My sister and her husband have rescued several dogs in recent years and Brother-in-law was especially fond of two Pit Bulls a few years ago. He rescued one and one of their good friends rescued the second one. Mercedes, the second dog, died recently and my sister asked me to make a mini scrapbook that she could give Mercedes' people mom. I fell in love with the dog during the process and could see why she was so deeply loved. I used my Cricut Elegant Edges to cut the pages ... and used a variety of other dies to make the content. We grabbed most of the photographs from Facebook posts ... and I included a set of Nanny Pit pictures that I found online.
I purchased a set of paw prints to use throughout the book ... and purchased the Ruff You bone.
Meet Mercedes. What a beautiful brindle Pit. I use all kinds of elements in my scrapbook design ... the flower cuts match the real flowers in the background of the picture.
The black and white photos were some taken when she first arrived at the shelter. BIL made promotional business cards to hand out ... in an attempt to find a new home for her.
In her new forever home, she had a sister dog! "You are my Sunshine" seemed to be a perfect page theme, since Sister Dog was holding a sunshine toy in her mouth! Sometimes you have to 'read the minds' of the subjects of pictures while scrapbooking! I guessed that Mercedes was watching birds in the pictures on the right hand page!
"Knick Knack Paddy Whack ... give the dog a bone" ... My BIL is a musician so I assume everybody who knows him must enjoy music! The music page on the left and the banner page on the right ... seemed perfect!
BIL spends lots of time training dogs at the shelter where he volunteers ... and Mercedes had learned to love him. Mercedes' people mom referred to my BIL as Mercedes' "Daddy Dave" ... The picture of her wearing the headset in front of a computer ... made me think of a customer service rep ... and I'm sure Mercedes' was "Calling Daddy Dave"! One of the pictures on the right shows Mercedes meeting Daddy Dave after not seeing him for a few years. Of course, she remembered and loved him!
"Wags and Kisses" is a great theme ... and a similar tag was used to tie on a jar filled with candy kisses! I enjoy using fabric and lace in my books ... so adding the lace butterflies was a natural. You'll notice in the next picture ... that I added pearl eyes to the lady bugs!
Not sure what Mercedes was digging for in these pictures ... maybe her ball! Dogs don't really need a reason to dig, but she is intent ... like she is looking for something. Perhaps a critter!
We love our dogs ... and they love us back! Mercedes had a couple surgeries and you can see 'in her eyes' that she just wants to get well and go outside and play!
The picture on the above right ... is Mercedes on her back ... sunning! The page on the left is actually a pocket, where I stuck several pictures of the Nanny Pits. At the turn of the last century, Pit Bulls were family dogs and they were highly protective of children. They were used as "nannies" ... and that is a forgotten part of the history of this breed. Look at these adorable pictures of Pit Bull family members!
In the following picture, you'll see Mercedes in her Halloween costumes ... and the picture on the right shows her happy face .... after she pulled the stuffing out of a toy! Maybe she was looking for turkey and stuffing!
Here she is in a variety of Christmas costumes! Her facial expression makes me think she didn't really like getting all dressed up ... but she posed dutifully!
In the last two pages of the book ... I added another pocket ... and the final page suggests that the "Rainbow Bridge" is a happy place. I believe that dogs go to Heaven ... and that I'll be reunited with every animal I've ever had someday! They ... just like Mercedes ... are having happy times in their Heavenly Home.
The final step in making my mini scrapbooks ... is to add tassels of ribbon at each end of the binding spiral. I do that for three reasons ... they are pretty ... they hold the spiral in place ... and they cover the raw edge of the spiral wire.
I'll be sharing this post with a few of the blog parties listed in my sidebar.
Hope you are inspired!
