Dolly's Dreamings

Feeling very spoilt

Our Christmas came early - we celebrated our Christmas Day with family yesterday.

 

All roads led to the Midlands as we headed north and Sam and family headed south and we met at Bossy Nanny's.

Pauline has been a constant in my life - she has looked after me like a mother since I was 5. I sent most of my holidays with her when I was a teenager and she became my proper surrogate mommy when I lost my real Mommy. She calls me daughter and the bond we have is so very special. When I was 14 she gave me the greatest gift int he world - she made me her new baby daughter's god-mother. And thus history repeated itself. Samantha became so much more than a god-daughter. We think of her as the daughter we never had. Her husband is absolutely wonderful and we both adore him too and he two daughters are so special to us.  We are truly blessed to have all of them in our lives and it was so special to celebrate Christmas together. We will all be in different places ont he day itself but yesterday was special.

We had a wonderful meal and a good time catching up and I was so spoilt with some wonderful gifts. One of them was a cushion Pauline had printed with a pictures of our cats on which is beautiful and another was a frame Samantha made that reduced me to tears  - not only had she gone to all of the trouble of making it but she had chosen such thoughtful words about how special godmothers are. A truly beautiful gift.  The best gift of all though - their presence in my life.

 

I said we were in Pickle barrel time at Pickleberrypop and today I have a page to share made with a collection called When Cold by Dita B Designs

 

 

and this is what I made with it

 

 

The picture is- of course - my nearly god-daughter the beautiful Alice.

 

And Orinoco's antics for yesterday and today - he seems to be getting naughtier.

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• my wonderful true family
• a safe journey there and back
• a lovely quiet day today and such a laugh when we sat and drank our fraps at Rockley Park and there were lots of canoes out as it was perfectly still and perfect for fishing and one of them was dressed as Santa. No idea what all that was about. We had the binoculars out and when I saw him I told Nigel and realised how ridiculous it sounded. He looked for himself and indeed, the fisherman was either dressed in full Santa suit and bear or it really was the jolly man himself enjoying a day off before the business of Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

what a lovely day - doing normal things

Some of the nicest days are days when nothing special happens but what you do is just nice.

 

We went to Poole and I shopped for slippers (A pair of slippers used to last me forever as I wore them rarely but now I am retired I live in slippers every day and it shows!) and I found a pair I liked for £7.99 and when I took them to the checkout they said that had I realised they were 2 for £8 so I got a second very different pair for a penny!

 

We went and sat at the lake and just enjoyed chatting and chilling then we did a big supermarket shop getting lots of our Christmas stuff but because it wasn't our usual supermarket it was great fun. We have finished all of our Christmas shopping now and it was just a nice day.

 

Today is release day and so I have exciting news from dawn. She has a lot of new stuff out and, like so much of her work, it is really different and really fun.

There is the White Christmas Collection

 

 

a gorgeous blueprint alphabet

 

 

cute cute paper piecings

 

and some lush doodles

 

 

and I made these two pages

 

 

 

 

Do go over to the Lily Pad and check out her designs

 

It is also Pickle Barrel Time at Pickleberrypop and the 6 packs this month are lush lush lush

 

 

I will share what I made with those tomorrow but I have to share this today as it is a limited time offer

 

 

Gorgeous collection by Created by Jill

 

 

and I made this with it

 

 

I class myself very lucky to get to work with all of Dawn's designs and with all of the designers at PickleBerryPop.

 

and finally - Orinoco was very very very naughty!

 

Today I am thankful for

 

• lush lush scrapping goodies
• a smashing day just being ordinary
• for being brave and going to a party all on my own last night!

and finally I loved these vintage style posters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journal Your Christmas catch up

Today has been a catch up day.

I have spent so long scrapping for design teams and creative teams recently that I haven't been keeping up with my journal so today was catch up day and I am now up to date apart from today - which isn't over yet.

 

The journal is approximately 7 1/2 " x 6" and is quite dimensional - it will need a thick binding comb.

 

 

I have to say - the show train was one of my favourites. I used some scraps left over from Charmed Cards and Crafts beautiful Bo Bonny Tis the Season collection for these two pages

On this page the Santa bauble lifts up to reveal the journalling.

 

 

 

It was important to represent the craft fair day on my Day 10 page

 

 

 

On page 11 the photo of Orinoco lifts up for the journalling

 

 

I wanted pages 12 and 13 to match so both have a tall picture. On this page it is my lovely new Christmas mini street lantern at the front door which I love.

 

 

and the good news is the tree we put up on 13th is still up!

 

 

So I am all caught up and ready to scrap something else!

I can see my desk again!

 

I found Orinoco in the lounge today on the sofa looking like he has caught my cold :(

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• catching up
• wrapping presents
• having a clean house

 

where do my days go?

How on earth did I manage to work - goodness knows.

I seem to be permanently behind these days.

Ah well.

At least I am behind on fun stuff.

 

I have scrapping news today and house news. To Orinoco first  ... he discovered our 'Hello Kitty' today. Not a proper Hello Kitty but our blackboard we leave messages on for each other.

He found the chalk and was off.

 

 

I also took a photo last night of my new little Christmas street light by our front door.

 

 

Dawn has a special offer on today on her Frostbite collection

It's all on 50% off so check it out - it is today only

 

I made these pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can also share the work I have been doing for Karen at Charmed Cards and Crafts

 

I have been able to work with the gorgeous Bo Bunny Tis The Season Collection

 

It is a gorgeous traditional collection and I have loved working with it

 

This is just One of the pages I made with it

 

 

Nothing screams traditional to me more than Santa and I loved the photo of my husband trying to sneak a look at Santa’s book listing who was naughty and who was nice. The Bo Bunny Tis The Season papers were just perfect for such a traditional Christmas photograph.

I started by edging the gorgeous wood grain paper on the back of the Ornaments paper with thin strips cut from the striped back of the nostalgia paper to make a red and green border. Although I carefully mitred the corners to keep them neat I didn’t like the way the striped met and so I made small corner pieces cut from a square of red cardstock, inked, folded and attacked with small dark green brads.

For the frame I mounted the picture onto bright red cardstock and then added a border of candy cane baker’s twine using double sides tape. The packaging of the paper pack was so gorgeous I just had to use it, so I cut the title block saying Tis the Season out and used it as a tab for the photo frame mount. To echo that circle I cut one of the roundels from the numbered sheet of paper which said ‘Absolutely no peeking’ and just begged to be used on this page. I mounted it on some of the red cardstock and on some of the dark green that was the reverse side of the numbers sheet and finished it with a baker’s twine bow to tie it in with the rest of the frame before adding it to the frame on foam pads.

 

I cute lots of strips of the different papers and used them as banners beneath the frame. This is a great way of using up scraps of paper. You know I never throw ANYTHING away!  I then added the frame on the top.

I added some word strips, a cut out title from white  and red card and finished it with one of the chipboard Santa embellishments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a night without coughing - awesome
• coffee with my bestie
• lunch out by the lake with Nigel

 

 

It's Christmas

Wonderful day today. Long long lunch with old friends (old as in we have known them for years not old as in past it!) The six of us laughed and laughed, the food was delicious, the bubbly gorgeous and the company fabulous. Such a nice day

We also put our tree up and Fiki was at it as soon as he was allowed back int eh room. Mmmm - doesn't bode well for the longevity of the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside lights and tree too and an oddly bright blue sky!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orinoco found the room we laughingly call the gym - it has a bike, a rowing machine and an abs thingy and I am surprised he could find them under the dust - they haven't been getting a lot of love!

 

He was lifting liquorice allsort weights!

 

 

Today I have a page to share I made a while ago but never shared on here

 

 

It was a challenge to scrap something unforgettable - the gift of having VIP seating for World of Colour was unforgettable and we were so grateful to the cast member Katie

 

 

 

 

She was such a lovely girl and it was such a special thing she did

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely time with friends
• Christmas trees
•  lights at Christmas
• Fiki - but I won't be if he has my tree down

 

 

 

 

 

shopping scrapping frenzy

Oh my today has been busy - largely as I didn't wake up until 9 (unheard of) but then I didn't get to sleep until almost 3 (I'd like to say that it was because I was partying madly - sadly not ... cough cough cough )

 

We had to go into town in part to but something for the parties this week (success on that score) and it was bombed - absolutely the busiest I have seen it ever. I have never had to park higher than floor C ever ever. We were on F! Crazy crazy.

 

Then I came home and scrapped like mad as I have DT (real life genuine paper) and CT (real cyber stuff) to complete. I am getting there.

 

Orinoco discovered the ducks in the kitchen and seemed to thing they were rideable.

 

 

and whilst I have scrapped like mad I can't share any of it yet.

 

What I can share is this page though

 

 

a digital page of Lost Lake - I am running two albums - a paper and a digital. Just because I can really!

 

Today I am thankful for

• a very productive day

 

 

 

A final farewell

Today dawned bright and sunny and it was the perfect day to take a bus trip along the coast. Good job that is what I was doing.

My best friend hosted Freida's tea bus for her now ex colleagues and it was the final farewell for her to life at a school she has been at for some 25 years. Together we worked hard to create a school we were both very proud of but it was thr right time for each of us to leave and today was a lovely farewell for her (I on the other hand will be back to seeing more of her ... not less. I missed seeing her every day when I was not working and she was so at least now we can play)

The bus was beautifully done - an old double decker bus all refitted -  and we all had fun balancing our plates on the little tables as we boobed along the coast road. The selection of sandwiches and cakes and scones was delicious and it was a really nice thing to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glorious drive back along sandbanks too

 

 

 

Orinoco discovered technology today and we caught him on Nigel's iPad watching a video - all very worrying

 

 

 

and I have finally started to catch up on my Christmas Journal - only 4 days behind now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely treat - thank you Jakki
• a better night's sleep

 

 

 

Feeling proud

I am very proud of myself today. I managed to get through a craft fair feeling well poorly and even managed one of my best days ever for takings. OK so I am not going to be a millionaire, but I did well and was very pleased.

 

I had a lovely time last night too at a party. My best friend finished work yesterday and it was wonderful to celebrate with her and her hubby and champagne was partaken of!

 

Orinoco has been up to his shennanigans again today and I think he overstepped the mark a bit. In our house we have three nativities but none of them have a baby Jesus in until Christmas Day. As a little girl that was always so special when Jesus went into the crib. Clearly Orinoco thought the space between Mary and Joseph was going to waste and so plopped himself there and I think hugging them is a little over familiar.

Oh and you might wonder about Mickey (a gift from Samanatha) Apparently in our kitchen nativity the Christ child was given gold, frankinsence, myrrh and a heart from Mickey Mouse!

 

 

I have new scrapping to share today made with a lovely collection called XOXO by Bellisae Designs at Picklberrypop

 

and this is what I made

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• friendship
• Nigel and I supporting each other
• honey and lemon
• a lush new handbag

 

 

 

 

 

pass the matchsticks

Having had three nights with no sleep now - due to a persistent cough - I could do with a set of matchsticks to prop my eyes open.

 

I feel nauseous all the time which might be the bug or sheer exhaustion so this will be brief.

 

Mt Journal Your Christmas simply hasn't happened - though Orinoco has continued to be naughty ready for when it does.

Today he took to fishing using one of the cats' toys

 

 

It is new release day today though and  have some lovely stuff I must share today

 

Dawn has a new collaborator kit out with G and T designs called Today,Tomorrow and Always

 

 

 

and this is what  made with it

 

 

It is also new release day at Pickleberrypop and one of the collections was Unconditional by Jennifer Labre

 

 

and this is what I made with it

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• new releases
• my bed - just wish I could sleep in it

 

 

 

 

Yuk yuk yuk

Oh dear

I thought retirement meant no more bugs. I thought it meant as I wasn't with children all day I might stay clear. Clearly not. I managed the carol service at school yesterday though I felt rubbish and also managed to help Nigel with a quiz, but today all I wanted to do was curl up in bed as I don't think I had any sleep with cough cough cough.

 

However, I had an interview first thing  which I thought was a casual chat and turned out to be an interview. So not prepared! Two people interviewing but I was surprised to get an e mail with an offer of the job within two hours.  I had no intention of working but my neighbour recommended I apply - it is as an exam invigilator, very flexible, I can do as many or as few sessions in the summer as I want so fits in with me well. I can do a couple of days a week just for a few weeks and still feel part of a school. I was incredibly impressed with the school, beautiful new buildings and impeccably behaved pupils with such a lovely ethos. Money isn't fab but then it was never about the money and the other things I am doing are voluntary anyway.

I have two elfie pictures to catch up on

 

 

There was some sort of sack race going on ... very enterprising to use cookie bags and Orinoco was obviously closest to the finishing line.

 

Then today I found a shoe train.

 

 

 

He had raided both the shoe cupboard and the cats' toy basket today.

 

Childish but we are having fun.

 

I have a special page to share made last week

 

It was made using the Pickle Barrel kits from last month and features a very good friend's daughter and grand-daughter. I saw the photo on her facebook page and it was so lovely I asked if I could scrap it.

 

Today I am thankful for

• two very positive meetings
• an afternoon in bed
• Nigel is thankful I have no voice now!