Dolly's Dreamings

A busy day

Very short post from me today as it's been busy and it's hot and I don't like this heat - it makes me grouchy (Nigel's words not mine!!!' )

Our art exhibition is on all week and so I have been there this morning then playing catch up - slowly - this afternoon.

I do have a new page to share though - made for a challenge at Bramble Fox this month and for a challenge at Twilight Crop and Crafts. I used the left overs from one of my class kits at A Trip Down memory Lane.

 

The challenge was to use an old and a new photo and so I went for these two, 20 years apart, at the Grand Canyon. It was interesting to see what had changed - or not changed.

We are older, greyer, more experienced in travelling and - sounds corny but true - even more in love than we were then. Love grows and deepens over time. We are also colder in the second photo. Much much colder. The first was in August and it was hot, even at the high altitude of about 8000 feet. The second was in late October and  -16 degrees when we arrived. Nigel had laughed at me for packing gloves. we wore one each and kept the other hand in pockets. It was bitterly cold - but just as beautiful.

 

 

The class kit was Prima Marketting Inc Golden Desert and was just perfect for the many many desert photos i have over the years

 

 

 

 

I will share the class pages now too as they have been published.

 

This is one of my favourite pictures ever taken on my 50th birthday trip and in Death Valley. We have a huge canvas of this in our bedroom as we both we loved the photo so much.

 

There is a flap that opens revealing two more photos and journalling

 

 

 

 

and just to show it is not only suitable for deserts this is the second page

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a successful exhibition - everyone has done such wonderful work
• fans - I am way way too hot
• the opportunity to created classes

 

 

Something I am proud of

 

 

 

 

 

 

I scrap a lot - and there are not many pages where I think, 'wow I am proud of that'

This is one I am proud of.

It was made for a challenge over at Dotty About Flair and was about making a bucket list page.

 

Driving across the US was most certainly our number 1 bucket list dream and we did it - of and some - in 2019. I have scrapped so many albums of this but this page is for a frame so the map can go up and be displayed. And Nigel loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, remember I get these for free to promote them, it is new release day at Pickleberrypop and against here are stunning new collections

 

Credits

Bucket List Escape the Ordinary collection by Heartstrings ScrapArt

 

 

 

Credits

Lifestory Templates April 2022 by TirAmisu Designs

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• well life really. We are very lucky to have our home, our boys, our health and each other.

 

New releases and new scrapping

It's new release day at Pickleberrypop and I have new scrapping to share too

 

Credits

Memory Lane Bundle by Chunlin

 

 

 

 

 

Credits

https://pickleberrypop.com/shop/Heartfelt-Collection.html

 

 

 

 

 

And this was made for a challenge at Hey Little Magpie and scrap a sketch and it uses my latest painting.

 

 

 

 

 and this one

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apart from that my life has been pretty much trying to sort out the mess of Virgin Media where I can access one account on my phone only, one account not at all and one on my computer only.  It's been going on for a week and is pretty damned awful to be honest!

Today I am thankful that

• today I HAVEN't spoken to them and am accepting that my e mail is just a hot mess.

 

 

 

 

Sooooo tired

We have worked hard the last few days to improve the outside of the house out the back, which we had neglected a bit because we never really use the space.

We still have things to do but my goodness we have improved it. We still need to have a new set of stairs made but that will take time but we are in the process now. However, the set of steps down from he patio to the side of the house (it's a very odd set up because our house is s split level house) which were old, unloved, horrible and an eyesore have now been transformed. We did this on Saturday and yesterday we both ached all over. But it was worth it

 

 

The planters have all been painted and look like the steps too and the new furniture is ordered.

 

I have managed a bit of light scrapping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this is a digital page with a new collection by Lorie M

 

 

and finally I decided that I would try and paint something very different - out of my comfort zone - a pen and ink picture of one of my route 66 photos

 

I'm unsure but quite pleased I managed it

 

 

Today I am thankful

for a day off from the hard work!

 

 

A Digital Coast to Coast album

Regular readers you might want to just pass by this post.  It is for my benefit really. I have four huge D Ring albums of our coast to coast trip but we both wanted a digital album too as they are small, flat and portable. We wanted it to be a daily record of things for us and so I have finally made it. I bought the credit when it was reduced so the album only cost about £20 but I forgot about it and my credits were about to run out so cue me having to scrap like mad. People often think Digital pages are a bit of a cheat and simple to do but a digital page can often take me way way longer than a paper page.

Anyway - here are the 60 pages of our coast to coast album - our trip of a lifetime. Some of the pages are very text heavy but it is for us and we used it as a kind of diary of what we did and how

This is the cover

 

 

Opening page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end page

 

and breathe!

 

If you looked through these - thank you

 

If you skipped by I totally understand.

Calmer now

Well today has been calmer than yesterday. Still a lot of winds around but mere 40 - 50 mph gusts.

We were very lucky. There have been some awful photos around today of the damage people suffered to their homes and three people lost their lives in the storms. We are simply not used to it in this country.

I have had a pleasant day scrapping and attending a zoom crop which was fun.

 

This is my little Indy boy sleeping

 

 

 

 

 

And these two were made largely from my JAC box

 

 

 

and I will have one more from it too

I have also finished and uploaded and sent our coast to coast book - at last. It will be spiral bound into a lovely book but tomorrow I will share the pages as they are in the book. I am silly. I bought the credit ages ago on offer and I knew I had three months to create it so I left it and ended up having to make 50 of the 60 pages this month!

But it will be nice to have it done and should we ever have to downsize and get rid of all the albums we will have the little digital albums which take up no space at all.

Today I am thankful for

• a calmer day
• zoom cropping
• a finished project

 

A scrapping Frenzy

Well the last two days have been manic scrapping - really manic.

I have made a total of 12 pages - mostly for the Coast to Coast album and each one takes soooo long.

 

Not as long as this one though which involved very fine cutting on the silhouette, pearl paint and dust embossing powder, glitter glue oh my goodness - and yet it looks so simple. The photos don't really capture it but all of the snowflakes shine and shimmer in the light.

 

 

 

 

 

We have also enjoyed walks and I have been painting - not quite finished yet - hopefully I can share tomorrow.

 

And just because I can - here are a couple of pages from the Coast to Coast album

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel maybe fixing the ice maker on the fridge - maybe not. I have a feeling the fridge/freezer is on the way out
• painting - I have missed it
• scrapping frenzy

 

It's a new year with a new release

It's a new release day at Pickleberrypop and I have been lucky to work with three gorgeous collections. In the interests of transparency, as a member of the team I am allowed to work with these free of charge so I can advertise them.

 

Credits

Be Brave Full kit by Jen Yurko

 

 

Credits

Write On - Berry Blends Collab Kit - by Fayette Designs, Heartstrings Scrap Art and Jumpstart Designs
FWP when you spent $15+ in the PBP shop until January 11th

 

 

 

Credits

Click collection by Bellisae Designs

 

 

 

and Bellisae Designs has also created the mini kit for this month which you can download for free as part of the mojo challenge and I used it to make this page

 

 

 

Finally I am hosting one of the mojo challenges this month - so do check it out. This is my challenge page but you will have to go to the forum to see just what the challenge is

 

 

Today I am thankful that

• the sun is shining
• it's a glorious day
• I get to use some great digital products from fabulous designers
• I have an apple watch!!!

 

An Indian summer

we have had a glorious weather weekend - really warm and sunny. I gather it is set to change but it's been lovely whilst we have had it.

 

I have had an 'interesting' time with my eyes. After several weeks of issues I was seen at the emergency clinic and hoped they would say - yes it is all fine it is just dry eyes. Sadly they didn't. It is dry eyes and my eyes are very inflamed and I have drops and gel to use every 2 hours, but they were worried about the angle closure behind my left eye and I need to be seen again on Friday as they want an 'expert' to check it. I confess it wasn't the news I wanted and today the pain behind that eye has been worse. That might just be that it has been fiddled with because one of the tests where they attach a contact lens to a prism thing was very painful.

Anyway - I have been trying o have less screen time and do some nice scrapping and also listen to an audio book to rest my eyes.

These are some of my recent pages

Last week at the beach

Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis

 

 

 

 

 

Koda

 

 

 

 

and today's challenge

 

 

 

 

 

oh and one more

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• optometrists
• audio books
• challenges

 

 

Finally turned the corner

Well it's been a hard old few days but I think I am finally over whatever the heck the nastiness was that struck me down badly and I am on the mend.

The last two days have been far more normal.

Yesterday we met Nigel's brother and sister in law at Poole Park for coffee by the lake.

 

 

 

And we also had dinner at the RNLI college which was a lovely view over the harbour

 

 

 

 

 

 

And today we were so privileged to help my best friend with her bee hive. She needed a hand lifting and so Nigel got to dress up and help which was awesome. They really are amazing creatures and Jakki is so knowledgeable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

not one of her bees - a wild interloper

 

and pure liquid gold - literally

And a little scrapping to share. First a brand new collection from Dita B Designs using a kit called Thank You

 

 

and this with Autumn Dayz: A Berry Blends Collab Kit by LorieM and CarolW Designs Free with $10 purchase

 

 

and these are a few pages made for challenges

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• feeling better
• living by the water
• best friends

 

A bit of this a bit of that

Some weeks are quiet - this has been a quiet one - and I really don't mind that.

We went and took the art exhibition down, we have been for a few walks, we have chilled, and read and done a jigsaw and, of course, I have scrapped.

There was a fab challenge birthday celebration on at Peartree CutFiles and there were 20 challenges - and I have managed all of them - one each day - so I am chuffed with myself. And it got me using the cut files instead of just looking at them.

These are my latest pages

 

 

 

these were as part of my DT work for A Trip Down Memory Lane using paige Evans Wonders

 

 

 

 

and these were for Scrap Squad and UKS challenges

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• gentle days. I remember what I would feel like at this time in August when I was working. I would be realising my summer holiday had almost gone, panicing about all I still had to do and not looking forward to the new school year. It is so nice to NOT feel like that.

and just some LOL cats to make you smile