• HOME
  • {A}’s Chipmunk Training Archives

 Homepage

  • The Homestead
    • Home Projects
    • Home Improvement
    • Home Decor
      • Seasonal Home decor
        • FALL Home Decor
        • WINTER Home Decor
        • SPRING Crafts and Creations
        • SUMMER Crafts and Creations
    • Our Chickens
    • Gardening
    • Organization
    • Re-Purposing
    • Furniture Refinishing
    • Budget
  • Crafts & Creations
    • Seasonal Home decor
      • FALL Crafts and Creations
      • WINTER Crafts and Creations
      • SPRING Crafts and Creations
      • SUMMER Crafts and Creations
    • DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Project
    • Kids Arts and Crafts
    • Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas
    • Holiday Crafts
    • Fan Pulls
    • Free Printable/Downloadable
    • Sewing Projects
    • Giveaways
    • Business Features
  • Recipes/FoodFun
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Main Dish
    • Sandwiches
    • Appetizers
    • Slow Cooker
    • On The Grill
    • Side Dishes
      • Soups
      • Salads
    • Baking
      • Breads, Rolls and Muffins
    • Snacks
    • Treats
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
  • Homeschooling
    • Elementary Homeschooling
      • Elementary Homeschooling READING
      • Elementary Homeschooling MATH
      • Elementary Homeschooling LANGUAGE ARTS
      • Elementary Homeschooling SCIENCE
      • Elementary Homeschooling HOME ECONOMICS
      • Kids Arts and Crafts
    • Middle School Homeschooling
      • Middle School Homeschooling SCIENCE
      • Middle School Homeschooling HOME ECONOMICS
    • Language Arts
    • Math
    • History / Social Studies
    • Geography
    • Foreign Language
    • Field Trips
    • Games
    • Nature Study
  • The Big Picture
    • Life In General
    • Celebrations
    • Faith
      • Into the Light; The Series
    • Giveaways
    • Reviews & Sponsors
  • Photography & Lettering
    • Photography
    • truck lettering
    • vehicle graphics
    • Newborns
    • Kids
    • Engagement
    • High School Senior Pictures
    • High School Senior Pictures Sneak Peeks

Halloween Craft | A Dripping Paint Pumpkin

October 8, 2012 By Laura 42 Comments

000_

 Last year for the Halloween/Hallowtide season, I went bat **** crazy (no Halloween-pun intended ;), with the decorating, inside and out.  I did a huge photo-galore post on it, and it’s a popular one, come that time of year again. There is some real creativity there, for you to see. This year, however, I didn’t need to do much of anything, because I have all of last years stuff! So I’ve mostly just been doing little fall-fun crafts, and baking. I did however, decide I wanted to do a little pumpkin project I thought of, and I thought I would show it to you all, and tell you how I went about it.

001_faux-pumpkin
I started with a medium sized faux craft pumpkin.  You absolutely can use a real pumpkin if you’d like, but obviously it will not last beyond this season. So if you want your pumpkin craft for keeps, than faux is the way to go!

I also covered my table as always, to protect it, with a cheap party table cloth, of which I always have a bunch on hand from the Dollar Tree store.  Unless they get real messy (and it sure will this time), you can use them over and over.  Of course old newspaper or something else disposable will do.

002_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft I cut out an appropriate sized BOO! for my pumpkin, out of vinyl.  I don’t know why, but I have always loved the whole BOO thing, for this time of year. Probably because it’s so . . . . . . childish. Elementary. You know, not a serious scare kind of thing, because I’m really not into that.  Anyhoo, you can use any kind of graphic or word(s) you’d like for this project.  Use your imagination and put some of your own style into it. Or, you can copy my BOO, and I won’t BOO-HOO about it.

003_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
So I properly positioned my vinyl design and applied it to my pumpkin. Now you’ll notice it’s got wrinkles in it all over the place. That’s ok!  My husband is a professional master with vinyl (for real), but I’m not so much.  Of course it’s harder to apply to curving surfaces but anyway, but also, I wasn’t extra careful either because this is just a mask! I am using the vinyl to protect the pumpkin for where I do not want paint, and will later be peeling the vinyl letters back off. So any wrinkles did not concern me.  I just made sure I went over every area of the vinyl with a lot of pressure with my squeegee.  (As seen in the next photo.)

004_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
What I did want to be concerned with, was doing my best to close any gaping holes that formed at the edge of the vinyl where wrinkles were.  Because I didn’t want paint to get under there.  If you do this project, you really want to do your best to seal down the vinyl edges. Especially at the top!  Chances are paint is going to get under the vinyl somewhere, but the better you have those gaps closed off, the less clean-up on the pumpkin later.  You’ll see what I mean in a little bit.

005
Black was the only color paint I’d be using, and I had two partial bottles in my storage. So I just mixed them up together in a glass measuring cup, because the spout on the cup would be coming in handy.

006_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft To begin the painting process though, I used a flat brush and painting out the top.  I imagine a foam brush would work fine enough as well.

After I had painted out the top all the way around, it was time to get messy. Thank goodness for the table cloth.

007_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
I just started pouring paint onto the pumpkin, right out of my cup, starting on the black where I had already painted black, and about the level where gravity would take over the paint. Because getting the paint dripping is the whole goal here.

008_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
And it was working for me. : )  Now….depending on the consistency of your paint, you may want to add water to it just a drop or 2 at a time, to thin it a little of you need to at all. But really just a drop or 2 at a time, and test it, because you do not want it too thin and runny.  I really loved the look of my pumpkin right there in this photo!  lol. The 3 dimension of the paint was giving me new ideas!  But, for my original project plan here, I needed the paint to cover my lettering, and yet still have a drip look to it.

009_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
So I really got the drip factor going. You see how messy this is getting? Oh . . . you haven’t seen anything, yet. LOL.  As cool as this looked, I knew peeling the letters off with even this amount of paint, would leave it unable to read.

010_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
So I just kept adding paint, and helping it along to drip, with my brush when needed.  The paint tended to puddle on top of the pumpkin too, so I helped that out and down. And, as the paint dripped onto the table, I kept moving the pumpkin back out of the paint-puddle.  I really wanted the dripping to be evident after the word, which didn’t leave me a lot of room. So I was sure to have the drips starting from higher all around the word, on the sides of the pumpkin.

Basically at this point, I had to leave the paint to dry a little. Not bone-dry.  But dry enough to be able to peel out the lettering.

011_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
Just awhile later, I did peel out the vinyl. I used the tip of an x-acto to do that.
Now, you can see it’s a bit of a mess.  It’s obvious where the paint did indeed get under the vinyl and onto my ‘negative space’ word.  But no worries:  I just used damp q-tips to clean it off.  It took a few q-tips in some areas, and sometimes a little scrubbing with it, but it worked well enough.

012_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
Much
better, don’t you think? Not perfect, but cleaner lines.  There is still something that bugged me though . . .

013_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft This little spot is where the paint over-dried at the vinyl edge, so when I peeled off the letter B, a little paint peeled off right there.  So to fill that area in, I could have just touched it up with paint. But I didn’t. I just used a permanent black Sharpie marker to fill it in there.  And while I was at it, I went around any areas on the insides of the letters, where it could have used a cleaner line edge. I cheated. Oh yes I did.  All over the place.

And I had to paint the stem a better brown; because whatever that color was that it came as, was not working for me!

It never did become perfect, and that was o.k. with me. Because I am working on embracing imperfections since, let’s face it….I can be a hot mess some days. And there is only so much time in a week!

014_halloween-faux-painted-pumpkin-craft
So I called it DONE, and put it on simple display, with a little bale of hay and little sugar pumpkins from my mother-in-law, and I think it came out rather cute.
So BOO!
What say YOU?!



Save

Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, FALL Crafts and Creations, Holiday Crafts, Tutorial Tagged With: craft-pumpkin-craft-project, creative-pumpkin-ideas, Halloween, Halloween-crafts, pumpkin-decorating-ideas, pumpkin-painting

Our Halloween Decor! (Indoor-Outdoor-Photos Galore!)

October 9, 2011 By Laura 22 Comments

BOO, People!! So excited here, to show you all around! I had a goal this year (2011), to have our whole homestead Halloween decor done (known as the 3-day Hallowtide, to us) by October 1st! That way, we could enjoy it all the whole month of October.  I also wanted it all blogged no more than a few days later. How long can it really take, to photograph, edit, and blog it? Apparently….9+ days.  With my kids busy schedules, I’m in the driver’s seat, in gyms and on fields, more than in my computer chair these days. (Enjoying it, although behind in work to say the least. But my kiddos come first!)

best Halloweeen decor

Now, I have to explain real quick, that I have been trying to ‘find my place’, with Halloween decor, for years.  From a spiritual/Catholic point of view (always where I am at), I don’t like to stray too far from the true meaning or Christian roots of any holiday, including Halloween. This is why we have always extended our focus to Hallowtide = All Hallows Eve, All Souls’ Day, and All Saints’ Day.  (You can see more about that, and how we roll, HERE.)

On a completely unrelated note, but tying in with the theme, I personally am a big baby, some may say. I do not like scary/gory/terror/evil anything.  My kids laugh at everything they see, and I look away. I freak out inside a little bit, myself. Not to mention (ok, I will….), that I see zero value in all of it. So…. decorating has always been a bit of a reluctance / confusion for me, about what I wanted to do.  But I can say this year, I found my groove, and the game was on!
In that light, I hope you enjoy seeing our homestead, outdoors and indoors, that I have photographed for you all.
LET’S GO!

best Halloweeen decor Off the bat ( <—- <giggle!), I’d like to give huge props and thanks to Emily from Frosting & Ink Social Designery! <—- Click on the link to see her Etsy shop!  I purchased this Halloween Party Collection from Frosting & Ink, and used it for my home decor!  While I can design much of anything myself, I hardly have time these days. And besides, when I saw what Emily created, I was all over it!  So she deserves lots of credit here! I’ll be posting some her beautiful designs, and showing you how I used them throughout these photos. I actually have not used them all yet, but there is always next year!

002

Got to warn you:  I handed the Hubs the cobweb stuff, to be in charge of getting that done, and he went crazy with it!  Even {O} giggled watching him and said, “I can tell you’re having fun with that stuff Daddy! You don’t want to stop!”

One more note:  I had fun editing these photos, with some little grunge effects, etc.  My house is not actually this grimy looking, inside or out!  Not that’s it’s perfectly clean either.  If anything, it gets more of the messy & dust-bunny kind of dirty. LOL  ; )

So here is my very favorite Halloween creation, I made with a design from Frosting & Ink….

best Halloweeen decor

My Halloween Parking Sign! That’s right, I’m the witch around here! Heee hee heeee! Some will agree with that, in a heart beat. ; )  Others will argue, “No000 sir.  She is kidding you.  She is the sweetest thing ever!”  Depends who you talk to. LOL. (Or the day? lol).  Just kidding.

best Halloweeen decor

Anyway….I smile every time I pull the car into our driveway, about 20 times a day, and see my sign.  It’s something I made to be able to use every year, for years to come. I saw the whole thing in my head, the second I saw the design.  Michael made the jagged wood board for me, and we painted/distressed it, etc. It is weatherproof.

If you are wondering how, I do plan to do a quick post in the Crafts section, about how I made some of these Halloween decor things, sometime this week.  But this post is just about showing our decorations for now.

best Halloweeen decor I just have to show you the amazing and beautiful detail in Emily’s work!  I always loved that font used for ‘Parking’.  A band I love, Daughtry, uses that letter-style for their logo. It’s called Bleeding Cowboys, I think. It’s a perfect choice for Halloween designing.  Good call, Emily!

best Halloweeen decor

I was soooo on the fence (<—-another pun…giggle!) about getting this skeleton at Michael’s Arts & Crafts!!  I definitely am drawn to skulls and cross-bones and stuff, you know?  I have no idea why. They just ‘look’ cool to me. Yet I don’t really want to like them so much. LOL.  So….this is about my line, as far as decor goes.  See? Call me a wimp.  As long as we placed him humorously, was our/my decision.  I do like seeing him, hanging out there! (As long as it’s not dark out! lol)
–

007_halloween-garden-home-decor Here is a wider view of our front-yard-gardens.
The flowers are pretty deadish now, which really kind of makes it all work!  Don’tcha think?
–

best Halloweeen decor

Another perspective of our friend.  From Snap Peas to Skeletons!
–

best Halloweeen decor I love my newly painted buttoned bottle.

best Halloweeen decor The potting bench.


best Halloweeen decor

Bats swarming our front door.   It was a popular idea last year, that I loved.  But I’m slow. : )
Details of how I did this will be in the Crafts post too.

best Halloweeen decor This chest Michael picked up free somewhere in front of someone’s house.  It’s super interesting inside!  Really old…meant for shipping clothing and goods, etc., I think.  There are all of these compartments inside.  BUT, when opened, there is a heavy mold/mildew odor (which I am immediately allergic to), that we can’t get rid of.  So, we’ll be tossing it, instead of doing anything more with it.  But I thought it would be cool to keep through Halloween out on the front deck, anyway.
–

best Halloweeen decor

Through the glass of our front door here, you can see our Halloween wreath I made, with another design from my party pack from Frosting & Ink!

SO……that’s about it for our outdoor Halloween decor.

Would you like to come in??…

best Halloweeen decor When you order for this particular pack from Frosting & Ink, you are supposed to give her your last name, so she can customize this design.  I incorporated it into a wreath.  I’ll share more about how I made this later, in the craft post, too.

best Halloweeen decor The wreath is technically on the inside, because it is not weatherproof, in any way! Just turning it over here, so you can get a better look of it as a whole.  But faces outdoors.

best Halloweeen decor

Our Halloween Tree.  Yep….still have that stick tree there! LOL.

The Halloween lights and black crow were bought at Michael’s Arts and Crafts.

best Halloweeen decor

Some of you may know, I love making inter-changable fan pulls, for our all-season room.  (Anyone?)  I haven’t made one in a long time.  BUT, I did make one for Halloween this year!….

best Halloweeen decor Beads and this spider, from Michael’s Arts and Crafts.

best Halloweeen decor

How cute are the little ghosts??

020_halloween-fan-pull-spider

best Halloweeen decor

I did this kind of thing on our French doors, for Christmas and spring too.  I used the the little Cupcake Toppers and Party Signs, from the same Frosting & Ink Party Collection,  for what I call ‘Fancy Strands’, down my doors.

best Halloweeen decor

best Halloweeen decor

best Halloweeen decor

025_ A little over the top with the cobwebs, much?  It is a bit of an old family portrait now. Well, only 2-3 years. Time for a new one, although we’ll keep this one up somewhere in the house, too, anyway. But that’s the fam.

Well would you look at the time!….

best Halloweeen decor

It’s late, and I must get to bed.  I am sure we’ll have something more Halloween-ish to share, in the coming weeks.  We do plan to do something with pumpkins!  And as I said, I’ll be showing how I made everything crafty in this post, in a coming post in the Crafts section. So….we do hope you come again. (If you DARE!!  Because we’re wicked scary….right? ; )

ETA:  Here is the link for:  Tips, Tricks and How-To’s to our Halloween Decor  in this post

Please say  “BOO!”….if you enjoyed this peak of our Halloween Homestead!!?

Feel free to share the post, or PIN any photos you’d like, as well!

Isn’t the Halloween season fun??

* * * * * *
creative Halloween decor




Save

Filed Under: Faith/ Catholic, FALL Home Decor, Holidays, Home Decor, Photography, Seasonal Home decor, The Big Picture, The Homestead Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, Catholic-Halloween-decorating, Frosting-and-Ink-Social-Designery, Halloween, Halloween-crafts, Halloween-decor, Halloween-fan-pull, Halloween-home-decor, Halloween-tree, Hallowtide, indoor-Halloween-decorating-decor, Michaels-arts-and-crafts, outdoor-Halloween-decor, really-creative-Halloween-decor

Our Halloween Costume Ideas from the Past

October 30, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

I don’t plan on having a big post on our Halloween/Hallowtide this year.  But last night I got to thinking about some of our past Halloween costume ideas we’ve come up with, and I went digging through photos. Putting together costumes, is a creative process of sorts, so we thought this section of the blog was a good place for this.

There is SO much I could share with you from our pre-blogging days, because I have always taken lots of photos.  But I haven’t always shot digital.  The scanning of old photos, and cleaning up dust particles, etc, is not a process I enjoy. At all.  But if I’m inspired enough to share with you some old stuff, I guess I will do it.  As I just did!

I thought it would be fun, to share with you some of {A}’s Halloween costume photos from when she was little, as well as the triplet’s second Halloween, but first in costume.  Naturally, we think they are all so cute.  But then, they are all our kids. Maybe we’re bias. But something tells us you might get a chuckle or 2 as well, looking at these.  Or we might at least get a smile out of you, and that’s good enough for us too.

kid-clown-costume
{A} in 1998, as a clown.   She was 1 year old.    I have to laugh at the ‘very best first walking shoes’ she has on.   No, we didn’t do that too, for babies 2, 3 and 4.  Turns out they are all walking and running just fine!
–

kid-genie-costume
In 1999, as a genie, and 2 years old.   Is she not the cutest thing?  My sister-in -aw made the costume for us.  I helped cut fabric and stuff though.  And I also made the bottle.  I have to admit, I’m not into allowing my girls to jaunt around with bare midriffs anymore.  But I wouldn’t give up this photo of her at 2 year old, in this costume, for anything.  What a doll she was.
–

kid-pediatrician
In 2000 at 3 years old, she was her own pediatrician, at the time. lol.  We have had a new pedi now since I was pregnant with the triplets, and the former one is no longer practicing, that I know of.  But she was beyond ecstatic to learn that {A} was her, for Halloween that year.  She (the pedi) showed everyone in the office that day, while {A} waited in her paper gown. lol I think this photo is still hanging in the office there.
–

kid-indian-girl-costume
In 2001, as an Indian, at 4 years old.    I really loved this costume.

kid-indian-girl-costume-2
But this head shot, is one of my all-time favorite photos of her when she was little.
–

baby-farm-animal-costumes-triplets And then we had our little farm animals, in 2003.   lol.  They were 1 year old.  Remember the Tom Armani costumes?  The kids were a riot in them.  We had so much fun this year.  {S}, on the far right, was just on the verge of another hysterical laugh.  He would always, get laughing so hard, he couldn’t compose himself.  He still does that.  He was a happy baby, all of the time, despite all he went through.
–

baby-cow-costume
Our big cow.  He was as heavy as one too.
–

baby-lamb-costume

Our sweet little lamb.
–

baby-goat-costume
Our Billy Goat – always smiling.
–

farmer-girl-costume
{A} (big sister) was their loving farmer, who tended her little farm animals with such care.
–

We just had to show them all off, and trick or treating is always out of the question for us (with {S}’s severe peanut allergy)….so we thought we’d take them to the mall, and just pull them around.  There was Halloween festivities going on there anyway, and it was warm, light, and safe.

And from that idea, our idea grew….

farmer-and-baby-farm-animals-triplets-big-sister We put a little picket fence around our farm animals, in their ‘choo-choo wagon’.   They were the biggest attraction.   People just stopped, and watched us, cracking up.

The funniest thing that night, that still gets us hysterical when we think about it, was that {S}, was the billy goat, and every time we looked back as we pulled him, he was chewing on the fence!!  I was always laughing too hard, to get a photo.

Then we heard there was a costume parade judging contest at the other end of the mall.  So we went down there and pulled them through.  There was a big crowd, and then we had to go by this whole panel of judges at a table. They were all so smitten with our farm.

farmer-and-baby-farm-animals-triplets-big-sister_2 We won 1st Place,  for Most Original Costume!

The judges thought our farm yard was very creative.  The farmer and her little animals had a fun night, and then they went back to the farm and went fast asleep in their barn.

If you have blogged your kids in some of your favorite Halloween /Hallowtide costumes, leave us a link so we can come see them!  If you haven’t, wouldn’t it be a fun post?

Thanks for stopping by.  We hope you enjoyed seeing our kiddo’s costumes from the past, as mush as we enjoy revisiting these wonderful family memories.

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween / Hallowtide!!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Filed Under: Celebrations, Crafts & Creations, Faith, Faith/ Catholic, FALL Crafts and Creations, Holiday Crafts, Holidays, Seasonal Crafts and Creations, The Big Picture Tagged With: clown-costume, costume-contest-winners, farm-animals-costumes, farmer-costume, genie-costume, Halloween, Halloween-costume-ideas, Halloween-costume-ideas-for-triplets, kids-Halloween-costumes, triplets

Hallowtide: Part II – All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day

November 22, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

In wrapping up our Hallowtide series, in this Part II, we want to share with you a little bit about our All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day, which we always try to acknowledge in some way in keeping with our Catholic faith.  If you missed Part I, with a fun-filled peek into our Halloween/(All Hallow’s Eve or All Saints’ Eve), you’ll want to visit that HERE. We think you’ll enjoy it.

We really kept All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day simple this year.  But sometimes, for us, simple is the most enjoyable kind.

On All Saints’ Day we honor all the saints and martyrs, both known and unknown.  We especially honor the blessed who have not been canonized, and who have no special feast day.  This day (Nov. 1)  is also a holy day of obligation for us, so we attend Mass, and often try to visit a cemetery.

The last day of Hallowtide, referred to as All Souls’ Day, is a day in which we commemorate the souls of all faithful Christians. We especially remember those we have loved and lost, and pray for their souls. We tend to enjoy making Soul Cakes on this day, in accordance with tradition.

So this year, we took a drive one of the late afternoons, to a large cemetery in town.  During the drive on the way there, we reviewed again the history of these days, and what we are to reflect on during them.  When we got there, we filed out of the van to venture around for awhile.  I enjoyed taking photos, of the details surrounding us, and the somewhat-mysterious but obvious significance of it all.

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day

One thing we all noticed right away, was the evidence everywhere, that there were many people laid to rest there, who had loved ones who have not forgotten about them.   We could tell that many of the grave stones had even been visited quite recently. This is likely due to the 3 days which we were in the midst of, when many loved ones who have passed, are remembered by those they left behind.

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-1

Such as the resting place of this deceased one. Notice the fresh flowers, and the Happy Halloween pumpkin.  I loved the bench at this site, that really spoke volumes to me.   Someone really planned on visiting their loved one’s grave site, often.  It made me feel sad, that I am not nearby my mother’s grave site.  I know I would spend time there now and then.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-2

This girl was so young.  Just look at the flowers!  Look at the multitude of stone sculptures and decorative paraphernalia.   She was certainly very loved, still is, and in no way is forgotten.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-3

Everywhere we looked, there were such personal items. And all the while, these tokens of love said so very much to us.  They told us all, about how much these people were loved, and how much their death was such a loss to someone. Maybe to many.  To those who knew and loved them.

I personally was moved too, to think how much these tokens must mean, to be brought there, and placed like they were.  Each and every item left, must have such a story behind them.  I was really quite amazed to think how, the amount of love that brought them to leave such things with the loved ones that they lost, was greater than their fear of these things being taken.  It restored some of my hope in the human spirit, to see so many items, some obviously having been there a long time,  left so undisturbed.

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-4

Some of the little things  just plain broke my heart, like the baseball on top of the gravestone of this little boy’s site.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-5

This one made me chuckle a little.  I guess this man’s job meant a whole lot to him.  Or, maybe it’s significant as a piece that connects someone left behind, to the one who has passed.  Perhaps a long time co-worker.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-6

The kids were really so interested and intrigued.  This particular stone had a feature I had never seen before.

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-7

A case within the stone to display meaningful  momentos.  It had a door on the back, that locked.   We found that so interesting.  On a humorous note, we knew one thing for sure about the the life of the person that rested here.  They loved gambling!!  I didn’t take a photo, but the scene etched below this keepsake case on this stone, was actually Foxwoods Casino! lol.  Do you see those circles at the top of the stone?  Believe it or not, those are casino tokens, embedded into the  stone. lol.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-8

The artwork on so many stones, that told us something about that person, was often so beautifully done.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-9

Like this one.  What a beautiful scene.  How symbolic, to see the empty chair there on the shore, facing the source of light.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-10

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-11

We really walked around for a very long time.  It was fascinating, really.  The pieces of stories everywhere.  Like always, when I reflect on the lost earthly life of anyone, I wondered about each one of these.  Did they have faith?  Did they have a relationship with God?  Did they embrace a realization that Jesus Christ was sent into this world, to die on a cross for them, and to give them eternal Salvation?

Where were their souls?   We prayed for them all. One by one, and collectively.

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-12

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-13

We walked around until near dark, because no one really wanted to leave. We wandered until it really got too cold, and our hands were frozen. It was a simple thing to do, but the emotions it stirred was surprising. So many lives.  So many questions.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-14

Our seasonal Liturgical table holds the prayer cards of some of our own loved and lost ones.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-16

We added the names of those who we have known that passed away in the last year, and who’s souls we must remember, and pray for.

“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.”
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-15

On the Sunday nearest All Soul’s Day, our church is filled with lit candles….one representing the life of each person in our parish who passed away that year.  Our old dear friend, (Mr.) Bill, did not have any family living near by, except for his daughter who lives  in New York, but comes down often.  His daughter was not at this Mass however,  so we took his candle home with us, and let his daughter know we have it for her.
–

catholic-hallowtide-all-saints-day-all-souls-day-17

Also on that Sunday,  our pastor gave such a profound sermon. Honestly, he is so gifted with giving sermons, that you get lost in the depths of what he is telling you.  You tend to forget where you even are, physically, until his sermon comes full circle, with such a powerful point, as it always does.   I wish I could have taped this particular sermon, for you all to hear.  My explanation will never do it justice.  But on the one hand, he was saying how many religions talk about how us Catholics shouldn’t pray to the saints, asking them to pray for us, or for special circumstances.  That we should only pray to God.  He went on to say how, we often ask ‘each other’ to pray for us or our loved one, so why would we not ask for the help of those who are right there, in Christ’s presence?  Those who are closest to Him?

He also talked about the saints, and how one would ‘think’ saints were so near-perfect….dedicating their lives to God and rarely doing wrong.  But he whipped out a laundry list of saint’s names, and made points about each of them off the top of his head, that were indeed startling facts to some of us.  Saint Monica, for instance, had a significant drinking problem.  St. Paul used to persecute Christians.  Thomas Aquinas was obese.  St. Francis of Assisi, was believed to be completely off his rocker.   So much so, that he was almost thrown out of his own order!  Fr. Ken went on and on with the imperfections of well-known saints.  In the end, I think many of us sitting there realized, that WE actually have a fighting chance at becoming saints ourselves! lol  It helped us realize that we are all sinners indeed, just as the saints were.  We were all made in Christ’s image, but certainly human, and all called to never stop pursuing a life which walks with Christ. With each day of our life, we must find ways to grow a closer, more intimate and meaningful relationship with Him.

As we reflect on and pray for the souls of the saints in Heaven, the souls awaiting Salvation in Purgatory, as well as the ones still living here on earth, let us not forget our own!!  May we nurture our own souls, sustaining them with that which gives us life, so that one day we too will be in Christ’s presence for all of eternity.  I think that’s what we all really want, in the end.
Because whether we think we’re called to be a saint or not, we all are.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Filed Under: Celebrations, Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Holidays, The Big Picture, Traditions Tagged With: All Souls Day, All-Saints-Day, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, Catholic-Hallowtide, Catholic-homily, Halloween, Hallowtide, Hallowtide-ideas

We are wicked happy to have you here! We hope you find much inspiration, help, humor and enjoyment here.




Archives



POPULAR POSTS

* * * * * *

SUBSCRIBE to House of Joyful Noise blog! Every new post, delivered right to your email box!


Privacy Policy

Amazon Affiliates

Never at any additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission for our endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products from our website. Your purchase through our links helps support our family, while sharing with you the products we authentically use and recommend, for various ideas, and letting you know where you can purchase them. Thank you for your support!

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 HouseOfJoyfulNoise.com · Genesis Framework by StudioPress