Gravestones and goblins and angels--OH MY!

 It's been awhile since I've blogged, not because I didn't want to, just because time constraints of my job.  This is our busiest season and this girl is burnin' it at both ends.....
But, I just wanted to write SOMEthing...anything!

 I'm gonna tell you a little secret...I love visiting old graveyards. I love tombstone art and it's symbolism.  When I spot an old cemetery, I try to stop.... I want to go visit the people that have been there for many years. I take a moment and reminisce on who that person was and what their lives were like.  When I visited my little brown eyed girl last month, we,(my twin and I) took the morning to visit Green Lawn Cemetery .  We only spent an hour there, so we hardly saw anything.  I did get some beautiful pictures.  Wanna see some? 

check out her beautiful flower garland.  What work!

I decided no time like the present to investigate some of the symbolism of these tombstones.  Here, the angel on a tomb symbolizes spirituality (easy guess), she is set there to guard the dead and act as a messenger between God and man.  A garland can symbolize glory or victory in death--who knew! I thought she was just beautiful--and perhaps the person that picked this angel for this grave site thought the same.

I especially love her back...check it out:

heavenly!

It was a hot as Hades(pun intended) that day, but overcast, making a good day for pictures.  I'm no big time photog and all I use is a point and shoot camera...but I do love taking pictures, especially of these lovely monuments to someones dearly beloved.   This next monument

enthralled me because of the detail work.  Look at these toes...they look better than a fresh pedicure!

 I don't remember when this person passed, but you can definitely see some wear...but even after years of wear these toes still look divine!  The urn she's holding signifies eternal life and looking down on the grave may mean she's guarding the person there.  LOVE.

If you're bored already, go on and visit another blog...cause I have just a little bit more to talk about here....


I thought this little stone was enchanting for the name engraved across the top: HERBIE.  Not Herbert, but Herbie...

don't you want to know more about Herbie, just from these simple raised letters?

I'm always a little sad when I find these graves....children's graves.  I can't help but wonder how the parents were after they lost their little baby.

a wee angel for Joyce...

the little innocent child, represented by a worn away lamb

 This one is kinda creepy because it's a headless dove.  Probably vandalized or worn away over time.  But, creepy nonetheless.

just a small grave for a small child marked by a dove of peace(without a head....)

40 followers..ya'll rock.

Amy at papertrail leaver is hosting her 500 hundred posting giveaway, but don't go over there and enter--cause I WANT to win this wonderful giveaway!  Whoot whoot, what a prize!

I was just telling my MR, ya'll remember him, right?  You  first met him at this blog posting here .Anyway, I was just telling my MR that my followers have doubled since July 7.  Whoot! Whoot!  Ya'll rock!

I told my MR....I would like to have a giveaway.  His response, "don't give away any of my sh**!!"  bwwwaaahhh, I almost peed my pants on that one.  This refers back to a yard sale we  had a few months ago and the MR sold a few of his tools and guitars. It was so hard for him, but dahumm, he made some money at the yard sale.  I spent the day peddling 25 cent crap...he sells over $500 in the first hour. Somehow that just don't seem right. 

MR playing on the beach

Ya'll have fun this week! 

Orange you glad I used Tsukineko Walnut Ink?

The Summer of Color Challenge is almost over and I'm very sad to see it go.  Additionally, my Fridays off for the summer have come to a conclusion...wonder why I'm in such a funk?  Could it be the two coincide and make a person sad.  (weep).

It has been such a fun time following the Summer of Color, seeing the work and visiting the blogs.  Check out the  blog yourself, here.  This week I need to work on my card stash and decided orange would do just fine, if I could figure out how to make it work without looking Halloween.  Not that that's a bad thing. (Jerry Seinfeld saying)

Since it has become my custom to share with you some family pictures, let's take a little stroll down memory lane.  Here's my mom sporting my most favorite dress of hers.  She looks hot, even after having 6 kids.  Looks like this picture was taken when my baby sister was around 2.  Way to go Mom--you look marvelous!

baby sister, Nancy in the high chair, Margie peeking out from Mom(the ham always). Patsy frowning in the background.

I love my mother's hair in this photo, it reminds me of Saturday afternoons when my mother would do her hair for Sunday church.  Ya'll remember those days right?  My mother would put big curlers in her hair and then  put a hair dryer on to set the curls. That usually signaled nap time for us, she would settled us in front of the tv, with Lawrence Welk, of all people.  Then on went her hair dryer and we would all settle in to watch the tv and  nap.  

This was a moment of rest for her too, she was always asleep when we woke up. As a little child I can remember thinking how strange it was to see my mother sleeping.  She was/is a whirlwind of activity, that's is unnatural to see her quiet.  As an adult I think back on those Saturday afternoons and imagine her enjoying the nice warm hair dryer on her wet head and how it relaxed her.  Check out this favorite of my sister Kathy.  You haven't met her yet:

baby Kathy drying her hair

On to the cards...let's see what we've got this week.

set of four cards

Last month, I won from a Bella Creations Viola Ink Group. (yay me!!) a set of Tim Holtz stamps.   I bought some Walnut ink for another challenge on the Viola Ink Group on Bella Creations  and added it to the paper.  But, first I used Versa Ink with  Tim Holtz butterflies stamps.   I added a little bit of black netting and a button.  Some stickles gold to add some accents.

Inside of this card says:
I loved the layering I did with the inside of this card.  I ended  up enjoying the orange on this card.

This card has a little saying on it that says, "When I want to see love defined I look at you.  It gets a little lost in the walnut ink of this paper.  Lesson learned.


Sookie gives her approval of this card.  Of course she was very interested in the round button.

Puhlease let me play with the button!

Disasterous Crafting Blog

As a member of the Flying Unicorn social networking site I ran across this blog and giveaway.  You're welcome to go by and enter into her wonderful giveaway...but don't cause I won't to win it ALL~  (haha)


http://disasterouscrafting.blogspot.com/2011/07/august-giveaway-and-guest-ct-at-flying.html