Dolly's Dreamings

Sea World Spectacular

I have had such fun with a new digital kit - great great fun. And believe me - right now I can do with all the fun I can get.

I have been playing with a brand new gorgeous kit by Dawn Inskip called the Living seas.

It is packed with papers and doodles and fun and I have enjoyed scrapping two photos from one of my favourite places in the world, SeaWorld.

I love the photo in this first page - the three whales all together.

Now you have to bear in mind this is very very important to me - it is Shamu and my dream fantasy job is to be Shamu's trainer (and have the body of the girls who wear those gorgeous black and white wet suits!) Seriously - I really would love that fantasy job.

The second page was just a bit of fun. We snapped a picture of Nij on Shamu (the closest he'd ever come even in fantasy land as Nij really doesn't do water deeper than waist height, especially water with dirty great whales in.

It was a fun photo opportunity though and perfect witht his kit.

The kit is available at The Digi Chick so do go and check it out.

It's been a long old hard old day today and so the picture of the day is uninspiring to say the least - though I guess it fits with a Floridian theme. It is the clock in my scrap studio. I love the way Mickey swings his leg as the pendulum. Plus it is there today to show what time I finally walked in the house! Shattered ..... you betcha!

The God Light

I was out and about early this morning and have to say the beautiful morning lifted my spirits enormously.

Although ti was a little chilly, the sky was blue, the early morning haze was burning off and I loved the view of the ‘god light’. I have no idea what this is really called but Nij and I always say these shafts of sunlight piercing through clouds are god-light. I remember seeing it so stunningly in

Israel

when we were at

Qumran

.

Anyway I tried to capture the light coming through the trees in shafts this morning. It quite set me up for the day.

And believe me – I could do with something setting me up for the day.

Nigel’s Mom has been quite poorly. Long story that I won’t go in to. It has meant a lot of input from everyone and also that I haven’t really seen my husband much. He is very tired, I am very tired, we are both worried for various reasons and both irritable and life hasn’t been as blissfully harmonious as it could be! Ah well. I know it will resolve itself but just at the moment we can’t quite see the wood for the trees (back to the shafts of sunlight again I guess!!!!)

The page I am sharing today is a catch up page. It is another of my weekly pages for the 365 PAD project.

I am still so far behind but have almost finished week 15 as well and then I only have week 16 to do and by the time I have done that it will be week 17.

I have to say, now that I have started printing them out I feel energised about the whole thing again and am back into it. When the pages were just stored on the computer they didn’t feel quite so ‘real’.

I have been a busy girl scrapping though and have made over 60 pages this month plus a mirror, 2 CJ’s, 8 cards and a mini book. Busy time eh!

Hello Kitty - maybe not

I'm so sorry.

I couldn't resist the title of the post today. I actually heard a talk today about the real Hello Kitty and it made me thing of a new addition to our ever growing cat collection.

Well come on - he is sayiong hello and he is a kitty!!!!

We only popped to westbourne for a Starbucks - as you do - and ended up parking, which is fatal as they have some really cute shops there.

Walking past one really cool store full of all sorts of treasures we spotted this little guy.

He was so cute and I thought it would look lovely on our kitchen shelves.

It would also be good for leaving notes to each other such as little love notes or other sorts of notes when we are not speaking to each other - like now LOL (Long story - I guess every couple has its spats and ours tend to be the silent type)

He is actually a little tall for the shelves and so is going to move to the window sill, but as Nij says, we will have to glue him down and Fiki no brain will have him off and smashed in a  trice.  Anyway, my welcome home kitty is my photo of the day.

I have a couple of other shots to share today which are of cards I made for ATDML last month.

One is an easter card which was sent to Nigel's mom.

One was a purrfect day card - I just fell in love with these Woodware stamps and couldn't wait to try them out.

That card is currently in an enevelope waiting to be posted.

The third card is one of my any occasion cards which I love having in stock and of the three it was my favourite.

I am no great card-maker but I do enjoy making the cards and having homemade cards to send to people.

Actually I have just made a special card for a special birthday - but I can't post that here  till the weekend as it is for someone who reads this blog and she would see it way too early!

Our furry friends have friends

Seems like an odd title for the blog but it will all become clear, I promise!!

First can I say that if anyone is over here from UKS regarding the mirror I made I have now ammended the post below. 

It was my turn to set the challenge at A True Friend this week and so I chose to focus on our true friend's friends.

We used to have a cat called Pebble and when we were at our old house she had a real life friend. sammy was a jet black cat who lived two doors down but the gardens were rather open plan. Sammy used to come round and call for Pebble! It shook me the first time I walked in to the dining room and found Sammy there! But we got quite used to it. he used to come in the cat flap. wander round till he found her and they would both go outside. Kind of like cat dating I guess!

Kira has very very special friends - except to her we think they are more than friends. We think they are kittens.

The cats are indoor cats and they have loads and loads of toys. They play with them, drown them in water bowls and generally do what cats do. But Kira has three toys that are treated very differently. She has had them since she came here when she was 12 weeks old so they are now 6 and quite shabby (and a bit smaller as they have been repaired quite a few times) She has two dogs and a frog. Bizarre eh! She washes them, she carries them around the house, she takes them down to the food bowls and places them round the bowls, she brings them up to the lounge to watch TV, she brings them up to the bedroom when we all go to bed. They are, most definitely, her babies.  Occasionaly her dim wit brother steals one and drowns it in the water bowl and she is not a happy girl. So my page was all about Kira and her three 'kittens'

Do go over to A True Friend and check out the challnge and the design team's pages. They are gorgeous.

Now to my photo of the day - or maybe I should say photos.

I knew I would get a good photo this evening. About 6 pm is went black as night over the back of the house and was bright and sunny at the front. that is always recipe for a great rainbow. we live surrounded by various ridges and we get a LOT of rainbows. Always the same sort of time of day, always in the same place.

The fabulous display goes on right out of our front windows and if we are lucky it is positioned just right to see the complete arch rather than just a part of it.

If we are really lucky we see a double - indeed there was a double tonight but the second one was so faint you could hardly see it.

Anyway - I waited and waited, it began to rain heavily and as soon as the back began to light up I rushed to take the pictures I knew would be there.

It lasted about 8 minutes, getting brighter and brighter and then fading away. I love the light - the trees looking so irridescent and green in their new spring cloak of leaves.

I tried to take a photo to stitch together but because the light was so different when I pointed the camera one way or the other the sky colour looks very different and so the stitch hasn't really worked - but you get the general idea.

I love rainbows. I love all that they symbolise

and remember that in life, when things look grim,  

if we didn't have the rain we'd never get the rainbows.

Busy bee

OK so I have been a busy bee. I have scrapped loads this week for the cyber crop and done all my chores as well - so looking for brownie points here.

Yesterday I made a page I really liked because it was all soft and subtle.

It features Boo, who doesn't get featured as much as the others really. She is not keen on photos and yet she is a stunningly beautiful cat.

This photo was taken on Boxing Day.

I had bought them all Culpepper mice (If you have never tried these I recommend them .... we had our first from Helen as a gift and they are the best mice ever. the catnip is amazing and they last for ages and all three of mine go doolally over them) Anyway, she was all drugged up on a major catnip high and was basking in the sunlight.

The page was based on a sketch by Anita but I didn't have the overlay so had to print the circle on the  photo.

The papers are Basic Grey.

Andrea's class this morning was to make a pinwheel card. I have never made one before but i can see me making more. It was quick, simple and fun.

The box to put it in however, was not fun, simple or anything I am ever going to make again.

Andrea's instructions were brilliant. It was not her fault I found it difficult - it was because I am a bit dim and hamfisted to do this sort of thing.

It almost didn't get finished. It almost went for a little visit out of an open window.

BUT - I persevered and I did finish it - even though it is not good enough for me to give anyone.

My photo of the day was what really inspired the title of this blog post.

We have a gorgeous azalea in the front garden and it is full - and I mean full  -  of blooms.  As went out this evening for an early dinner I went over to look at it and there was a big bumblebee in seventh heaven. He was absolutely covered in pollen. It was everywhere and he was clearly having a bumper collection session.

Thus was born my photo of the day.

(Altered) Mirror mirror on the wall

Been a funny old day today.

My mother-in-law is not very well and so Nigel had to dash over to her this morning.

His brother is down to help look after her so we have a bit of respite today

Then we went out to the bathroom showroom.

Oh Boy! I have mentioned before that we are going to have our bathroom remodelled. Well, today we went and looked at his designs, which were lovely, and we have settled ona  design and then picked the bath, shower, sink, loo, built in units, fittings, tiles etc.

It is going to be awesome (and the cost reflects it GULP) But we are not having a holiday again and we use it every day and it will add to the value of the house and we work hard and heck - why am i trying to justify it. We want a new bathroom and are having one. I KNOW I will hate the work being done and have two weeks of hell to look forward to, but so be it.

Today I did Jean's mirror class. She had very kindly sent everyone chipboard to add to the Ikea mirror.

I was terrified about tackling this as I don't do 'altered' very well. I have looked for two years for a mirror to go in our utility room and have never found one. Although this is small it will work.

I decorated it to match the room so the paper is a very soft cream and green. the pictures don't show it off well, but it is edged in dark green and gold. I used gold glimmer mist all over the paper. the chipboard is mounted on black and the chipboard swirls are painted black and then sprayed with gold glimmer mist. The utility room is green and cream and black (worktops) and so it will go really well in there.

I have to say I am thrilled with it.

Thank you so much Jean.

The picture of the mirror is also my photo of the day today.

For those of you who have come here from UKS I am so sorry that there are not class instructions here as such. It wasn't my class or my idea to cover one of these mirrors. Jean had the idea and she kindly sent the chipboard pieces for everyone to do as they wished, so I am really keen to credit her in every sense of the word.

I can only tell youw hat I did - but please note it is NOT my original idea to alter one of these mirrors. The mirror was a cheap 99p mirror from IKEA and although the mirror bit itself is small, it works perfectly well.

I covered mine with a piece of 12 x 12 paper (it is the perfect size for that) using double sided tape and then I inked the edges and added glimmer mist.

The fan at the top was made using Jeans chipboard pieces. I covered them in the patterned paper then backed them with black card to work with my colour scheme.

I decided I wanted to have words on my mirror so used 5 chipboard pieces at the top to carry the word. The words Beauty and Within are Thickers and Comes from is stamped using Technique Tuesday stamps.

The black chipboard was chipbaord coloured so i painted it black and added a lot of Glimmer mist to make it sparkle.

Posing

Emily is at the age now when she loves to pose. Sadly she pulls all kinds of silly faces and so I rarely get good natural pictures of her. These pictures were taken several years ago when she didn't fake pose so much and I had a better chance of getting natural photos. She liked having her picture taken but was content to look normal.

I made the page for A Trip Down Memory Lane last month as a design team piece.

The papers are Basic Grey Wiseria collection and I just liked the mix of colour and black and white photos.

The title down the side is using Thickers. I LOVE them!

The other page here is another from the Pad cyber crop - which I have to say I am loving.

The class was by the incredibly talented Katie hadfield, a digital designer whose work is awesome. She made a template for us to use, which I did, and most of the elements and alphas are Kate's own design as well.

I used photos of Corfe from a recent trip and adapted the colours accordingly.

I am thrilled it is Friday - I don't remember being this tired for a heck of a long time. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend where scrapping plays a large part. We are going to see the designs for our new bathroom at some point. I am not sure if I am excited about that or just plain terrified.

I thought we would just keep the same configuration, but the designer seemed to thing we could adapt it. At the moment we have a large corner bath and whilst I love it, a more normal baths with a shower would be nice, but I can't see how it would fit. It is a very small room as it is not the main bathroom but the en suite. Anyway, we will see what he comes up with.

Finally, my photo of the day today is a daffodil - or maybe a narcissus (heck I have no clue) that caught my eye whilst out an about today.

OK so I said finally  and I lied LOL. A friend, whose son is in the armed forces and recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, sent me this and I wanted to share it.

"Last week I was in  West London attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer.
I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in their uniforms, as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.

When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded Briton who still loves this country  and supports our troops and their families. Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young  unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work, and enjoy our home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He knelt down and said 'hi,' the little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.

The young soldier didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy.  Suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek. The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Corporal and had been inAfghanistan for 5 months now.  As the mum was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.
When this temporarily single mum was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie.

They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it. After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.'  He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a Kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying 'Your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.'

The mum at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mum.  I was standing no more than 6 feet away as this entire event unfolded.
As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause.  As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own.  That young soldier in one last act of moment turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices.
The e mail then went on to explain that there is a campaign to get people throughout the country to wear red on fridays. red to show support for the troops who are risking their lives. Red to support their bravery.

I thought it was a remarkable story and wanted to share it here today.  

 

new delicious doodles

It has been lovely weather here agian today - though it is a shame that according to the forecast it is due to change for the weekend.

Typical I guess.

Dawn Inskip, know for her doodles, has just released some new kits at The Digi Chic and I had such fun playing with them. The kits are called Background Doddles and Going Dotty alpha (there is also a cute mini book as well)

This first page was great fun to do, though I confess to having been on a very very steep learning curve.

I had no idea how to do the colouring i wanted to in Adobe and I was determined I was not going to chicken out and revert back to Digital Pro.

I was dead pleased when I sussed it out in the end. the photo is one Jakki took when we were at Scrapfever earlier int he month.

The second page is also using the new Background Doodles kit and as Fiki was ill on Sunday and I was worried that my little boy was not himself he sort of got himself featured as the main cat on the page LOL

My favourite bit of the page is the second doddled overlay witht he flowers and the fact that her clay buttons just worked so well to add a bit of definition.

My picture of the day is a bit of an odd one today and I didn't really mean to do flowers two days in a row, but these little pansies were just begging to be taken.

They are in a pot by my front door and shouldn't be really.

I planted pansies in the pot last Autumn and they did really well and then in the snow and frost they very sensibly died. But they have sprouted back up again (I didn't think they did that) and though they are much smaller they are way too cute not to capture.

Free map papers and embellishments

This is a really old set but someone contacted me yesterday and asked if I could reload it as they wanted to use it.

So here it is.

It was made a long time ago so the file is a bit big but there are 5 papers and 2 overlays plus a tag.

the papers are JPEGs and the tag and ribbon is a png file

You can download it HERE

Shiny new toys

I had great fun - and a sense of relief last night - when Nij set up my new scanner. I was bereft without it. I mean ... I had to take photos of pages I had made and I never do that!

It is exactly the same as the old scanner but just the newer model and the only other differences are that this one is black (much nicer) and it works (much better LOL)

I have two things to share today. the page at the top is a design team page I made for Mel and Jill at ATDML last month.

The photo is one of my favourite from the Wild West Trip. We came upon this gorgeous elk in the late afternoon sunlight on the edge of the road and the light was just perfect. 

 It was taken in Yellowstone National Park in August 2004. The papers are all Basic Grey and I cut one of them into the scallop shape and backed it with yellow card.

The second thing I am sharing is a quick card made using jean's sketch from the cybercrop. It really leant itself well to a card and I love these general cards that can be used for so many different things.

My photo of the day today is a stunning orchid. I don't think I have ever had an orchid before. It was a gift given to me yesterday.

  I am quite worried that it is so beautiful and yet its days are inevitably numbered. There is a reason - a very good reason - why I have no plants at home. They have a very short life expectancy when they enter the house.

And for once I can't blame it on Fiki (who incidentally is so much better today)

I just can't grow plants. My Mom was one of those amazing houseplant people and everything she touched flourished. She used to swap any plants I had over so she could nurse them back to health ready to replace the next one I made sick. So, I am enjoying the orchid whilst I can - it's beauty may be brief!