Dominic was enjoying having his son's family around. He had really missed his granddaughters... They were both growing up so fast. Baron and Naomi were enjoying their visit as well, and with Lisa helping with the babies, they could sometimes take a moment just for each other. "I'm hungry, Grandfather..." "Is it almost dinner time?" "Not for a while yet." "But my tummy is all growly right now already." Miho felt sorry for the child. As Dominic's partner, she was now a Grandmother to his son's two little daughters as well. "Why don't you come with me, and we can find you something to eat?" "Yes, go with your Grandmother, and she can get you something." But Olivia was a little uncertain. She had only met Miho for the first time a few days ago. Her parents had told her that Miho was going to be her new Grandmother, but right now she was just a stranger. "Go on now. It will also give the two of you a chance to get to know each other better."
Back at Miho's castle, St. Nicholas had left, and Dominic was catching up with his son and his family, while the children played with their new toys... Miho watched, while contemplating just how much had changed during the past year.... ..especially for Dominic. Naomi took Baron aside, "You have such a lovely family."
I loved collecting stamps when I was a kid, and with National Stamp Collecting day coming up on February 13th I decided it was finally time to feature this special day. Which meant having to make a miniature stamp collection. I started by photographing the cover of one of my old stamp albums... I had two tiny Micro Binders from Staples, which were different proportions than the stamp album cover, so I had to widen the album cover in Photoshop, and enough extra for the album cover to fold inside the ends of the micro binder cover. My second, much older stamp album was in rough shape, so I just photographed the cardboard inserts from the cover... Then I created a properly proportioned cover in Photoshop, with extra on both ends to fold around the ends of the micro binder cover... I also photographed several of my favourite pages from the stamp albums, and added borders so they'd be the same proportions as the pages in the Micro Binders, and allow room for punching the binder holes... Then I printed out the covers and pages to scale. I used clear packing tape over the cover printouts to seal and protect them, and give them the proper shiny look. Then it was time to cut out all the album pages and punch holes so they'd fit in the binders. A regular standard hole punch would make holes way too big for the tiny binders, so I used one of my leather hole punches instead. Half the fun of stamp collecting was saving stamps from envelopes that came in the mail, and then later soaking them off. So I took some photos of stamps still on their envelope corners.... I printed them out at quarter scale and carefully ripped them apart. Did I mention that I LOVE my colour printer? So I had albums and stamps.... Then I still needed some loose stamps that had already been soaked off their envelopes, and ready to put in the albums. I printed out a couple of the most colourful pages from my stamp album, ones where there were lots of stamps in neat rows. Then I ran the printouts under my sewing machine needle (without any thread) to create the perforations... ...and carefully separated them. They look a bit rough when blown up in a photo like this, but the stamps average just around 1/4" or less so the perforations work quite well. When I was ready to take photos for Stamp Collecting Day, I set up the interior of Byuri and Aaron's living room in one corner of my castle set which was still on the table... ..and the kids could spend a nice afternoon sorting and adding new stamps to their albums...
February 13th was National Stamp Collecting Day, so Elin was over at Byuri's house to help her sort her new stamps into her album. Then Byuri's brother came in with his stamp album... "I have a whole bag here of doubles that you might be interested in." So the girls moved to the floor where there was more room to sort the new stamps.... "There's some really nice stamps here..." "And I don't have this one either." "Are you sure you don't have this one?" "No I don't. Thanks." Then the three of them spent the rest of the afternoon sorting their stamps...
Last week was the anniversary of our national flag.
In 1963, the government finally decided that Canada needed an official flag in time for the upcoming centennial celebrations, and the heated flag debate began. In the end there were three contenders, and it was George Stanley's concept design that won out. It was made the official flag of Canada by proclamation from Queen Elizabeth II, and on February 15th 1965, it was raised above the Peace Tower in Ottawa for the very first time. It has since become one of the most recognizable flags in the world. So, some of the kids wanted to celebrate and dressed warmly to head out into the falling snow. The little dragons shared Valentines... ...and hugs, with their best friends. ...and then they offered them some of their parent's chocolates.... "These look yummy!" "Are you sure it's okay if we have some?" "Yes..... I think so." "Dad said they were for the whole family to enjoy."
Winston and Saphira wanted their children to know just how much they were loved, so they gave them cards and chocolates as well... The children especially loved the balloons... "We are such lucky parents, to have such wonderful children."
Lawrence had managed to acquire a single red rose, something very rare in the middle of winter.... "Happy Valentine's Day." "Thank you, my Love."
St. Nicholas loved children, especially babies, so sat down to visit with them for a little while...
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
May 2024
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