy. I hate to say it but all three of my cats are addicts. Total and utter catnip junkies. Apparently some cats are not susceptible to it. All of my cats have loved it and the three fur babies who I live with now are addicted.

I keep bags of cat nip and all of their toys get collected up and re-dipped. they are kept in catnip until needed. It may sound off, but they live to hide their toys. You give them a toy mouse, they play with it for a few hours and then more often than not, hide it. Fiki has special hiding places he loves such as under the beds and under the big wall units. We do mouse sweeps regulary and the last one netted us no less than 27 toy mices (and sundry other 'items' he'd hidden. Kira does sometimes hide hers, but really just moves them around the house. It is quite common to find she has put four round the food bowl, two in our bed (yes right in ..... under the duvet) a couple in the water bowl (they must be the ones that she is cross with as they are well and truly drowned) and usually brings one to me at the door when I come in. I am thankful every day that they are not real nice!

Consequently we have dozens and dozens of toy mice and they are taken out of catnip on an almost daily basis and when I run out we go on a mouse hunt.

Anyway I digress.

I was inspired to do this page as a result of the challenge on the Scrummy Stash cafe blog to make a page about numbers. I couldn't think of a suitable number page then I found this picture of Kira and 7th heaven just popped in.

The matted lettering is the first time I have tried this on the Robo using my new design master, which was simplicity itself to use. The papers are Junkitz with the occasional real button thrown in for good measure.

Kira continues to do well. We are still using a mix of the DR25 and the james Wellbeloved and still no scabs and no weight loss. we are starting to lower the dose of steroids. She was on 2 a day and is now on alternate 2 a day, 1 a day. Once again thank you so much for all your support of what was a horrible horrible time for us all. I hope we have seen the worst of it now.

King for a day

Heaven help us if he ever was!

The page is one I made to support an article I wrote in this months The Scrapbook Magazine showing a quirky way to scrap pets. It's great fun to imagine what your pet would want/do if they were king or queen for the day. The laugh is on us though - as I think Fiki does rule this house most of the time.

He is also going to have to go on a fairly serious diet. He is a big big cat - still quite skinny, but not nearly as skinny as he was - and he weights almost 1.5 stone now! That is one heavy cat to hump around - and he loves to be carried like a baby. It isone heavy cat to have on your kneww all night too. Tom, our vet, will freak out when he sees him. He hasn't seen him since July when they had their boosters and he has grown huge since then. Do they have weight watchers for cats?

I have been frantically working on my next entry for Last Scrapper Standing. I passed through round 3 when 12 of the 30 were eliminated and so now am with 18 in round 4. There are only 5 rounds to this compeition. I think everyone except the top 3 are eliminated this time and then all three win prizes after round 5. The top prize is every single item from their shop! And its a huge shop! I am sort of demoralised by it as the challenge this time is so detailed and full on and I have almost finished my page and Nigel hates it! Trouble is I don't have the heart to re-do it. By rights I should have been out in round 2, but I have held on. There are some awesome scrappers in it and it is with no false modesty that I say I will not be in the last round so haven't the heart to re-do this entry. I know that is a defeatest attitude but hey - such is life.

Besides which it is Sunday - chores to do, other scrapping to enjoy oh and a ceiling to paint!

OK so maybe I was a bit early blogging today as I now need to add to it.

ceiling is not going well. I have been told to stay right away - so why do I feel so guilty.

I can't bring myself to scrap as that seems so naighty when he is working so hard, so I have fooled myself that cards are OK and so have sat and made some cards, two of which I share here.

the first was in response to a challenge on Rainbow Lady's blog which I have just discovered. It was to use acetate.

I printed the cat and frame onto a transparency and then made a little shaker box out of it, filled with gold micro beads. To echo the gold in the shaker box I mounted the sentiment on gold as well as black. I have to say I really like it and it is good to have these generic cards that can be used for so many different occassions.

The stamps I used are the Basic Grey stamps which I have to say I absolutely love to bits.

The second card - which has not photographed well as you can't see the loads and loads of 3D work on it - is using the Happy Ever After kit again and is another hybrid card. I am loving making these.

Now - what else shall I do to try and look busy. I have done the ironing and cleaning, apart fromt he hoovering, I have tidied, I am not allowed in the kitchen to prepare things ready, I have entertained the cats. It is not looking good. He went out for more supplies a while ago - never a good sign - and there is quite a lot of huffing and puffing going on.

I'll just stay away I think!

Gifts from Rubbish

Now don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting for one moment that you give people gifts that are rubbish. Well I am actually - but not like you imagine.

Yesterday I was tidying my scrap room in an effort to make more space. Why is it no matter how much space is available anywhere you never have enough? I tend to take most things out of packaging and then store them in customised storage containers as it takes up less room.

I came across a packet of Basic Grey periphery buttons I don't remember ever buying (I tend to do that a lot) and took them out of the plastic packaging and threw it away, putting the buttons in the button box. Then I went block hopping and went onto one of my fave blogs - daring cardmakers, which I find so great for all sorts of card inspiration. Well not only card inspiration as it happens.

Their challenge was to use waste plastic from packaging etc on a card. I almost heard the bell ringing in my head as I began to rummage in my newly filled scrapbin.

The package was so cute - too cute to throw away - so out it came, and I made a cute little gift box which now looks quite opulent and rather expensive ..... for free.

Open the pillow box carefully along the seam across the top.

Smooth it out and then, on the reverse side of it, use a combination of alcohol inks to colour it. I love using a mix and putting one of the metal tones mixatives in with it. I tend to go for copper as it gives such a rich, polished stone sheen.

Cover every part of it until you get the desired shade.

It is easier to decorate it before you assemble it. I wanted this very simple, but you could make it as fancy as you wanted. I used two coordinating strips of ribbons - one a satin edged gross grain and one a velvet rikrak. I added dots with a gold pen and then used one Prima hydrangea in a really rich colour, secured through the box with a brad. I edges the flower with gold and filled the centre with gold beads.

Once you have decorated it how you want to, rejoin the seam with strong double sided tape and fold the ends back in. Voila, a really cheap, quick and cheerful little gift box.

Mmmmm - I must go and buy more Basic Grey buttons now.

Go on- have a rummage through your stash and rubbish and see what you find to play with.

Tall and thin, squat and wide

It's been that sort of a day really.

Nigel has been off so we have 'mooched'. You know, the sort of day where you don't do much of anything but just have a nice time doing it!

He beat me (almost never happens LOL) at Trivial Pursuits, we watched TV, he built roller coasters (yes ... that's the new one) and I scrapped. he challenged me to use a 6 x 12 " album I have had for ages and just didn't know what to do with. His suggestion - and I loved it - was to make an album of our favourite panoramas and so I have started.
I have to say I am not at all sure of this size and format so this first page is simplistic int he extreme, but i do love the photo. It was one of my favourite places of our wild west tour in 2004 and one of my favourite pictures. It was Arches National Park in Utah.

I think I will enjoy the album, even if the pages are not state of the art.

I also made a card - tall and thin - for a friend's daughter as an acceptance card. She is getting married in May and Nigel has offered to do them a wedding DVD as a present. he makes awesome wedding DVD's - the sort that cost a fortune. It does him good to keep his hand in, as if he was ever unemployed it would be his bread and butter money. He would hate to do it for a living but it is good to know he has it to fall back on if needed.

The card it all ivory and caramel coloured as that is the colour of her wedding. She will make a truly stunning bride.

Off to shop and have dinner later and then more chilling out over the weekend I guess. What's not to like!

Selection of cards

I think I am pretty much scrapped out at the moment. It's been a bit of a mamoth session the last few days but I have achieved my goal and fisnished all my DT and magazine commitments. If I get to scrap this weekend I will be using some of my own stash LOL

Having said that I have been sent such wonderful stuff to work with by all three design teams - Craft Obsessions, Charmed Cards and Crafts and ATDML. Thank you all so very much for giving me lovely stuff to play with.

I made the first card using the challenge sketch on Di Hickman's blog. I find using a sketch a great kick start to card making when you are tired and I enjoyed this one.

The other two cards on this entry were made as a result of a newsletter. I really really must stop signing up for newsletters for digital sites as they send the newsletter and I see all the things that I just HAVE to have! It's crazy - but I guess at least it means their advertisinga nd PR works a treat.

Anyway - thanks to Nets I signed up for the newsletter from Nitwit collectiosn and just had to buy the new kit - Happily Ever After - they were promoting - and another at the same time of course.

They are so not my usual style but they were too cute for words and as I have quite a few children's cards to make they were too good to resist.

Using the Happily ever after kit and also the bear kit I made two hybrid cards. I have tried to tale decent pictures but failed miserably. There is a lot of 3D work on both of them but I can't quite capture it.

I also had a real thrill yesterday as Patricia from Weeds and Wildflowers (goodness do those girls there rock) used my trifold card of Emily using her Maggie kit on her blog. I was in 7th heaven.

Now I am off to bite my nails as the Last Scrapper Standing round 3 layouts are about to uploaded. And yes - I am still standing. However, 12 out of 30 people remaining get knocked out this round so I fear i will be sitting soon!

If any of you fancy having a look - because I have to say the entries over there are wonderful - then it is at Divine Digital and don't worry - I am not touting for votes as the entries are all uploaded anonymously. (If that link doesn't work as it is to the gallery then I guess you have to be registered to see it so sorry!)

TV Aerobics

No - don't worry - I haven't gone all fit and active .... as if! It's the fur babies.

This weeks challenge on A True Friend pet blog was to show the exercise your pet takes. Well that was quite hard to capture. I mean Fiki's exercise is destroying the house and I am usually too busy stopping him to take pictures. Boo's exercise consists largely of stretching one leg a little whilst sleeping soundly. Bless her, she is an older lady and needs her rest. 23 hours a day apparently! So I went with this picture of Kira doing TV aerobics.

Like all proud parents (LOL) we took lots of video footage when they were tiny. Nigel put this on the TV a while ago and Kira went mad. She was up on the TV unit trying to chase the toys and the little kittens on the screen. The size of the telly meant they were pretty much life size and she was so excitied. We just cracked up watching her.

The cats are all waiting for their tea but will have to wait till Nij gets home as he has the food. Having spent 6 months on outrageously expensive prescription only food, we are now introducing a proprietry brand, albeit quite a specialised one. I did some research and found I could buy it on the internet for almost half the price of pets at home and figure if it works and they like it and Kira can tollerate it (which she seems to be doing at the moment) we will be quids in. We used to feed them Felix pouches and Hills Science diet biscuits. I figure that with three of them it would have cost approximately £650 a year to feed them. I had never added it up when it was the norm! The new food - if it works according to plan - will work out at under £200. I figure that gives me £450 extra a year for stash LOL. Actually, the £450 will go a tiny way to recovering all the vets fees. I am NOT prepared to add those up fromt he past 6 months, but I am figuring it would be almost 4 figures. No, she's not insured. Yes, I regret it and no, I have no plans to insure Fiki. (No point even trying to insure Kira or Boo as they have long standing medical conditions)

Great scrapping day today. In the last two days I have made 7 layouts, 5 cards and a something else. Will share them soon!

Downloadable class CD holder

I made this CD wallet for last months design team work for Charmed Cards and Crafts. Karen sent me so much yummy stuff from the K and Co Smitten Range and it was just perfect timing for Valentine's Day. I decided to make a CD of some of our favourite songs for Nigel as part of his Valentine gift. I love that I now have a printer that prints on CD's as well as it makes making CD's and DVD's so much more fun.

I decided to make a wallet, as I had done before, to keep the CD in and so make it a proper gift.

There are instructions at the end of this post which you can download if you want to make one yourself. They are very quick and easy.

I would ask, though, that if you download the instructions, even though they are very simple,  you credit me with the design. I always say with things like exploding boxes, maze books etc they are NOT my design. I always make that very clear. This is my idea and so would ask that you credit me accordingly please.

I have made lots of these as they make quick simple gifts and the CD or DVD inside is very personalised. I made the Emily one on the instruction sheet as a gift for her grandmother with all her pictures on. I have made discs for all of my cousins around the world with all the old family pictures that I have scanned on.

The posibilities are endless. We are filming a friends wedding soon and I will put all of her wedding photos onto a DVD and make a wallet. (Nigel will put the finished film in a proper DVD box LOL)

I am sure when you have made one you will be hooked too.

Downloadable documents in both PDF and word format.

Download cd_wallet_word.doc

Download cd_wallet.pdf