Dolly's Dreamings

A little bit of freezing

It's been foul weather - rain and wind and gales - but it is still mild.

So where do I get the freezing from?

 

Well, Nigel and I had a FROZEN (and not the Disney version) day yesterday. We both had a little bit of cryosurgery on some pre-cancerous skin things. Nigel's looks no different at all, which is good as his is on his face. Mine - both on my thigh - look horrible. They are swollen and red and scabbing. I know that is what they are meant to do - but it's not pretty. However, having had a malignant melanoma I am just glad to get things treated early.

Two full days of work so far this week and I am shattered - and bored senseless.

But I have still made time to scrap. In fact, being under pressure forces me to scrap more quickly and decisively. Each of these was just a half hour job! 

 

This is the minute man statue and Old North Bridge in Concord where the shot that echoed round the world was fired - the shot that started America's journey to independence from the British. 

It is not only historic but a beautiful place.

 

 

 

I realised at the weekend that I had never scrapped a proper album of our amazing Paris trip in 2011 that was to renew our vows. I made a mini book I loved but not a proper album - so I am starting on that too.

This is a photo from The Hamlet at Versailles - a place I had longed to visit and which was just as magical as I hoped. Although it was April it was hot and sunny and beautiful

 

 

Today I am thankful for having

• a brilliant GP who is very kind and very vigilant.
• being half way through my work session for these mock exams. I prefer being indolent!

 

And finally - a very talented embroiderer and some utter beauty to brighten wet days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorting everywhere and poetntial prizes.

I am trying so hard to sort scrapping stuff so I know WHAT I have, WHERE it is and HOW I can start to use it up.

I think I am getting there but one thing is for sure. I have way way way too much stuff.

But I will get there.

 

In the hope of getting rid of more stuff I am thinking of runninga sketch compettionon here - perhaps setting s sketch challenge or somethinga nd offering some small prizes. They would be unopened things but not new. Sticker packs, embellishments etc. What do readers think - would anyone be interested in this.  Let me know and if it looks like people would be interested I will host a couple of scrapping competitions with prizes.

 

Yoday I pulled out a very old Three Bugs ina Rug pack that almost went in my last RAK but I decided I liked the colours. So I determined to make a couple of pages with it and also threw some very old Junkitz eyelet tape too.

 

 

 

I also have a couple of photos to share made from the cyber crop at the weekend

 

This was a challenge to write int he first person for someone else so it was Kira and Fiki of course who have been VERY cross to be shut out of the bedroom whilst we were painting.

 

 

 

 

This is a white space challenge which I was quite pleased with - a carriage driver from Colonial Williamsburg

 

 

We have also been sorting at the flat - today's challenge was to sort all of the clothes out. It was very sad as she had some lovely clothes but they are all too small for her now and she has largely new clothes in the nursing home. We spent a few hours sorting them and they have all gone to a new good home and we now have an empty bedroom. We are getting there slowly but surely.

 

Today I am thankful for

• jobs well done
• space
• roomy bins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a scrapping good time

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate time to scrap. I used to squeeze my scrapping in between work commitments, often foregoing TV and sleep to scrap instead. Now I love the luxury of scrap time. Maybe I willeven get through some of the mountain of stash. I have joined a sort of self help group with fellow scrappers where we are supporting each other with using up stash and not buying new. I so need to do that. 

Even though I have so much and could never use it all up I find I still agonise about each piece of paper or sticker incase I use it and then find something better I should have used it on! How stupid is that!

I have been using though and here are a couple of new pages

 

This first was to use a sketch and it included bunting so I managed to use up some more ribbon. Ribbon is the stash busting focus this month so expect to see a lot of it on pages.

 

 

This one used a page by Sarah Kentzer - lifted pretty much entirely  - and it uses a lot of ribbon. I cut the heart out of  thick card and then I covered it with different ribbons

 

 

The jewel at the top is from a piece of costume jewellery of Nigel's mom so there is a  little piece of her ont he page too.

 

 

I loved these photos. We are both really good at navigating and have driven all over the states, but the visitor map at St Augustine flumoxed us entirely. It was fun to scrap these two photos.

 

 

We have seen a couple of films since I last blogged too. Green Book was fabulous - really enjoyed it and it brought home how awful segregation was. I would recommend it to everyone. The film we saw today - destroyer - I wouldn't recommend to anyone. It was a one star from me (Green Book was the full 5 star rating)

There are a lot of films out at the moment that we want to see - and we have been to the cinema 11 times so far this year. Well there is no point in having an unlimited cinema membership and not making the most of it is there!

Today I am thankful for

• time - so valuable
• new opportunities
• cinema membership

and these made me smile - clever inventions and the cleverness and politeness of the Japanese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cases all stood up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No snow - just cold

There was a time when they thought we might have snow today - but no show not even for show snow! I know people hate it but, if we haven't to travel, I do love me a bit of the white stuff. It is bitterly cold though. We had a job in Weymouth today and had a lovely drive there and back but decided the walk along the beach was just too cold and the warmth of the car held more appeal.

 

Yesterday we went to the cinema to see Vice which was interesting - a very unusual way to tell a story but an enjoyable couple of hours.

Today I have been working on my next class pages for ATDML and have finished that now. Obviously, I cannot share that yet but I can now share the class pages I made for this month as the classes all went live. If you are not aware, A Trip Down Memory Lane, a fabulous British on line store, have a blog Created by ATDML and a facebook group. They are all worth a good look. There are regular challenges on the blog and the facebook group is reasonably active plus they have virtual crops every month and each of the design team design class pages and you can buy the kits and play along. 

Anyway - these were the three class pages that I taught for January - I do like to get bang for my buck and so getting three pages out was quite an achievement.

 

 

 

 

The papers were just gorgeous and it was lovely to have such fresh colours int he cold of winter.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day spent with Nigel
• a job completed
• snuggling up in the warmth

And today's random awesomeness from the internet are illustrations from an artist called dada who specialises in merging two characters- often opposites. I think they are amazing - not only terribly good works of art but so clever to merge the two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great strides

It's been a busy weekend as we are in a wrk cycle but today has seen Nigel and I and his brother and wife clearing the flat. It is something I think we were all dreading but actually it went a lot more smoothly than certainly Nigel and I thought. There were lots of things my sister in law and I could get on with which were practical and non-contentious... we only had to make decisions about whether each item was a charity shop, sale or rubbish and we worked well together, had a laugh at times and managed to sort a tremendous amount out. We both came away with treasures too - of the unexpected kind. A lovely blanket for the cats, two telescopic umbrellas (we had been going to buy two for holidays) a cushion to help my sciatica and Viv's children at school have more costume jewellery than they will ever need. I did have a little cry when I came across her button box. I have no idea why button boxes are so important and so moving. I used to play with my mom's for hours and still have it. Seeing her's just brought tears to my eyes as every button is a memory for her really and the irony is she has no memory left. It was put back in a drawer to be dealt with another day. Whilst we did the practical stuff Nigel and his bother went through all the sensitive things, the things with real memories and decided what to keep, what to take, what to lose. What was wonderful was you hear such horrible stories of families fighting about things they all want and it wasn't like that at all. It was smooth and lovely and much of it is now done. We have piles for charity shops, piles for possibly selling for her and we have some things we need to have valued. There is nothing of any value at all but we may raise a hundred pounds or so which will pay for a few hair appointments and chiropodists if nothing else. The main thing is we have broken the back of it and with support from each other, the boys have dealt with doing it whilst she is still alive.

In other news we went to see The Upside on Friday which we thought would be pretty rubbish but was actually very good and we both enjoyed it and then we went to have a pizza afterwards - the first meal out we have had this year as we are trying to be very good and restrained both food wise and finance wise. (we have both lost weight - Nigel 5lb and me 12 lb! just by eating less rubbish) 

I have- of course - also been scrapping ... The Fabulous Fall album is almost ready to be split into two separate albums now.

This is another Animal Kingdom page prompted by the idea to make your own flowers. I used to make these scribble flowers a lot of years ago. It was fun to make some again to decorate this page

 

 

 

 

 

This is Alton Bay - a late addition to our trip through New Hampshire in the fall

 

 

and this is us on North Bridge. I just loved the photo of us reflected int he water with all the fallen leaves and I used a wonderful free cut file from Paige Evans and filled the leaves in with different patterned papers 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a hobby which brings me so much joy
• a job well done by the four of us. There is still a lot to move and sort but Nigel and I will do that over the next few weeks.

 

And finally - some more doors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting in whilst I can

Isn't is amazing - and scary - how much we rely on technology. I came down the craft room today to upload my weekly new releases for Pickleberrypop. No internt.

I thought I would paper scrap, which I do to TV programmes running on my comouter. No internet.

Oh well - I will listen to music on Alexa. No internet.

I started scrapping and needed to look something up. No internet.

I was bereft!

Thankfully it was brief and was back after a few hours. Apparently it was planned maintainence- would have been nice to have been told as it was planned! 

 

Anyway - without further delay - I have new scrapping. Fistlya new paper page I really like - and it is not often I say that. 

 

I have been playing along with FTLOPP stash busting month using as much patterned papers as possible and this page usedan amazing 6 pieces of patterned paper. The blue background sheet, the light blue strip, the dark brown, the cream background, the floral sheet I cut the flowers froma nd the ephemera sheet the bits and bobs came from. I was so proud. Unless you are a scrapper you have no idea of the strength it takes to use new sheets. The struggle is real my friends. 

 

Anyway the photos are of an early sunrise in Maine at York Estuary between Nubble Point and Ogonquit 

 

 

 

 

It is new release day at PBP and I worked with 2 cute collections - firstly Hi There by Heather T (and I also used the foundations Curcles by Fayette)

 

 

How cute was Emily with dessert all over her nose!

 

and this is Lovely Memories by Lorie M

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the internet - we take it for granted all too often
• the internet being down and NOT the heating. It is blinking cold today
• alexa - when she works she is fab

 

 

Now I have a bit of a thing for doors and these are from a book Called The Doors of London by photographer Bella Foxwell and they are stunningly gorgeous. They fulfill my love of doors perfectly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a bit of problem

You know when you have a somewhat serious crafting problem when you have to go and buy yet more furniture to store your stuff. 

I recently switched (yes I know I am late) to D ring albums instead of post bound. My dozens - yes dozens - of post bound albums fit in the cupboards in the library but the d ring albums are just that bit too big. You cannot close the doors. So we had a small gap in the dining room big enough to take a kallax unit so, to Ikea we went and Nigel built it this afternoon. It will be perfect storage I hope. Even better he said the one 4 hole Kallix was too low and so I have a unit with drawers underneath. Perfect 

 

Other than that it has been a quiet day with haircuts for us both and a picnic in the forest on the way to Ikea. At the moment 6 of the albums are empty (They were so cheap in America at just £8 per album) and I have room for another 7 so that should see more for a while.

 

I have a new page to share that I really don't like. I saw and bought the Little Women papers as I knew I would be going to Concord, the home of Louisa May Alcott and I also would visit her grave and the Alcott School where I worked for a morning during a previous visit.

However, the papers were really not me and I struggled even with this one page. However, for what it is worth this is the Alcott House in Concord.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a wonderful hairdresser. She comes to the house and cuts both our hair. She has cut my hair for the past 38 years and knows I don't like being messed with. I wash it as she arrives, she cuts it and leaves it alone. Just perfect.
• a very understanding husband who knows I have a serious stash addiction and trouble throwing things away
• Ikea - gotta love that 12 x 12 storage

 

Finally huge apologies - I usually keep the name of the artist to give full credit and I appear not to have kept this one. But they are amazing photoshop pieces of art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A chilled out weekend

It has been a relaxing weekend with time for just sitting, for scrapping, for shopping, for care home visiting.

 

Nigel's mom is holding steady. She is trying to walk with a frame but it does exhaust her and considering she is 9 weeks since her operation we would have liked there to have been more progress but have accepted she is never going to regain the standard of mobility she had before the accident. We still hope there will be more progress though. She was in good spirits today and we left her just about to tuck into a lovely lunch. They really are very good there and I think the staff are saints. It's not an easy job to retain the level of enthusiasm and kindness they show when most of the residents are very absent much of the time.

I have a couple of new pages to share today.

First, this is a digital page made for a challenge at Pickleberrypop using a  free template by Indigo Designs and a gorgeous collection called Cosy Days by pavlinka. The two gorgeous little girls are the grand-daughters of one of my oldest friends, Mike. 

 

This page was made for a challenge on UKS and I broke into my new travel block of paper bought this year on holiday.  I especially love the states paper and the state names papers. I knew they would come in useful.  The photo was taken at Old North Bridge in October when we visited Nigel's brother on our tour.

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a quiet weekend
• time together
• my Amazon Echo - I am loving getting to know Alexa and learning all of the wonderful things she does.

and I loved these fun labels on a  whole variety of products - they made me smile - I hope they make you smile too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing designers

We are blessed at Pickleberrypop to have truly amazing designers. OK so I may be a little biased but I challenge you to go and look and NOT find stuff you love.

 

Today is Pickle Barrel Day and again there have been amazing things to work with.

First up is wonderful winter by Lorie M

 

 

This is the only page not of the holiday - sadly there wasn't this much snow in Vermont! 

 

 

Fayette's This Is Home collection was so good I ended up making two very different pages

 

 

 

Loved the holiday but, as always, it was good to come home and also to put up my new fall decorations. It's amazing what a girl can do when Hobby Lobby have 70% off fall decor!

 

 

and this was one of the many neautiful roads we travelled

 

 

Finally  I worked with the gorgeous Winterfall by Heather T 

 

 

 

photos taken at Ogunquit

 

as usual all of the Pickle Barrel packs are on sale so there are great bargains. No need to wait for Black Friday grrrrr. I am so cross about Black Friday here int he UK. We don't celebrate thanksgiving but we are ready to jump on the bandwagon of the commercialism that comes after it. It makes me cross.

 

Today I am thankful for

• finishing a huge project - can't share yet
• feeling better - the new tablets made me so so sick yesterday. Today has been a better day

 

Travel will continue tomorrow but meanwhile - ridiculous ways to serve food!!!

 

 

Id send most of it back I'm afraid

And she is back Digi scrapping!

It's been a long time since I scrapped. When youa re used to scrapping every day, a month is a long time away. And it is not only my paper and glue I have missed but also my digital scrapping.

It felt good to get back into that too and it was great fun to work with new relasesat Pickleberrypop. Og course, I do have the odd new photo to work with too! 

The first collection I worked with was from one fo the new designer who just opened her personal use store this week. This is Autumn Reverie by Sherwood Studio

 

 

 

and I also used this gorgeous Autumn Days frame masks by Booland Designs

 

 

I scrapped one of the fall pictures from Alton Bay with that collection

 

 

 

This is a collection by Alexis Design Studio called When Autumn Leaves  and I used the masks again 

 

This is a photo taken at the river on the Kankamagus Highway

 

 

Finally I worked with Cold Beauty byTiramisu Designs

 

 

 

and this is one of my snowy pictures from Vermont

 

 

It felt good to be scrapping again.

 

Today has been a work day and I can tell you it was rude awakening to have the alarm going off at 6.30 (in my poor body clock that is 1.30 am ) to get up for work. It was dark for goodness sake. However we are in mock exam season and it is only a few days so heck ... I can do this!

Today I am thankful for

• Having new goodies to play with
• digital scrapping - I love nboth my paper and my digital
• work that is easy, stress free and close to home ... and not every day! 

 

No holiday pictures to share today - still siftingt he next batch. More trip reports tomorrow. Instead enjoy some lovely cakes!