For the Dogs

Before we had kids, we had dogs, and those dogs were our babies and our pride and joy.  Two beautiful dalmatians full of zing and zest.  Baci and Junior.  Collectively, an important part of our family for 18 years.

 

They've been riding the Big Firetruck in the Sky (or wherever it is in Dog Heaven that dalmatians go) for 6 and 8 years now, but our menagerie of Christmas ornaments and decorations still reflect the love that we had for those two crazy moops.

My mom, not an animal person, couldn't help but embrace her grand-dogs on a crafty level and made them stockings to hang by the chimney with care.  I LOVE how she made one very spotty and one not so spotty in keeping with Baci and Junior's individual coats.

 

These dogs had sooooooo many nicknames.  I decided to document as many of those names I could remember and make a spread for my "Pets We've Known and Loved" scrapbook.  This is actually the first entry about our pets that I've made!  (You can read about the scrapbook's inception and the Beastie Boys themed page I made for it here.)

The Paper Company cardstock; K&Company patterned paper (hand cut title);
Balzer Designs/The Crafter's Workshop stencil; Tim Holtz Distress Inks;
Pigma Micron pen; Prang watercolors

The stencil I used as a template for all the nicknames is called "Fragmented Flower" and is available here.  I outlined and doodled the checkerboard pattern with pen after tracing out the inner areas.

Then I re-traced those areas on a separate sheet of cardstock, cut out the pieces and used various colors of distress ink to add color to the edges.

The titles were hand lettered and cut from patterned paper, and after each page was put together I inked the edges of the background paper and added some black watercolor paint splats to finish it off.

It's fun looking back on all those nicknames and how they all came about!  But, you know what?  I've thought of a few more since then!  So now I have to figure out how to add them in.  I think I've come up with a solution--stay tuned!

Thanks for visiting, and wishing you all wonderful and safe New Year's celebrations!