Dolly's Dreamings

An easy rhythm

Our life has settled into an easy rhythm at the moment. we are waking a bit later since the change int he clocks but I don't feel any real need for the days to be longer so waking later is fine.

We walk for almost an hour everyday and now know our neighbourhood in quite a bit of detail! But the weather has been lovely so it nice to get our daily exercise outside - who knows, even that may be stopped.

We both have hobbies to keep us occupied.

I finished one of my most difficult paintings today - the Guildhall in Poole. There is leeway when painting fur. But a detailed building shows every mistake and this painting sure shows a lot of them, but what is life if not a challenge eh!

It is a watercolour from a photo I took last year.

 

 

I also have two new releases from Pickleberrypop to share.

 

 

I love anything with cameras and film strips so this was gorgeous to work with

 

 

 

And this one was just fun to make

I fear the lockdown is turning me into a domestic goddess though. Today I baked bread from scratch and didn't use the breadmaker and I batch cooked a load of lasagna for the freezer. And both were delicious.

 

I hope that wherever you are you are staying safe and well.

 

Today I am thankful for

• domesticity
• fresh baked bread
• a project finished
• Kira being no worse and possibly a little better

 

And int he words of Eleanor Farjeon's poem - cats really do sleep anywhere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strange times so bring on the crafting

These are strange times to be living in - for everyone, world wide.

I spend my time torn between thinking it is all an over-reaction and being a little worried. I cannot see this going on for months and months - surely? Deaths in China have slowed already and are slowing in the north of Italy and yet the US and the UK amongst others are saying  this could go on for months and months. I get the social distancing to slow it down but to cancel all public exams seems and over reactiona nd way too early to make that decision. Wouldn't it have been better to have said to the kids keep revising over your extended Easter and we will review mid April when we know more.  The kids and staff will all have been off - I know some teachers are still going to be working - for weeks, possibly two months, so could the schools not resume in June and run through to August or beyond to make up the time and then the exam group kids could sit their exams. They could be delayed not just cancelled. There are thousands and thousands of Year 11 and 13 kids - and Year 6 kids - who are suddenly potentially leaving their school forever with two days notice. It seems a very very hasty decision to me. Unless - and this is where my worries lie - unless they do know much more than they are saying.

 

However, at the end of the day, I can do nothing about it. It is out of my hands and all of our hands so I will do what I know how to do - I will scrap in the face of uncertainty. At least Nigel and I know we enjoy being together, we are used to being home together and love it and we both have loads we enjoy doing at home froms crapping, designing, doing jigsaws, playing games, playing rock band with the wii etc etc. I pray everyone else will find peace with it too.

 

This is my scrapping today  based on a sketch by Shimelle

 

I wanted to record some of my art as art had been transformative in my life in the last two and a bit years.

 

I made and printed the block using material from my good friend Dawn Inskip who inspired me to paint. I think she would have been pleased and I still miss her such a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

Now this is a very odd page. Nigel rarely asks me to make a page specifically for him but he did. He has loved his biscuits over Christmas and was tickled by the fact they were Fox's and that it said they were lovingly baked by Foxes. We call Fiki fox and so that was why he liked it. When the box was empty he asked if I could scrap it! Not my usual sort of page but he asked so I did.

Everything on the page, even the border, apart from the background paper and the two foxes was just cut off the box. He liked it - that is the main thing.

 

 

Finally, this is a page made for a challenge on UKS

 

 

It is a paper page but I printed the film strips out - they are from Jen Yurko.

 

So stay safe everyone. Find what makes you happy at home.Care for your neighbours and for each other and stay positive.

 

Today I am thankful for

• gorgeous gorgeous new scrapping goodies to play with - at just the right time.
• being home bound with Nigel
• faith to help me stay positive

 

 

 

A little bit of sunshine

So today happened.

And all ended well.

 

We spotted a damp patch in the kitchen - small - but clear. It appeared to have come from a broken waste pipe from the en suite bathroom that was dripping down the outside wall. We put builders tape across the bathroom (figuratively speaking) and Nigel called a friend who is a plumber  (thank goodness for speedway - Nigel knows builders and carpenters and plumbers and they are all wonderful - it is quite a network. ) We called him yesterday and he came today and fixed it. We have treated the wall, painted it with a first coat and we hope we have cured the problem. But those of you who know me well know I get terribly stressed with any sort of work on the house.

So to keep my mind off it I have been drawing and painting. Painting a little bit of sunshine.

 

I started the sunflowers with Jakki yesterday but sent today finishing them.  You can see it in process.

 

 

 

 

and I also finished my meerkat.

 

 

I have also been scrapping but I can't share that yet.

In other news my tooth was fine - it's horrid now! Hope it settles down but the sharp electric pain is not fab!

 

Today I am thankful for

• a painting day
• friends with skills who help us out
• new pipes

 

and I think the last of the boards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battening down the hatches

Apparently we are heading for a storm this weekend - and as it is called Storm Ciara we figure it is bound to be bad as any storm named after our grouchy Kira Cat is going to be bad!

 

However, today was nice which was good. I worked int eh morning but we still has time for lunch by the sea and a film this afternoon (a very disappointing Dolittle - I would recommend you don't waste your money ,to be honest!)

 

Yesterday I got my brand new watercolour paints which I am very excited about. I have gone for a professional set now I know I will use them and they are lovely. Watch this space

This is my most recent completed painting

 

 

I have also done some new scrapping that I can share

This one was made for Ella Bonella and was a tough challenge. You were allowed to use white cardstock, one sheet of patterned paper (I used 1/2 sheet but it was double-sided with strips on one side and yellow on the other) one colour of mist, one alphabet and one journalling pen.

 

I found it really hard

 

 

and this one was for a combined challenge on  FTLOPP and Scrap Squad. It was a fabulous sketch.

 

Publish

 

 

I am hosting this weeks scraplift on the ATDML Facebook group so do go over and check it out. There is a prize to win! Visit HERE

Today I am thankful that

• I have new paints to play with
• it is the weekend

 

Stay safe in the storms everyone.

 

 

 

A bit of a day

No blog post yesterday as it was a bit of a day.

Regular readers will know I don't do well with workmen int he house and disruption and upheaval. Well, that was yesterday!

 

We have had an issue with our top landing floor for months and months and my nagging finally paid off and Nigel got someone in to fix it. It means we had to take up the carpet and underlay and then they had to saw the old floor out and replace it. The tongue and grove had failed and we had soft patches. It was noisy. It was messy. It is DONE! After months of being careful where we trod to avoid the soft patches we can now walk anywhere we like!!!
In the evening it was a speedway quiz so I was supporting Nigel with his quiz night - back to marking again. Well, I did have some experience over the years!

I do have new things to share though.

Digital first ...  as always the images are clickable links

 

This si the new Berry Blends collection from Palvinka and Natali Designs

 

 

This is what I made

 

 

and this is  Breathtaking by Simplette which I used for the mojo challenge using the free template from Heartstrings ScrapArt

 

 

and this was my page

 

and finally, for today some DT work for A Trip Down Memory Lane

I was sent some lovely new releases and one of the collections was Hey Crafty Girl by Simple Stories (It is on their web site for purchase now) and I couldn't resist making this to showcase my two paintings.

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a job completed with no disasters
• a lovely painty day (will share the latest picture later)
• my clever husband - I am so proud of him when he does these quizes. They are not your normal quiz but full-blown multimedia presentations and he is such a showman, such a presenter and I am just darned proud of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pet Portraits

I was thrilled last night that my latest pet portraits reached their new home and I had another delighted customer.

I do love doing the paintings and can lose myself for hours, but it is so stressful when you send them off and you hope that you have captured the essence of the beloved fur baby you have painted.

 

This was a gorgeous pair of labradors - a black and a golden and I was quite pleased with the finished piece. The dogs were facing each other so I include a picture of them 'hung' but bear in mind these are in their plastic packaging and so there is a lot of glare on the pictures.

 

 

 

 

I am so pleased she was thrilled.

 

We have a pretty major storm going through here today with 60 mph winds. we did go down to the sea to sit int he car and have our lunch watching the waves crash (including over the car at one point. Not often we have had seaweed debris on the car! I love the ocean and really don't think I could ever live far away from the ocean. Summer or winter, I love it, and when it is rough it is one of my favourite times of the year.

I have some new scrapping to share too

 

This is a page for the holiday album as it was taken at San Diego Zoo but also resonates very much with me currently. I have been so heartened by people throughout the country who are crafters rallying together and sewing, knitting and crocheting to make things for the animals who fell victim to the awful wildfires in Australia.  There are thousands of people crafting to help and I have been crocheting things for them too.

 

 

 

 

I also want to share this which just about broke my heart.

 

 

 

This is another holiday page - it was our favourite retro building on Route 66 ... the lovely Conoco building in Shamrock Texas.

 

Today I am thankful for

• rough sea but a safe home
• successful commissions

 

 

 

 

A bit of sketching and a bit of scrapping

We went out for a walk this morning - just around town. I would like to stress I don't really buy clothes any more - I don't need any ... probably ever! But for the first time in almost a year I bought two new tops in the sales that I just fell in love with.

I also bought a new pair of boots - for the cupboard. I fell in love with my new boots I had before Christmas. They are like wearing slippers - so soft and light and fab. They are so comfortable and so I have bought another pair - for Ron (we always say things for later on are for Ron) I know if I wait, by the time I need them they won't be available any more so heck. New boots too.

Other than that I have made a start in my next commission (nervous about this one but then I always am when I start) and did a couple of pages in my traveller's notebook sketchbook of Route 66. I would have sketched when I was there, but there seriously was not time to do anything other than be there.

 

These are the first two pages (I will do the cover at a later date. ) They are very very very simple and sketchy as this is a technique I am trying to master. They are based on photos I took for this purpose.

 

 

 

and some scrapping from this week too

We didn't get many photos from Montreal so the pages will be few and far between

 

 

This was underwhelming - the floral clock at Niagara

 

 

Our first sunrise of the trip - Nubble Light

 

Beautiful sunny Balboa

 

and another Paige Evans cut file and Vermont in the fall.

 

Today I am thankful for

• new things - doesn't happen a lot ... I am very restrained these days
• starting my sketch book - was a bit scared to take the plunge

 

 

 

 

A Good one at last and some art

Well - we have had a bad run at the cinema with films we have not enjoyed but BAM - a good one today.

 

I never did read The Goldfinch but the film was quite spectacular. Beautiful cinematography, great story - or course - and wonderful acting. The critics have slammed it but we loved it.

 

I have a new painting to share today - not any of it done in art group really - just a painting of a photo I took - actually that isn't true - it's a painting of dozens of photos. The phonebox on the beach at Studland, just as you get off the ferry is iconic and I take so many photos of it as I just love it. I have scrapped it too. So I decided to paint it and this is what I came up with. It is NOT perfect, but Nigel liked it and comsidering it was only finished yesterday, it is now up - in a frame and everything!

 

 

Just for comparisson so you can see how bad it is and why I should really stick to scrapping - this is a paper page of one of the many many photos 

 

  and another random page made recently

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• better health - almost a week without pain and problems
• cinema club and a good film
• art - brings me great joy

 

Art Exhibition

For those of you who are local there is a FREE - yes free - art exhibition in St Paul's Church Canford Heath from 10 am - 4 pm every day this week including Saturday and I tell you what, it is pretty darned amazing. We are all amateurs and largely self-taught but the work from everyone is staggeringly good - it really is. And it is so diverse.

 

I can't share other people's as it is not fair - you will have to go see yourself - but I can share mine. I am dead chuffed to have 9 paintings up this time.

 

 

I was stewarding there this morning but this afternoon I have been scrapping for the next round of the Mind the Scrap challenge. This week it included wet media and I don't really DO wet media but today out came the inks and the texture paint.

 

Both are of Kira and this one uses more of the Graphic 45 Bloom collection from A Trip Down Memory Lane

The geometric square shapes are texture paste painted, inked and gold rubbed!

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a great art club to belong too - good fun and great inspiration.
• Kira - she is the quieter of our two - well Ok not quieter as she never stops talking, but more well behaved.

 

 

 

Our wedding

I have had a bit of a mammoth couple of days and have completed 15 pages and ... drum roll ..

 

ready for it ....

 

only 34 years late ....

 

our wedding album is complete.  Phew.

 

I started it a while back and then it got shelved due to our holiday and wanting to do those albums so I decided to crack on. It is an 8 x 8 album and many pages are quite simple but it is so much nicer to have than our proper wedding album which is large, heavy and, quite frankly, dated. I found it hard to scrap the pictures as I was nervous on my wedding day  and don't like my picture being taken and there was way too much of it on a wedding say so I look grim in most of the pictures, plus they are the 1980s and so they are dated and not like lovely wedding pictures these days. However, it was one of the happiest days of my life and so it deserved to be scrapped properly.

 

These are just a couple of pages

The first page/cover page

 

 

 

 

The final page

 

a couple of bits between

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have a new painting, finished yesterday, to share. It was a watercolour we all did the same version of - took about 4 hours and had to be in a particular style. I was quite pleased with it in the end.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a completed album
• my husband. I thought I was happy on my wedding day - I am so very very much happier now. Our love has deepened and matured and I really am blessed
• art - it brings me great joy