Dolly's Dreamings

A little card

I thought I would share a card for a change today.

It was a card I made for ATDML last month using My Little Shoebox papers.

I had a little bit of the circular paper left over and it looked like a hill .... well it did in my mind anyway LOL

I had great fun making it.

The first performance of the school play went ahead today and it went down very well. The girls all rose to the occasion and acted their little hearts out. I was so proud of all of them.

I lived and breathed every line and am exhausted now. Only two more performances to go!

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• the play happening without too many hitches
• The Wii telling me good news!!

52 in 10 Prompt 19

 

It hardly seems possible but we are at week 19 already.

We are sticking with the theme of work and this week looking at who we work with.

Now if Nij was scrapping this he could claim a very famous work colleague - the four time world champion speedway champion Barry Briggs MBE. He is helping him with PR and publicity for his charity work here.  Pretty impressive huh! Of course his other workmates he spends his day with are no quite so well known - although Fiki is pretty well known in the scrapping world LOL. His work colleagues apart from Briggo are fur coated.

So we are thinking about who we work with this week. maybe people at the office or store, people at school, or the kids or the family pet who keeps you company at home.  

 

Of course I get to fool around and be silly a lot with one of my work colleagues!

 

Before I post the link to the download a couple of reminders.

Just a pleasant day

It has been a very pleasant day. Nothing special. Nothing remarkable. Just a very nice ordinary day.

I went to the gym this morning - and I never thought that would become a regular part of my saturday! But i quite enjoy it. The class is a mind and body class and is a mix of Tai Chi, yoga and pilates and although it seems very gentle it is quite a stretchy workout and I know I will ache tomorrow.

The nice thing is that Nij said I looked lovely as I was ready to leave for the gym - all togged up in gym gear. I even allowed pictures LOL

I actually look a little better than the pictures - the flash was on and there is quite a shadow that is shadow and not me.

OK so I have a way to go - but heck - it is so much better than it was.

I spent the rest of the day shivering (its been awfully cold) and scrapping. I have finally caught up on some of my walk pages and here is the first one ... from a couple of weeks ago.

It was a walk on the heath and I am loving the way the walk album is showing the changing seasons.

The background to the page is the dry parched ground. A heck of a contrast to the snow from a few months ago.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful that

• I managed the class more easily than last week.

Beautiful Bengals

I do count myself blessed to be owned by a pair of bengals ..... well most of the time.

In fairness Fiki is much quieter than he used to be and we only have a little bit of hell raising mayhem now. Enough to keep us on our toes but not so much that we think we are going insane!

I couldn't resist using Dawn Inskip's new kit Innocence, released today at her exclusive store at PBP, to scrap them when they were younger.

Fiki actually has to go to the vets tomorrow.

yesterday Nij felt a small lump on his neck and it transpired it was a tick. Goodness I hate those things.  Haven't had to deal with a tick for years and they don't get any nicer do they!

Anyway - we removed said tick, head and all, but he now has a reasonable lump on his neck. bearing in mind that these days ticks carry all manner of hideousness we want to get it checked out.

I am fascinated as to how he had a tick on him when he hasn't been outside for 10 or 11 days. I thought they didn't stay on that long. And I am now reluctant to let them go in the garden again. They really are indoor cats and they only go out if we are sitting int he garden. But I might not even do that.

I hope he has not ended up with an infection or some hideous disease.

I had fun today .... of sorts. Our school play is next week - dress rehearsal tomorrow - and the lead was absent so i ended up playing the part. the kids thought it was hilarious and I have been kicked, dragged and teased on stage, worn a very rude looking false nose and generally made a prize fool of myself.

All in the name of drama LOL I am hoping she is better tomorrow as there is no way I am going to fit into the lycra costume.

My quote today is

Today I am thankful for

• The chance to have fun with the children

OUCH!

I wanted to flag up to everyone that there is a new challenge live at A TRUE FRIEND and it is an especially good one.

It is all about scrapping some of life's milestone moments. Things that we really and truly do need to scrap. And those things might not always be easy to scrap.

The page I made is a case in point. It records an event that happened exactly 4 years ago which I have never scrapped because it is still very upsetting. However, it deserved to be recorded and now it is.

The photo was taken just a couple of days after the event and you can see Fiki looks so much younger than he does now.

The tag under the picture documents, in great detail, what happened.

Fiki is not allowed in the bathroom because he plays witht he shells on the glass shelf, enjoying smashing them into the sink below and when that amusement wears off he stands on tiptoes and bashes the light pull against the tiles to make a nice smashing sound!

So, late one evening in may 2006 I went to the loo. He followed me in, as always, just in case he missed anything. I picked him up as I came out, moving Kira away from the door with my feet and, with him still in my arms, I shut the door.

Neither Nij or I have ever heard a noise like it and I hope to God I never do again. There was such a terryfying scream and he flew out of my arms. I had inadvertantly shut the last two inches of  his tail in the hinged side of the door. It broke his tail and he skinned it pulling it out as he flew out of my arms.

He was terrified and in a lot of pain. I was hysterical. Eventually we coaked him out of hiding and he was clearly very hurt. It was 10.30 pm so we phoned the emergency vet. they warned us it was £90 as soon as we walked through the door if we took him at night. So what! Our baby was in pain.

We went to the vets and he was given antibiotics and painkillers and we all had a restless night. We knew he might loose the tip of the tail or, even worse, paralysis may travel and he could loose more.

He suffered terribly over the weekend and on Monday we took him to see our own vet. Our vet swears that what happened next wasn't possible! When Tom examined him there was a distinct crack as he felt the damaged part of the tail. From that moment on the tail that he hadn't been able to raise off the ground, the tail that was causing him great pain, was mended. I swear blind it was dislocated and Tom's examination clicked it back into place. Tom says not possible. But whatever the reason the tail was better.

It took ages for him to forgive me - he had been in my arms when he was hurt and he was scared. It took me much longer to forgive myself. In fact I don't think i ever have. I still remember coming back from the vets and cleaning the blood and fur off the door.

It is a horrible story about an accident but it did need to be recorded as part of their album. 
 
There is a companion page for this - I am ashamed to say.

It documents how I shut Kira's paw in the drawer under the bed. Another accident. I am not a careless cat owner - truly I am not. But they do get everywhere. It is a miracle they haven't been hurt more times to be honest.

My quote for today is

Fitting to have a quote about reputation today. I hope I haven't now got a reputation as a negligent owner.

Today I am thankful for

• a hard job over with today
• The fact that - despite everything - my fur babies love me

 

Expression is everything

I was lucky to have such beautiful papers to work with for my last DT assignment for ATDML last month. They were My Little Shoebox and so lush to use.

I have already shared several pages I made but this is another one - of Emily.

I made the little butterfly from flowers and beads

I love the series of photos of Emily and they just begged to be scrapped together.

Today was back to the usual work routine and it was a mad old hectic old day. One of those days when you feel a lot less like a teacher and a lot more like a circus performer ... a little bit of a juggler trying to keep all the balls in the air or like one of those entertainers who has to keep lots of plates spinning. And a little bit like the ring master, trying to coordinate it all. And a little bit like a lion tamer - that speaks for itself. And as we had rehearsals and i always 'act up' to show the girls what to do I was also the circus clown.

Oh it's a many and varied job I do LOL

I popped to the gym after work - and feel very noble!

I also came home to find that Di from Tando Creative had posted something so nice on her blog about me. I was very moved when i read it.

I really do think her products there are innovative and great quality and am looking forward to my new order from Bubbly Funk coming as I have ordered lots more tando to play with. I can see it being a new addiction.

Our boiler is due to be replaced tomorrow. i am very impressed that Potterton have agreed to do it free of charge - thanks to our heating engineer who fixed the deal up for us. So fingers crossed for a trouble free day at home tomorrow.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• Not dropping and of the balls I was trying to keep int he air (metaphorically speaking)
• The weights at the gym which are actually quite fun to use

And finally - I leave you with this ....

Chilled .... or chilly

 
I'm not sure wether I think today has been a chilled day or just a chilly day.

I HAVE been chilled. I have been for a nice long walk and scrapped and relaxed. But I have also been chilly. It doesn't seem possible that a week ago we were sat in the sun sunbathing and now I am wrapped up in winter woolies again.

It's a funny old world.

I have another page from my 52 walks with my camera to share. It is another walk we did in Devon ... this time round Castle Drogo which was a great day out.

 

I have been working on my 52 in 10 project (I am up to week 25 now .... there are some good prompts to come) but today I am sharing my page for Prompt 18

 

The place I work is beautiful. The tags under the picture describe the outside of the building and a little of how I feel about my workplace.

My quote today is

The perfect way to live.

Today I am thankful for

• three day weekends

 

 

 

Tando Creative House

The UKS Cybercrop was last week and whilst I didn't have the chance to take part there was one class that I just had to do. I sent off for the kit straight away ebcause it was so awesome.

The class was by Di using her awesome Tando Creative chipboard.

I had never ever come across Tando Creative and it is awesome. You must check out her blog here because her work is awesome and her chipboard is to die for.

Anyway - i sent off for the kit and have spent such a fun day.

I still have to add the photos but I will do that tomorrow

You can't really see well but the whole thing glistens with glimmer mists

There are loads of details

The insides come out and there is a little accordian album that I have yet to add the photos to

The roof is all gold embossed

 

Do check out Tando and Di's work - it's awesome.

52 in 10 Prompt 18

 

Good morning everyone

I hope you are having a great Bank Holiday weekend and here is something for you to play with today.

We are continuing with our theme of work this week but looking at it from a different angle, so to speak.

I will be back with more later but do want to share another page with you all today.

 

I am loving my 52 walks with my camera album. I am printing off each page as I make it and it is already proving to be a lovely album of the year. It is less stressful than the Project 365 I completed last year, but just as much fun and a good record.

This is the page I made of our walk around Antony a couple of weeks ago.

I just love that photo of Nigel - one of the nicest I have of him.

 

Happy International Scrapping day

It's been a busy old day today.

I LOVE National (International) Scrapping day adn have been a little crazy.

So many fab digital stores have had sales today that it would have seemed rude not to buy stuff.

I maxed out a little but hey - they were such good value for money.

I went to the gym this morning and did a reasonable workout before doing a class. Now jakki - supposed best friend but the jury is out after this morning LOL - said the class was really easy and no strain at all. Hence the work out first.

Either she lied or she is just so super fit she doesn't notice it is hard work. Actually I think it is the latter - she is just so super fit.

It was a mix of tai Chi, Pilates, Yoga and torture. I have discovered I have no sense of balance and am not very bendy! However, i did survive it in spite of being terrified as we did one pose - the warrior - which was the very pose that in 2008 busted my knee.

I have a second page to share today which was made with Dawn Inskips That's Life kit.

Now I need to get on with some scrapping with all the new things I have bought today.

My quote for today is

and today I am thankful for

• National Scrapping Day and the generosity of so many designers across the digital world.
• very fast broadband!!!