Fan Apparel & Souvenirs

Things To Consider When Making A Scrapbook For Mother's Day

As Mother's Day comes around all scrapbookers will want to create a scrapbook layout - but for what purpose? Let me suggest that there are at least three things you should consider.

1. Your Mom. Dedicate a scrapbook or layout to your Mother. Whether large or small, it doesn't matter.

2. Your daughter. Scrapbooks get passed down to daughters. I don't know why. If you are fortunate enough to have a daughter, think about adding a page to the special scrapbook you keep for her that shows something you and she have done in the past year.

3. You. Include memories of moments you spent with your mom, daughter or even both.

If your mom is into scrapbooking, you might want to consider making a layout that she can attach to her own scrapbook. Feature moments or things that you did together within the year, or an event from your joint past. Go for a layout that is simple and uses colors that blend well with the photographs that you have. Sometimes the relationship between Mother and Daughter isn't an easy one, so if you are having trouble coming up with just the right words to write you can use something like a rub on to display your feelings, or find a poem or a favorite quotation on quotegarden.com (search for 'mothers') that sums up your relationship. One of my favorites is from Milton Berle 'If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?'

My mom and I always have a great time when singing, so the best method for me to design a layout for her is to visualize one line from a song. She is also particularly fond of butterflies, so it won't be difficult to create just the right theme for her, and I enjoy creating colorful butterflies and flowers,  with the Garden Delight or Patterned Bug clear acrylic stamps from Inkadinkadoo. I usually stamp and emboss these onto colored card and cut them out,  but recently I've been experimenting with the Suakura embossing glaze pens, a fabulous way to make butterflies almost as colorful as the real thing. My latest page was made from the saying 'Friends are Flowers in Nature's Garden' because I found we had lots of small pictures of our friends. I cut these into circles and made them the center of flowers. It was a two page layout with small 3D flowers along the lower border and stamped bugs and birds flitting among the blooms. A great big tag with the name of each friend finished off the page, tied with a toning ribbon. Flowers are commonly associated with Mother's Day as well, however, try to come up with something that is personal by adding her favorite flower, animal or color.

If your mother is not into scrapbooking, you can also create an entire scrapbook for her, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything on your own. If you can get your brothers or sisters to join it, it would be a great project for all of you. If that's not the case and you have children, ask them what 'Grandma' means to them. It isn't often that the kids have this kind of opportunity. Each one can contribute, if not a page, a picture and tag that says something about what 'Mother' or 'Grandmother' means to them. One of the best things about scrapbooks is that everything is on the same level and it is the memories and personality that counts.

In considering a theme for the entire scrapbook, perhaps a word would do. The worlds 'Creative' or 'Busy are a great fit for my mom, or a simple color scheme of blues and lilacs; you can try looking for themed papers that can be associated with any of your mom's interests. A friend of mine has a mother who has collected sheep all her life; cuddly sheep, china sheep, glass sheep, every kind of sheep, so when they put together a scrapbook for her 60th birthday, guess what was the theme! In the past I've created an album with a pineapple theme and another for a friend who was seriously into rabbits. Both really enjoyed their personalized scrapbooks, but if there is nothing personal you can think of, try to get inspiration from your Mother's house. Her choice of decor should give you some clues.

For a whole scrapbook you will need

• 1 album with page protectors

• 20 good quality pieces of scrapbooking paper/card to use as a background. It's best to choose background paper that comes in sets, or to make your own, using card, stamps and Ranger Distress Inks. You can see how it's done in our YouTube video Ranger Distress Ink Ideas - just go to youtube and search for Dinglefootdotcom.

• Double sided tape

• 6 or more pages of contrasting papers. You can cut border, mattes and tags from these sheets.

• Assorted brads, stamps and embellishments, for example

• • Amy Butler Fabric Covered Brads ~ K & Company -- use these to attach tags and journalling papers

  • Amy Butler Belle Chipboard Alphabet - K & Company - use these to make heading for some pages

  • 20 Blossoms 12" x 12" Template ~ Hot Off the Press - use this template to create flower embellishments to add to your pages

  • some Tim Holz Distress Ink pads  - use to create patterns on plain background pages or to stamp and emboss with

• A pen to write your journalling with, unless you plan to do this on a computer.

• Other suggestions would include

• • and ink pad and embossing powder (gold and silver go with everything)

  • a paper punch to create cut outs on border or frames

  • some frames to place over your pictures

  • vellum to create focus on your pages

  • some mattes to place under other pictures

  • ribbon

  • some rubber stamps

  • Scrapbooking is a great venue for recycling broken things, broken earrings, left over buttons can all be glued in to pages to make delightful embellishments.

When adding pictures, try to pick at least one for every memorable event. Look for photographs that can tell a story about your mom's life (ask friends and relatives if necessary) or simply concentrate on your life together. You can create an effective two page layout with just one picture on one page and some journalling on the other, but it can be boring if the whole album is the same. Since there is no right or wrong way to go about things, mix it up and use different layouts and shapes for the pictures. The only opinions that count are yours and your mom's.

If you are pressed for time and don't have enough to make a scrapbook, buy your mother the next best thing, an introduction to scrapbooking as a hobby. A good book, an album to start with and a scrapbooking gift basket may be just the thing to get her started, and who knows what you might get, next year.

Melissa & Doug - Jumbo Multi - Theme Coloring Pad

Persian Cat: Chocolate and Lilac Color

Chocolate or lilac Persians?

Can it be possible? I, as an owner, breeding Persians and exots, pose myself such a problem quite recently. Of, course they exist, if to see from genetic point of view. These colors are included into standard, there is their description, but... Where are they? By all accounts from abroad, they have such animals but for some reason they are more often met in pedigrees of British cats as experimental partners for leading new color into the breed, but not like exhibition stars. It had to spent lots of time to answer the question: "What is the real situation with Lilac and Chocolate in the Persian group?"

The paradox came to light at once: there is enough big number of Points with Chocolate and Lilac masques and practically full absence of equally colored individuals. Probably, the fashion played its role in it. After all, from the genetic point of view Lilac-Point color is more difficult in receiving than, for example, Chocolate Solid (solid-monochromatic, "firm" colour). Now, thanks to fashion's jokes, selectionists are forced to word for word take out Chocolate and Lilac either from Solid-carriers CRC (carriers of Color-Point gene) or to work simpliciter with color lines, making copulations Solids (moreover it is desirable of stronger type) with Colors and further interbreeding on the Color parents. Such copulations are made for a long time, but purposeful selection are begun recently in this direction.

Only several breeding nurseries work today in this direction:

This is JUKI in Poland. It is world-famous nursery. But again they have Chocolate and Lilac not like purpose of selection, but like a side effect of Color-Points' breeding of modern type.

This is Smaragd in Estonia, which specializes in Persian and Exotic cats of Lilac color and uses in the work cats from JUKI and Finnish nurseries.

Lilac cat of strong type, reached high victories by FIFE system. Pedigree program of the nursery is various and includes copulations with Chocolate sires.

This is Tair Polling in Ukraine, using also bloods of JUKI, but specializing, vice versa, only in Chocolates and Tabbys. You can see first kittens from this oldest Kharkov nursery in Moscow.

This is club Irbis (FIFE) in Krasnodar, working at the Colors' bloods and carriers of Chocolate. Today the nursery Rarity of one sire, cat of Lilac color. Now you can see the first Lilac prosterity of show-quality.

The nursery Kelisa in Sochi is the nursery of Chocolate Persians. Prosterity of the same type, thought-out pedigree program. The nursery plans the receiving of Lilac Exots and the perfection of the type.

Several animals of Chocolate color appeared in Russia and Ukraine, but you can't see the result of breeding yet. Or these cats still too young, or the pedigree program is not thought out, giving a soon result. Chocolate Exot of Kharkov bloods lives in Saint Petersburg (owner is Orlova S.), also the city on Neva can boast of Chocolate Color-Point, imported from Poland, one more Exot from Kharkov is purchased by the nursery Dimarsh (Moscow).

Ther are animals of modern type in Perm and Voronezh, but because of their remoteness from the capital or passivity of the owners we have a few information about them.

The nursery Alexander-Fred (Moscow) has three Chocolate Persian cats ( of different blood lines), one Chocolate Exot, Chocolate Cream cat, and also several cats-carriers of chocolate gene. The nursery plans the receiving of Chocolate and Lilac Bicolor cats. The nursery leads common pedigree program with Kelisa (Sochi).

Several enthusiasts in Moscow started the breeding of Chocolate and Lilac Persians, but probably they either didn't have enough means to purchase interesting sires or purposefully decided to go all the way of coming-into-being of animals' type, who originally received chocolate color by the way of interbreeding.

It is necessary to understand genetic appropriatenesses of these colors to know the rules of breeding and receiving of Lilacs and Chocolates.

Black color of the hair equally with red is considered to be the basic color. Pigment melanin in black color - eumelanin, in red - pheomelanin. All the rest various colors (except white) are only derivatives of these two. Black color of the hair is formed under the influence of gene B - black, which is defined full chromogenesis. The pigment equally assignes to the axis of hair from the root till the tip. Gene B - black of black color is prepotent, and behind it the row of recessive genes can be hiden:

Gene brightener D (delutor - i.e. diluent), that gives an opportunity to receive from the given sire kittens of blue color. This gene is charged with distribution of pigments, their more thin location along the axis of hair, making the tone of the hair more light;

Gene b of chocolate color ( special location of pigments along the axis of the hair) , giving an opportunity to receive from the giving animal kittens of chocolate color and, in combination with gene-brightener D, lilac color. Consideration must be given to the fact that gene b is recessive. I.e. to receive kittens of chocolate color, both of parents must be carrier of this gene, and to receive the posterity of lilac color, both of parents must have at the same time genes D and b;

Gene of siamese color is interesting by opportunity to receive the posterity with siamese marks, including blue, chocolate and lilac colors (in the presence of genes of clarification and chocolate color at the same time).

Presence of given genes can define, studied the pedigree of sire or in practice, choosing partners with known genetics. But to receive the color, close to ideal, it is necessary to keep to the rule - to pair similar with similar. The main requirement for the quality of lilac and chocolate color is their tender, warm tone. These colors go well together, but as possible partners it is allowed to choose cats of Red, Cream colors, who give their Lilac and Chocolate progeny pinkish tint of hair and bright eye color. To Lilac and Chocolate Tabbys can be recommended Golden Tabbys as possible partners or improvers of type.

Peculiarity of today's situation in Chocolate breeding of Persian is that the task to get rid of Siamese gene became the purpose of the selectionists. At the first stage of the work it comes to the leading this gene into the recessive state. In future, numerous copulations of Chocolates and Lilacs 'inside them' will allow to clear up the color gene of the population.

It would seem that there is nothing simplier to pair Lilac-Point with Red cat, and then interbreed littermates between each other. But the question of the type stands the most sharply in Persians than in other breeds. That's why such way is inconvinient - doing the step forward, it has to do two steps back. What we have to do? Very often animals of black color, especially in extreme breeds are the carriers of the strongest, modern type, that's why they are used as improvers in the breeding of animals of different colors such as Points, Smokes, Bicolors and even Chinchillas. That's why it is appropriate to attract exactly them (or Tortoiseshell cats, received from black, high-class sires) to the chocolate program.

Extract from the standard of Persian colors WCF (edition by 1995)

PER b CHOCOLATE

Color: All colors of brown are accepted, without rust, white hairs or picture. Without grey undercoat, color must be equal.

Lobe of the nose: Color of milky chocolate

Pads: Color of cinnamon or chocolate

Eye color: Copper or deep-orange

PER c LILAC

Color: Color of hair is pale lilac with light pink shimmer, without white hairs or picture. Without grey undercoat, color must be equal.

Lobe of the nose: Lilac

Pads: Lilac-pink

Eye color: Copper or deep-orange

Today the interest to the rare Persian colors increases. That's why I hope that very soon we can often see the rarest and the most mysterious Chocolates and Lilacs on the shows!

About the Author

If you want to see more information about Persian cats, please visit this site Persian cat Club.