Dolly's Dreamings

Completed Month in my Life

I want to say a huge sorry first of all

I posted this this morning - added to it this afternoon and pressed delete post instead of save.

I think I am getting really old and doddery.

Anyway - first off a huge thank you to Caz and the whole team atIt's A Creative World.

I love checking out your blog every day. I love the things you come up with and I love the inspiration you share so freely.

The Month in my Life project was one I really loved. (Mind you I am also loving my A - Z album courtesy of you all)

I am a big believer in not just scrapping special events and so to scrap just a daily smattering of life was the perfect thing for me. The fact it coincided with a holiday was even better as there wasn't just a whole month of 'got up, went to work, came home' sort of days.

I decided to coordinate the pages and used largely Blue Awning by K and Co. I put all the supplies in an artbina nd then I could pull out whatever I needed and each page only took ten minutes or so each day. I also did all the journalling by hand - I am liking computer journalling less and less .... although see August details later.

I was thrilled that they showed my book on their blog this morning - thank you again for that everyone atIACW 

I had such a blast doing it that I have now started an August book.

I decided that the August book would share some characteristics with July but would also be different in feel.

I loved the colours of the July book so much but then I remembered my gorgeous pack of Basic Grey Euphoria and so decided to make a statement with August!

I don't have all the extra bits like the journalling blocks and spots so I am going to use a lot of digitale elements and more computerised journalling too - again giving it a different feel.

I plan on including more technical stuff fromt he month like receipts and so on this time - or at least that is the plan.

As with everything - lets see how it pans out shall we!

 

That and that

Bit of a mixed day today really. Some very nice bits - went out for lunch with Jakki - always a nice thing to do.

However also some sad news. Another para from Para 2 was killed on Tuesday and my friends son was with him and was one of his best friends. They are only kids for goodness sake. Her son is devastated and how you get over seeing your friend blown up is a mstery. I feel so sorry for all of the lads fighting away from home. I am not political and have no real understanding of why they are there but I just feel for all of them, for the families who are losing their sons and for the boys who watch and will presumably never get over it.

Still on an army theme - and he was of a very similar age to these boys, I scrapped a page about my Dad this week for the challenge on UKS. My Dad was a hero in every sense, not least because he was an outrageous daredevil. He was a member of the Royal Signals and stationed in Egypt for a while. During that time he rode in their speedway team, for their display team the White Helmets and did all sorts of stupid dangerous stuff. The three pictures on bikes are all him! When he wanted to buy me a motorbike my Mom said no - wonder why!

The other page here I did for the colour combo blog challenge. I keep meaning to do these and keep forgetting. I found the colour hard to work with and didn't quite pull it off, but I love the silly pictures of my three favourite girls, Sam, Emily and Elinor. They were trying so hard to be serious and couldn't pull it off LOL

I want to end with a file that I hope works and that you can download and see. It makes a lot of sense and we should, indeed, listen to the geese.

Download askthegeese.pps

Play pages and my month update

  It is hot hot hot and my scraproom is like a furnace. I have to keep the door shut as I have a Fiki - he is NOT allowed in.

We keep trying but he breaks too much stuff in here. Nigel's models are all on shelves in here and he has already done a fair bit of damage there.

Before it go too hot I made my 'play' pages for the Shimelle my freedom class.

I couldn't do the journalling as part pictures - it just wasn't happening for me - so I abandoned the sketch and that idea and went with my flow and this is what happened.

I find play really easy - work is the hard stuff! One of the most important things in my life is laughter and I am blessed with a husband who is a giggler and laugher too and with a best mate who is a laughter girl as well.

As ever I couldn't limit it to just a couple of pictures so I needed to squeeze more on and used a film strip again. I love film strips (I know .... you have guessed) because it means I can stick a whole mess of pictures in.

I found this double page flowed more easily than the others I have done and I think that is, in part, due to the film strip straddling both pages.

I have to think of it as one huge page and then cut it at the last minute down the join between the two sheets of cardstock.

I used some of the letters I have been keeping for something special. I made myself a promise to not keep anything for special so broke them out and stuck them on saying PLAY. They are lovely letters - really thick chipboard  - called Alphaletterz by ProvoCraft that I bought from Michaels or Joanns on holiday last year.

And yes - I succumbed to sewing on the page as well LOL

This is my page for the month in my life yesterday. We finally finished the patio. Nigel got out the new furniture and it looks wonderful ont here. It is also really comfortable which I can attest to as we had a BBQ last night to christen it all.

He also bought some solar powered lights which give a nice finishing touch. we have no power out there so they had to be solar powered and fair enough they are not bright - but they are kind of cute to see at night.

The page for 27th would look so much better if I had scanned it straight but such is life. It is straight really - I promise!

Today I sat in the sun as long as I could stand - which was not actually very long at all - and then retired to the cold shower again.

This is my page for today - which I know is early as there is more of the day left - but I don't think much of great importance will happen later.

Finally three cute pictures to share. The patio with it's new furniture. my new second patiio (well how cool is that - I didn't even have one now I have two!) and two fur babies catching the shade.

They are the same pictures as on the two month in my life pages but I wanted to show them bigger as well.

Have a great rest of the day and stay cool.

So Summer's here then

Nij has been off for the last 5 days and we have had 5 days of glorious weather. Wonder if he will take it away when he goes back to work? I hope not.

I am a pleasant brown colour now (hate pasty white) and have had to admit defeat and come in fromt he garden and have a shower as it is way way way too hot. Nij is brilliant - he's sat on the new patio under the new parasol - but you don't get brown doing that now do you!

The new patio set is now out and looks awesome and when I have dried off I will take pictures and add them later. But I have to admit we are chuffed to bits with it all.

I am adding my Disney pages for prompt three of Magical Memories and will add my non Disney pages tomorrow.

I really enjoyed doing this one as I honestly think I wouldn't have added pages about food and places to eat unless I was encouraged to.

Eating is an important part of any holiday as it means not cooking (and those of you who know me know I hate to cook!)

The first page is one of our fave places to eat - The Sci Fi Diner in MGM. Just love the whole atmosphere, love watchingt he old sci fi movies - and the adverts -and love the food. I always have soemthing which is not on the menu. It used to be - a speciality veggie burger - but they took it off years ago - but if you ask for it they still do it. No idea why it is not on the menu.

The second page has pictures from the Concourse Steakhouse at the Contemporary which we also always visit during our stay.

The journalling - and the page is about the journalling really, details a few of the other places, botht hose we have loved and those we have not liked so much for various reasons.

I love that I have the details in my album now.

At the top of this post was the page for the month in my life from 25th - yes you see it correctly - it really is a picture of Tesco. What an exciting life we lead eh! And here is the page for 26th July - a picture of our nice new patio.

I have yet to make todays as the day is only half way through but I feel it may well have a picture of the new patio furniture LOL. Off to sit in it now.

London calling and catch up

Had a fabulous day yesterday and will explain here. Firstly the pages sprinklled through this prompt are pages made for the month in my life book. I would call it a mini book but it is quite fat now!

We had promised ourselves a trip to London for ages and as we are having a holiday at home we took that trip yesterday. We drove part way up, parking at Sunbury and then getting the train in to waterloo. We usually drive into London, park and then do whatever we are doing. It was far cheaper to do this - the train fair and the low parking costs were way less than the petrol (the angst) the congestion charge and London parking. So much better.

We went to see what the chances were of going on the London Eye first and we were first in the queue for tickets and in the first car of the day. It was a hot sunny day and visibility was good. I had expected to be disappointed and although it was not earth-shatteringly fabulous it was a good trip and I am glad we did it.

The thing we really went up to do was to do the open top bus tour. We have done bus tours in a lot of cities, especially in the US in places such as NY, Dallas, Washington etc. I had lived in London for 4 years and had wanted to do it then. So yesterday was the day. It was nice to be on the top of the bus as there was a little breeze on what was a blisteringly hot day. We opted for the live comentary and were so glad we got a wonderful guide for almost all the tour. (He changed to have his lunch break and the guy we had for the remainder was not a patch)

He was a genuine cockney, incredibly proud of London, England and his heritage, very very funny and so unbelievably knowledgeable. It was a fabulous tour and we learnt so much and had a great time.

500 pictures later and we were off the bus, back on the train and we headed out to Staines to the Outback Steakhouse.

  Now the Outback is one of our favourite places to eat in the US. There are only 3 in the south of England and Staines is our nearest and so we were very keen to see if it was as good.

In a word, no

It was not a patch on the US restaurants, though the menu was almost the same. It was expensive and lacking any of the nice touches. I guess it is for the best. At least regular trips to Staines are not needed now.

The good news is that as a response to my blog about Starbucks I have since found out we have one due to open soon quite close to home ... and even closer to work. Mmmmmm - I can see THAT becoming a problem.

Now - for the first time in a couple of days I have had a chance to play and have been looking at the prompts from Shimelle for this week.

One of them really tickled my fancy and I have been having a play. I loved the concept of a superhero alter ego. I could do with one of those so I had a play at making my superhero alter ego.

So meet SuperHead

She would be totally unflappable in any situation no matter how bizarre. She would be able to dispense words of wisdom at any given time, whilst juggling a dozen alternate responsibilities as well. She would have true x ray vision, able to see into little girls minds and hearts to a) know who was telling the truth when two children fell out b) see where a problem with learning lay so she could ensure learning was right for every child and c) know who had chocolate when we had picnics so she could pick her seating companions well.

She would be able to mark with both hands simultaneously and regulation documents could be read, understood, acted upon and filed in a special 2 minute slot at the start of each day. She would be immune to putting on weight when consuming school puddings, could deter sales reps with a single flick of her cape, take 60 assemblies a term with no planning involved and would always have the right props available. Her ability to calm down anxious/irrate/upset/disgruntled parents would be legendary and she would be a marketing whizz One flap of her cape and rain would stop for every playtime and ensure no wet school trips or cancelled sports days. OFSTED would ask her advice and know they never ever needed to inspect any school she was in charge of as it would be exemplary. Oh and she'd be able to magically move school holidays around to suit her other commitments and never need to miss out on anything major like a friends wedding or a free holiday because it fell in term time.

Now I had two goes at creating Superhead. The first was the obvious play on SuperTed but let's face it - even when you squish him up his body ain't fab. It's fine for a bear but heck - we are creating fantasy here so my second attempt - sexy superhead is the one I am going for. I mean all of those superpowers above AND a great body. What's not to like!  Shimelle - thanks for such fun

.

 

Ouch I hurt!

It's been a beautiful day here today. One could easily be fooled into thinking ti was July and summer or something! Surely not!

I had a lovely time this morning just gently scrapping for no other reason than I had some pretty paper and was in the mood.

However, by lunchtime the sun lounger was calling and so I slipped outside for an hour and sat in the sun and read Shopaholic and Baby. I love Sophie Kinsella books as they are just an easy read that you don't have to think about, analyse etc.

Having sat and enjoyed the sun I then felt guilty and so even though my knee was bad I did all the strimming front and back (and it is quite a big garden I have since discovered) and weeded one of the larger beds.

 I can't move now. My knee has totally given out and whatever pesky little bits are floating around have been well and truly lodged in the knee for now.

I am looking forward to later int he week and having Nigel home. He is going in tomorrow then he is off. He is not even going to Speedway on Wednesday as it is my birthday! I love that guy.

The pages dotted around the first bit of this post are the most recent of the month in my life. I have to say i am really enjoying this little project - although am a little disconcerted that when I read back it is going to see like we eat out A LOT!

I also want to share the digital version of my Shimelle class Inspiration page. I am planning on doing a digi page for each paper double page spread as well. Why? I guess just because I can LOL

The blog prompt today was to tell blog readers about our favourite game. Mmmm - that's a toughie. Nigel and I play a lot of games (please keep it clean ladies - I mean board games and the like) We both love Trivial Pursuita nd have several versions plus boxes of extra cards. We love quizzes of all sorts and have a gazzillion quiz books and Nigel runs quiz nights for all sorts of organisations. We play a fair old selection of board cames such a Careers, Mine a Million, Risk etc and play MahYong, Yahtzee and Rummy a lot too.We also love Scrabble, Upwords and Boggle. Oh and I play my Gameboy and DS Lite every day too. I do the Brain Training every day to try and keep my mind from getting too addled.

 One of the fun games we have enjoyed playing recently is US-OPOLY! I had already posted this page but it merits being posted here too. We bought the photopoly game in LA last year thinking it would be cool to make as you personalise it with your own pictures. We have turned it into a game of US (meaning Nigel and I and also meaning United States) picking favourite hotels, restuarants, theme parks, national parks etc that we have visited. It is great fun to play and we had a blast making it.

It makes it a really personal game and we love it.

A newer faster me!

Well - I was dreading today as NTL that was - now Virgin media - were coming to upgrade us. I had phoned about increasing the spped of our broadband and it appears we were paying way too much for what we had and the upgrade meant better everything and less money. mmmmm - I was dubious.

The man came today - we have a Virgin plus box which records and pauses live TV (can't quite get over that one) rewinds TV youa re watching etc etc. We have 20 MB broadband, free phonecalls and are paying less money. And it all worked. Well almost. The wireless network is working as Nigel is on it but my laptop can see the network, I enter the security key and nowt. So at the moment no more sitting on the sofa surfing for me. BUT - It could have been so much worse.

I have made the first of my two Shimelle pages this week. It took me ages as I am really struggling with double pages. I just couldn't get it balanced and in the end gave up and just went for it.

I used Bazzil and a sheet of Basic Grey Archaic papers which I totally loved and was 'saving for best!' I have promised I am not doing that anymore. I also used some swirly stamps and a transparency which I printed a quote on and then painted the back of it white to make the quote show up a little more.

I actually got out and used my old foam stamps which I don't think I have used in 2 years. I needed something bigger than any chipboard letters I had and was going to cut the title out but figured what the heck - get them out and see if you can still use them.

It feels starnge to have a page with no stitching on - haven't done an non stitch page for ages and now I wish I had stitched round the patterned papers, but it is too late now.

The journalling reads

 

 

Inspired by Nigel ; to live better, to love, to enjoy life, to laugh, to go for my goals.

Inspired by my faith and by those around me sharing that faith.

Inspired by my cats, to love and laugh, to record their antics, beauty and trust

Inspired by the memory of my parents to always strive to be the best I can possibly be.

Inspired by nature ; to wonder, to create, to photograph and capture

Inspired by the creativity of others, with blogs, on line galleries and magazines

I am inspired by children ; inspired by their trust, their wonder and love of discovery

 

I think we were meant to write a list - well is is sort of a list - just not quite LOL

I am also uploading my page for the Month in My Life album for yesterday. Not done today's yet as who can tellw hat might happen the rest of the day.

The only other news to report is that I have tidied my scrap room. I have had quite a lot of new stuff arrive over the past few days (Rather shocked at how much actually - it soon builds up and the postie and I are now on first name terms GULP. But it is all away and I have sorted out loads of papers to get rid off.

Just an easy relaxed day

Before I start today Shimelle suggested we play a little game. I have guessed  how many words I think my blog post will be today and I would ask you to do the same. Have a guess how many words it is ….. and no sneaking down to the bottom as the answer is at the end of the post. Do post to let me know how close or far away you were.

 

I am now officially behind with My Freedom as I didn’t do my Inspiration page yesterday and I haven’t done my aspiration page today. I will catch up – but possibly not today LOL.

 

I have, however, been busy scrapping. Someone said they checked my blog to see if the month in my life pages had been posted or not – or maybe I had given up. I am still trudging my way through it and so far have kept up to date, doing a page a day. I think it is going to be interesting to look back on and maybe something I would like to try another time as well. Although in all honesty it is good it is holiday time as I have something to write most days!

 

So the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th are sprinkled through this post.

 

Nigel has been off today which is always nice. We had no plans – just as well as the weather is fairly pooh again. No summer this year that’s for sure. We went out for breakfast at Asda. Oh yes – we know how to live the high life I can tell you. Actually Asda is good for breakfast as a treat – a nice full English for Nigel and egg and beans on toast for me. We had a cooked breakfast at the motorway services the other day on the way to the safari park and it was £14.00+ Today’s – just £4.75 including the 2 hot chocolates.

 

We popped into town and browsed a little and I managed to get 2 really comfy pairs of shoes and a couple of nice tops. Did I need any of it? Actually yes I did. I needed one of the pairs of shoes to replace my trust navy sandals that finally had to be thrown out after 6 summers of work wear. The other things – well I am not sure NEED is the right word.

 

We came home and slobbed around really – just so nice to be able to do that.

 

Now I am saying a tentative goodbye to you all. Virgin are coming tomorrow to replace our set top boxes and install a newer faster non set top box internet and a new wireless network. Our internet has been awful lately – off more than it is on – and so I am sure it can’t be much worse. Of course we may end up with nothing – but I hope not. Keep everything crossed for me that I may return tomorrow evening, faster, more reliable and – this is the unbelievable bit – cheaper.

If you don’t see me for a while you know it wasn’t a success.

 

So – how did we all get on. I guessed that I would write between  five and six hundred words.

 

What did you guess?

 

The actual answer was (and I am putting it in words not figures in case you decided to cheat and have a peak) was five hundred and twenty nine words to the end of the proper post and before all the rambling about counting.

On Safari

Had a busy day having fun today and been away from the computer until now.

We were up very early to leave home at 6.30 to go to West Midlands safari Park. We had both been keen to visit for a while as you can do the safari more than once, like you used to be able to do at Windsor.

It was a lovely safari park but our pictures, on the quick scan through, are pants. It was dark and grey all day and the pictures reflect that. Plus shooting through windows on a  day like that made them even worse. Still, we may not have the photographic proof but we have the memories of a lovely day out.

Nigel, who rarely asks for anything ever, fell in love with a huge tiger. So many of the soft toys look so unreal but this baby looked real alright. He was reasonably price (we have seen tigers at double the price and more thathave not looked as realistic, and so we snaffled him.

I love the picture of Nigel getting him into the car. It looks like he is stealing the actual animals from the wildlife park. It was hysterical bringing him home as well. The cats knew he was a big cat - bizarre as that sounds. They were so scared and approached him so cautiously, sniffinga nd scenting. Fiki, being a boy and being a Fiki, went and sniffed the new cat's bottom. Typical.

Half an hour ago we found Kira curled up between the tiger's legs. It was the sweetest thing ever, though her cat radar heard the camera coming and she moved. I will catch her doing it at some point though.

The My Freedom blog prompt today was to share an old picture and a new picture of yourself and explain the differences and the similarities.

This first picture is of me aged 5 - figured that was a long enough time ago. I know we were not meant to necessarily go back that far - but bear with me. It is the picture my Daddy still had in his wallet until the day he died. He also had one of Mommy taken about the same time.

When you compare it to the new one you may understand why.

I mean ... I just hadn't changed.

People look at pictures of me and always say that. Yesterday I saw two past pupils of mine that I haven't set eyes on in 20 years and they both recognised me instantly and said - 'you haven't changed'. I mean I have of course. The hair is artificially dark now with grey bits touched up. The laughter lines (no of course they are not wrinkles!) have set in big time and as a child I never tended to the portly (I'm not fat .... just too short for my weight ... so I am vertically challenged) But essentially I am still the same.

Emotionally of course I am different. Where is that carefree little girl who played her days away with not a care in the world? Where is the little girl who was confident enough to perform in front of any audience? Where is the little girl who would paint and draw and create without worrying if it would turn out OK?  I could list lots of positives and good things I have learnt or developed, but it is timely to remember that some of the freedoms go with age too. I guess that is part of the pleasure of this course, learning to remember the freedoms and recapture them.

Finally I want to share a digital page with you all. It was made yesterday with a new kit of Blossoms by Dawn Inskip and features the ever gorgeous Emily. I am so looking forward to seeing her soon.

The kit is available at NDISB abd TTS - both links in my sidebar.

And last but not least

THANK YOU SO MUCH for signing my guest book. It has been so nice to see you and find out where you are from.

Please - keep signing it - I LOVE IT!

Magical Memories Non Disney pages 1

I decided that, in the spirit of those who are playing along in a non Disney way, I would do a non Disney album for my class too.

I never did like the Wild West album I made. It was too bitty and busy so I am going to make a Wild West album of what has to be our best ever holiday..... our wild west tour.

These are the two opening pages about the travel and the plans.

The first page has a picturw which just seems to shout Wild west. It was of a rusty old cart wheel and an old barn at Fruita, the town in Capitol Reef National Park which had such an interesting history. The letters are American Crafts Thickers and the tag pulls out to detail just how much planning and research went into the trip. We drove 3000 miles so I had to plan each leg carefully. It was so worth it as it worked out beautifully.

The second page has a pocket full of things. I printed off the route we took. I had used Microsoft Street finder and route planner for all the planning so it was appropriate to have a print out from that program. It looks so small, but it is a huge scale.

The pocket is full of receipts from the hotels alongt he way and two tages. One tag has a photo of the travel journal we kept. I will be relying on that heavily for this album as the trip was 4 years ago. I am so glad we wrote in it every day about thoughts and feelings and what we did. The second tag bears the itinerary.

Our route was Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Gilette, Devils Tower, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Cheyenne, Rocky Mountain National Park, Vail, Moab, Arches National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon, Las Vegas.  Quite some sights to see I can tell you.

I am really looking forward to working on the album.

Today we have been to the British Pedal Car grand Prix at Ringwood, which was great fun and taken very seriously by all the people who compete. It had a lovely atmosphere and I was thrilled that two sisters I used to teach, along with 2 friends, were one of the teams. The won the ladies class in 2006 and 2007 and I think they won this year as well.
My two favourite DJ's on Wave 105 - one who I listen to on the way to work and one on the way back, were also competing. (Not well I have to say) They were Steve Power and Andy Jackson.

I tell you something, you have to be fit to do that circuit over and over again. The race lasts for 2 hours and the winner is the team who complete the most laps in the two hours. If I managed one lap I'd be dead chuffed.

The cars were very diverse and some really beautiful, others clearly built for speed and the chase!

We were lucky to be opposite the pits which made for more interest too.