Dolly's Dreamings

Boo to you

I have two new releases from Pickleberrypop to share today - trying to do anything to take my mind of thinking really.

 

This collection called The Night by Dita B is just gorgeous.

 

 

 

I used it for this picture which we took in the Mexico Pavillion in 2017. They had a Coco exhibition on to coincide with the release of the film and it was too beautiful not to snap.

 

 

This is called Boo by Natali Designs

 

 

 

I couldn't resist playing with insta filters when we celebrated Halloween at Port Orleans last year

 

Today I am mostly waiting for results. Please keep everything crossed for me - I am hoping I will have a major major thankfulness tomorrow. x

A grand day out

I confess to being a bit down about the whole knee thing and so what I needed - what I really needed - was a good day out and some physio and reassurance.

Tick - both accomplished.

 

Yesterday we went out on the spur of the moment. Having seen a friend's photos of SandWorld in Weymouth and having put it off several times over the years, we decided it was the day to go. We knew it would be tacky - but it looked a kind of fun tacky. And actually, it was better than we expected. It doesn't take long to see it all, but the sand sculptures were very good and just made of sand. OK so some of the people's faces were not as realistic as the real people, but heck - they were carved from sand which made it all pretty impressive. Here are some photos of the sculptures 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lady who runs it - the daughter of the man who founded it - was fab and as there was pretty much no-one else there we played for ages in the sand pit learning to compact and sculpt. Making the spheres was amazing

 

 

 

oh and there are 3 Nigel's in this one

 

We finished off with dinner at the local pub - was great value at £8.99 for 2 meals! All in all a great day out.

 

Today I had my first physio session and she was lovely. She felt - as I do - that it is not ligament but cartilage which I think is better and actually I think what I needed was someone to listen and to give me confidence and she did that. One thing that was interesting was she spent ages looking at how I stood and moved and she said that - presumably as a result of the horrific leg injury when I shattered my ankle, displaced my pelvis and broke my leg when I was 12, my stance has been 'off and where as my left leg is straight, my right leg is straight to the knee then bends in the wrong way from the knee and as a result 45 years of walking with it out of line has worn the knee and cartilage down on the side that normally does not wear! It all made perfect sense. I will see her regularly now and she has given me very very gentle exercises to start with which is good. Most importantly - the fear is less so I have more confidence.

 

I am still working my way through the iNSD challenges so have a couple more pages to share and also a digital page made for one of the mojo challenges at PBP.

 

This was for a Disney challenge

 

 

A very young naive girl on her first trip to America some 36 years ago. 

 

a digital challenge to scrap the same view at three different times of the day - this was the view from our balcony at Myrtle Beach

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• great days out
• people's creativity
• our National Health Service and the skilled professionals who work in it

 

 

Scrapping fun

I have had an absolute blast over the weekend making iNSD pages - and have managed 14 paper pages and am now going to start on some digi challenges.

We also went to the cinema today to see Greta which was just OK whereas Tolkien we saw Friday was fabulous. 

The knee continues to perplex. Yesterday I had no pain at all all day! Today it is bad! No idea. I hope the hospital can shed some light on it.

Anyway - some more scrapping pages to share

I had such fun with this one and a gorgeous cut file from Paige Evans.

 

I do love Minnie - I DON'T love watercolour smooshing on scrapbook pages - it was well out of my comfort zone and don't like it

 

 

 

Scrapping about sport was tough - thankfully Nigel adores his Angels so they made a good subject for a nice clean page

 

 

I made the heart stencil from a cut file from Paige Evans (her cut files are amazing) 

And finally for today a bouncy Tigger page

 

 

Today I am thankful

• that I am able to get into the bath again. I like showers but there is something lovely about a long soak in scented water. My knee was good enough yesterday

 

We need to become ducks

It has been utterly filthy weather here the last couple of days - really seriously grim. 

We have had quite a lazy couple of days. To be honest it is the weather for staying in snuggly warm and dry. I love this time of year though. I like the early dark evenings, the lights and Christmassy things. 

 

We finally braved the beast and put our tree up on Friday. I swear Fiki was in it within five minutes. I know we need to let him get it out of his system but still - he is a nightmare and he is a big heavy boy so he topples it easily. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we went out for a late lunch and called in at the cemetery on the way. I always take a wreath for Mommy and Daddy. I really don't know why as I know they are not there, but I always have, every year, and it will be an unbelievable 30 years soon since I lost Mommy. The wreaths have gotten nastier and nastier as they seem to have so few berries on them by the time I go to buy one and they are silly money. I have always bought a fresh wreath, a real on. This year I made an artificial one which might last longer and at least has some colour on it. 

 

 

I spent yesterday making Christmas presents that turned out quite well but I can't share them yet in case the people who are due to receive them see them. I also did a mess of scrapping but as some of it is for Pickle Barrel release next week and some are for my class for January at ATDML I cannot share those at the moment either. 

 

I can share this though that was made for the use it all mojo challenge - you got a free mini kit by Lorie M. 

 

 

 

And this is one of my December design team pages for ATDML. 

 

The photo was taken int he studio at Disney Springs and I wanted the page to echo a hanging wreath 

 

 

 

 

Lots of fussy cutting and I liked adding the real-life bow 

 

Today I am thankful for 

• staying dry 
• making my parents a new wreath this year 
• a lush Pizza
• Christmas and lights and Christmas fragrances 

 

 

 

 

Still Disney-ing

I have no idea how someone - me - can go to Disney multiple times, take multiple photos... often of the self-same things ... and scrap those pictures and ever ever finish.

 

I have so many Disney albums but I keep finding things I want to scrap from various Disney trips. 

 

I am more to be pitied than anything really!!!

 

Anyway, I have been Disney scrapping again and am about to embark upon a major reorganisation of my Disney albums. I have year albums that document our annual trips and tell specific stories from that trip/day/event/experience etc but I also have ride albums and I am going to also split some of the more generic things up so I create restaurant albums (that will be important on our next trip as we are doing the table service dining plan for the first time so will go to a lot of restaurants we have not been to before), a parade album, a character album, a resorts album as well as retaining the integrity of the yearly albums. I think I might be gone some time.

Anyway, I digress. This is my latest Disney page - animal kingdom again ... I am a sucker for the safari.

 

I enjoyed using a stencil for the texture

 

 

I printed out and cut out a whole mess of embellishments

 

 And another - I needed that paper and glue therapy

 

OK - back to sorting albums. And trying to stop cats walking all over them whilst I am sorting them! 

Today I am thankful for

• Disney trips - I have been very lucky
• new albums - all shiny and empty
• Nigel - for staging a distraction to remove said cats from the album area.

 

 I am also thankful for Autumn and have re-done my fireplace 

 

and just some amazing - and at times scary - photos (yes I have too much time on my hands and have been trawling Bored Panda again

 

 

 

tiny underwater plants that look like little hands

 

Nature eh! Growing through an animal skull

 

an unbelievably scary wrap around spider. Never going in a wood again!

 

 

reticulated cobra skeleton

 

This plant is nicknamed dead man's fingers. No idea why

 

 

Oh MY!!!!

This lizard ate his own tail. OK I guess if you know you will grow another one

 

 

seat anyone?

 

 

scariest bat ever

 

 

 

From good to bad to good ... fingers crossed

It's been a heck of a roller coaster here ... and a ride I don't care to take again I can assure you.

 

Nigel's mom coped well with the hip surgery - not bad at all for a 93-year-old with dementia to have a general anaesthetic and a hip replacement. She was groggy the first day but then in better spirits and although they hadn't really been able to get her up and moving she was doing OK.

We hoped that on discharge they would send her to rehab as clearly she wasn't going to be able to return home until she was more mobile.

We hit an all-time low yesterday. Elfin was not in a good state when we visited. She was withdrawn and uncooperative and very unhappy. We found that the root of the issue with her mood was that she had had a bed bath and felt it stripped her of her dignity - fair enough - it's not a pleasant experience. But it put her in a low and she obviously has fluctuating cognition because of her dementia. But it made her uncooperative with the physio team and she had refused to get up in the morning and when we were they attempted to get her up and out of bed but oh my goodness, with three people (Nigel doing the praise and encouragement and the two physios doing the 'work) they barely got her to stand up and she was resisting it the entire time. Consequently we were given the worst news possible. We were told she was not a candidate for rehab - the rehab places won't take dementia patients anyway. We asked what would happen then and they said she would be discharged home with a care package. Incredulous doesn't even begin to cover it. A 93-year-old with almost zero mobility at the moment and dementia so she doesn't understand she's even had an operation,  was to be sent home to her flat with a care package of 4 visits a day. They would assess the home and if need be put in a hospital bed and a hoist but that was their recommendation. They said perhaps where she was now with fitness was the new baseline for her. This is a lady who, though frail, was walking unaided up until her fall. And when she fell, at 11 pm at night, she had walked almost 1 1/2 miles in the dark alone without aids. We were so upset - both in a tearful way (I cried) and an angry way that the system could treat someone like this. She worked all her life well into her 70s and always paid into the system. We were trying to sell her flat to fund her care but they felt it appropriate to pretty much wash their hands of her and send her home. Poor Nigel was utterly devastated and I felt unable to do anything to help him. well except contact some wonderful people - Elly who is a specialist dementia nurse and Zahra who was just awesomely wonderful. 

Armed with information nd questions we went back in this morning with a view to meeting with the social worker and the therapy team and finding a workable alternative.

 

And my goodness what a difference a day made. Elfin was up, sat in her chair, cheerful, chatty and wanting to get up and walk to the loo (beyond her level of competence yet but the fact was she wanted to have a go) It was like seeing a  different woman. And yes, of course, we know that tomorrow we could have the withdrawn disengaged stubborn lady, but today's lady was wonderful. And so was the social worker. She took time to listen, to understand the situation, to consider and we think - we hope - the agreement is now in place for her to go to temporary residential care for a period of 4 - 6 weeks where there will be qualified staff on hand 24/7 to help her recover and keep her safe. With the best will in the world, we could not give the level of nursing care needed until she becomes more mobile. We'd be terrified of hurting her if we lifted her etc. When it was agreed my wonderful strong rock of a man, who I lean on all the time, who never gets outwardly bothered by anything, who is one of life's fixers and copers, burst into tears of relief. It broke my heart to see him like that and know how terrified he had been.

 

It all still needs to be finalised but we feel she is in a much better position to be kept safe than a mere 24 hours ago.

 

Needless to say, life has not been conducive to scrapping but after ploughing through that you deserve something pretty to look at so these are three pages completed a little while ago that have not been on my blog. And yes - there are always Disney pages to make!

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• our NHS - there were some incredibly kind and lovely people today helping her - and us

social services - I know they can be difficult sometimes but they have budgets and targets and a lack of funding but they do try to help and the lady today was wonderful

 

So - we are now going to sit doen after an awful few days and I strongly suspect there may be wine!

 

Great news and busy days

I want to start with some really great news.

My cousin in America - well second cousin but heck - who is counting those generations - has had her new baby. I was worried as they had to evacuate for Hurricane Flornece and evacuation is awful let alone when you are 8 1/2 months pregnant. However they were safe, their home was safe and she has had her new baby and mother and baby are doing well. It is their third child and the other two, a boy and a girl, often feature in my scrapping and they are both drop dead gorgeous and so I am sure their new little brother will be gorgeous too. 

 

The most exciting news is that he has been named for my grandfather, his great great grandfather. How utterly cool is that!

This is the man he had been named for

 

 

 

Nigel had the all clear from his blood tests which was good and I had my flu jab which was OK - they have it off pat and it is a speedy conveyor belt butt he staff still manage to be lovely.  It's a bit sore but nothing you wouldn't expect from having a sharp needle pushed in and a vaccination pushed through. Better than flu though.

The weather is still glorious and lunch was on the balcony again. I love that we are still doingt hat and it is almost October. All good then.

 

This page was a quickly made one for a challenge on UKS. Buzz and Woody - what's not to like.

 

 

 and there were sales at both Hobbycraft and the Silhouette Store so life is lookin very pretty at the moment!

 

Today I am thankful for

• lovely days: weather, life, love, news

and these just made me laugh .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Indian Summer

Nigel and I laugh every year when the weather is nice in September and people start saying it is an Indian summer. By the real definition it is not and I am sorry but it seems to be the norm that the weather is lovely in Septmeber.  I used to hate it when the schools went back as it was always lovely. Now I am glad it is lovely in Septmeberbecasue I don't have to go back any more. 

 

Anyway it's been lovely. we have had picnics byt he lake and on the balcony, all was fine at the dentist and the only down was the two hours we absolutely wasted at The Little Stranger which was an awful film. No empathy for the dire characters, too dark, too many long silences and poor plot. Hated it. But then you win some you lose some.

 

I have some new scrapping to share

A random Disney page - but Nigel is such a good sport and when I said go and stand by the truck for a picture - well he hammed it up bless him.

 

 

 

And another new designer to Pickleberrypop is the amazing manu Sudio. I love her work - always have - and so was thrilled. This is made with one of her collections called Everlasting Bundle 

The photo is Nigel's grandmother

 

Today I am thankful for

• a clean bill of teeth at the dentist
• September sunshine
• NOT going back to school

 

 

Stop with the crops!

There has been so much inspiration in the scrapping world recently. Seriously!

I have more challenges than I can get my head round and it is awesome.

 

The scrapping community is a very genererous one and the cyber crops and crop days and challenges are fabulous for getting you scrapping.

This weekend I have been playing along with the GoGo Getaway cyber crop. My goodness they have had some fab fab challenges this weekend and I have managed about 5 of the 12 so far.

Here are a couple to share

 

I still bear the marks of this one - even though I have had a shower my fingers are still blue ... the challenge was stamping. Well, that was all I used - stamps and inks. No other embellishments at all.

 

The picture is a fake picture but as it was printed I figured I would use it. It is a composite picture I made for an art class (that's why it was printed so I could pint it). The view does not exist in reality.

 

 

 

This challenge was hand stitching so I made some die cut flowers which I handstitched in various ways and even added beads to

 

 

 

and it wouldn't be complete without digital challenges too. The mojo challenges on PBB are fabulous this month - and not just the one I am hosting. The challenge I am hosting is a title challenge to use an Elton Jognsong and this is what I made 

 

 

and the template challenge even gives you a totally free template to play with and you can find it here and the challenge forum here

 

I made this page using Sweet September by one of our new designers PavlinkaDesigns 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the generosity of the scrapping community sharing ideas and inspiration with all
• scrapping time
• fun

 

A very pleasant busy few days

I was thrilled to have been asked to do some design team work for Charmed Cards and Crafts and was sent the most gorgeous package of goodies. No I cannot say what I was sent until it goes live but it was lush.

I managed to make 9 pages and 6 cards and it was a bit of a scrapping marathon.

We also tookt ime to go to the cinema and see The Spy Who Dumped Me which was actually very good. We both enjoyed it.

Today I have been playing along with the cyber crop at ATDML (and I am also going to do some work for them in the future - yey!)

And finally I finished a photo book - my scrapbook pages from this year that I am getting rpinted. This is the cover

 

and these are the pages I made for the ATDML challenges so far - and I have a class page on my desk part completed

 

This was a challenge to use black and white photos and I had these in my photo box. I had scrapped them before in 2003 back when I very first started scrapping and the pages were awful. I took those pages apart a while ago and was rescrapping the photos which were all originals.

 

 

This was a challenge to use circles

I used a mess of them

 

and this was a challenge to use one piece of cardstock and one piece of patterned paper. I struggled but managed to resist ysingboth sides of the patterned paper.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely productive few days

and I just HAVE to start sharing these great pun billboards