I know that we humans,

are like the rest of the natural world and that sadness, fear, frustration, or any other troubling feeling can not last. Nature doesn't create a storm that never ends. Within misfortune good fortune hides.

 
 
This is my entry for the Cloud Echo Challenge.  You can learn more about them here at Chrysti's Blog or here at Susan's.

I am sorry.......

It has been very hard for me to get back in the swing of back to school things.  Kiah has been having trouble staying focused.  This caused a lot of problems last year.  I thought we had it pretty much controlled by the end of the school year.  The doctor said if he did have ADD it was a slight case and he didn't need medication.  The school said he didn't qualify for any support because his IQ was too high.  Well here we are this year and the teacher is already hinting at putting him on medication.  Not those exact words but I am not dumb.  He is always trying to get me to let him stay home, saying he hates school.  He has a lot of friends and does well on his work.  We just got some of the standardized testing scores home and he is basically in-between basic and advanced.   In math he is so close to being advanced; so what the heck!  We have started him on a vitamin regime and I am in close contact with his teacher.

Besides that things are picking up at work.  Which is good I was really starting to worry.

Here are a couple of crafting things I have done to stay sane along the way. 

A soldering class with my friend Raquel.  It was a fun technique to learn but will take a little more practice and a new higher powered soldering gun.  Oh my God when I typed that I heard the Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunting sound.   Yeah baby more power.

My Orange mixed media canvas

And some cards I made for a challenge at Stampington & Co.

I wasn't sure about the top picture at first but now I really like it.  She is the Goddess of Our Burning Desires.  The butterfly and image of the woman came from The Graphics Fairy.

These photos are from my camera phone that's why they look so washed out.

Hope all is well in your land

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~

 

  

  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. 

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.

 

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 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

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!

I've been wanting to post but have been so busy lately, I can hardly catch my breath. Okay maybe I haven't had time because I have been playing with Photoshop Elements too much.

P.S. I can't believe it- I reached over 400 views on my Flickr page. Woohoo!!