Dolly's Dreamings

Craft Fair conundrums

I am a sucker for a craft fair. I love them. You see so many wonderful things - and get a whole mess of ideas for things you think you could make (and which in my case never turn out quite right)

It was a good fair with lots of nice things. I bought two dragonflies for the garden which I have been looking for for a long time. We bought a candle set, almost bought a new lamp but resisted, and wekened at the home bakery stalls  but that's OK as we have already eaten what we bought so there is no evidence!

However we did buy a willow arch for the garden. We have looked for a long time for a wooden arbour type thing for the pathway from the main part of the garden to the wilderness area at the back. There is a honeysuckle and a rose each side and when trained they should cover the willow arch we bought. It is on a metal frame and is lovely (when it is up I will take pictures) and it came in three sections.mmmm slight problem. We had gone in my little car not Nigel's.

It didn't fit. It really didn't. They only way we could get it home was to put the roof down (thank goodness it is a convertible) and hope it didn't rain. I drove home quite quickly as the clouds were thick and black. But we made it with no downpours and have a much better idea now of just how small my car is!

I have scrapped this afternoon and made a page for yesterday.

 
I wanted to make a hybrid page for the play along with Scrapfactor this week. I know I can't enter the competition properly as I am one of the three mentors, but the hybrid category has had little support so it seemed like a neighbourly thing to do.

I used the new button twine I bought for the rope for the flags. The flags were printed from Dawn's Fever Pitch kit.

 

I added two little buttons to the Lettering delights V that I printed out and recoloured.

I also printed the pictures with the frames and labels and printed off the journalling block to write on.

 

It was a fun page to make.

Today I am thankful for

• the fun of craft fairs
• a convertible car and no rain

 

More of Versailles

Its been a liottle cold and miserable here today - but still little sign of the much needed rain. I know, we are never satisfied, but we do really really need rain.

Perfection - well that's bright sunshine all day, temperatures in the high twenties and no humidity, and a jolly decent dousing every night. Sorry for people who like dry nights too - but that would be my perfect summer weather. Oh and winter - cold and crisp and throw in snow too please!

I have more of my Versailles book to share. It is no great shakes and really was very simple (so why did it take me so long ... picking papers to cover the pages etc .... but it serves to showcase the photos of a place we really enjoyed.

 The page above is of the 'centrepiece' of the palace, the infamous Hall of Mirrors, which was stunning but I would love to have seen it when it wasn't so crowded (and we actually went later int he day when it was quieter anyway)

I loved the windows and the views out onto the gardens.

The page below is of the gardens and fountains. (I would really recommend going on musical days when the fountains are switched on)

 

 
 

 and below more of the gardens.

 

I'll post the rest of the pages tomorrow as they deal with the Petit Triarnon and the Hamlet - the best bits, in our opinion, of the whole day.

Today I am thankful for

• Finally getting my hands free sorted out after the debacle that happened three weeks ago

 
 

A few disasters but got there in the end

I planned a lovely scrappy day today - I was going to just sit and scrap.

Things never go as you expect - but actually sometimes for the best.

It is National Scrapbooking Day and so I have been surfing and have bought lots of lovely reduced digital things. It has been such fun. And if you haven't shopped yet there are some great things out there including a massive sale at Dawn Inskip's store.

I also wanted to make my cover for my Versailles album but it didn't go quite to plan.

I tried several different things for the title and none worked and I ended up with - apparently - most of my supplies out on my desk. The final straw was when I decided to mist the cover in gold glimmer mist. It wouldn't work - it seemed the nozzle was blocked. Why Oh why don't you just do what you know you should do instead of trying to take short cuts.

Instead of going and washing the nozzle out I got down the harvest gold to see if that nozzle would work instead. That was blocked as well so I peered at it and tried it again.

Ruined a perfectly nice top (and it looks like my skin colour is a perfect match for Harvest Gold!

 
I ended up covered in glue from the flowers, covered in various shades of glimmer mists, in a mess with so many stamps and stuff on the desk and a cover I am not sure about.

The plan was to make a cover which would be for my mini book on Versailles. Not sure about it but here it is.

 
It is quite glittered all over and the roses are covered in rock candy and so shine too

 
Not very clear but bits are stitched and ribboned and laced etc.

 

 
 I thought I would just add here - for my benefit really - the room I stayed in in Bristol which was actually very nice - though it was so much nicer to go to sleep in my own bed last night.

 

 

• Today I am thankful for digital sales and for a cover finally finished.

 

Double Take Hybrid fun

It's been a bit brrrrrr here today. We went for a nice walk first thing but i confess to have been snuggled up indoors the rest of the day, scrapping and listening to the news most of the day. I have very mixed feelings about the news - I can see why a lot of people wanted him gone, and the idea of anyone being a terrorist and taking the lives of other people is wrong,but the idea that he was killed and buried so hastily sits a little uneasily with me. I can almost accept if there was altercation when they tried to take him and he ended up shot, but I feel uncomfortable about the idea that people feel they can make themselves judge and jury - I don't think that is our place and we have due process. However, the world is, today, a different place than it was yesterday.

Anyway, on to other issues and some scrapping. Nij occasionally sets me scrapping challenges. Oh come on - you know by now I have to have challenges. I love them. I have to be challenged LOL.

Today's was to scrap soemthing that was a double take and however I could interpret that.

So this is what I came up with.

 
It looks a lot nicer in real life as it is far more textured than it looks on screen.

The photos were taken six months apart. The one that is clearly warm was taken in July in Santa Monica and the one where it is clearly very cold was taken in December in Bournemouth - both in 2010. I have since added the dates and the venues to the layout. I had forgotten to do that before I scanned it and couldn't be bothered to rescan it.

The journalling block was printed on canvas paper that I then tore. I used a new digital kit called The Sea by Natalie Designs to make the background for the title block.

 

I also used the same kit to make up the design in the bottom corner of the page. The background card is very textured and I printed the design I made up straight on there. I then sewed this card ontot he background card.

 

I also added some swirls cut with the Tim Holtz dies.

It was a fun hybrid page to make.

Today I am thankful for

• days in and scrapping fun

 

Paris album cover

It has been a beautiful day today - so happy Palm Sunday everyone.

We ahev been enjoying sitting int he garden and reading and the cats had fun too. It was actually a lot more relaxing as Fiki is still not able to jump and so we didn't have to be on permanent Fiki guard whilst out there with him.

I have finally finished the covers for my Paris book. I knew what I wanted them to look like and usually, when I have an idea in mind, I end up diappointed. But actually they have turned out pretty much as I envisaged.

The cover - and the size of the album, which is 10 x 7, was inspired byt he lamp post I saw and just had to have. It is way too cute and I knew I wanted it for the cover. Everything else sort of happened around it.

 

The papers are Graphic 45 and old K and Co, the ribbon is Creative Imaginations and Maya Road the flowers are Graphic 45 and the wooden beads in the centre are from Nigel's broken wooden necklace. I added the flowers after I had taken the main photos. I am going to stop playing with it now LOL

 

 The tassel (there will be lots of other ribbons etc but not until it is bound when it is finished ... for now the wires are just in but not closed) was from a lovely baths oil Sam gave me for Christmas. The butterfly is from a Primark necklace I bought just to take apart and use for scrapping.

 

 

 

 

It is actually a lot more dimensional in real life.

 
This is the inside cover front and back (as you can see it is not bound yet until I make and fill the inside pages

 

and this is the intro text

 
and finally (and yes I hear the sighs of relief) this is the back cover.

Today I am thankful for

• sunshine and the simple joy of being in the garden with Nigel and the cats
• for a cover that worked out pretty much as I hoped

 

 

Chill Out

Do you know - that is really really really what i would like to do - right now. But apart from my feet, which are so chilled out I can't feel them as it is blinking cold here today, i am so not chilled out.

 I was looking forward to the afternoon as I had printed out book corners (I posted it a few weeks ago but here it is again) for everyone in my class to make as a book based celebration for part of their English lesson today. They each had a printed one to make like mine and then a plain template to decorate as they wanted. Except they didn't. I have no idea where the printed ones and my sample have gone. they have obviously become buried in the bottom of a pile somewhere but goodness knows where. So first thing I had to do when i got home was sort out the template (no of course I hadn't kept it!) and print more and make another sample.

 So this is what they will be making tomorrow.

 
 I needed a little break and then I need to start work again.

I am also a little upset because Fiki had his last pain medication yesterday and was so much better. Today he is limping quite a lot again. Poor little chap. It is not good news as it just means the drugs were masking the problem and either he has a more serious injury or it is something like a slipped disc or arthritis. It is likely he will now have to have a general anaesthetic and more tests.

I do have new scrapping to share though that I did earlier in the week.

This is Emily made with a new kit by Dawn Inskip called One Fine Day.

 
She is such a little cutie.

So a hard and busy day that is not over yet .... but I did sparkle nicely!!!

Today I am thankful for

• Some laughs along the way

  
 

An interesting day

Funny isn't it how some days don't pan out quite like you think they will.

This was one of those days. An 'interesting' day.

One thing did touch me today. i had a knock on my office door and two little girls asked to see me. they said they had been saving their money and wanted to send it to a breast cancer charity. these two little nine year olds proceeded to tip out £5.17 in loose change. Bless them. We are doing a letter all together and will send it off for them.

I did some paper scrapping at the weekend, making more pages for my 50th anniversary holiday album. This was one of the pages I made and is actually the title page for the album.

It hasn't scanned well and looks nicer in real life.

 

The logo at the top which acts as the title was an image Nij and I made together for the 'tour t shirt'. Oh yes - we have tour t shirts. How sad is that! Actually i think it is fairly cool. It started on our Wild West trip where we did 3000 miles and 9 states and so Nij designed T shirts which had tour dates ont he back and an image on the front. Two Primark T shirts and some transfer paper and we were all set. We did them for our Canadian Rockies trip too and it is lovely to have them to look back on.

OK - so we are just weird.

My quote for today is

 

Today I am thankful for

• small victories, but victories none the less
• Fairness

 

Fab day shopping and a pretty little canvas

I have had a wonderful day - and it reminds me why I go to work. It is so i can have fab days like today.

I needed new clothes. the clothes I bought to tide me over last winter are now too big and I needed some basics (and some extras LOL)

We headed to Southampton and I managed to buy skirts (a black, a brown and a gorgeous grey) Trousers (brown jeans Per Una and a really wonderful pair of smart black trousers for work which i couldn't stop looking at as I actually looked slim!) a new pair of walking boots (my feet have changed size too) a smart pair of work shoes, three new vests and three stunning cardigans. I am so pleased. It forms a wonderful capsule wardrobe and I love it. None of the things were expensive and some were darned cheap. And Nij was such a support picking them and helping me decide.

I have a canvas to share today that I made for Karen at Charmed Cards and Crafts (It was a massive kit hence so many things with it)

I haven't really done a great deal with our wedding pictures and as we come up for our 25th wedding anniversary in a few months, it was time.

I painted the canvas first and then added card and lace and papers

I cut a frame for the photo and added chipboard embellishments and hand made and bought flowers

I was really quite pleased with it.

And on to my LSNED for yesterday - the cream doughnut scores I am afraid.

So what have I learnt today

• I have learnt that I can sit in BurgerKing and eat grapes whilst Nij tucks in to junk food and not mind it at all - because nothing tastes as good as being thinner
• I can resist BurgerKing but not Starbucks - yes I had a frap today.
• I still love being able to go into clothes shops and be spoilt for choice everywhere rather than buying the only thing that fitted with almost no choice. (It's why i go a bit mad)

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• willpower, but also the fact i am rational enough about my weight loss to have treats too
• new clothes
• a husband who is so caring, patient, kind and just plain wonderful

Still so very manic

First i want to share another project I made for Karen at Charmed cards and Crafts, again using the fabulous Capella range.

It is a frame with the cutest picture of Elinor.

The butterfly was just too gorgeous for words and inspired the rest of the frame.

and this is the whole thing

 Isn't she just adorable?

I have made my page for the 13th and it is all about the lesson I am learning a little too often for my liking, that I have to swim faster as I am in danger of sinking - metaphorically speaking of course.
 

 

So what have I learnt today, apart from the fact the swimming need just gets worse or I am just too old to cope with the pace.

• I have learnt that simple things bring enormous pleasure. I have learnt that because we had new phones at home today with 5 handsets for different rooms and they have such cool changeable ring tones
• I have learnt men and women are very very different. OK so I knew that, but it was obvious today because Nij had spent ages setting up the new phones and he hadn't played with the ring tones. Not even once. He didn't even know there were 20 of them. First thing I checked. Oh I am glad I am a girl.

 

My quote today is

 

 Today I am thankful for

• A better relationship with someone with whom I struggled
• Ringtones (YEY)
• A successful operation for one of our parents

 

 

Finally my finished project and a lesson learnt

So, after a busy day yesterday, it's finished. It went with me today for the start of a new school year.

I decided yesterday morning that I wanted to make a new 'thing' for my office, but I wasn't sure what. I sat idly surfing and decided to look for a teacher prayer for my blog post. I found one - actually I found two.

One of them I have already used on my main Sunday prompt. The other I decided to frame.

I have already posted yesterdy about how I view teaching and what an important vocation I believe it to be. I want to be reminded of that every day. Some days it is easy. The children smile, the parents are happy, the learning is good, the staff are amenable. But not all days are like that. Some days yo need reminding. You know, the days when I can't see over the pile of marking, when I have sorted out endless frienship quarrels, when I have reassured worried parents  Those days.

The days when it is easy to forget what a great job it is and how much - deep down - I really love it. Sometimes I need reminding. This will remind me.

It is  Creative Imaginations frame and some hand made roses (I promise - no more roses for a long time after today)

 

 

I am shattered after a hard day of - well meetings really. Lots of meetings. Hopefully tomorrow I will get on with some sorting out.

This is my LSNED page for yesterday 5th Sept.

I learnt all about patience. Patience means lettingt he glue dry PROPERLY on the roses or you will wreck them if you don't.

Oh yes .... I learnt THAT lesson well. I am the most impatient person so it was a toughie.

 
Today I have learnt

• School is hard work (no that wasn't new)
• It is good to see everyone again and be back as part of a team
• Be ruthless and throw stuff out. I CAN do it
• I miss my hubby when I go back to work. (I knew that one too)

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• A fabulous summer and the fact that going back to work makes me appreciate leisure time far more
• A lovely office to work in

 

I meant to post this last night - but you get the idea