Dolly's Dreamings

Evacuated

Today has been an interesting day as we were 'evacuated'. Well only in a pretend sort of way. A living history day but always a very good one.

 

It has also meant no chance to do any work during the day and so a long evening ahead playing catch up.

So this is a quick post of a page I made a while ago in the summer holidays.

Scrapping snow in the summer is such fun and totally in keeping with the whole Frozen Summer celebration at Disney World in Hollywood Studios.

 

I LOVE Frozen.  I love Olaf. I love the music, I love the film.

So this was a must have page in the digital album.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• interesting experiences
• teamwork

 

 

 

 

Main Street USA

It was a foggy grey old morning this morning but the day perked up. I am hoping for a dry day tomorrow as outdoor activities are planned and it is so much nicer if it is dry.

Barbara I was so excited to see you are doing the licence plate game. Are you making a page with the findings. If so I do hope you will share - I would love to see it.

I started this page and almost finished it then realised it would pretty much fit the weekly challenge so have re-worked it a bit.

It is another for the paper album on our Florida trip and records the wonder that is Main Street USA.

 

 

I love the buildings and the colours and the fact that it makes it all so exciting when you first arrive at the Magic Kingdom.

 

I really wanted a patriotic feel to the page and I used lots of digital elements printed out.

 

 

The challenge involved using 9 circles and there are 9, it is just that some of them are cut in half.

It is a lot more dimensional than it looks as loads of elements are on foam pads and there is a lot of sewing and buttons etc.

 

 

I love making hybrid pages as it always feels like you are getting something for nothing if you see what I mean.

 

Today I am thankful for

• feeling better than I did this morning - felt quite rough

 

Sunny sunny Sunday

It's been a glorious day today - really beautiful and warm and sunny and not windy. A perfect day really.

 

We even sat in the garden for a while - just lovely.

I feel refreshed and ready for what is going to be a very very busy week ahead.

 

I did do scrapping too though and this is one of the pages I made. A very basic page but something we really wanted to record. We made a special point of taking pictures of as many cast members as possible. They were all very accommodating but I think they thought we were a bit odd!

 

 

Whilst I will record costumes from other rides I wanted to keep the Epcot countries separate. we didn't quite manage them all - France and the UK are missing!

 

The quote round the outside seemed apt - from Kofi Annan - and I thought it wise to use world map paer fr the base. Very simple but it serves a memory we wanted to record.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely sunny day
• Time out
• coconut fraps
• home baked bread

 

 

And thankfully we have seen no spiders in the bedroom for over 2 weeks now! Phew.

 

 

 

Wild at Heart

I have had a lovely quiet day today - much needed.
A little light reading, a little light scrapping, and a lot of good chilling.

 

I have a page to share made last week for Dawn's weekly challenge on Scrapbookgraphiocs. Do check the challenges out here

This week there is more free stuff. This is the freebie this week

 

 

This was last week's challenge - I don't always have a chance to do them so it is nice when I do.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely quiet day
• scrapping - it restores my sanity

 

 

 

 

Back home and happy

I have been away for a few days on a conference and whilst it was useful and productive it was very very tiring.

I feel I have had no real off time since Wednesday early morning and I am shattered.

 

Brighton is not a great place to get to as the roads are pretty rubbish being filled with endless roundabouts and lots and lots of traffic.  However, it was nice to be by the sea ... but possibly not as nice as for some of the delegates as at least I live by the sea all the time. However I was staying right by the sea at the Metropole on the seafront. It was next door to the Grand (where the black tie dinner took place) and the conference centre was just next door to that hotel - so all very centrally located with great sea views. It stayed dry the whole time - though I rarely saw outside - though it was pretty windy.  The room used for breakfast was very grand (no not AT the Grand just grand!) and had sea views and I really did enjoy my breakfast. Best meal of the day.

 

 

I had an hour off on the first afternoon and walked to Chockywockydoodah (thanks Dawn for telling us about it) but really wish I hadn't as the windows were all decked for Halloween - as was the whole store - and I don't 'do' halloween.  I also don't do walking in ill fitting shoes that were designed to sit at a conference not walkj the streets of Brighton. I paid the price for that the rest of the trip with a massive blister that hurt like crazy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibition was good, it was great to network with colleagues and to hear inspiring lectures and seminars which always sends you back re-energised and filled with enthusiasm. Or at least I am sure it will after a good night's sleep. One of the speakers was Curtis Jobling (wereworld and Bob the Builder) and he was so fascinating, amusing and inspiring and I now have my very own sketch - hand drawn personally - of Bob the Builder. Does that make me very bad to be thrilled! I was far more impressed with him that the Chairman of HSBC bank!

 

Last night the black tie dinner was at the Grand and it was very Grand! I had to get all poshed up.

 

 

It was a lovely evening and I much enjoyed sharing time with colleagues in a more relaxed environment. Miriam Margolyes  was the after dinner speaker and she was brilliant. Very moving, very funny and totally captivating. However, I didn't get back to my room until far too late (I am a 'bed by ten' girl) and then slept very badly. Result - I am shattered and plan on sleeping really soon!

It is good to be home. It is good to have comfy clothes not suits on, it is good to have wifi (that WAS a drama) and I am pleased it is the weekend as I can now catch up on work as being away for three days doesn't mean work stops it means it just piles up a bit higher.

 

I do have scrapping from last weekend to share though.

Dawn Inskip has an amazing new collection out called Autumn. I love the soft colours, the wooden backgrounds, the elements - just lovely

 

 

 

This is what I made with it - another for the digital Florida album as this picture was taken in Wilderness Lodge in July.

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a very productive few days
• feeling priviledged to be in the position I am in where I am
• safe travel
• BEING HOME
• MY OWN BED

 

 

 

Our happy places

We are blessed in having many happy places ... places where we go and it instantly makes us smile. Places where we go often or places where we have been rarely but can visualise so vividly and which make us smile.

 

Typhoon Lagoon is a really really happy place and so is anywhere at The Caribbean Beach resort.

Moraine Lake is one of our happy places thought we only visited once - it has remained indelibly in our minds and hearts.

Some are closer to home and one is Lake Pier at Rockley.

 

We will often go there to enjoy our frap and so it needed recording.

 

 

It was based on an idea I saw on Pintrest - of course.

 

 

I cut a whole mess of hearts and had fun trying to bring out the colours with different soft coloured papers.

 

 

 

and I also used lots of inks and edging doodles.

 

 

Today I am not sure what I will be thankful for as I am setting this in advance.

 

Hopefully I will be thankful for arriving safely, having a nice room, meeting colleagues and enjoying the challenge.

 

 

 

Surfer Dude

A few years ago they changed the meet and greet situation at Disney. I am sure it is for the better as everyone gets to see the characters providing they line up and wait for ages.

I HATE it. We have no desire to meet and greet  and so never wait.

All we would like to do it take a photo of them. From a distance but without people int he way. At times it seems that the cast members want to do everything in their power to stop you doing that - which seems a bit mean to be honest. I mean what can be the harm in snapping a picture between kids going in for the hug.

Anyway - it has become a bit of a battle to get the shots and so I was thrilled when I saw Stitch, unattended, at Typhoon Lagoon and could just snap a picture.

 

I wasn't sure what to do with the page as the colours were quite hard to work with for the feel I wanted and inspired by a class at ATDML I came up with this.

 

 

I chose the background paper beacuse it looked a little like Typhoon Lagoon in the background.

 

 

 

It kind of worked and is another page for the already bursting Disney Album.

 

Not sure what I will be thankful for as it is a Governpr's meeting so as I knew I would be late I blogged in advance, but I bet I will be grateful to be home!

 

 

 

Pastel perfection

Apologies for the overkill in Caribbean Beach but heck - it is one of our favourite places in the whole world and we just cannot get enough of it.

 

This is another Caribbean Beack page - this time made with a collection called Essence of Spring by Keep in Touch Designs

The colours just yelled Caribbean Beach as they were pastel perfection.

 

I loved the old torn papers too - just gorgeous.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• patience - a virtue I am not overly endowed with

 

Challenges make me smile

This weekend there has been a virtual crop on A Trip Down Memory Lane's blog Created by ATDML

 

Mel and Jill do so many amazing things and they are such lovely ladies. I was so proud to have been a part of their world when I was on their design team and always try and support them if possible. The last time they had a fabulous crop I was away in Florida but this time I was determined to support what they were doing so I managed a couple of pages.

This is the first one.

The inspiration was a film strip - to create a page with inspiration fromt he film strip - either usinga  film strip or camera, using a film as inspiration or using a visit to a film studios.

 

Oh yes - that was right up my street and I needed a Hollywood Studios page for my album.

 

 

The two pictures I used were really rubbish. We arrived at Disney late afternoon and unpacked and then headed out to see Fantasmic. It was all a bit of a rush and it was starting to go dark as we arrived. But I wanted to scrap the pictures as they were my first at Disney this year.

 

 

I covered some of the dead space on the photo with the title.

 

I had fun printing off film strips and also making my own custom clapperboard to hold some of the journalling.

 

 

 

and as the pictures and papers were quite dull it needed the pop of the Sorcerer's Apprentice himself.

 

 

I don't feel so bad today about ordering my new phone as my current phone has been very tempramental today. Nigel recons its because she (yes of course she is a she) knows she is about to be supplanted. In reality the very reason I was keen on a replacement is that she was acting up.

I just hope she lasts the course.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day together - doing our own things, but together.
• the generosity of the scrapping community with things like cyber crops.

 

 

A little bit of shopping

Lovely lazy Saturday today ... I know I will pay for it tomorrow but I have really enjoyed today.

Went conference shopping - to no avail - but then we stopped off on the way home to see the new iPhone 6.

I wanted to see one, touch one, stroke one, before deciding wether or not I wanted to upgrade.

I have the 4S and it is starting to be a little tempramental but I thought the 6 would be too big.

Oh my goodness, it is beautiful. So thin and light and lush. I know you can get androids that do the same but I am an apple girl I'm afraid.

And an Apple girl I will remain! But lighter and thinner!

 

The Pickle Barrel promotion is still on at Pickleberrypop

 

I worked with Lorie M's Every Day is a Gift  and it was so pretty and vibrant.

 

Another page for the next photobook I guess

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• resting (would have liked to have slept a bit longer but Fiki didn't appreciate it was Saturday)
• technology in all it's powerful beauty
• impulse