Dolly's Dreamings

ScrapFever storage

I have decided that retreats are hard work. Jolly hard work.
I know it will be fun when I get there, but the preparation is killing me!

I spent ages the other day sending photos to be printed. Today I spent ages trying to sort out what stash I wanted to take. I laughingly thought I would sort out some page kits for myself. Yeh right! I did one and it took an hour so I resorted tot he - how much paper can I get into two artbins 'just in case'

It is not the right way to prepare, I know. I will try and rationalise it - another day.

I did sit and alter this box though. I wnnted a box to take all my CI rub on books. Oh yes, I have to take them all - and there are a LOT of them. I never know which I may need LOL. I rumaged in the cupoboard and found an old Prima box that fit them perfectly. (You can get at least 12 of the tall books inside  and a couple of the square ones)

I was struck byt he colour of the metal which had a decidedly pinky tinge on the top and so I didn't want to cover it up completely.

I used a piece of unknown very bright paisley paper to colver the sides and inside of the box and to edge the lid.

I was going to add all sorts of blooms and blossoms and ribbons, which I may do later, but as it is going to travel with me at the weekend I thought I would keep it flat and simple.

I printed a 'page' for the lid using Weeds and Wildflowers papers from Second Spring and lettering and also a Jen Wilson bird.

It looks very nice and as it fits the rub ons so perfectly it will keep them flat and safe.

I also made a birth card for the birth of a little girl. I am trying not to think it is for anyone in particular as I am old fashioned enough and superstitious enough to think that you ought not to do these things before the event.

I keep telling myself it is NOT a card for Samantha's little girl when she is born, it is just a stock card for me to keep in my card box in case I ever need one. I'm not succeeding in convincing myself really, but I plan to keep on trying.

I made the card using the Bear Necessities kit by Mary Fran at Nitwit Collections and although it doesn't show very well it is very dimensional.

I cut the pink and cream mounts on the Cricut.

I am now just waiting excitedly (sarcastic ... me!!!!!) for Nij to come home so we can lift 17 fence panels out of their concrete supports and put 17 replacement, much heavier (Oh goody) panels in their place

The fact that the panels are 6 foot x 6 foot and I am only 5 foot by not quite 6 foot makes it all the more fun. Oh and it looks like it may be going to rain as well. Yipee.

I just hope I don't do any damage to my back and can't go to ScrapFever now I have done allt he groundwork!

A cube full of love

It's been very changeable here today and so I am glad we went to the beach when we did. Today would NOT have been a good day to go.

Made a couple of pages and cards today, which I can'ts hare yet, but going through my files I realised I did not upload this yet and really want to share it.

It was a project I made as part of my design team work for Charmed Cards and Crafts last month usingt he Mira range from K and Co.

I saw the perspex cube in John Lewis and saw the potential for a cute desk item straight away.  It was part of a clear acryllic office desk wear range.

I made 5 individual pages, one for each side and one for the lid.

As it was destined to stand on my desk (actually it was on my desk at work for a while) I wanted it to have pictures of my family - that would be Nigel and the fur babies.

I used the same colour cardstock for all 5 pages and then all the bits come fromt he Mira range by K and Co. I never thought I would like the glitter letters - I simply don't DO glitter, but I loved them.

I made corners for the four pages int he side so they stand up along so they don't need to be glued intot he box. The four pages come out as one solid piece so if and when I get bored with the pictures I can just make a new set of inserts.

Had a bit of a hair disater today. I colour my hair as I have started to get a little grey at the temples and I don't like it. My hair is very very dark brown and when I was younger used to have lots of natural red highlights. They faded along with everything else LOL so I use a dark brown colour which has just a teeny hint of red.

I have used the same colour for several years and did my hair today. And what a disaster.

they must have changed the range as it is red - far redder than it usually is. A sort of burgundy red. I hate it.

I plan on washing my hair A LOT to get it to fade down as quickly as possible. It took me a lot of building up courage to get into colouring my hair and I think I will be thinking very carefully before doing it again. I think I may learn to like grey bits at the temples.

I

Ringstead Bay

Had a lovely day so far today. And it's only half way through.

We were up at the crack of dawn - must have been the sunshine that woke us, because it has been glorious.

As Nigel was off as well I was determined not to waste another day sat at the computer for one reason or another so we headed out early.

We went to Ringstead Bay near Weymouth - a place we have driven by but never visited and it was lovely.

There were narrow roads to get there mind. I was sooooo glad it was not me driving.

It was quite chilly, though very warm in the sun, and the bay was almost empty of people and was just lovely.

We made ourselves a promise to take more pictures of each other and so did some of that too.

Our problem is that we have loads and loads of pictures of places and very few pictures of us. (even fewer of us together but that's another story)

We played dare for a while by the water (and I only got a little bit wet LOL) but it made for a fun half hour and some interesting pictures. I think I feel a page coming on.

I have downloaded the pictures but to be honest the last thing i can face is sending more to Photobox. I played that game yesterday. If I want some I will be printing them myself.

We also stopped at a garden centre for ideas for the patio we want to redo. we did thinkw e would maybe have someone to redo it for us, till we heard the prices. Um .... I can see a long glorious summer of humping paving slabs and filling  looming ahead.

They had a lovely gift area at the garden centre (why do things seem so irresistable in these places! I wanta  minimalist home and I am so never going to get one. I did see a Willow Tree figurine I fell in love with for Sam. It was the expectant mother and sam is definitely that. The baby is due next month so it seemed a neat gift to get her and post off today.

Anita sent me this link in an e mail todaya nd was a cool thing to play with. When you click ont he link (which I have tried and is safe) you get a black screen which you then click on and watch what happens. You can also just hold the mouse down. Pretty and mindlessly girly fun!

This is the link

A day on the computer

I had so many things I wanted to do today and I haven't done them.

I have been sat all day at the computer. No - not more addictive Bubble shooter. I have managed not to even switch that on today.

Jakki and I are off to Scrapfever and so I thought I would sort out the photos for that. And there were masses and masses and masses needed so I have been selecting, editing, resizing and uploading to Photobox all day.  And I am still not sure I have the right photos for the classes. Ah well.

I thought as I had not scrapped today - yet (I am planningt or eal soon LOL)  I would share a few of the cards I have been making for the Design Collective.

The weekly extras since January have been card sketches we have all thought up and then made cards for. It has really gotten me back into the realms of card making again and I now have a huge stack of cards.

I have been selling some at work and plan on selling more with all the pofits going to charity. I don't KNOW enough people to send that many cards to LOL. Trouble is I like quite a few of them so I always find them quite hard to sell.

I know - I will never make a business woman.

It is rather a sad day today as the Design Collective has sent out its very last mailing. It has been quite a year. The team were such fun to work with, we always made our deadlines (even if we did sail a bit close at times) and we really really did offer the subscribers great value for money. I loved the deadlines, the challenge of creating the classes, our very own forum and the rest of the girls. It has been a valuable experience for me this year and I am pleased that we can all hold our heads up high and be proud of what we achieved. It has left an awful sense of loss though now it is over.

F is for Fiki and Froggy

I decided that today was the day to catch up on my fur baby A - Z album. It seems an age since I have done any on this.

The official page was F and it was another double. I am actually struggling to think which pages may be singles but I know some will have to be or it won't all fit int he album. I am only a quarter of the way through and it is already very bulky!

F just had to be for Fiki, my beautiful green eyes monster. He is so handsome, so loving, so wicked and so ... welll so Fiki really. Although I have scrapped this photo before, I wanted it to be in the fur baby A - Z  album as it is one of my favourite poctures of him. He is looking down so endearingly, but I cans ee the glint of a plot in his eyes quite clearly.

F is also for froggy.

Kira has so many toys and quite a few of them are her babies. We find them gathered around the food bowl wgen she has been feeding them, gathered around her water glass (yes ... you read that right - how spoilt is she) or drowned in the water if they have been naughty. They are all carried up one by one and deposited on the bed at night. But the really special baby is froggy. It always has been since she was 3 months old.

The first day she ever went outside, she went back int he house to bring froggy out. It was too sweet for words.

Froggy is a bit bished around now. He has been mended so many times and there is not a lot left to mend now. Everytime I try and sew up a hole the fabric splits again. I dread what will happen when froggy goes to the big toy box in the sky, as he will do one day. I have searched and can't find another and I am sure she will mourn him when he has gone. He has no eyes left, one front leg is almost gone and he is very faded. He really is her velveteen rabbit.

Derren Brown

We had a lovely day yesterday. I bought Nigel tickets for Derren Brown as one of his Christmas presents and the show was last night. It was terrific. We had front row seats and, as usual, he left us spellbound. How DID he did it. the only possible answers are either

a) he really can do magic or

b) everyone in the theatre except the two of us were stooges and it was all fake.

As neither of those answers really work for us we remain confussed and impressed.

We also had a wonderful dinner at TGI Friday - one of our fave spots of all. As we are celebrating Christmas this weekend (well it was a Christmas present) we are having roast turkey and all the trimmings today. YUM!

We spent this morning cleaning my car as it is due to leave us soon. The new car is on its way. It has been built and is heading towards Calais and I am sort of excited but also a little sad. I totally and utterly love my car - it has been so reliable, so pretty, so cool and I will be sad to see it go, even for a newer updated swisher version. She's been a good friend for the last 6 years. Still, I will be sending her off all sparkly clean and gleaming to her new home. I hope they love her as much as I have.

The page I made yesterday morning was another scraplift of the same page as yesterday. I am loving the three pictures in a row format -and it scraps three pictures at once which can't be bad.

The pictures are from Huntington Beach - an area we know really well as we have had many holidays there. Nigel's cousin used to live at Huntington Beach (she now lives at Laguna Nigual which is even more beautiful) . When we wanted sunset pictures we knew it was a good place to go for them - and it was.

The sunset wasn't actually as dark as it looks but shooting into the setting sun made the contrasts even better.

The scan - as ever - isn't that great.

Easter Sunday blessings

I always love Ester Sunday - it is a very special day for us.

I hope that whatever you believe in or trust in fills you with love and peace today and every day throughout the coming year.

Last night we went to one of our favourite restaurants - Vesuvio on the beach. Nigel's brother was down for the easter weekend and it was a lovely evening. The food was superb and the wind dropped so we gazed out on a perfectly calm sea.

As we left the full Easter moon was bright in the sky and making a beautiful silver pathway across the ocean. I took some pictures but haven't had the heart to look at them yet as I am sure they will not have come out at all.

I made this page for the Canada album yesterday. It is a scraplift from a page by Darcy Christensen in BHG this month. I loved the page and to scrap three more pictures in one go for the never ending Canada album was just to good to be true.

The three pictures are of Tangle Fall, Sunwapta Falls and Bridal Veil falls, all seen whilst on our trip down the icefields Parkway last summer. Canada really was a land of rushing waterfalls and the power and noise of some of them, like Sunwapta Falls, was incredible.

The papers are Basic Grey Periphery and some Heidi Grace chipboard bits and pieces and the journalling spot was from Peppermint Creative.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Day

Prodigy

It's awfully awfully windy here - it knocked me over twice whilst we were trying to repair our fence. we are very exposed here and the wind buffets us terribly. We have ordered new fence panels as we lost several in yesterday's high winds, but they won't come for another week or so and so we are trying to keep those remaining in some sort of repair. It was bitterly bitterly cold out there too. Not as cold as where my friend Heather is though. It was good to hear from her today and whilst I am sure it causes you much disruption, I envy you your 8 inches of snow Heather - what beautiful pictures it must make.

I would like it but maybe just for one day!  Just to get the pictures you understand.

The page here is one I made for A Trip Down Memory lane last month using the lush Two Scoops papers from basic Grey. The pictures are some taken at Christmas of Emily with her new guitar. her grandad was a good guitarist and he would have loved to have seen her like this.

The hearts were from the Prima Hybrid blush kit and are stamped with the Basic Grey stamps. Now I am a bit of a clear stamp addict (I would prefer not to count how many sets, thank you for asking) but I do especially love this set from Basic Grey. They just work so well with so many things.

We have been havinga  Terminator weekend. we watched Terminator last night, watched T2 this afternoon whenw e were not fence building and plan on T3 tomorrow.

It's fun to watch them together like this. They are not my usual sort of film, but I love that they have great special effects and such a good story line too.

I have been knitting away whilst watching and have almost finsihed my 3rd outfit for baby bump (Emily's soon to be born little sister) although the one I have just been finishing seems to have come up awfully small. Nigel said to send it to Sam not as it is obviously pre-natal size!  I have loved knitting again and baby clothes are such fun as they take no time to make at all.

Good Friday Greetings

  I wanted to post several things today.

First of all a reminder to all of you who are digi fans - Weeds and Wildflowers have a 25% storewide sale today. It is just too good to resist.

Well it was too good for me to resist. There were so many things I wanted and so I have stocked up. Spent a happy morning downloading kits and am a happy bunny.  I made this quick digi greeting with new things I bought today.

Nij has been at a big Good Friday meeting at Poole Speedway today and should be home soon. It is a glorious day here. Bright and clear but extremely windy and rather cold. But too nice a day to stay in really.

Before he left he challenged me to scrap one of the pictures from our photo shoot a couple of weeks ago.

I loved the pictures that we took of ourselves, but with his worrying health issues I just couldn't bring myself to scrap any of them. I kept thinking 'what if they are the last poctures I have of us?' I know, I am the eternal pessimist at times. But now I am more positive about life and so grateful for all the good fortune we have had, it was time to scrap them. He was right (only don't tell him!)

I had new Basic Grey papers arrive yesterday and I never ever ever use new stuff. It's taboo. But I found myself drawn to the gorgeous sugared papers (why does Basic Grey have such a unique and totally delightful smell .... has anyone else noticed) and found myself cutting - yes cutting - one of the nicest papers up!

  The picture of us laughing begged to be called Laughter is the best medicine, as it really is.

I often say it, but Nigel and I laugh A LOT. We always have and it is such a good thing to do.

I went a bit circle crazy and am not sure I like the finished effect, but tis done and, as I hear the door open and himself return, I will end and show him the page.

I wish you all a really happy easter. May the blessings of this very special season be heaped upon youa nd your family.

xx

Peyto Lake

I am still scrapping Canada. we did take a whole mess of pictures and so many of them were photos we really liked. I am loving the album which has eneded up, rather accidentally, all the same sort of tones of blues and yellows and greens.

The fact the album works as a unity makes me want to redo my wild west album. That was the best holiday we have ever had and my album doesn't do it justice. I may well have a go at that.

Meanwhile, the page here is of Peyto Lake.

It is one of the real highlights of the Rockies and gets very very busy, apparently! We went at about 9 am and it was deserted. And I mean deserted. We were there for a good quarter of an hour before one other lone tourist arrived and we were able to ask him to take this picture of us together. The view is an iconic one and it was made all the more special by being there without the crowds so we could just soak up the beauty and the atmosphere. I would recommend visiting it at this time of day to avoid those crowds.

As it was early we could also drive up to the disabled car park - which was empty - and take the very short walk rather than the much longer one from the main carpark. That was another tip from our friend Rob Lean.

The page was completed as part of my DT work last month for Karen at Charmed Cards and Crafts. The papers are all Mira by K and Co and, as I have said before, it is such a versatile range of stuff.

The tag that said passport to adventure was totally the wrongs hade of blue to work witht he page so it did make me get out my chalks which have not seen the light of day for quite a long time!

I am once again enjoying being a lady of leisure. Having been shopping this morning - and picked up a couple of real bargains .... a beautiful  fuscia cardigan for £5 and a lovely linen skirt for £15, I have been sat here making cards.

I have scrapping I want to do but my mojo appears to be on its holdiays too so cards seemed easier. I am guest designing for Di Hickman in April so have been working on her card sketches which is great fun, but a little nerve wracking as the designers there are pretty awesome.

And now I am off to play with my new Basis Grey papers. I bought the complete range of Archaic (which hasn't come yet) and then separate papers from Sultry and Sugarred as I wasn't keen on all of them. I can't wait to play with them now - but expect I will end up just stroking.

Nigel is off work for the next four days and so I am looking forward to us spending some time together after all the worries of the past weeks.