Dolly's Dreamings

First Traveller's Notebook

I have finally completed my first - very basic - Traveller's Notebook of our trip last year.

The idea is that I will try and do one for our next trip as it happens but I thought I would do a dummy run of one as a practice.

The point of this one was to see if I could do really really quick sketches spending no more than 10 minutes per sketch as this is a way I can meld art and scrapping together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last part of the holiday was all Disney for 12 days so rather than do it daily I did a page for each park and then some general pages

 

 

 

 

I have learned a great deal from thee process. I have learned that I am not good at 10 minute sketches. I have learned not to draw horses, I have learned that my purple ink runs when wet, I have learned not to write so much and I have learned that I like this new project.

 

We will see how it goes when it is done in hotel rooms though!!! Obviously without photos. I am NOT taking a printed with me. The paints and brushes are enough.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a hobby where I can meld my hobbies together - kind of
• Autumn - I love Autumn so much - it has the best light and the best feel

 

 

And I found these on line and they were fascinating - no idea if they are true

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful home town and another class

We are so blessed where we live - we truly are. I love our home town and so often say it. Poole is beautiful but shhhh- don't tell people or everyone will come. 

Just a lovely day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am also still working on sharing classes I have done for ATDML and have shared almost none of them - because I forgot to to be honest.

 

This class used the Kaisercraft Rose Avenue collection which is stunning and you can find the class instructions here

 

This was one of my favourite photos from our 2018 Fabulous Fall trip - The Wildflower Inn in Vermont

 

 

and this is one from Animal Kingdom ont he same trip.

 

and this was also from the same trip - Myrtle Beach

 

Do go and check out the class and I hope you enjoy it if you have a go.

 

Today I am thankful for

• living in Poole - it is so beautiful (though I prefer it in the winter when it is quiet)
• the chance to work with A Trip Down Memory Lane - I am very lucky

 

 

The franticness continues

I have now pretty much finished my photobook in time for the deadline and so have some more pages to share that I have done in the last few days.

I confess they are not the best pages I have ever made but needs must and all that.

 

 

I quite liked this one but then I loved the PATH station at World Trade Centre so much.

 

 

 

The view from the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City - I would recommend it to anyone

 

 

The benefit of getting up early - seeingt he sunrise over the ocean in Maine

 

 

This is the title page - I do one for every road trip we take.

 

 

Grafitti Highway in Centralia Pennsylvania

 

Colonial Williamsburg

Jamestown

 

 

 

Amish country

 

 

 

St Augustine

 

Charleston

 

and breathe. Well done for making it through these pages. 

I can now look forward to seeingt he book completed and arriving on my doorstep and next time I will not leave it until the last minute to use my credits.

 

I won't bore you with today's photos - yes there was time to go out as well. I will share them another time.

Today I am thankful for

• completing a job - at last!! And it is only a year since we were there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those darned photobook offers

OK so I am a sucker for a photobook. I really am.

And I always use Photobox, largely because their customer service is so good. Last year one of my very expensive books had the front cover cut badly and they simply remade a new book. Anyway, I digress. The books are expensive full price at over £100 for a 100 page A4 book - but I buy them on offer for less than that. Which sounds a lot but do the math - when you used old school film it would cost about £10 for the film and the developing and out of a 36 roll I'd be lucky to get 20 I liked. So about £10 for 20 pics. In a photo book I get between 250 - 400 photos depending on how many are whole page so I think it is good value for money and we love looking at them and sharingt hem with people.

They have offers.

I try not to look.

But the offers are good value so I end up buying a photobook credit I am not ready to use. And then I forget about it until I get the message to say the credit is about to expire and I have to act fast.

Usually, it isn't a problem as I do get quite a lot of my digital pages printed. Not all of them but a fair few.

BUT

this time I had a half made book/album on my computer and then forgot to finish it. It was a book of last year's holiday - our Fabulous Fall Tour - and I needed to get it done and get it done quickly.

Ooops.

So cue being bored as I share today the daily pages for the book. Some were done but many had to be made this week and there are more but I won't overload and will share the rest tomorrow.

I just have three more pages to go and the cover to finish.

I had already shared says 1 - 7 so here are days 8 - 12. The trip was 24 days but the other 12 days were at Disney so I didn't do dailies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the Disney days, I did a page from each park and a page on the resort. Let's face it - we have a few Disney pages in other books!!!  Each park was visited twice at least so it seemed the least painful way to do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phew.

Today I am thankful for

• great offers on photobooks (I wouldn't pay the full price for them ... believe me)

but I am not so thankful for the lack of will power to resist the bargain and then the lack of tenacity to get it finished in a timely fashion. Not seen much outside the scrap room for the past few days and tomorrow bodes more of the same!

 

 

 

 

The second class catch up

I was aware this week that I have not been very diligent in sharing the classes I have done for ATDML and I shared one class the other day. Today I am sharing the second class I made for the Toy Story Cyber Crop which was called Andy. Andy, int he films, was noted for writing his name on his toys so they knew who they belonged to and so my class focussed on journalling.

Those of you who follow my work will know that journalling is a big part of most of my paper pages. I like to tell a story because for me that is what scrapping is all about. It is recording the memories and some stories are longer than others.

You can find the instructions for this class here  and buy the class kit from ATDML too. 

I absolutely loved the papers in this Pen and Ink Collection from Kaiserkraft

 

This first page tells a story of our trip to Paris - a very special trip for us as it was a chance to renew our vows for our 25th wedding anniversary.

It also shows that not everything we scrap has to be momentous. Scrapping is also about recording the little everyday things in life. Because it is those tiny moments that make life so precious.

 

 

 

 

 

This second page tells a slightly more bizarre tale. We had never been in the US for Thanksgiving before and 2017 was THE YEAR. We had spent the day before Thanksgiving with our family in Nashville but the day itself was spent on our own in St Louis in the most beautiful place I highly recommend - Union Station - now a Curio Hotel. It is gorgeous. The Thanksgiving meal was not - but it was funny. I love the vegetarian soup - with meat!

 

 

 

 

The bonus page was also another of Paris - this time Versailles.

 

 

 

 

I hope if you check out the class you enjoy it. I have several more classes to share over the coming days too so watch out for those. 

 

Today I am thankful for

• having a life filled with those little things that matter so much and cherishing them

 

 

And just sharing these because I loved them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rather old for an 18th

I guess at my age - very old some days  ... quite young and sprightly others ... it is unusual to celebrate your 18th birthday but that was just what I did this year.

 

You may remember the story from earlier int he year about selling my unworn gold jewellery, including my 18th birthday present gold bracelet, and buying something I had always wanted, would never have bought and absolutely love. I bought a silver Tiffany Bracelet and I wear it every day and I love it. And Mom and Dad would be thrilled that I now have something that is a daily reminder rather than something which is stuck in a drawer and never sees the light of day.

 

And now I have scrapped the story too.

I used the wonderful Heart collection by Simple Stories as the paper colours and the sentiments just worked so well.

 

They were not all full bags!

 

There had to be a page of me wearing said lush bracelet.

 

 

And I had papers over and so also just made this page of one of the other loves of my life, my little boy (well my old gentleman really) 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a just ordinary, nothing special totally lovely day
• my bracelet - I really do love it
• my parents - now long gone but missed every day and cherished forever

 

and finally I came across these today and just had to share them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class catch up

I have been busy scrapping but it is new stuff not for release yet that I cann0t quite share and so I have delved and found things I haven't shared but are now legitimately 'out there'.

 

Way back we had an awesome cyber crop at A Trip Down Memory Lane. It coincided with the release of Toy Story 4 (I am still in two minds about that one, to be honest ... I didn't like Bo Peep and didn't like that Woody left the gang)  but it was so much fun to have classes and challenges Toy Story Themed so I will share a few of my things over the next couple of days.

 

I hosted a class called Mr and Mrs Potato Head and they insist it was nothing to do with the way Nigel and I looked in photos - honestly. It was based around the gorgeous Kissing Booth Collection from Simple Stories that I love so much so I was thrilled to use it for a class. 

You can find the class instructions HERE if you want to have a go yourself. It doesn't need to be with the same papers.

 

This was my first page. I loved the idea of using a jigsaw piece and so that was what I set out to do - there are templates in the instructions too.

See we don't look too like the potato heads!

 

 

It was a bit fiddly to cut but great fun to play with. You need to select your photo carefully though as it probably wouldn't look good across someone's face.

 

 

This was the second page

The colours worked so well for our niece's wedding in June. And of course, it was love-themed. And no - they don't look like Mr and Mrs Potato head either!

 

 

 

 

 

And this was the third which also included a small mini-book for extra photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do go and check out the class and, if you do make one of the pages, I would love you to share what you make both with me and with A Trip Down Memory Lane.

 

Today I am thankful for

• being on a design team I love so much with gorgeous things to play with
• a busy - but very enjoyable day

 

And just some cool stuff I spotted ... I thinkt hey are very clever

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October ATDML pages

Did I mention I love Autumn!

The weather has been a bit mixed but the light, when the sun shines, is fabulous. It really is my favourite time of the year.

The cats have migrated to their winter beds which have been abandoned all summer but are now being well used at they snuggle up. I think that as they are now elderly cats they feel the cold more. Works for me too!!

 

I shared my first batch of Design Team pages last week working with the Graphic 45 Faerie Dust papers. I also had the gorgeous Indigo and Ivy papers which I really loved and so here are a couple of pages made with those papers.

 

I loved cutting the chevrons and then I outlined the bottom in baker's twine

 

 

Lots of fussy cutting plus I added stenciled leaves

 

 

 

 

and this one also has lots of fussy cutting

 

 

 

and I made the paper weave heart from the manufacturer strips on the various sheets - waste not want not!

 

Today I am thankful for

• central heating and snuggling up
• glorious papers to work with from A Trip Down Memory Lane

 

 

 

Truly Grateful

I have much to be grateful for - truly I do.

 

I had good news from health test results, I have a wonderful husband who is also my best friends, I have a roof over my head, food on the table (too much probably) and two perfect cats. Oh, and I have great scrapping papers.

I received another gorgeous design team pack from A Trip Down Memory Lane with Pink Paislee Truly Grateful and I had fun playing with it.

 

This first one was taken last week when Nigel's brother from America was over and his brother and sister in law from Coventry came down and we all went to what has become the family's restaurant on the beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had fun using the squares on this one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and I don't have many photos of my Mom and Dad together and I love this one

 

 

Do go and check out the papers at A Trip Down Memory Lane.

 

Today I am thankful for

• all the many many blessings in my life
• being on the DT of ATDML

 

 

I appear to live in a laundry

I wash clothes all the time - I don't iron often!

Most of our things - if I dry them carefully - don't need ironing. But somehow I had a basket full of ironing this week. 

I put it off because of my ribs but today it had to be tackled.  We needed the clothes!

 

Actually ironing is one of the few chores I enjoy. It has instant gratification! If you dust or polish it doesn't really look any different. I don't hoover (long story - chores divided up when we first married - he got floors!) so ironing has instant results and I love the smell of clean linen and the look of everything neat and crease-free. So it wasn't too bad really.

 

I did find a little time for scrapping too.

 

It was my turn to set the challenge on UKS and until I actually made my own page for it I didn't realise it was as hard as it was with so many things to be included. Sorry ladies. I was pleased with this page of our niece on her wedding day though using Dita B products from Pickleberrypop.

I have also made a few pages for the FTLOPP winter challenge. I have decided to make an 8 x 8 album and have 4 pages so far - all very simple

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• scrapping time
• clean clothes all ironed.

 

And these amazing photos were on bored panda today, none of which were photoshopped - just the right angle at the right time.

This viaduct is in the UK

 

 

 

 

 

perfect timing

 

a special process where the reflection is different

 

The importance of shadows - a levitating horse

 

 

 

tallest bus in the world

 

 

 

 

apparently it broke like this

 reflections and surface tension

 

 

from a doorway in a tent

 

 

 

 

Wyoming - called the highway to heaven

perfect placement

 

even the water is an elephant

perfect pole placement

 

perfect timing