Dolly's Dreamings

Tropical Travelogue Part Two

It's been a lovely day here today - just a nice chilled relaxed day with a long walk and nothing much happening. Not every day needs to be amazing. Truly! But every day can be lovely. It's just that some days you have to look a little harder ... today I didn't have to look far.

 

I shared some of the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue work the other day so this is the remainder of the things I got to create

 

This was different again - very much a water theme with the aquarium at Seaworld

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this was another 'wild page using lots of the leaves. One thing I will say about this collection was that I used a LOT of fussy cutting ... but I do like fussy cutting.

 

 

 

 

A tropical Travelogue set had to have pictures of the Caribbean Beach - our tropical paradise ... well, it used to be. They have ruined it now. It is no longer just tropical with gondola monstrosities and huge towers and it certainly isn't our idea of paradise, but it WAS

 

 

 

 

 

And I couldn't resist using it for a Pismo page - still my favourite ever sunset. Sandbanks and evening hill is close, but this was perfection 

 

 

 

 

This is my favourite page made with the collection and I confess this one is framed in the hall. I have a lovely frame - I think it is a Ribba from Ikea which is about 16" square with a 12" x 12" opening inside the mount - where I change the pages regularly. This is in the frame at the moment.

 

 

 

and finally three more cards I made with the left overs

 

 

 

Do check out the collection HERE

 

Barb you asked if I always do pages quickly. I never leave an unfinished page... I generally spend between an hour and two hours in a page ... any longer than that and I lose interest... I also have to clear my desk and put away everything after each layout even if I am doing another page that day. I am terribly OCD 

Today I am thankful for

• being married to someone who gets the simple things of life too
• nice days - not just special days. Although it is true what they say, every day you are alive is special

 

 

Finally - some people made things a little more special by painting the ordinary and making it extra-ordinary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design Team work .. from the past

There has been little new scrapping that I can share over the last couple of days. I have been busy living (and working) making those memories to scrap so haven't done much scrapping ... well at least not things I can share just yet. 

So I have some older scrapping that I wasn't able to share until now.

A little while ago I was invited to guest design for Charmed Cards and Crafts. I was thrilled to have been asked and had such fun making projects for Karen and her store.

She sent me an amazing pack of the Graphic 45 Deluxe Collectors Edition Tropical Travelogue

I had such fun playing with it making such a collection of pages. I loved that there were blues and greens and brights and then also more subtle things. I added nothing to these pages - no extra embellishments, just the papers an stickers included int he kit - and quite a lot of fussy cutting.

 

I won't bore you with all of them today - I will split this over two posts as it will be quite picture heavy and heck - that's tough!

This was one fo the first I made. I loved the colours that were in the collection and this page used a mess of fussy cut flowers from one of the papers.

 

 

 

You can see that better in a  couple of the close-ups

 

 

 

 

This page is in complete contrast - focusing on the wild and green and jungle aspects of the collection

 

It begged to be used for zebra pictures

 

 

This third page seems to be a combination with some jungle bits but a vacation theme

 

 

 

 

And this one different again - I love the borders that come in the Graphic 45 range - they lend themselves being cut out and used in different ways

 

The pictures are of Mom and me - they were taken about 20 years apart when Mom was about 26 and I was 16 ... I made everything int he picture of me black and white except me so it was more in keeping with Mom's picture. My Daddy carried this picture in his wallet until the day he died. I am not surprised - she looks gorgeous

 

 

 

I loved using the little leather effect journal

 

 

and finally today a couple of the cards I made

 

 

 

 

You can see why I loved working with the collection

 

Today I am thankful for

• being asked to guest design
• having gorgeous things to work with
• Autumn - still my favourite time of year

 

And yes- bored panda - perfect for Autumn evenings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Poland

Quiet autumnal days here means scrapping time.

Iwish we had what they have in America - all of the amazing colours and the Pumpkins. I have loved seeing huge pumpkin farms in the US - they are kind of hard to find here. I think they celebrate Falla nd Halloween more than we do in this country.

Anyway I digress

More Poland - the album is almost complete now

The weather wasn't the best but on our first night it has stopped raining by the time we came out of the restaurant and the puddles made the lights reflecting look lovely.

 

 

This was the cute cute breakfast buffet at the hotel - just the cereals section. I loved the little sacks, the milk bottles and the way it was all presented. It was very cute and utterly delicious.

 

 

 

and this is the hotel and room. It was the Raddison Blu, recommended by Alice, and was lovely. So central, beautiful view over the park and all of the staff were lovely.

 

 

Finally one made a while ago that never made it to the blog - just a beautiful door I loved

 

Today I am thankful for 

• a catching up day 
• autumn ... my favourite season of the year ... cue some more sunsets I'm afraid - but they are stellar this time of year

Forgot to share these

I sometimes lose track of what I have and have not shared, but I know I haven't shared the monthly pages I have done this year - well not the recent ones.

Every year I like to make a summary album of our year - usually a double page per month, or in some rare cases a year with a weekly page for each of the 52 weeks. Last year I messed up badly and had to do a whole mess of work at the end of the year. This year I decided that I was going to simplify and it has been kind of easier but not as easy as I hoped. I hit a couple of snags.

The plan ...

Take a photo every day (I did that religiously in 2009 and 2012 and swore I would NEVER attempt it again) and make them instapics using my beloved Instaweb app. 

Use the photos from each day to make the monthly page, making the page on the first day of the next month.

 

What a super amazing plan. Simple, efficient. Brilliant.

 

Snags ...

 

You actually have to remember to take a picture every day! The Insta App dates the picture using the info stored ont he file so you can't cheat and change the day. Well, I missed a fair few days. The trouble is I did HAVE a picture of every day but not what I wanted. I scrap every day so there were always photos of what I scrapped that day for the upload photo, but that wasn't what I was aiming for. I wanted pictures of what I did that day - and yes I know I scrapped, but still!. The number of days we went out to get a coffee, or to the cinema or for a walk or to eat and I didn't think to take one single picture. So the result is - a lot of photos of scrapbook pages!

 

Second snag was the insta app. They changed it in June. Thankfully I didn't get too caught on my phone, but did on my iPad. The original app had an option where you could select a frame that looked like an old style poloroidphoto. Nigel and I both loved this idea and it was what we always used. I used it for holiday pages too. These were the summary pages in our Gone With the Wing photo books - just all our insta pic highlights. 

 

 

 

 

It was making these pages for our photobook that gave me the idea for the year book.

However, with the latest upgrade Insta weather no longer exists, at all. They have changed it to WeathershotPro and it's pants for me. They no longer do the same format picture. Nigel's updated first as he had automatic updates on. Mine did it when I updated my iPad and so I am now stuck with my phone on an old version of IOS until the end of the year because I cannot and will not have a year book with two different sorts of photos. Yes I am that anal! 

 

The final snag involved making the page ont he first of the next month. Well you can imagine how well that worked out. I managed it two months so far.

However, I have sat and made the missing pages up to date now so these are June, July, August and September and I am planning october on the 1st November - honestly!!!

 

This was our June

 

 

 

 

This was our July

 

 

 

 

This was August

 

 

 

And this was September ... and I know it is almost time for October but I promise to do it as soon as the new month begins ... honest!

 

 

 

 

 

So apart from catchjing up on things I should not have had to catch up on, it has been a quiet couple of days here, but do you know what - quiet is good and happy.

And our home town is so beautiful and the later in the year the better the sunsets get ... enjoy our recent Poole sunsets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• great apps - but not having them changed for the worst
• catching up

 

 

 

 

Catching up on Poland

I am getting quite bad at not finishing what I start - or at least not finishing things in a timely fashion.

Today I was sorting albums out and happened upon the Poland album. It was a little sad. There were not many pages in there and so I have set myself a little project this week to try and scrap the pages I want to for that album.

It was never going to be a big album. We were only in Krakow for three nights and to be fair, quite a lot of what we did was not necessarily things I would want to scrap. We went primarily to visit Auschwitz and whilst I will record it I didn't want to sensationalise it. 

Anyway - I have made myself a promise to finish the pages and to upload those I have made here.

We never knew until we visited that Amber was such an important commodity in Poland. There were some amazing displays in the Cloth Hall in the centre of the old market square

Lots of amber was on sale and no, we didn't succumb.

 

I even dug out wire and beads to make an 'amber necklace' as an embellishment.

 

When we were in Krakow it was cold - seriously bitingly cold. It was reading -7 on two of the days and snowing. I loved this picture of Nigel by WarwekCastle all wrapped up like Nanook of the North

 

It might have been cold but it didn't stop us exploring and seeing things

 

 And this one is the incredible, huge vast stunning (I could throw so many superlatives at it) Kingla chapel int he salt mines, hundreds of feet below ground and totally breath-taking. I still cannot believe we went there.

It has been quiet here but that is always good as it gives me scrapping time. October is always quiet on the work front too -well for me but not for Nigel. There are no public exams (though November is going to be busy busy busy which is good) and apart from from a few Saturday's when I have been invigilating I have been a lady of leisure. I like that. Thankfully yesterday was NOT a work Saturday. And isn't it stupid. I think we are still so conditioned that it seems harsh to work on a Saturday. Which is stupid. When you only work one day a week why does it seem harsh that that day is a Saturday.Just because all our working life Saturday has been a day off for us. 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the chance to visit so many interesting places
• peace and quiet

 

 

and now - yup surfing again - some SIZE MATTERS pictures

 

A gorilla's hand against a humans

 

 

the size of a meteor (a big one) compared to LA

 

some road signs are HUGE 

If Saturn was where the moon is

 

 

 

a bear's paw

 

I never knew this statue (David I think) was this big

 

Titanic compared to a modern cruise ship

 

a wind turbine blade

 

an eagles claw

 

 

 

I didn't think these trucks were that big until I spotted the school bus in the picture!

 

 

 

 

 

Still Disney-ing

I have no idea how someone - me - can go to Disney multiple times, take multiple photos... often of the self-same things ... and scrap those pictures and ever ever finish.

 

I have so many Disney albums but I keep finding things I want to scrap from various Disney trips. 

 

I am more to be pitied than anything really!!!

 

Anyway, I have been Disney scrapping again and am about to embark upon a major reorganisation of my Disney albums. I have year albums that document our annual trips and tell specific stories from that trip/day/event/experience etc but I also have ride albums and I am going to also split some of the more generic things up so I create restaurant albums (that will be important on our next trip as we are doing the table service dining plan for the first time so will go to a lot of restaurants we have not been to before), a parade album, a character album, a resorts album as well as retaining the integrity of the yearly albums. I think I might be gone some time.

Anyway, I digress. This is my latest Disney page - animal kingdom again ... I am a sucker for the safari.

 

I enjoyed using a stencil for the texture

 

 

I printed out and cut out a whole mess of embellishments

 

 And another - I needed that paper and glue therapy

 

OK - back to sorting albums. And trying to stop cats walking all over them whilst I am sorting them! 

Today I am thankful for

• Disney trips - I have been very lucky
• new albums - all shiny and empty
• Nigel - for staging a distraction to remove said cats from the album area.

 

 I am also thankful for Autumn and have re-done my fireplace 

 

and just some amazing - and at times scary - photos (yes I have too much time on my hands and have been trawling Bored Panda again

 

 

 

tiny underwater plants that look like little hands

 

Nature eh! Growing through an animal skull

 

an unbelievably scary wrap around spider. Never going in a wood again!

 

 

reticulated cobra skeleton

 

This plant is nicknamed dead man's fingers. No idea why

 

 

Oh MY!!!!

This lizard ate his own tail. OK I guess if you know you will grow another one

 

 

seat anyone?

 

 

scariest bat ever

 

 

 

Happiness can be so sad sometimes

You may remember that the end of last month I discovered a whole box full of photos and memorabilia that I haven't looked at let alone scrapped. It is going to take me a long time to get through it all but I am going to work through it. Some of the pictures have had real stories to tell and they are the ones I am working through first but many are tinged with sadness too. 

Some of the pictures that really upset me were the pictures of Daddy in Australia and I can't really share the page without the story.

Please feel free to skip from here and go straight to the page - it's all very personal stuff that won't really mean a lot to others.

My mom and Dad had never really travelled. Well, Daddy had - he'd been all round the world in the navy and then in the army, but they hadn't really had holidays abroad. Our holidays were to the caravan in Wales, to Bristol and to Devon and Cornwall. We didn't mind - we lived right by the sea so that was wonderful. We went to Guernsey when I was 9 and on a 4 day cruise when I was 13 and to Majorca when I was 15 and, in all honesty, they probably only did that for me. They were, however, planning a  biggie. We almost emigrated to Australia in 1966 (the days of the £10 pom) and I found all the records of that too. Our visas, medicals, ship passage etc. We didn't go, we moved to Bournemouth instead (a story for another day) but my Dad would have loved to go because his sister and family all lived there. When they sold their hotel and retired they planned a trip to Singapore and Australia, the biggest trip my Mom would ever have done. They were going for over a month to see my aunt and her family. Mom bought a mess of new stuff for her trip. They were due to go in April 1990 (I found all the booking forms for that too ... my parents were hoarders, not of things but of bits of paper)

On March 12th 1990 my Mom suffered a heart attack and was rushed into hospital. I found the letter I wrote cancelling their holiday due the following month as the doctor said she obviously could not travel. A week later she had a second fatal heart attack whilst getting ready to come home from the hospital. My Daddy was, of course, bereft. He also knew he would now never get to see his sister in Australia.

 

A year after my mommy died her brother-in-law died. My Aunty Betty, Mommy's sister, said that she was going to take Daddy to Australia as Mommy would have wanted him to do that trip. They were both now widowed and so they planned to go together. Once in Australia they would stay with different families as Uncle John (her husband) also had a sister in Australia. It was in many ways the perfect situation out of such a horrible tragedy. He did go, thanks to my aunt who made him, and he did see his Australian family and he did have a lovely time, but it was so tinged with sadness. He was meant to be there with his soul mate and he felt her loss so much on that trip. 

 

I found his photos of Australia and knew I had to record the story for their album. I had to pay tribute to my aunt and I had to show that he did finally make the trip. the photos made me cry. He looked so thin (my father had always been a big man) and in the one with kangaroos quite poorly. I couldn't bring myself to scrap the photo that broke my heart. It was the picture of his hotel room with his shoes neatly under the coffee table, the bedside table loaded with his medication and it was a bit suite - for one - so lonely. I couldn't stop thinking about how he must have felt to be in that hotel room on his own with just his thoughts and his loss. I am so so proud of him for going, so glad he got to make the trip and so pleased I recorded it.

Well done for reading through all of this. I always say it is MY blog and I dump my thought here. Often it makes interesting reading and I post cool cute stuff from the world. Other times, like today, it is just very personal, of no real interest to anyone but me, but it's my diary, my therapy and my record so if you got through all of that .. well done.

Here is the page

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• finding treasures that mean so much to me
• my Aunty Betty for taking Daddy away
• my parents- for hoarding all of this stuff and for giving me an utterly charmed childhood
• scrapbooking - I get so much joy from this hobby - it is a creative release, a way of sorting my memories and I always say - despite the amount I spend on stash - cheaper than therapy!
• elfin settling in to her new home ... she has now left hospital and is now set for her respite care to recover more fully 

 

 

Think of the savings

OK so we don't have the massive high temperatures of last week and there has been rain istead of sun, but it is still mild here and Nigel is thrilled because it means less time with the heating on. 

It's not that he minds the heating on ... it is more that he minds me watching the new shiny smart meter and saying how much it is costing.

I try not to ... honestly. I really try not to but it is right there just telling me what is being used and it is so hard not to look!

 

I want to remind you all to check out the mojo challenges at PBP this month and yes, I am hosting a challenge again.

Many fo the challenges have freebies like mystery boxes, templates and mini kits and you can also win mojo perks bundles. It really is worth having a shot at them.

The challenge forum is here

This is the page I made for my challenge which is a multi photo challenge

The fabulous frames are all by Jen Yurko ... film strips and  stacked frames which are fab

 

and this page is made witht he free template on offer this month by Lorie M and it uses her Hello Adventure kit

 

 

so do go check out the mojo challenges

 

And because there ought to be paper as well ... I couldn't manage without paper in my life ... this is another page made with those precious photos I found int he loft. This one showcases my daddy being reuinted with his sisters after more than 40 years. He had seen Aunty Thelma from Australia a few times, but Aunty Phyllis went to America as a GI bride and this was the first time she had returned 'home'. It was such a special visit for all of them.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• being involved with Pickleberrypop - I really am very happy there and very lucky to be on the CT
• Treasures from the loft
• family
• mild weather and less aggresive smart meteres!!!

 

 

 

On a more even keel

Life has been a bit of a roller coaster of late with all of the worries and stress of Nigel's mom and it all falls on him as he is the day to day contact and arranger of everything. It has taken it's toll on him terribly but things are now looking far more positive.

Social services agreed to a temporary placement for a few weeks to help her recover. We could not offer the care she needed when it was nursing care and we would be scared to death of lifting her wrong or anything, so we have found a lovely care home. The people are super and yesterday we met with them at the hospital and they did the assessment on her and she is all set to move there this week once the hospital is happy she can transfer. The most amazing thing was that Nigel told her yesterday that she would be going to a nursing home to recover and she cried. Nigel and I were worried but he asked if they were happy tears and she said yes, she had really been hoping she might be able to go to a nursing home. I think she was scared to death at home and was dreading going back there. To be honest I am not sure she will ever go back home as if she settles well it will be the right time to make that move permanently. The fact she was happy with it was the icing on the cake

 

A much happier lady yesterday

 

 

I am so glad it is resolved - at least for now - and we will watch how she copes and how she recovers.

 

Today I actually got scrapping time and made the page for the weekly on UKS - a photo of Bryce Canyon - a trip a long time ago but I had the photo already printed and it fitted the brief.

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that

• Nigel can rest easily now
• His mom will be well cared for as she recuperates

and finally - some pretty terrific cakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From good to bad to good ... fingers crossed

It's been a heck of a roller coaster here ... and a ride I don't care to take again I can assure you.

 

Nigel's mom coped well with the hip surgery - not bad at all for a 93-year-old with dementia to have a general anaesthetic and a hip replacement. She was groggy the first day but then in better spirits and although they hadn't really been able to get her up and moving she was doing OK.

We hoped that on discharge they would send her to rehab as clearly she wasn't going to be able to return home until she was more mobile.

We hit an all-time low yesterday. Elfin was not in a good state when we visited. She was withdrawn and uncooperative and very unhappy. We found that the root of the issue with her mood was that she had had a bed bath and felt it stripped her of her dignity - fair enough - it's not a pleasant experience. But it put her in a low and she obviously has fluctuating cognition because of her dementia. But it made her uncooperative with the physio team and she had refused to get up in the morning and when we were they attempted to get her up and out of bed but oh my goodness, with three people (Nigel doing the praise and encouragement and the two physios doing the 'work) they barely got her to stand up and she was resisting it the entire time. Consequently we were given the worst news possible. We were told she was not a candidate for rehab - the rehab places won't take dementia patients anyway. We asked what would happen then and they said she would be discharged home with a care package. Incredulous doesn't even begin to cover it. A 93-year-old with almost zero mobility at the moment and dementia so she doesn't understand she's even had an operation,  was to be sent home to her flat with a care package of 4 visits a day. They would assess the home and if need be put in a hospital bed and a hoist but that was their recommendation. They said perhaps where she was now with fitness was the new baseline for her. This is a lady who, though frail, was walking unaided up until her fall. And when she fell, at 11 pm at night, she had walked almost 1 1/2 miles in the dark alone without aids. We were so upset - both in a tearful way (I cried) and an angry way that the system could treat someone like this. She worked all her life well into her 70s and always paid into the system. We were trying to sell her flat to fund her care but they felt it appropriate to pretty much wash their hands of her and send her home. Poor Nigel was utterly devastated and I felt unable to do anything to help him. well except contact some wonderful people - Elly who is a specialist dementia nurse and Zahra who was just awesomely wonderful. 

Armed with information nd questions we went back in this morning with a view to meeting with the social worker and the therapy team and finding a workable alternative.

 

And my goodness what a difference a day made. Elfin was up, sat in her chair, cheerful, chatty and wanting to get up and walk to the loo (beyond her level of competence yet but the fact was she wanted to have a go) It was like seeing a  different woman. And yes, of course, we know that tomorrow we could have the withdrawn disengaged stubborn lady, but today's lady was wonderful. And so was the social worker. She took time to listen, to understand the situation, to consider and we think - we hope - the agreement is now in place for her to go to temporary residential care for a period of 4 - 6 weeks where there will be qualified staff on hand 24/7 to help her recover and keep her safe. With the best will in the world, we could not give the level of nursing care needed until she becomes more mobile. We'd be terrified of hurting her if we lifted her etc. When it was agreed my wonderful strong rock of a man, who I lean on all the time, who never gets outwardly bothered by anything, who is one of life's fixers and copers, burst into tears of relief. It broke my heart to see him like that and know how terrified he had been.

 

It all still needs to be finalised but we feel she is in a much better position to be kept safe than a mere 24 hours ago.

 

Needless to say, life has not been conducive to scrapping but after ploughing through that you deserve something pretty to look at so these are three pages completed a little while ago that have not been on my blog. And yes - there are always Disney pages to make!

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• our NHS - there were some incredibly kind and lovely people today helping her - and us

social services - I know they can be difficult sometimes but they have budgets and targets and a lack of funding but they do try to help and the lady today was wonderful

 

So - we are now going to sit doen after an awful few days and I strongly suspect there may be wine!