Dolly's Dreamings

Lovely quiet weekend

We have had a lovely quiet weekend - not doing much apart from some long walks int he freezing cold and a lot of scrapping.

I remember how weekends used to be frantic as we tried to cram everything in in those two precious days. I prefer our chilled weekends.

 

I have new scrapping to share - both paper and digital

I am all caught up on my weekly pages and this is week 4 ... I am loving doing these ... it's a bit like the photo a day that I would then scrap as weekly pages but without the stress of having to take a picture EVERY day. They are not elaborate pages but will just serve as a record for us of 2017. Of no interest to anyone but us really!

 

 and I have a new paper page to share made for a challenge on UKS to make a pocket page. It's a heck of a big stitched pocket to hold the Disneyland map!

 

 

 I had fun printing off the different elements from various scans and kits I had - recolouring where necessary.

 

I cannot believe we didn't get a new copy of the map as we exited the park - I am usually so good at that. The one I have had to use is one we carried round all day and is well loved. Still, I suppose it is authentic!

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely, un-rushed weekend
• time - don't ever knock it
• Some awesome new digital kits you will see int he next week or so that I have been working with

 

Fiki is currently experiencing a major Mommy crush ... he is just on me all the time. I love it!  (I think he is cold!)

 

 

Better than expected

We didn't have the storm predicted yesterday or today - so all was good.

Today was beautifully bright and sunny - though a definite nip in the air.

 

I also managed to finish my photobooks - both now ordered and I am excited about seeing them.

 

Never ever ever buying two credits at the same time again though! Too much pressure making countless pages over the last few days.

 

This was one of the pages I made today to finish off - a record of the Christmas Tree Festival we attended this year which was lovely.

 

 

I also made this paper page - just because I was sick of staring at the computer screen.

 

 

It was hard to believe that you were in California when you walked around Solvang. It was an utterly beautiful town but very very bizarre. Often mistakenly called Dutch it is a Danish town in Southern California, just 132 miles north of LA.

We were planning to go to another area altogether, butt here were wildfires in the area that has closed the roads and I remembered reading about Solvang so we took a diversion there and to Los Olivos - another gorgeous town.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely trip to the water again

 

• finishing two photobooks

 

 

Frantic scrapping day

The weather has been rubbish here so I have been binge scrapping (and binge watching a  series on TV called Being Human that I had never seen or heard of and it is so bad it is good if that makes sense)

I have completed 8 pages for the photo book - catching up on the past few month that I hadn't done - and the books are almost ready.

Mary I am glad you liked Photobox too.

I get their spiral bound 8" x 8" soft cover books which work really well for me. I still make the pages 12" x 12" of course.

 

This is the cover of the WOW album I have just finished

 

 

and this is the cover of the general album I have almost completed

 

 

I also have a new page to share made with a new collection out by Dawn Inskip

A CREATIVE MIXED MEDIA WORLD : GLISTEN PAPERS by Dawn Inskip

A CREATIVE MIXED MEDIA WORLD : ELEMENTS by Dawn Inskip

 

I made this page with it, showcasing how much I am loving using my IPad for colouring. I have to say I had reservations about the Apple pencil but it is amazing - you can do such detail - I love it

 

 

This is the bird a little closer up that I shared a little while ago.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel getting excellent results in his latest tests at the doctors. I am so thrilled.

 

 

Busy busy busy

I have been scrapping for England today - well not literally you understand. Scrapping for me actually.

 

I had my reminder that my credits were almost up to expire at Photobox and I have to make another 10 pages to fill my book so I have been playing catch up.

 

I have to say for those of you who are digi scrappers I recommend Photobox. I always buy their photo books when they are on offer (there is no way I would pay full price for them) and you can have up to three months to use them. I usually get three general books a year which equates to 180 pages of general scrapping and then extras if I do a special project. For example one fo the books I am about to get printed is of our Way Out West tour and this year I am also making a page a week album so I will get that printed at the end of the year. The quality is good, they are not overly expensive and they take up a lot less room than paper albums (mind you I have dozens of those too)

 

Today I have the first of my weekly pages to share

 

 

They will be simple pages and quite journal heavy but after making a paper album of 2016 in one go I swore I wouldn't do that again this year. A page a week will make it a far more pleasant task.

 

I also did some paper scrapping today and this was a challenge from Nigel - to record our San Diego Zoo trip that never happened.  The reason we abandoned it was that the weather was poor in San Diego and Fabulous in Newport Beach and the traffic was hideous. So we abandoned the trip and went to San Juan Capistrano. Which was a new venue for us.

 

 

The title is something we have never forgotten from when Animal Kingdom opened. The first year the advertising campaign was that it was Nahtazu.

 

This should make it more obvious.  The original commercial.

 

 

 

Makes sense now doesn't it. San Juan Capistrano was nahtazu!!

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• having brilliant friends - seriously I am very lucky
• scrappy days
• new fences - I am a little less worried about the heavy gales forecast tomorrow. We may still lose fences but they have a better chance of surviving

 

 

Just more sorting

The last few days seem to have been about sorting in my craft room - although how much has been sorting and how much has been just shifting from one place to another is a little confusing!

 

We also popped into town as we needed some things and - well Sprinkles was there! So were some new boots - I cannot walk in any of my high boots any longer and my flats are not dressy enough so I wanted a mid heel boot - and I found the perfect pair at a bargain price.

 

Other than life has been simple and homely and just the way we like it.

 

I did manage - after the sorting - to make a page for this week's UKS challenge

 

It took an inordinate amount of time for a very simple page.

 

We absolutely loved watching the pelicans at Pismo Beach - never seen a wild pelican before and there were hundreds (and the smelt bad too - I was glad our room was on the side of the hotel away from them and overlooking the beach as the rooms overlooking the cliff did have a definite whiff!

 

I had to use material of some sort so there is one small crochet and felt flower. The title - and long long long it is - was cut on the silhouette and I hadn't gauged it properly so it is much smaller than anticipated and I am amazed something that thin and spindly cut at all. Well done Silhouette.

 

 

 

 

I also have a new digital page to share.

This was made with

Credits

Making memories #8 by Heart Strings

and No2Alike bundle by Fayette

 

 

 

That's my boy!

 

 

And as January is drawing to an end and we enter February the month of Valentine - new header!

Today I am thankful for

• an end to the sorting for the time being - I am done!
• finding some dies I had forgotten (the discover word on the page was one of them)
• NOT finding my pencil set for my new art course but finding a  cheap alternative in town.

 

 

 

 

Save

Scrappy Sunday

Lovely scrappy day today and as well as making pages I also printed off a lot of word sheets to put in my new storage boxes.

These were £1.99 for three at Lidl and are quite large and very useful. I bought 6 of them to add to my craft storage.

 

 

and this was our fraps - love the version of his name! And obviously mine isn't a frap ts a green tea lemonade... he needs to speak more clearly me thinks.

 

 

and a random picture from the walk along the river

 

 

New scrapping to share for the WOW album - I have now filled the first album and am on to the second. It WAS a big trip

 

 

Radiator Springs Racers was by far our favourite page possibly in any theme park anywhere

 

I am glad I took a photo of the sign at the ride entrance as it worked well as a page title

 

 

 

 

The papers and embellishments are a mix of Bo Bunny, very old Basic Grey  and things printed from a digital kit about road trips by Fayette Designs .

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day doing nothing special other than having a nice time

 

 

 

Reliant on computers

I swear our world would struggle to function without computers - we all seem so reliant on them for everything.

Today was a classic example.

Nigel had to have a routine blood test and so off we set, good and early, to the hospital. We are lucky int hat we can opt to go to a little cottage hospital which has a really nice feel.

Friendly greeting by the receptionist but when we were asked if we had a form for the test and we said no - (it is all computerised these days - haven't had a form for years) she said 'oh dear'.

Apparently the blood test system (or the whole NHS system - who can tell) was down right across Dorset and without the form they couldn't do a test. Neither could they say when it might be back on line nor could they re-book another appointment as the system was down.

Not a great start to our day and certainly not a great day for the poor lady who was having to disappoint an endless stream of visitors

However, my hubby is a clever chap. He took her fax number, phoned our GP, explained the problem and they faxed the form through. Thankfully the fax was working!

He was all sorted.

 

It reminded me of a funny incident a few years ago in Florida. We stopped at the local supermarket to pick up a few things and they were unable to serve anyone. Presumably for a considerable period of time. Their cash registers were down. No cash registers no sales. There was an American man who, in true American form, was a little disgruntled and said' what - they can't even total up a cheque and take our god-dammed money!'

Hit the computers of the world hard enough and you would bring it to a standstill.

 

The good news was that being up early we packed far more than usual into our day. We went for a lovely walk along the river (nice pics - haven't downloaded) a walk through town, then into Poole, a walk through town, a Starbucks, some shopping and also Lidl and were still home before lunch. There are days we don't make it out before lunch!

All in all a lovely retired day with an afternoon of scrapping thrown in for good measure.

 

New scrapping today. Dawn Inskip has a new collaboration kit out with Little Butterfly Wings called Never Give Up.

 

 

It's a gorgeous collection and this is what I made with it - very pertinent for Never Giving Up.

 

 

It documents how we even our family in Oregon hadn't heard of Lost Lake but we had read about the view and, despite the problems and the difficult trip, we found it. We are nothing if not tenacious.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day out.
• computers - we do take them for granted
• Nigel's good veins - he doesn't have any trouble with blood tests - unlike me who has, apparently, tiny wiggly veins that hide.
• new little storage containers from Lidl - so cute and useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peering through the gloom

We have been covered int hick fog today and it hasn't cleared all day.

It is rare to have fog all day - usually it will lift as the morning goes on.

But today - thick fog all day.

 

Mind you, it is not like it was when I was little. Then we used to have real fog. I think probably due to being in the midlands and everyone having coal fires and fog and ... ooh probably countless other things. But we certainly had really bad fogs at times.

 

However it also has its own beauty. There is something beautiful about it too.

 

I have finished one of my two photo books today ... with time to spare.

This is one of the last pages I made for it as it is about the WOW America trip. It is based on an idea I saw on Pinterest and was such fun to make.

Took a bit of working out and I would still like to figure a way to do a paper version.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely indoors day
• listening to/watching DVDs whilst scrapping. Gotta love computers

 

 

These were some gorgeous National Geographic winners from 2015 I saved a while ago - just seemed a good day for nice pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All shining brightly

Yesterday we bought a new light for the kitchen - maybe not quite the solution we wanted ... in an ideal world we would have liked downlighters set into the ceiling butt he thought of having the floor up in the spare room and en suite (above the kitchen) was not appealing ... and Nigel fitted it today and wow. Having lived with a single bulb pendant light for the past 21 years which means in several areas of the kitchen, including the sink, you are in your own light, this is so much better. In fact it is a little too bright for eating and we eat at the table in the kitchen most days and so Nigel is also going to fit a dimmer switch - good and bright for preparation and clear up, nice and subtle for eating.

In the past few days we have spruced up the kitchen a treat. Just everywhere else to do now. In fairness it is just paintwork to touch up so not too bad. The rest of the house was decorated to within an inch of its life over the past 7 years. 

I have new scrapping to share today made for a UKS challenge and using my bargain back of Bo Bunny I treated myself to.

 

 

The lovely map paper already has the wheel and the Diesel corner piece so it was perfect for the topic of Radiator Springs.

I slit the steering wheel so the picture slotted in underneath it (though I later covered that up so it was a little pointless). I used a bright yellow mount to pick up on the bright yellow pump and also mounted the journalling block and some of the embellishments on the same colour.

The big sign that forms the title was also a Bo Bunny piece but it had different writing int he middle so I covered it with a strip of white and then added cut out letters. On reflection I could have printed it but heck - you live and learn.

Most of the embellishments were from various digital kits that I printed out and cut out.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun page to complete.

 

I have also done a mess of digital scrapping as I have another photobook to make and am trying to complete the right number of pages before my pre-purchased credits run out.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely lunch by the lake
• a bright kitchen in every sense
• Kita being sick free again.

 

 

 

 

General busy day

Today has just been busy - no idea why it just has.

But a very very good day as we accomplished stuff we had been wanting to do for ages.

 

I have scrapped but not scanned the pages - that's the sort of day it has been.

I do have a page I made a little while ago though.

 

We were fascinated when we went to America in September at all of the Pumpkin farms everywhere. There were so many - huge huge places and we saw pick your own pumpkin patches, trucks loaded with pumpkins and several very very bizarre places selling pumpkins by the roadside.

 

It was something we don't see here so I couldn't resist scrapping it.

 

I loved having the chance to but pumpkin papers and elements when in the States - not something I have ever really used before. The two big pumpkins were left over from a sheet of paper I cut up for a previous layout. The leaves and small pumpkin were stickers and I used lots of off cuts of other pumpkin themed papers carefully placed to look like much bigger pieces than they were!

 

Today I am thankful for

• getting a very good job done
• time to scrap amidst everything
• being married to the most wonderful man int he world ... OK so I am biased but I am!

 

 

Save