Let's Get Shabby #44 - Easter

Inspiration: List 1: Rabbit, List 2: Buttons and string, List 3: Distressing and Inking.

 

As children we always had a dog; my earliest memory is of Santa, a spaniel cross. When he died, we got Ross, a Shetland Sheepdog and eventually a female too, Cairead. We were taught the responsibilities of owning a pet from an early age. When we started our own family we felt this was a good way to teach the children responsibility for a living thing too. We started with a Jack Russel, Yukka but he was too nippy and energetic for our eldest son at 18 months and with another baby on the way we decided he was not a good fit and we returned him. We later took care of my mothers dog Cairead when she moved into nursing quarters and the boys were taught about feeding and grooming and when they were old enough, the cleaning that is also required.

Our eldest son had his heart set on a rabbit when he was 10 and we decided to get him one for Christmas on the understanding that he was solely responsible for its care. This photo was taken on Christmas Day, it concentrates on the rabbit and you can not see our sons smiling face. Our son carried out his duty so well that we allowed him to buy another with his own pocket money a few months later. We were assured by the pet store owner that both were boys and there was no fear of them breeding. Needless to say it was only 12-15 weeks later that we discovered several kits in the enclosure as well. Sadly, our sheepdog was 'helping' the mother return the escaping kits to their enclosure and was not gentle enough. The adults contracted a virus a few weeks later and succumbed. It was decided that we would stick to dogs in the future!  

When our son left home and moved to his own property, he chose an active kelpie cross and spent many happy hours training her in agility and obedience. All our boys eventually would leave home and have dogs of their own and now teach their own children the responsibilities of owning a pet.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, kind regards.

  

The Color Room - Palette 146

I have an older brother and two younger sisters; our brother has three daughters, a previous post 'Let's Get Shabby Inspiration Challenge - February' is about his middle daughter. Of the three of us girls only one has a daughter, she is my middle sister's middle child; this photo was taken on her wedding day.

In this photo, the proud looking man beside her is not her Dad but my husband, her uncle. These two seemed to have a formed special friendship in my nieces adult years. He finds her to be wise beyond her years, loves a good conversation with her and assisted her to get her manual drivers licence by allowing her to drive our car on the test day as it was in better shape that the VW Beetle she owned. As she now lives on the other side of Australia actual conversations are few and far between but he loves to listen to her Face Book posts as they are always interesting, funny or poignant. She has a quirky sense of humour and style, is one of the most intuitive young women I have ever met and also one of the most understanding.

Her wedding, held on Halloween and themed 'Day of the Dead/Rockabilly' was one of the most meaningful, elegant ceremonies and fun receptions I have attended and she looked absolutely stunning.

Please accept my apologies for the quality of the photo, I am having camera and computer issues and had to use my iPhone. Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes. 

 



ScrapFriends Sketch Challenge - March

Any regular followers will know we have four sons, all married with children of their own; six of our seven grandchildren are boys, only one is a girl; her Dad is our youngest son. None of us could believe it possible for this family to produce such a rarity, One of a Kind! Many family and friends suggest that she will be spoilt but I made a promise to myself a long time ago that not one of our grandchildren would be treated any different to another; it can be hard though. I often see a little dress that would be perfect for her but if I get a dress for her, the boys all have to receive something too and that can get expensive!

This photo is of my second son holding his one and only niece; because he is a FIFO worker and has a family of his own he doesn't get to spend as much time with her as he would like and she is a little shy of him. He was ecstatic to be able to pick her up and get a smile recently and made sure there were photos to prove it.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, kind regards.

CSI Palette and Inspiration Challenge - #61

My eldest son's son, born six months after the accident that claimed his Dad. This little one has cochlea implants due to being left profoundly deaf after contracting meningitis and nearly dying on his second birthday. He has had a tough start to his little life but nothing holds him back; my dream for him is written on the tag behind the photo. We don't see him as often as we would like but I dream that one day he will know how much he is loved by his Dad's family and perhaps, through my scrap booking, stories and writings he will know how wonderful his Dad was.
Evidence: Butterflies, buttons and plain white background.
Testimony: my hidden dreams for our third grandson
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, kind regards

 

 

Let's Get Shabby - Inspiration Challenge

Inspiration: the natural shabby minimalist background, one of my favourites because there is not much it doesn't work with, the colour of the gown, also a favourite, the frill on the gown; I bought this ribbon years ago and never got to use it, I have tea dyed it to age it; the colour of the feathers is repeated in the white roses and the pop of pink in another rose, finally the formality of the photo:

This is a photo of one of my four nieces, she is dressed as matron of honour for her elder sisters wedding and was taken as she prepared her baby's bottle so that her Mum could care for him.

Due to distance and family circumstance, I lost contact with this niece for some years; what I found many years later was a wonderful friend; the reason for the title of this layout. She is such a strong person having worked hard to become the lovely young woman she is; she is the wife of a serving member of the armed forces which means she is left alone to care for her young family for many months at a time with the added worry of the safety of her man. She has four of the most delightful, well mannered, well raised children I have had the pleasure to meet and still finds time to scrapbook and sew for them. Although we live on completely opposite sides of Australia, we scrap with each other by text and email showing each other our completed pages before we put them on our blog; this page is the very first she has not seen first; I hope it is a nice surprise for her and I have done her proud. She is the daughter of my heart; one that was lost and now is found and I thank God everyday for her friendship and wisdom.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, kind regards.