Well, here it is almost the end of May...

I swear the months go by way too fast.  I wanted to share this picture I took while waiting at a red light on the way to a winery we went hiking at.  Doesn't the cloud look like an airplane or space shuttle?
Crazy, huh?

I have been working on at lot of crafty things, lately.  I made this Dream keeper out of a little box I found left for garbage at the flea market.  It was this~

Then I glammed it up.  I just love the way it turned out.  I was taking pics to post when I noticed that my first dream might come true.  On June 4th I find out if Schmaps Guide to San Francisco wants to feature one of my photos in their magazine.  This project is inspired by two workshops I am in. The Artistic Mother's vision statement banner and the Mondo Beyondo workshop I am in is about finding and realizing your dreams.  I needed something smaller than the vision statement banner because of limited space and wanted something I can tuck away when needed.  I used mostly Prima for this.  The paper is their watercolor paper, and the feather bouquet is one of their pin bouquets.  I went a little psycho with the Stickles I must admit.  I finally got my hands on some Creative Imaginations Mini Foil kits, so I used it around all the edges.  When I went to the scrapbook store they told me they would give it to me for 50% because it was missing the sticky sheet.  Um, okay. When I was putting everything away I noticed it said "free sticky sheet included"  They gave me 50% off when the item missing was free anyways.  I love when that happens.

I also made this really cute frame, in the Artistic Mother they use little inchies which make for a darling frame.  I got the frame for a dollar at Michaels.  I first painted it with a tan color.  Then used a custom creamy beige color for the top coat, then sanded the edges so some of the bottom coat can be seen.  I used my Martha Stewart postal stamp punch instead of cutting out squares.  Glued them on, used some assorted pastels on the edges then mod podged it with the Shimmer color which added a gold tint.  Turned out very cute for a dollar frame.

I am a bad daughter and didn't get anything for my mom on mother's day so I made her this walling hanging using this adorable photo of my great-great grandma Lulu and my great grandma Dee.  My grandma Dee is 96, last week she was hospitalized for having a  minor heart attack.  Come to find out her artery was 90% obstructed.  Despite that, she was begging the doc to let her out because she needed to go play cards.

I love how the Tim Holtz crackle paint looks on it.  I accentuated the cracks with his distress ink.  Fun times.  When I am having good mojo on my paper crafts, my photo editing projects usually lack.  But I was able to process a couple that I was happy enough with.

Hope everyone had or is having a good weekend!

Make sure to check out my giveaway~

 

Make sure to check out my giveaway!

Every concrete object has abstract value, it's timeless in the dream parallel- Hilda Dolittle

This is my take on the abstract challenge over at the Echo group on Flickr.  This picture is a portrait of my son in a paint drop.  He is waving his hand- can you see it?  If you want to win something, check out the post below this.  Hope everyone has a good week!

~Giveaway - Yeah!

I am doing a giveaway, since it is the cool thing to do nowadays.  My brother claims it is shameless self-promotion - but, hey I call it good fun.  From now until June 15th 12:00am PST comment here for 1 entry.  For the second entry you have to become a follower of my blog then post back here again.  The winner will be announced June 17th at 12:00pm.  I will ship world wide depending on where the winner lives.  It includes vintage: book pages, milk caps, buttons, labels, photos, game cards, a greeting card, and a stamp.  Plus a while you were out memo paper, carnival tickets, shells, a doily, a Mucha illustration, Cavallini & Co stickers, a lace flower, a remember stamp,  a today stamp, a butterfly and a ornament I made out of a vintage chandelier crystal.

Well, my hopes of submitting to Stampington were dashed.  I waited till the last minute.  8:30pm rolls around and I am a scatterbrain trying to figure out what to type as Chris is distracting me by claiming, "Come on we still have to go to Target."  "I thought you wanted to go to Target."  " Aren't you done yet!"  Yeah I was frustrated and near tears.  That seems to be happening a lot lately.  And as soon as I hit the send button, I noticed a mistake in the first sentence.   Thanks Chris.

Kiah and I walked to a couple garage sales yesterday.  I got a ton of vintage craft supplies: buttons, trim, Holly Hobby appliques, fabric, scarves, and fabric transfers.  I also got this cute shoe kit where you can make your own shoes.  It is called the Suburban Gypsies Shoe Kit.  Isn't it cute.

She wanted to leave this world behind....

Not me, (well maybe), but that is the title to this picture.  I think it is so weird how my artistic flow comes in waves.  I can be totally rockin' it for a week or so, then for the next week I have to really work at it.  I could have erased a little better on this but for the most part, I like it.  I want to submit something to Stampington & Co. tomorrow; have been working on a picture for the Echo group, and have been tossing around ideas for my vision statement banner for the Artistic Mothers group.    

We went to Barnes and Noble the other day and I saw so many books I want.  I took pictures of them in case Chris wants to get me one for my birthday, he can't say he didn't know what they looked like.  ~I thought that was so smart.  

Have you seen any of these books?

From what I saw when I thumbed through, I want them all, especially Delight in the Details By Lisa Pace.  They also have a huge book of botanical illustrations in the bargin books for $24.00.  I want to buy so when we have our own place I can wallpaper a wall with it.  I saw it a Country Living magazine and want to do it in my future craft room.  

I am going to be doing a giveaway this weekend and am really excited about it.  It is a mixed media artist's dream.  I will ship world wide depending on where the winner lives.  Since I don't have that many  followers, the chances of winning will be high.

I do not know why it was so hard to get pictures of my journal and bag.  I could not get them to look right.  But here they are the journal and bag I made for the artistic mothers group.

I decorated the journal using scrap pieces of paper, fabric, my background papers from week 1, and paper torn from a Boho magazine.  The fortune underneath the picture says "Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it.  Autograph your work with excellence."  I thought it was fitting for an art journal even though I am trying not to be a anal perfectionist all the time and just have fun in the process.

The inside cover-

The inside back cover which has a expandable pocket.  Total Bonus!!

I forgot to get a pic of the back cover which I accidentally put on upside down.  Oh yeah, I also incorporated my collection of chinese fortunes by gluing them down on random pages.

The bag turned out especially cute, but was harder to do than I thought.  Next time I will not use the interfacing for the handles, because now it makes this annoying crinkly sound when you hold it.  I used scrap fabric, discounted decorator fabric samples, and vintage sari fabric to make it.  It makes a perfect little camera bag. 

 

One of my fav flickr contacts- Saibh tagged me for the 10 things challenge.  I thought it would be fun to share it here.  It was hard to think of ten things but once I did, I started thinking of a bunch of different things so every month I am going  to do a new installment of 10 things about me.

 

1. I am 28 and still don't drive. I attribute that to the recurrent dream I had as a child that I was out of control in a car. Getting hit by a car when I was 13. And driving into our house when I was 16 and pushing our house back by an inch. This year will be the year though, I swear.

2. I am supposedly related to Jean Lafitte the pirate. But that might have been one of my dad's drunken tall tales.

3. My man and I have been together for 12 years and have yet to get married. He has issues. I think I am going to surprise him with a New Years Wedding.

4. I have always had a camera with me since I got my first one when I was 10. And I still don't know how to shoot in manual.

5. I carry around way too much stuff in my bra. Any given morning I can wake up and find toys, money, receipts stuffed down in there. Yes, I sleep with a bra on, I was traumatized when I saw how low my grandmother's go and she used to pride herself on not wearing a bra.

6. My son's name is Kiah. It is Hopi for "Wise One". But everyone wants to call him Kia, like the car or they automatically think he is a girl. With all the different names out there nowadays, I don't think it is that difficult. Kiah with an ending like Jeremiah.

7. I love anything vintage. Which has turned me into a borderline hoarder.

8. I only have 2 best friends. One lives in Oregon and we talk to each other everyday over coffee, the other lives in the area and we see each other a couple times a week.

9. I hate scary movies and roller coasters. If I watch a scary movie I literally cannot sleep all night. I have terrible anxiety to begin with, so I can't handle anything that adds to it.

10. I was almost a certified herbologist, but dropped out and didn't finish. Went to college for child development and have worked for a daycare for 10+ years. But really just want to have my own business (Yeah, don't we all).

If you want to join in. Please do so,  post yours on your blog and a leave a comment here so I can check them out.  It is fun to read little tidbits about people.  Hope everyone has a good week!

 

  

  I absolutely adore this picture of Kiah.  I want to get it printed out huge on a canvas.  He looks so serene and peaceful.  We all went out to the Campbell perk ponds for the kids fishing day.  I even dragged my mom out there.  Kiah and Chris caught 4 fish, and were so proud of themselves.  Since they were freshly stocked we were able to eat them, which we can't usually do in San Jose.  I think Kiah enjoyed spending time with his dad.  He has been on his best behavior the last few days.  At first I thought it was because Halo Reach was coming out.  You can always tell when a new game is going to come out, 'cause Kiah will start being demonstrably good and whisper sweet nothings in my ear.  But no, Halo is not coming out till September- Thank God, and he is still being good.  Knock on wood.

  This weekend I also finished my poetry quote bag and journal.  I must have been disillusioned when I thought the tote bag was going to be easy.  Ha!  Maybe it was because I haven't sewn anything since I was a teenager and even then I didn't actually sew.  I just cut out the pattern, forgetting to cut out the darts, then cried to my grandma, "can you fix my mistake".  Besides the fact, that is was hard to make and almost had me breaking down in tears.  I love the way it came out.  It is too cute.  I haven't had the chance to take any photos of them yet, but will try to post tomorrow.

My brother came over on Sunday and fixed my photoshop.  I couldn't be more happy, I was getting so frustrated with it.  All he had to was uninstall and reinstall, I knew that would probably fix the problem, but I was scared I would mess it up even more if I started to screw with it.