Dolly's Dreamings

Family time and IT'S BACK!!!

It's been a lovely few days. Nigel's brother and sister in law are over from the US visiting with his Mom and so it has been nice to have the chance to catch up with them.

 

They took us out to dinner for our anniversary which was wonderful and very kind of them - we had a super evening and a lovely meal.  And we were pleased to host them at our home too.

 

My knee appears to be up and down - and I am convinced that there is something 'lose' inside as yesterday I could barely walk on it at all and then there was a pop and it was much better. Who knows. I have now made a doctor appointment as I knew if I went to early they would just say see how it goes. It has been 'going' for three weeks and will be four by the time I get to see the doctor so I hope they refer me for x rays or an MRI or something because it is now stopping me doing anything. It is stopping us going out, walking and even the supermarket is an ordeal.

 

Nigel took me out for a drive int he sunshine today and I did manage to hobble round hobbycraft and buy a treat for myself (I have been very mardy!)

 

But I also got a BIG TREAT. Can't remember the last time I bought anything new to wear. I really don't need new things. But I fell in love with these and they are wonderful - they arrived today and are comfortable and just gorgeous.

 

 

I have been catching up on digital scrapping for new releases coming up but I can share this one made for a challenge

 

 

and this one also for a challenge

 

 

and finally a paper page I made this afternoon for another challenge

 

 

 

And finally - you must be wondering what is back ... GAME OF THRONES. I almost got up at 2 am to watch it live but settled for watching it at 7 am on catch up. The eight and final series and I was beyond excited. I am a huge fan for so many reasons (and not just Kit Harrington!) I think it is beautifully crafted with great dialogue, awesome scenery and cinematography, a programme where most fo the strong characters are women and I confess I am a little bit infatuated with Emilia Clarke. I can't believe there are only 5 more episodes ever! 

 

Today I am thankful for

• family time
• painkillers - they almost work
• new boots
• Game of Thrones.

and these just made me laugh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely day but paid the price

I have been really good about resting my knee and it was starting to heal and be much better.

However, I walked far too much on it yesterday and it is back to square one.

 

However, yesterday was not to be avoided. We went up to Birmingham to see Disney on Ice.  I had always wanted to see it and so were pleased we had the chance.

The journey - normally 2.5 hours, was a long one, taking 4 hours due to sheer volume of traffic. Running the length of a very long service station to go to the loo didn't help the knee any (I say running - more like some sort of mutant limping oddity trying to go fast). Once there we were impressed with Resorts World Arena. Great parking at a reasonable price, great choice of restuarants and relatively close to the arena. Very close under normal circumstances. Tollerable for a hobbler. we were staggered by how empt it was. Less than a quarter of the seats were taken and the view we had was great. I tried photos - not good. I forgot my camera and the phone didn't cut it. The music was great and the skating good apart from a few falls, but we felt disappointed that there were not more technological effects - I guess we are spoilt by Disney USA. There was snow - but not like Disney snow - during the Frozen section, but it just seemed a bit 'cheap' somehow. I don't know if we have just been spoilt with what we have seen. Anyway we did enjoy it but were awfully late back and my leg is paying the price today.

 

However, there is a cyber crop on at Lottie Loves Paper and I have managed four of the challenges in just a few hours so I am pleased. Here goes....

 

My new photos from paris arrived this week so I was keen to use some. This is me stepping out of Sacre Coeur just after re-newing our vows to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary (can't believe we have been married 33 years next week!)

 

It was a challenge to make and use cathedral windows (the little folded circles) and I have never made them before so that was fun

 

 

 

This was a challenge to use tags and was inspired by finding a tag that someone made for me in a swap about 13 years ago - it is a gorgeous shaker tag and so it inspired me to get out stamps and stencils and distress inks and make three more tags and even use some fibres that hadn't seen the light of day in 10 years or more.

 

 

 

This was a colour swatch challenge and was just a bit of fun with the pink and blue and yellow

 

 

and this was the last one made today - a moody misty one with a photo taken on a gorgeous misty beautiful morning in February

 

 

Lots of machine stitching - it was a sewing challenge

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a relaxed day
• a great show yesterday - a dream fulfilled
• safe travels there and back
• Nigel looking after me today so I rest my knee

 

 

What a bizarre mix

The weather the last few days has been crazy. From warm sun and sitting outside having lunch on the balcony to a hard frost, sleet and hail showers and then back to sunshine.

 

Well _ guess it IS April and it is living up to its name.

 

But it is also Spring and I couldn't wait to scrap the blossom using this 

Spring – A Berry Blends Collab kit by Dita B Designs and Mooscraps Designs

 

I also couldn't wait to use the Lighthouse collection (including a FWP) by Dita B Designs

 

 

The photo was taken on our WOW tour (Way out West) and is me at Big Sur. The colours were just perfect and it reminds me of the lighthouses we saw on the trip

 

 

I am planning a scrappy day today as Nigel has to work, although I have to work in short bursts. The kneee is much better but I cannot sit for long periods as it really doesn't like being bent plus I think rest is what is helping it. (I tried working it to heal it - it didn't work!)

 

I did make this yesterday

 

 

It is the last Japan page for the album of our most recent trip and used up the last of the gorgeous Kaisercraft papers.

 

And thanks to Facebook friends, the issue with my Silhouette is now fixed. I know social media gets a lot of bad press, but I love it and Ibelong to lots of very supportive - and fun - communities. 

 

Today I am thankful for

• healing
• facebook groups that bring me joy
• scrapping time - though I miss Nij when he is out.

 

 

The continuing saga of the knee

So today, as the knee had been a little better, I decided that maybe using it and keeping it active was the way to go. Turns out not so much. I knew I couldn’t do thenusual walk through the park and to the library so we did a shortened version. Just as well really. I was in agony by the time we got back to the car. 

I just wish I could work out what it is. I am sure it is not muscular as it doesn’t hurt or ache all the time, just when I bend it or put weight on it whereas a muscle would hurt when pressed and ache even at rest. I don’t think it is a nerve as it isn’t that sort or pain. It feels definitely in the joint although by the time I had walked todaybthe pain was right down my shin bones ... not the calf ... the the ankle. It’s very odd. I didn’t trip or fall or twist or jar it. It just happened. Hopefully it will just go again one day. 

 

I did do do a little scrapping but not much as it hurts to sit with it bent. But I did use some Kaisercraft papers I had bought for this purpose before we went on holiday. I knew we were eating in Teppan Edo in the Japan pavilion. 

 

Nigel didn’t really want to go there. It wasn’t his sort of food but he was prepared to try it for me ... I like the food plus I wanted the theatrical experience. 

 

The theatre tre was great but no one would have guessed we would have Michael mcIntyres twin brother as our chef. It was too funny. 

 

 

 

and this second page is Nigel enjoying the bit of the meal he really liked ... his birthday cake. Even wearing a hat decorated for his birthday and Halloween didn’t put him off. 

 

 

Today I am grateful for 

painkillers

sunshine .... lunch on the balcony

chores done 

scrap,time even if limited 

Mixed Media day

I have missed blogging a few days - had issues with my knee which means sitting - as the knee is bent - is painful. It is a tiny bit easier today but no idea what I have done or how I have done it.

Anyway - a quick catchup of life then some lushness!!! 

 

Yesterday I had the easiest blood test ever. Nigel pre-warned the phlebotomist that I always had problems and I think a phlebotomist doing it is always better anyway as they are the experts whereas doctors and nurses have to do so many things they are often not so good at taking blood. Apparently, I have tiny veins (she described Nigel's as tree tunks) and they wiggle and collapse. She used a butterfly needle and was straight in first time with no issues. I can't tell you how relieved I was. 

Last night we went to a concert at Leaf Academy and oh my goodness - the students were amazing. There were three group numbers but some 20+ soloists and they were all terrific. Some of them were truly West End quality. Such power, such confidence and three of the students had also written their own songs. It was a terrific night and we were both in awe.

 

Today I have been on a mixed media day and it was awesome. We could do whatever we liked and the other ladies made canvases. I chose to decorate a box and a mirror and I got to play with a lot of products I haven't used before - but will use again as I have now bought them of course!

 

I was really pleased with the box which is about 6" x 6" and made of wood not MDF.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can see me decorating a lot of things. I will post the mirror when I have finished it.

 

I have some new scrapping too

I have a rule that cats are NOT allowed in the scrap room but sometimes I relent and then THIS happens!

 

 

 

This was one of the gorgeous murals at ground zero that was so bright and beautiful and seemed to shout out HOPE 

 

 

and the birthday boy at Disney!

 

Today I am thankful that

• my knee is starting to be a little easier
• I had a fabulous crafty day
• new products to try and to play with
• Great nights out - at little cost

 

 

 

 

 

A Day Off - and packed full

It was joyous not to have the alarm going off this morning. Tjough in fairness, every day the alarm is set for 6 am I am awake before it ever goes off. Today we slept till 7am. Luxury!!!

 

First thing - after the laundry - was to take ourlovely Fiki to the vet. He is an old gentleman now - they will be 16 soon - and it has become apparent recently that he is pretty much deaf. It seems to have happened reasonably quickly and whilst we figured it was probably age related and he had shown no signs of anything bothering his ears, we thought we would get it checked anyway. Yes I am the fussiest fur mommy every! 

 

The vert was lovely and was very impressed at how good he looked for 16 and reiterated that it is exceptionally old for a Bengal as the breed are not generally long lifers. She said he was in beautiful condition, a good weight and incredibly gentle for a Bengal (who are often difficult to handle) He is our gorgeous gentle giant - huge but such a softie. She checked him thoroughly and then came the bit we'd been dreading because, good as he is , he was never going to like the scope down his ears. He tollerated the first side Ok but wasn't so keen on the seond - he knew what was coming! However, he had the all clear. His deafness is down to old age - or possibly to the fact that for the past 16 years he has had to suffer his incredibly lous sister blasting his ear drums (She is the loudest cat the vet has ever experienced - I kid you not)

 

We are getting used to having to clap loudly if he is asleep before we touch him so we don't startle him and we are teaching him knew hand signals when we want him to come but of course he has to be looking at us for that to work. I may try a high pitched bell, but I don't think he will be able to hear that. He is pretty deaf!and if it is possible, I love him all the more! My poor handicapped little monster with almost no hearing, arthritic hips and polycystis Kidney Disease. He can have whatever he wants whenever he wants because I adore him!

 

Just because he is adorable - Fiki over the last month or so ...

 

Never known a cat yawn so much as Fiki - I have dozens of yawning photos. I think I bore him!

 

 

 

In his bunk bed with his sister  - I was so pleased Nigel made this (two IKEA doll beds fixed together) as they us it all the time

 

with one of the crazy gang (it's what we call his mice)

 

My boy

 

Our busy day continued with a trip to see Fisherman's Friend based ont he true story of the Cornish Fishermen from Port Isaac. It was a nice story and an enjoyable film but my goodness the dubbing was shocking.

 

I also got to scrap.

I received a wonderful Design Team kit from A Trip Down Memory Lane of the Cocoa Vanilla Midnight and More than Words collections and I couldn't wait to play with it.

 

This is the first page I made with it

 

There was a lot of fussy cuttinga nd stamping - and making butterflies to match

 

Today I am thankful for

• not being at work
• Fiki being well apart fromt he deafness
• long weekends
• design team goodies

 

 

 

Loving the weekend and International Women's Day

I am loving that our weekend started today. I cannot believe how tired I have been workingt his week. I mean come on ... it's not rocket science. It is invigilating which involves doing absolutely nothing at all but watching. But goodness me it is exhausting. Totally and utterly exhausting. Plus being up at 6 is against my new found retirement regieme! But heck - it's not for long and I do love being back in a school, meeting people - they are a great group of fellow invigilators and I have made some good friends. Plus, think of all the bonus spending money

 

But today - today is the weekend so I have been scrapping and we have been for a walk and we have had a Starbucks and we are even having wine tonight. Wow! We have had one glass of wine THIS YEAR! Yup none in January, one glass in Februarya nd I am guessingt his will be our March glass. It is not because we are trying to do dry 2019 - we just don't drink much!

 

I have new scrapping to share today and the first page is inspired by the fact it is International Women's Day. It is something I feel quite passionate about having been the head of a girls' school for 29 years and focussing on empowering girls, showing them there is nothing they can't do.

 

Google had a slide show on today with 14 quotes from inspirational women and so I challenged people to make a page featuring one of the quotes. It would have been churlish not to do one too. 

 

 

 

and as I had time I also carried on witht he holiday album - two pages about Halloween from different parts of the holiday. (Well I had the papers out for one so a second was easy!)

 

This one falls into the 'weird stuff we see by the side of the road' category ... just loved the decorated Bug.

 

 

and this documents our very first Halloween in America - 31st October and the celebrations at Port Orleans

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• work - I do enjoy it really
• the long weekends

 

God was busy creating woman on the 6th day. An angel came by and asked.” Why spend so much time on her?”
The lord answered. “Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her?”
She must function on all kinds of situations,
She must be able to embrace several kids at the same time,
Have a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart,
She must do all this with only two hands,”She cures herself when sick and can work 18 hours a day”
THE ANGEL was impressed “Just two hands…..impossible!
And this is the standard model?”
The Angel came closer and touched the woman
“But you have made her so soft, Lord”.
“She is soft”, said the Lord,
“But I have made her strong. You can’t imagine what she can endure and overcome.”
“Can she think?” The Angel asked…
The Lord answered. “Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate.”
The Angel touched her cheeks….
“Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her”
“She is not leaking…it is a tear” The Lord corrected the Angel…
“What’s it for?” Asked the Angel….. .
The Lord said. “Tears are her way of expressing her grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride.”…
This made a big impression on the Angel,
“Lord, you are a genius. You thought of everything.
A woman is indeed marvellous”
Lord said.”Indeed she is.
She has strength that amazes a man.
She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.
She holds happiness, love and opinions.
She smiles when she feels like screaming.
She sings when she feels like crying, cries when happy and laughs when afraid.
She fights for what she believes in.
Her love is unconditional.
Her heart is broken when a next-of-kin or a friend dies but she finds strength to get on with life”
The Angel asked: “So she is a perfect being?”
The lord replied: “No. She has just one drawback
She often forgets what she is worth.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First balcony lunch

The weather has been gorgeous today - the mist that was around for a couple of days has vanished and we had our first balcony lunch of the year. And it is only February. Not bad at all. It is only really November, December and January that we don't use it. Having the new balcony transformed the house and our use of it. 

 

I have been scrapping a lot with two cyber crops. One is digital, the other is paper.

The digital cyber crop is for my very favourite Disney products - Project Mouse. There have been some amazing challenges and I hope - as I have just one left to do - that I will complete my passport and win a free kit. There are almost no kits from Project Mouse that I DON'T have. If you haven't come across Project Mouse before then this is the link to the store at The Lily pad. 

 

I don't usually use them digitally but print them out for paper pages but this weekend I have been using them digitally.

 

These are the pages I have made so far

 

 

 

 

Three more for the digital Fabulous Fall album.

 

I am also paper scrapping for the on line gogo getaway cyber crop and I will share some of those pages tomorrow. But here are a couple of paper pages I made Thursday and Friday

 

This photo was hard to scrap as the colours of the photo were just awful. It was a very poor phone photo snapped by our waiter and the light is all over the place. I think it turned out OK 

 

 

 

This one was inspired by a Pinterest page and is very different for me as it is messy and inky and lots of white space, but I did quite like the finished page. Nigel sweltering in 90-degree heat with the fake snow falling. Only in Disney eh!

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• my headache finally diminishing. I even had to go to the doctor as it had been relentless for over a week. Thankfully it is nothing serious but a tension headache. Unusual for it to last for 9 days and counting!
• sunshine and lunch on the balcony
• cyber crops and I always say it - the generosity of people in the scrapping community

 

 

 

 

 

Berry Big Deals Day

Just a quick update today as it is release time for the Berry Big Deals at Pickleberrypop.

You know the drill by now - all of the designers work with the same basic palette and add their own twist and colours too. Everything coordinates beautifully and there are some awesome creations this month again.

THIS LINK will take you straight to the page with the deals

 

I worked with three of the packs this month

 

The first was We'll always have Paris by Heartstrings Scrap Art and it was clearly made for us!

 

We had our second honeymoon in Paris (three months after our wedding as we had to save for it) and a long story but we were broke and even finding food to buy was an issue. We decided to go back for our 25th wedding anniversary and do it properly. We renewed our vows in Sacre Coeur which is still one of the most magical, romantic, standout moments of my life.

 

 

This is Waiting for Spring by et Designs and was way too cute not to use for these photos of Emily

 

 

 

 

And finally Love and Life by Heather T

 

 

I fell in love with this once I saw one of the masks had Disney written all over it. I am sure that wasn't the intention (well I know it wasn't) but I couldn't resist

 

 

Today it is still early but I am thankful for

• a lovely walk yesterday to the new starbucks(how spoilt are we) 
• Nigel taking down the clematis from the front of the house and giving the house a whole new, open look.
• spring sunshine

 

 

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