Dolly's Dreamings

Family Time

 

We had a wonderful day yesterday spending time - pre-Christmas  with my lovely god-daughter and husband. we met part way between our two homes (it's a long almost 5 hour trip so the half way is good) and enjoyed a meal and a catch up. It was lovely. Did I take a single photo? Of course not! But it's captured in my heart anyway.

We have been busy busy busy this morning blitzing the house and getting Christmassy things ready. It wasn't helped when Koda knocked a full glass of water over in a newly cleaned room that Nigel had left as a surprise for me. Koda found it first!

I have two new Pickleberrypop pages to share

This was for a fabulous challenge about covering/disguising children's faces to keep them safe on line.

Credits

Fall Whimsy Bundle by Jumpstart Designs

 

 

 

And this was using the freebie mystery box kit this month - yes you too can go and get it for free to playa long int he challenge

 

Credits

Pickleberrypop  November Mystery Bundle

 

 

I also have these to share which I made last week

This is the Japanese

Garden at Kingston Lay earlier int he month which was just gorgeous

 

and this was the view out of our lounge window one day - no filters, not enhanced just an incredible photo due to the unusual light of sunshine and storm clouds and a rainbow.

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• A wonderful time with my god-daughter and hubby
• safe travels
• a wait almost done

And these snaffled off the internet just appealed to me as great organisation and good for my OCD  and some great signs ... all mixed in together

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow - a success

I did a craft fair this morning - my first proper fair in a year! And I sold really really well. It turned out it was one of my best fairs - doing a happy dance and my stock levels are going down when my stock is gone so am I!!!) Another one next week.

 

I have been scrappinga nd have pages to share

First two digital pages wit kits given to me as part of my design team commitment at Pickleberrypop

Credits

Quiet Moments collection Palvinka Designs

 

 

Credits

Gathering Bundle by J B Studios

 

 

And this was a fun page to make the other day - my little car is very bright and she looks just gorgeous in the autumn sun against the colours

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a successful fair
• gradually whittling my stock down
• lots of Christmas music and great community spirit

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

To all of my American friends, readers of this blog and family over in the USA (who I know visit) we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

I absolutely loathe that the UK has adopted Black Friday in a big way and yet not thought at all about Thanksgiving. There is no national day of thanks but there are endless days of pure glorified consumerism as if Christmas hadn't been taken over enough by the shopping gods. I find it sadder each year.

Thanksgiving - every day not just today - is a central part of our lives . I end every blog post I make with thanks. I have a sign by my bed which is the first thing I see each morning and the last thing I see each night that says 'hem your blessings with thankfulness'. There are so many hardships in life. So many people are suffering in the world as a result of war, poverty, ill health, loss and we are suffering with health issues here at the moment but there is always, always something in every single day to be thankful for. Some days it might be harder to find and may seem very transient. Some days it may seem to take a lot of thought to find it. But it is there if you look, I am convinced. And so thanksgiving is important for us. We may not be celebrating the settling of the pilgrim fathers and the founding of a nation, but we are certainly celebrating our many many blessings.

The turkey is in the oven, the trimmings are prepared and it is a lovely thoughtful day.

We began our day with a walk by the sea as we so often do but today oh my goodness it was wild. We went to our favourite beach and for much of the walk we could not be on the promenade as the waves were covering it - but it was glorious in its roaring splashy beauty and yes - I got wet taking pictures!  I love the power of the sea - not by any means the roughest we have seen but rough for this secluded little beach and it was high tide too

No promenade left here

 

 

 

Doesn't he look happy to be asked to stop in the wind for photos!!!

 

 

 

This was one of the ones that 'got me'

 

 

I have new scrapping to share too

These were all made for my design team pages for A Trip Down Memory Lane this month

 

 

 

 

 

The birthday boy is a huge Taskmaster fan and got us into it too so it was fun to make him a taskmaster card with him and his wife on

 

 

 

 

 

And I love these two people so much

Today I am thankful for

• so so many things every single day and I do try to focus on them each night
• thanksgiving day
• turkey and all the trimmings
• living close to the beach

 

 

Art and Crafts sweat shop!

Well I often say it's been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegone. It hasn't this week.

I have been prepping for two upcoming craft fairs and as I haven't really done any for so long and I sold so much stuff over the summer at art events I needed to replenish a bit.

Today I have made 20 cards and I have also been busy making beach hut frames (they are my best sellers) cup cosies (I am really pleased with those) and covers for spherical chocolate balls flavoured with orange (You are not allowed to advertise them as chocolate orange covers as Terry's get very tetchy about it! )

 

I have also been painting and painted this at art yesterday using a Paul Clark tutorial

 

 

Credits

Scaredy Cat Mini Kit by JB Studio

 

 

 

 

Credits

Pumpkin Spice Bundle by J B Studio and Aimee Harrison

 

 

I have also been busy doing all my DT work ahead of time because I may have a difficult time coming up in December so I wanted to get ahead.

Today I am thankful for

• a nice productive trip to town
• cracking on with things here
• painting - very relaxing

 

 

My goodness it was wet

We decided to go out this morning - not the best of ideas really as it was torrential raina nd everywhere was flooded. Not as badly as some parts of the country but the roads were just not coping with the amount of water pouring down. And realistically we came back not only wetter but also confused. We had gone to look at fireplaces. We have a gas fire we enever ever use - real fire effect with real flames. Because it is an open chimnet we have to have a fireguard round it and we hate the fire, we hate the fireguard and we hate the open chimney. So we THOUGHT we'd like to block up the chimney and then have a flame effect electric fire just for the light not for heating. Well it turned out not to be the case because we saw some very modern gorgeous glass fires which we loved and were of course 10 times the price and didn't really fit and would need a lot of work and so we are now in a quandry. Should be shouldn't we. 

 

So we did our usual thing and said 'let's think about that another day - any day but not today!'

I have not been paper scrapping other than design team things I cannot share just yet and digital things I can't share until Wednesday apart from this one challenge page

 

 

 

 

 

But this is a page I made a while ago for a class I was teaching at A Trip Down Memory Lane

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that we are back home warm and dry.

 

I leave you with these amazing paintings on hands today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely weather

I understand we are back to wind and rain tomorrow but the last few days have been glorious - just so bright and sunny and a nice chill in the air too. Yup, I like it chilly (outdoors not indoors)

I have scrapping to share

I was a guest designer this month at Peartree Cutfiles and this is my final page for that - the gorgeous Crater Lake which truly is that blue. The row of trees were perfect and I painted them and added mixed media behind them

 

 

 

 

 

 

and these are two more that didn't get shared when typepad was acting up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nigel's first pumpkin this year

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• catching up on my to do list
• being ahead in DT stuff
• being a little sweat shop making things for the next two craft fairs

 

and I leave you with these clever bits of advertising

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A trip out

Nigel whisked me away today as we had disappointing news and I was very  down so he took me to the forest to see the last of the autumn colour

 

 

This was Eyeworth Pond

 

 

and at one point there were 8 bluetits in this tree but I couldn't fit them all in

 

 

Then - well we were half way there- we carried on to Southampton to Ikea and bought new kitchen chairs and then to west Quay. It was lovely.

 

This view - and it is straight out of the camera, not enhanced or altered it was just stunning - was out of the lounge window the other afternoon  and there are also photos of Bracken, Buckley's new mate!

 

 

 

 

 It is my design team day over at The Flair Hut today and this is my page celebrating a New Forest Traffic Jam!

 

I'm afraid I couldn't resist the title

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• our NHS again. I wish we were not having to use them so extensively again, but they are marvellous
• The New Forest
• Ikea
• sunshine
• Nigel.

 

it's that time again - berry big deals

it's berry big deal day at pickleberrypop and oh my they are awesome again.

in the interests of full disclosure, I get given these collections as part of the creative team.

Credits

Back to Nature BBD Collection by Heartstrings Scrap Art

 

 

 

 

Credits

Gratitude BBD Tiramisu designs

 

 

 

Credits

When Winter Comes BBD  bundle by Palvinka Designs

 

 

 

Credits

Keep on Walking BBD bundle by Chunlin Designs

 

 

 

today I am thankful for

being on the ct for pickleberrypop for, I think, the past 8 years - it's very much my digital home

staying calm ahead of my important appointment later today

 

 

 

A golden Autumn

It has been lovely weather over the last couple of days (gone now sadly but we enjoyed it whilst we could)  and we headed off to Cranbourne Chase to see some of the last Autumn colour.

We might not have the reds of New England but we do gold really really well - and my car looked lovely against the colour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been scrapping today but can't share it as it is my class for A Trip Down Memory Lane later in the month but I have a few things I didn't share when the blog wasn't working

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• finding some perfect Christmas presents for loved ones
• golden Autumn
• my car - I do love her. She doesn't get out as often as she should

and these made me smile. I hope they make you smile too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely chilled Saturday

We have had a lovely chilled day today and I had happy mail too. And I finished the 12 days of Autumn.

 

This is a page I didn't share yet for it  -= photos of West Bay from last week. It was a special day because I heard about Jury Service. I think in ll the lost typepad bit I forgeot to say I was doing Jury service from 1st November for 2 weeks. It was meant to be from 31st October but I had asked for a deferal as I had an important hospital appointment that day.

well I duly went ont he 1st, sat int he jury room for three hours bored stiff and was then sent home.

I went on the 2nd - sat for 3 hours again and was sent home but told we would definitely be on a case on Thursday. Tipped up on Thursday and sat for almost 4 hours only to be told the defendant had pleaded guilty and was sent home and told Friday was a day off. Whilst in West Bay I got the text to say my jury service was complete and I was not needed for the second week. I was so so happy. And I never saw the inside of a courtroom.

Anyway this was west bay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was another of the 12 days of Autumn and this is my final one for the 12 days  and rather bright for me using Vicki Boutin things

 

 

 

 

 

and this is my happy mail that came today - lush lush goodies from The Flair Hut. There were so many gorgeous new releases

 

 

 

You can find the store HERE

today I am thankful for

• a lovely day
• scrapping fun
• happy mail

and these made me smile today too