Totally flying on the seat of my pants!!!

I wanted to post on Friday or Saturday, however, I'm still FLYING on the seat of my pants! I don't have my youngest holding my hand, so I'm needing my husband to help me and not as if we don't have a zillion other things to do. I started to take pictures outside, pictures outside seem to bring the clearest and truest color I've found so far (when it isn't raining in Oregon), and the batteries went dead half way through. So, another seven hours of charging batteries and waiting for daylight before I could finish. So, with a lot of hand-holding from my husband, I think I'm ready. I'm beginning to get the drift on my own, how to do it, so hopefully I'll be able to present pictures totally on my own someday soon. I'm comfortable with the posting part, but being able to download pictures and present them in a half humane way is my biggest challenge! Mark taught me to download my pictures and get them in my file and I feel confident about that. I am beginning my post while he is mowing our yard and as you can see, on my own, I don't know quite how to get my pictures and words in a nice pattern like everybody else! LOL!!! and almost ready to cry!!! I'm trying really hard right not to swear profoundly with my fingers, like I'd like to, but this is a public place. I keep telling myself this blog will evolve and get better as I learn, so please bear with me. I know I'll laugh a year from now when I look back at my first posts!

My squares will be off to Jeanette in Alaska, tomorrow, for Bead-It-Forward. This is my second year to send squares to her. Last year's theme was a butterfly. This years theme is a rose. I started my squares last fall and just leisurely worked on them through the holidays until Monica's 'Pink Artist' project came about and I put this on hold to do squares for her because her due date was March 1st. I then came back and finished my squares for Jeanette that are due April 1st. I quickly found out the rose was not my forte. Especially because her squares are to be beaded 1-1/2" x 1-1/2". I bead almost all my work with 15/0's to get the best definition but, even then, it was difficult. So I began looking on eBay for cabochons, vintage buttons, pendants, brooches, or anything to help me fulfill my commitment...and these are my contributions:



1) German gold foil cabochon with 8/0 and 13/0 24K gold plated charlottes.
2) Vintage metal rose wreath brooch found on eBay with 15/0 seed beads.
3) Vintage gold tone brooch w/dozen aluminum red roses found at Goodwill, with 8/0 black beads.
4) Antique 16/0 & 18/0 beads with 1/4" ribbon roses w/shrink plastic sign.
5) Vintage embroidered rose with antique watermelon colored beads.
6) Vintage German glass cabochon set in gold filigree brooch, found on eBay; 15/0 burgundy gold luster beads.
7) Vintage Czech Glass button with 6/0 & 8/0 iridescent beads.
8) Wild rose; 15/0 ceylon pearl and 15/0 translucent rainbow beads.
9) 11/0 burgundy, rose, and green silver lined beads.
10) 11/0 & 15/0 white ceylon pearl beads with a carved pink river shell rose.

The title of this years project is "Life is beautiful like the rose, but beware of thorns." This project is for Bead Artists against Breast Cancer for their annual auction at the Bead & Button Show on June 7th, 2008, in Wisconsin.

I am such a novice at this whole picture thing and blogging. I am SO learning! Time to... SAVE NOW (for the umpteenth time) or PUBLISH POST! Happy Laughing and Happy Week!!! I am a behinder!

I said in my last post that I wouldn't be so long-winded on my next post, well, I guess I have the gift of GAB!!!

Keep Pursuing Art...Life and Dreams!