RSG: Been farmin' long?

 Good Morning, friends!

Today is the 3rd Wednesday of the month which means 

the Ready, Set, Go! Challenge is due. 

 The RSG is a challenge where Barb, Jeanette and I think WAY outside the box and take turns proposing challenges that are not for the faint of heart :-)  

For this month's challenge, Jeanette is the hostess and asked us to reflect a bit on our grandfathers.  For me, that was indeed a challenge, as I was not fortunate to know either of my grandpas.  We grew up in a military family and while we were very fortunate and very blessed to travel often and see so much of the world, that always took us far away from our extended family.  The alternative was to reflect on another ancestor who's birthday is the closest to today, April 18th, and create a card/project that in some way reflects that person, so I went with that.

I chose my dad ♥  

His birthday would have been in July, the closest relative with the next birthday.

My dad passed away in March 11 years ago at the way-too-young age of 63,

but his memory and legacy will live on for many, many more years. 

 He and I were very close and were so much alike!

  We had so many similiar traits and the same sense of humor and often finished each others sandwiches jokes! ← That's something he would have said!

Dad was a HARD worker - born and raised in rural southern California on a farm with Irish immigrant parents.  He was 3rd from the youngest of the 12 children my grandma birthed, but tragically lost 3 young siblings when they were very young. He often told us growing up with 8 other siblings (9 including himself) was HARD ... food was sometimes scarce, work was long, hard and in the scorching sun, and it was a difficult to stay in school when the farms needed tending.  His job, among many, was the chicken coop!  He said it often gave him great joy to tend to the chickens and devise ways to keep the foxes and coyotes out.  He has ONE photograph of him as a child, maybe 4 or 5? - as a little toehead, wearing his jean overalls and squinting into the sun trying to see the camera.  It's a tattered old black and white photograph and on that rare occasion that we pulled it out to look at it, he and I would crack up and say that one famous line "Been farmin' long?!"  He did two things that brought pride to his family:

1.  He graduated high school, and a year early!  That was not an easy feat back in the day.  Dropping out was not only acceptable, but often necessary.

2.  He joined the Air Force at 17 and served our country proudly,

 retiring at 26 years.  I am so grateful for our veterans,

 but my favorites are my brother and my dad :)

I miss my dad .. so so  SO much.  Every day.  He left us too soon, and I know my greatest joy will be when I see him again on the other side.  

So here is my card, in honor of my dad :-)

 

 I dug through my stash of stamps to find the one that best represented him, 

his chickens, farm and the bibs :) 

 I colored my CC Designs Sweet Chicky.  
*Edited - I replaced my photo and will try a skin coloring technique another time :)
  I am DIGGIN' this farm paper that has been in my stash called Heartland Farm from American Crafts ~ it was a perfect match! 

 

You can see what Barb and Jeanette have created with this month's 

RSG! Challenge. 

I have a few missing from the first year of challenges but 

they are already in the works or done! ♥

Stay tuned!
 

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly