Miscellany.....

These are some miscellaneous photos that I never posted before for various reasons.  Dang photoshop is not working again.  I am scared to do anything because the computer is so dang sensitive.

Susan Tuttle just released a book, I am dying to win a copy.  If I don't, I will surely buy it.  I have taken two workshops with Susan and learned so much.  You can purchase the book on Amazon or you can try to win a copy here on her blog.

 

A Dim Flying Dust

 

There

A dim flying dust

The inhabitant

Of a place called solitude

In the black

Where it is

But invisible

And I confess

To an amorous error

And the moment I do......

Suddenly

It is flown away.....

O Lord!  Help me please.....!!!

Romeo Della Valle

This is the photo I am using for the Dim challenge.  It was really hard to get this pic because the trees were shaking in the wind, the low lighting, and being interrupted by my husband shouting, "Look at my fish, take a picture of my fish!" with the enthusiasm of a 8 year old.  I liked trying to get this dimly lit shot because pics like this usually don't turn out for me.  I never remember to take a tripod along and I always get shaky when I am trying to stand still.

You can check out Becky Dorsch's take on this challenge here

You can also check out the Echo Flickr group here

Wish I was a geek, so I could find out what's up with my computer

Well, I was able to finally upload my pics from the last couple weeks, but my Photoshop Elements is refusing to work again.  It worked for five minutes this weekend and now nothing.  I just upped the ram on the computer praying that would help.  I have no idea, what to do.  I guess it has a mind of it own, or some sort of secret conspiracy is going on.

Skye Hardwick is having a giveaway on her blog.  She is giving away her new Workshop Workbook.  You can check it out at http://theworkbookworkshop.com.  Her pics are amazing.  I wish I had pics of Kiah that gorgeous.  You can also check her out on her blog Soulographer.

Hope everyone has a good week!

I found this picture while cleaning out my closet today.  It was probably taken in San Diego.  A couple of times when I was a child my dad took me down there to visit my grandma and grandpa.  I don't have a lot of childhood memories.  But I do remember some crazy times in San Diego......

1.)  Being chased down by a flock of geese.
2.)  Losing my favorite necklace in the sand... you know those ones from the 80's where you can link them together by pushing then into each other... it was a major tragedy back then.
3.)  Riding in the back of a taxi cab, when there wasn't any seatbelts.  The driver was driving so crazy and I kept flying everywhere as my dad was yelling profanities at the driver.
4.)  My grandma and grandpa lived on a boat and for some reason didn't have a toilet, so we had to use a bucket.  Another tragic event, I was so scared I was going to fall in.
5.)  Waking up alone on the boat while my dad and grandma went grocery shopping.  But we didn't want to wake you.   Yeah right
6.)  Picking up a bird because I didn't know it was dead.  My dad scared the hell out of me by smacking it out of my hand, spanking me, and yelling  "You're going to get diseases!" over and over again.  
7.)  Driving my grandma and grandpa's old toyota truck home to San Jose in the pouring rain with no wind shield wipers.  He was totally freaking out saying, "We're not going to make it" and I just kept saying, "it's going to be okay daddy."  and it was. 

That ride home made a major impact on my father's life.  After my parent's got a divorce when I was six, we saw each other on and off.  When I got pregnant at 19 he stopped talking to me and we would only see each other maybe once a year.  He would always tell me the story of us driving home in the rain.  My father passed away three years ago.  We had finally started talking only a couple of months before he passed.  While he was in the hospital I stayed there everyday telling him the same thing I told him on that ride home,  "it's going to be okay daddy".  Until it wasn't okay anymore.  I cherish every single memory I have with my father, as crazy as they are because they are all I have now.

My treasures from yesterday

 

This is a pic of  all the goodies I found at the flea market yesterday.  My favorite Peter Pan and Wendy from 1925, two sets of vintage buttons, a vintage flower frog and the cutest little hor d' oeuvre picks. 

I love vintage goodies

Found some really cool goodies today at the flea market.  They were all from the cutest elderly lady.  I got some vintage buttons, a large flower frog, a 1925 copy of Peter Pan and Wendy, and some little vintage hor d'oeuvre picks with abalone and polished stones.  I'll post pics of the other items tomorrow. 

We took Kiah and his friend to the creek by our house.  There were these beautiful yellow flowers and tons of gnats.  But the kids had fun and I got some good pics.

My photoshop elements actually worked long enough for to me to mess with a pic.  I swear it only worked because we were going to be walking out the door in a couple of minutes.  But I was able to quickly do this.

We will see how my computer will work this coming week.  I want to upload photos but am scared it will just up and die on me.  The Geek Squad guy said it can go at any time.  So I have been using my phone for most of my internet posting.  I apologize  in advance for the spelling and spacing errors.

Till next time

Well actually.....

Made this headband for sister today. Totally rocking the cheapness with this one.  The whole thing cost under $0.75 cents to make and is so damn cute.  I can't really get the pic to look right since I am still using the camera phone.  The flower is the one I made out of pages ripped from a Boho magazine.  The headband was a 4 pack from the dollar store, and the leaves were ones I had lying around for crafting.  Glued it all together with E-600 from Eclectic Products.  This glue is great for pretty much everything and is even safe for photographs.

This week Kiah has the week off for spring break.  It has been busy with all the older daycare kids home from school.  But I have had extra time in the evening, to make more background papers for the Artistic Mothers Group.  This is so addicting and has been so fun.  I have a huge drawer filled with stamps that I never use because I always mess up.  For some reason when I was stamping my background paper I was able to stamp the whole dang thing without messing up.  I think I was just so engrossed in the art aspect of it.  I was able to just let go and create.  It felt so good and I absolutely love my papers.  It didn't even matter to me that I got paint on 2 of my favorite skirts.  I will post pics of them tomorrow.

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever lead a life with all the pieces in the right place....

It has been one of those months.  You know the ones where no one listens, everything goes wrong, and when you finally get a smile on your face you start your period.  We have had a lot of problems this month with my Grandma's social services and social security.  Which is really stressful because we had her work in on time and they are still giving us troubles.  I am so grateful for the assistance we do receive for her, if we didn't have it we would have to pay for everything on our very limited income.  That on top of everything else has made it a hard month.

One of the hardest problems this month has been my computer problems.  My photoshop elements isn't working and I can't upload pictures.  So I have been having to use my camera phone.  This picture is the one I am going to use for the Echo group and this was supposed to be my echo but all that other stuff just came out. If that is what the picture prompted out of me I guess I will go with it.  Next week I am going to team up with Becky Dorcsh for the Dim Challenge.  I hope I have my computer working better by then.  My camera phone takes okay pics but is not the same.

Art by Chrysti

Ilka's Attic

Getting my hands dirty......

 

Who knew getting your hands dirty could be so much fun.  This is the background paper I made for the Artistic Mothers Group over at Artistic Creations With Trudy.  I love how gesso and some paint turned nasty color cardstock that I probably would have never used into something so pretty.  At first it was hard for me to let go of trying to make it perfect and just enjoy the process. But I did and it was surprisingly easy.  I am planning on making more.  But only have room to do 1 or 2 at a time.  Also pictured is a flower I made out of pages ripped out of Boho Magazine.  Tinted them with glimmer mist and stuck them together with a brad.  If you have never read Boho magazine, it is really good eco, grassroots, fashion, beauty mag.  Very fun to look through the pages alone spark my creativity somethin' fierce.

Boho magazine 

Is time on my side...

I have been in mourning the last couple of days. No computer, means no photo editing, no nothing. I have my phone but it's not the same. Plus I think I am getting a texting thumb from commenting on flickr using my phone.

Chris was too cute and actually took me out to take pics, with no strings attached. Except that he was going to fish, which was fine as long as I didn't have to wait forever in the cold for one more bite. He took me to this little nature preserve just out of San Jose near Morgan Hill. It was perfect. I got some really good pics, I think. I haven't been able to upload them yet. We went over to this other little park where people can water ski in this little strip of Coyote Creek. Pretty crazy I didn't know you could water ski in there. I was ready for the cops to come and haul them off to jail. Got some more good pics, took a couple of videos of Chris catching some fish, got hassled by some teenagers, saw a beautiful sunset, and then made our way back to the car. I felt good because we walked a couple of miles. Then Chris decided to re-up whatever calories we burned by going to all you can eat sushi at our favorite place The Sushi Factory. Smart I know. My hips are still yelling at me.

With all this extra time I have joined a couple art groups. The first one is The Artistic Mothers group at Trudy Callan's blog. I am also going to team up with Becky Dorsch for the Echo group put on by Susan Tuttle and Christy Hydek. I have actually had a lot of crafting mojo the last couple of days. Made a couple cards, layouts, and some really cool flowers made out of ripped up pages of a Boho magazine.

The pics above were taken and edited last week. As soon as I can upload I will share pics of our trip and the cool little flowers I made.

Till next time.

Here are some recent photos I have worked on.  The one a the top has received over 100 views and more comments than any other picture on my flickr page.  At the moment I have over 2,100 views to my page.  I never even imagined I would have that many views.  It blows my mind.

I am totally jonesin' for my Photoshop  Elements.  I haven't been able to work on anything for a couple days.  Thank God, I was able to get Kiah's class yearbook page done before it crapped out on me.  But now I am able to pay more attention to my blog.  I want to do a give-away of some vintage goodies, but don't know if I get enough responses. I was so pleased to see that Anita from  Iowa Junk Gypsies
commented on one of my posts.  That totally made my day.  That was my first real comment.  Thank you Anita.  I glad my story made you smile.  Does anyone else read my blog?  I would love to know.  Would anyone be interested in a giveaway?

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

These are some straight out of the camera shots from forever ago.  I am disappointed because I recently had APS film converted on to a disk at Walgreens and they turned out horrible.  When I had them printed out in 2005 even at an 8x10 they looked fine, but the images I got on the cd are so grainy.  I even kept the the film in protective cases for the whole time.  It is really irritating because I spent $120.00 on 17 rolls of  25 exp.  film and they said there is nothing they could do. 

                   Happy Easter!!!