Dolly's Dreamings: This is not a book

April 29, 2015

Little things that make you smile

Isn't it funny how the smallest of things can make you smile.

A surprise pain au chocolat certainly made me smile this morning. Naughty but very very nice.

Nigel being home for a while before speedway - lovely

Seeing my cows (I keep telling you the cows who roam on the heath are mine!) they are such beautiful peaceful animals that just fill me with happiness when I see them grazing right next to my fence.

My azaleas in bloom

I feel very blessed.

I have another page of my This is Not a Book to share - I hope you are not getting too bored with this. There won't be any more for a while - they take me ages to do and I have no real free time in term time.

This was one I didn't really plan at all - it just sort of evolved.

As soon as I saw the horizon and the water I wanted to do a sunset and a desert island which I did and then this led me to Disney and our home from home at the Caribbean Beach .

Today I am thankful for

little things that brighten life

Posted at 05:50 PM in This is not a book | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 28, 2015

A little more doodling

At the weekend I completed the first double page in my new This Is Not a Book.

I got Nigel to pick a page - any page - and this was the one he picked.

I knew I wanted to do my journey to work but I also knew I didn't want to do a traditional map. Bear in mind this is my first venture into this so it is not good. But it does give the sort of effect I wanted. I was after a schematic look - the sort of tourist map you might get with important landmarks but not in scale or even in the right direction.

The drawing was meant to be basic and quirky - not works of art. That was partly as that was the effect I was after and partly because I can only do quirky and odd and not real and good.

It shows that I leave home ... where the heart is of course ... see my cows (Oh yes they are MINE) on the heath, the bus I always pass, see the cyclists on the road that drive me mad every day. We have a cycle path on the road. The road had temporary lights for months whilst they put it in. So the cyclists chose not to use it but to ride on the road instead and cause the traffic to slow right down and it drives me MAD. Then there is the school bus I always see travelling in the opposite direction. All of this is surrounded by green as it is all across heath land and very pretty.

Then there is the double roundabout, the speed camera (got caught there once - back in 1994!) the bit of road that always floods, Coy Pond with the weeping willows and the ducks and finally school, once again wooded and green.

Lots and lots of things I would do differently but it was theraputic and fun and tis done.

Today I am thankful for

This is not a book ... loving it
coffee cake ... was lovely
even more garden work ... he is on a roll.

Posted at 05:46 PM in This is not a book | Permalink | Comments (3)

April 27, 2015

This is not a book

I think I am pretty much ready to share a new addiction.

I do feel a little like someone going into something like AA because it is an addiction.

It is an addiction to colouring and doodling.

It began painlessly enough as a child and recently progressed to the reasonably painless adult colouring books where I bought to of the latest craze and - ooops - 5 tins, the complete range of spectrum noir pencils.

I rearranged my beautiful pencils last night as I preferred them colour themed.

I don't profess to be very good at the colouring but I do love it.

It was all going well until a group of friends embarked upon Wreck it journals. So I bought one of those but really it is just a tad too destructive for me. The very name - wreck it - well that was a problem for me.

So from there it was just a short hop skip and jump to 'This is not a book'

I think it is a terrific concept. A book (well I LOVE books) that is NOT a book. It is a creative journey. A book you write in, draw in, do tasks from. I am totally addicted.

I have done very little as I have enjoyed just holding it, thinking of it, planning things, and the pages I have done have taken me ages to do. But I love it.

Above is the very first page in the book which I covered in zentangle type drawings. Not great - I am but a novice here. But terribly theraputic to do.

I was more pleased with this page. It just had the blue circle on it to begin with

I added the welcome etc at the top and then wrote - in odd shaped letters, around the circle, adding colour all round and then added a bit at the bottom too.

I added the flowers on the page join and then