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 hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend!  We went hiking in a couple local areas over the weekend.  It was nice to get out of the city for a while.  Kiah hates to go anywhere that is out of a 5 mile radius because he gets car sick.  So we took his cousin along to keep him company.

It was quite a hike to get to the swimming hole.  But this is the swimming hole of swimming holes.  It is called the Garden of Eden because the Mount Harmon boys used to swim here naked.  I didn't like having to hike along side the railroad tracks with two kids in tow.  Thankfully the train didn't come by.  The kids had a huge pool to themselves.

Then to the other side there was this huge rock they could jump off of.

We got there about 5pm and by that time everyone was heading back up the trail.  There were only a few sets of people down there while we were there.  Which was nice, I hate to be in crowds of people.

The day before that Chris and I had gone hiking at a local hiking trail.  I don't think I sweat that hard in a long time.  It was quite the work-out.  At least I can say I exercised.

Besides that I have been trying not to focus on our financial state, working on a couple things for a Stampington & Co submission, trying to keep Kiah off of video games, and praying my sister gets better quick. 

I was so excited the other day when one of my photos made it to explore on Flickr.

This week I am not going to do my to-do list since everything is pretty much the same as the last weeks.  Once Kiah starts school again a couple of weeks I hope to be better at getting things done.  Yeah, yeah that's what they all say.

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~

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.

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.

 

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

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

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!

Overload....

The last couple weeks has been an whirlwind. On Monday the 8th we had an appointment with Kiah's doctor. It was to discuss Kiah's difficulty focusing. The doctor showed me this chart with all these numbers and lines all over the place. I couldn't have been anymore confused. I could not understand it at all. From what the doctor says there is a high probability that he could have
ADD, but a low probability for psychological disorders......Okay. If anything he would have a very mild case of ADD. The Rx for that is less video games, discipline, and scheduling. Easy for them to say.

I took it really hard. What I heard was it's all up to me. If I thought it was going to get better; no, it's going to get harder. I don't know what I expected... some powerful magic disciplinarian words that would, all of a sudden, make him a good boy? Or some sort of miracle drug that would make him a perfect student with a zpd of 5.5-6.5. I ended the appointment by saying how happy I was that Kiah had not gotten sick in over a year. Wish I had wood to knock on cause a couple hours later he had a fever.

The next morning I broke down and practically started crying when I had to call in his absence. Kiah is very prone to fevers, he even gets them when he has allergies. His temperature was 99.3 but if your temperature is above 99.1 you can't come to school. Just thinking off spending an extra 6 hours with him almost sent me over the edge. I know that sounds mean and awful but sometimes I have to use everything in me to literally not run away.

Because he was sick on the 9th he missed his second grade performance "Peter Rabbit". I was upset about this too, which added to my near emotional breakdown. We were planning to leave almost an hour early so we could get good seats because last year were in the nosebleeds and could hardly make him out in the sea of 1st graders.

He ended up going to school Wednesday, staying home Thursday, and going to school Friday.

We have been trying to adhere to the doctor's orders of 1 hour of game and t.v. time. Surprisingly I think it has been helping. Kiah has been very well behaved and we have been able to spend time together having fun. Which is a lot better than screaming and hollering at each other.

Last Saturday we had Linsey's 26th birthday. I planned out a Woodland Tea Party theme. I started planning it a couple months ago. I would make all these decorations from recycled materials and take such good pictures of it someone would want to feature it their magazine. I know....high hopes. It all caught up with me too fast. I did manage to go to the Dollar Store and get a bunch of fake flowers, butterflies, and streamers. I also made some really awesome flowered headbands for all the girls. They turned out so cute and were super easy to make. At the Dollar Store the headbands were 4 for a dollar and I already had a ton of fake flowers. I just arranged different flowers petals together and held them together with a brad. Then glued them to the headband with E-600. I also bought a bunch of stuff at the last minute from Bake It Pretty. I could look at their site forever, they have have the cutest things. Party success good food, good company, good time. I wish I would have managed to snap a pick of my cool Dollar Store decorating. Talk about cheap and it did kinda look like a woodland wonderland.

On another note I couldn't be more shocked more than a 1,000 views on my Flicker. I feel like all these years of taking pictures and wasting money on cameras, and all that comes with it, has finally paid off. It really makes you feel good when you can wake up in the morning and see peoples comments and awards. It truly is amazing and for that, Kiah behaving, and being able to celebrate another one of my sister's birthdays, I am truly grateful.

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!!