Calendar Girls ~ With Sympathy ...

 

For me, sympathy cards are the very hardest for me to make.

Truth be told, I'd rather trek myself down to the nearest Hallmark

and pick one up!

 

Baby cards have been known to stump me,

masculine cards have me crafting in circles and scratching my head.

But sympathy cards ...

eh, I stare at the paper, ink and markers with a wary eye, indeed!

 

But the reality is ... part of being an 'artist' is often challenging

ourselves to stretch beyond what is comfortable for us.

I love that part of art ~

adventuring into the unknown,

not really having a direction or inkling of creativity.

No spark, no idea, no plan :)

 

Pen to paper.

 

The Calendar Girl's theme this month is presented by Terry,

and this is the theme she gave us to work with, in her words:

 I have recently (within 2 weeks time) had 3 friends lose parents. Very sad situations for all of them.
With that and the anniversary of 9-11 coming up I would like you all to create a Sympathy card.
Unfortunately, we will all need them at some point. It's a sad thought, but reality.
As an added challenge, I would like you all to share a memory of someone you lost and what that person did to change your life.
 

This is my humble offering.

 

The person that I've lost that influenced my life was my sweet

Grandma, Thelma.  She passed away at 89 on Halloween, 9 years ago,

the same year as my dad.

She was a woman of faith, strength, courage and spunk!

 

Grandma Thelma had 12 kids at a time when just one was too many,

and times were tough ~ VERY tough.

I remember her telling me stories of having to make a meal

to feed everyone from a small sack of flour and an orchards filled

with apples and peaches because "that's all there was."

More than that, she was filled with an incredible faith

and gave my mom her first bible,

which in turn became mine.

 

We didn't get to see Grandma Thelma very often as she

lived on a farm in California and we were traveling all over the world,

often so far way, letters would take weeks to arrive.

But she always wrote!

She always remembered us and stayed connected to the far away family that we became and reminded us that family and faith were two things

that can always remain unbroken.

Love and miss her muchly ♥

 

Be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Calendar Girls

have created with their cards -

you can find them in my sidebar.

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly