Dolly's Dreamings

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrappy Days

I was playing along with a cyber crop today and having fun making pages. I just find, sometimes, that a challenge will inspire me to make something.

I have made a few pages today

 

This one is very random. It is a picture I just snapped out of the car window which seems to epitomise the random weird stuff you see on a road trip. I loved the old car and the road stretching ahead. It was like stepping back in time. I like that it leant itself to a long photo too.

 

 

I managed to use the clouds butt he real bonus for me was using some leaves that date back to 2003. They were on one of the first layouts I made and were the only nice thing about that layout! They were stamped onto a nice parchment paper and then embossed in copper. I threw the layout away - it was pretty grim - but I kept the leaves ... just in case. Today was the just in case moemnt.

 

 

This is another one made

 

 

The embellishments were all from Poundland - showing cheap can be cute too. As was meeting piglet.

 

Then there is this page

 

We always make the most of our first morning in the USA as we are jet-lagged so up early and get to see places whent hey are empty and bathed in gorgeous light.

I also made a companion page for piglet - Tigger of course.

 

 

Today I am grateful for

• a husband who did the shopping so I could scrap all day
• a newly painted bedroom windowsill - been a while but done at last
• the smell of clean laundry - I did find time to do that

and finally - because they are beyond lovely - my babies are upset they cannot be int he bedroom witht he wet paint so are sulking on their bed in the hall. Kira was UNDER the blanket when I stopped to get my camera.

 

 

 

 

 

RAK News and scrapping

Firstly can I let everyone know the RAK of huge wads of paper has now ended and 4 people have lovely parcels of 100 sheets of paper and other goodies on their way tomorrow.And I feel a little bit better about my stash. 

 

I will try and do RAKs again - but maybe just not such heavy stuff.

 

It's been lovely here today, though we possibly didn't make the most of the nice weather as we have been in most of the day apart from a trip to the supermarket - well a girl has to eat (can you explain why we did the food shoppingt his week and yet we are having a take away for tea!)

 

I have some new scrapping to share

Another couple od Disney pages that don't look very Disney

 

This one showcases the mill wheel at Riverside. I often see posts saying it isn't working but whenever we have stayed at Riverside it has always been turning - and we do enjoy watching it. The photo begged for the circles.

 

 

This was the last photo I took at Riverside this year. We were all packed, the car was loaded and we were just about to set off for Miami and then home. We had been a little disenchanted with Disney even before we went. We ddon't like the way it has changed, we don't like the upselling of everything, we don't like the alcohol int he parks, we dom't like how crowded it has become and we feel the magic has gone. We both agree the Disney best years for us were between 1996 and about 2012 and so we have decided we will not be going back for a long time - if ever. We have been for 5 of the last 6 years and so we are pretty Disney satiated and there are so many other places we want to visit. So Disney is off our agenda for the time being. (Well Disney World - Disneyland California is a whole other story!) I knew all this and it suddenly washed over me as we were leaving and I confess to shedding a few tears.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely weekend
• being able to help others ina  hobby that I love

 

 

 

Yukky weather RAK Update and a little bit of crafting

I don't know what the weather had been like in your neck of the woods but the weather here is yucky - yes that is a proper weather term. Yucky. Rainy, very very strong winds and just good old British Grey. At least it is not cold.

Barb I lovved your links to the frozen pants in Minnesota - too funny.

I need to update on the RAK of papers. Who knew a hundred sheets of paper were so heavy. They are going to cost a lot to post and whilst I am really happy giving away stuff I didn't want it to also cost me quite so much money so please comment if you are happy to make a small contribution towards the postage. To compensate for that I have also stuck in some embellishments, tags, ribbon etc. Just a few bits for newcomers to try out. But I am offering 4 packs and the postage will come to over £24 for the four (just over £6 each) so a little help towards it from each recipient would be appreciated. I promise you will get a lot for a very little.

Today we went to see Escape Room at the cinema which was very good. I think possibly the worst film I could have gone to see as I am quite claustrophobic ... not so much of small places but of places which don't have an easy exit. I always know where every exit is wherever I am. So it was inevitable it was going to scre the pants off me. And it did.

I have been scrapping but some of it is Design Team work so I cannot share it yet, but I can share this.

 

This was the sunrise snapped from the car on the day we were finally driving to Disney. It was quite spectacular.

 

 

 

And this page celebrates that we discovered we love French Quarter this year. We loved the breakfast there, the ambiance, the food court. We were happy we were at Riverside but loved the benefit of having both resorts to use.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a scary movie from the safety of a cinema with a clearly marked exit
• staying warm and dry
• new DT things to play with.

and these just amused me

 

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!