Dolly's Dreamings

Arts' Week

We have been having fin travelling around to lots of galleries at Dorset and Purbeck's art weeks. It is great fun to visit so many different galleries and see such incredible work. There have been a few galleries that have really knocked our socks off with stunning work (and in fairness some that simply were not our cup of tea). It has been very inspiring to visit them and we have more to come.

Today we did the area around Blandford and oh my goodness did we do some teeny tiny roads.

Monday took us out to the Purbeck Hills

Today deepest Dorset and some lovely Stour views

 

 and teeny roads and lots of farm machinery to meet on the way!!!

 

 

and I also have new scrapping to share and some art

Credits

May Feeling Bundle by Carol W Designs

 

 

 

and another couple of sketch book pages from my Coast to Coast Sketch book

 

 

 

I think this one is my favourite to date

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• enjoying art
• artists opening up their studios
• days out

 

 

 

Busy days of cold and hot

It's been an interesting few days and the changes in weather are - well May really. Of course you know the month os May means ... it MAY be hot It MAY be cold It MAY be sunny It MAY rain. Well it did int he last week.

On Wednesday we were booked to go on a Bird's of Poole Harbour Bird Safari and although the weather was a bit dire, though not as bad as forecast, it was terrific. The two guides were fabulous, we learnt so much, saw over 46 species of birds and this included the magnificent white tailed eagle. Nigel took photos, I didn't, and has yet to download them.

It was very very cold and very very wet when we started, but the rain held off for most of the three hour trip though I didn't get warm for hours. Poole Harbour is so incredibly important for birds and it was wonderful to see so many with expert guides. We will do another I am sure. Those of you in the UK will no doubt watch Springwatch next week - right where we were.

 

 

They call the white sailed eagle - our biggest bird by far - the flying barn door with his 8 foot wing span. We watched him on a spit for ages and then, spectacularly, he roused and flew. Amazing (This is NOT my photo)

They have only just been reintroduced to the south of England and are seen now for the first time in 250 years

 

 

 

From the cold and wet to the sublime. The weather perked up on Thursday and Friday and today it is positively hot and sunny. we went for a visit to Mottisfont to see the walled garden in all of it's glory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We picked up a new bronze for the garden and my water feature was installed this week too

 

 

In other news I have been doing my design team work for A Trip Down memory Lane using Simple Stories Pack your Bags which was fun to play with

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the sunshine
• the garden being summer ready
• Great days out come rain or shine

 

Berry Big Deal lushness

Such wonderful colours and collections this month and all on special offer and all of them coordinate. Do go and check it out

 

Credits

Unconditional Love Collection by Lorie M

 

 

 

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Precious Moments Bundle by et designs

 

 

 

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Always be Beauty bundle by Carol W Designs

 

 

 

 

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Remember Collection by TirAmisu Designs

 

 

 

More days out

We should have been away this week - just for one night - but we couldn't go, in part because of Koda so we had a day trip instead. We headed off to Seaton and Beer in nearby Devon and ended up in Pecoworld which I had never heard of but was actually very charming. It is where all the Peco model train stuff is made (I'd never heard of that either) and there i a beautiful train ride round a 15 minute track that weaves in and out on a gorgeous miniature railway and it was utterly charming. There were also lovely gardens which, though small, were very pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A beautifully restored pullman carriage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there you are - those photos are an hour of my life I will never get back. I swear putting photos on typepad is just impossible these days.

 

I was going to add scrapping but I'm sorry I'm done for today but I hope you liked the photos.

Today I sold quite a bit of unwanted crafting stash at a local sale and raised almost £70 which I then spent on art supplies. Oh dear! (I also gave away probably the same amount to a charity stall)

 

Today I am thankful for

• a productive sale
• free art supplies (well kind of)
• Great days out
• Time with my bestie as we did the sale together

Catching Up

Goodness - I seem to have forgotten my blog completely - oops.

I haven't much to report to be fair

We had a lovely trip to Longleat in the sunshine. We thought we would see lots of activity but in fact we saw way more int he cold. The big cats were all basking and sleepy

 

 

 

 

Other than that we have sat int he garden, tidied the garden, and I have scrapped and painted. It has been fabulous

Teeny little inchy paintings

 

 

 

digital pages for various challenges

and the last two paper challenges for the national scrapbook challenges (I managed 34 challenges!)

 

 

 

and a painting from the weekend

 

and finally a page with a stunning new collection at Pickleberrypop by Carol W called Healing Power

 

Today I am thankful for

• catching up
• being so busy enjoying myself I forgot to blog - Sorry!!

A touch of summer

It appears summer has come to visit. (I'm not a summer girl but the loss of the rain and a bit of the blue sky phenomenon is very welcome. It's warm and sunny and lovely.

We have tidied the garden, been to the beach, had balcony lunches  and eaten ice cream and today went sea glass hunting which was great fun, especially with a cheeky wagamama on the way home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have another few pages for the iNSD weekend to share

 

 

and my page for the green challenge over at Scrap a Sketch (another for the iconic America album)

 

 

 

and finally I have been playing with teeny tiny paintings ... not much more than an inch square

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• blue skies and no rain
• the beach - as always
• fun with my soul mate

 

International Scrapbook Day

I have had fun this weekend with playing along in various groups with challenges. I don't scrap that much these days - I confess I prefer to paint - but it was fun to see if I could combine challenges and do fewer pages. Thus far I have made 7 pages and managed to cover some 24 different challenges. That's a win in my book.

 

I also hosted a challenge at Scrap a Sketch and will be hosting another tomorrow. So let's start with that. The Scrap a Sketch facebook group has a special event going on all week with great sketches and lush printables at 40% off so do visit the group. This was mine - couldn't resist the title - they do always have to be the same side - everythings is from the printables set - which carries a 40% discount this week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these are some of the pages I made this weekend

This was from a wonderful Soraya French demo I went to

 

 

This from Compton Acres

 

and this also

 

and this one too

 

 

and this one (I obviously liked the photos of Compton Acres

 

and this one!

Yesterday I went to a class to have my first ever go at Lino Printing. I was actually very proud of my lino cut - a first attempt - but my inking wasn't good and so the print isn't fat. Never mind.

 

 

Barb you asked about the sketch picture of me - yes it is done with an app. It's great fun to play with - just ont he phone

 

Today I am thankful for

creating fun - and still having time for a beach walk and a sit int he garden yesterday

 

iNSD Bargains galore

There are some amazing bargains around for International Scrapbook Day and Pickleberry pop have some fab offers.

Firstly - if you spend $20 you get this amazing amazing collaboration collection for free.

Credits

Live in the Past collaboration collection Pickleberrypop

I worked with these new collections

 

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Seafoam Bundle  et designs

 

Spring Drinks Special Collection Jen Yurko Designs

 

 

 

 

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Embrace the Journey Collection Carol W Designs

 

Do go and have a look at the bargains and happy iNSD when it arrives