I Am In Love!

I just love this picture! I love the color palette, love the lights and shadows, and just absolutely adore the model. Have you noticed that she's wearing a beaded neckpiece? Take a closer look. I'm not sure how the photographer could tell the anole is a female, but that's what the photo information says. I also love Wikimedia Commons for those days when I don't have a good picture to share.

This weekend I'll be in San Antonio at the San Antonio Bead and Ornament Society's Spring Bead Bazaar, and I will again be helping the lovely Carol Wille. I just adore her and love working with her. Let's just say there is not a dull moment between the two of us. I also heard a rumor that PAM is going to be there. Yep, and I got that info from Pam herself. HAH! I happen to know she's been working a few things and can't wait to see them in person.

Those changes I was talking about the other day are in progress. I may just have a big ole unveiling this summer, you never know.

So, if you make it to the bead bazaar come by to say "hi". That's where I'll be -- caressing the beads, touching the beads, fondling the beads, oh yeah -- and selling the beads!

Contemplation And The Chameleon

So, I've been thinking. Yes, I realize it's dangerous, but sometimes it is necessary. I had laid out a great business plan last fall, but when the computer crashed I kind of lost my momentum. I couldn't do half of what needed to be done on the loaner groaner and things kind of fell apart at the seams. Okay, they didn't fall apart but those seams were definitely bulging. So, I got the new computer and decided on a slightly different tack for the plan. Well, it's not working and it's time to change some things again.

I've seen a lot of articles on home businesses and the changing economy. I've read a lot of forums wherein people are blaming everything but themselves for a lack of business (in other words, only you can promote you and you should not expect anyone else to do it for you). I also found sites like this one called Modish Biz Tips, which is full of great info (thanks, Heather!). I've looked and read and read and looked, gathering all sorts of useful nuggets of info for getting my business back on track and headed away from the home business bone yard.

But perhaps the best advice I've read is to become a chameleon. In other words, as the economy changes, you must change YOU, your outlook, your expectations and you might also need to change what you are offering to the masses. For instance, right now the economy won't support selling several $300 necklaces (just an example) so I need to come up with something different. Perhaps I should create a line of $10 earrings or better yet, a set of instructions for making your own line of $10 earrings. Then it would be up to me to post this on my blog, my Facebook page, Tweet it, Flickr it, offer it on my web site and in my Etsy store, and wear my samples every time I leave the house. I would like to point out that with the exception of my web site and the $0.20 listing fee at Etsy, everything I pointed out there for self-promotion is FREE. Yes, free advertising for my self-promotion. FREE.

Don't be surprised to see changes over the next few weeks while my chameleon self shifts. For now, I'm off to forage but I'll be back Monday or so with more goodies for change and self-promotion. Have a great weekend!

News And Pictures

First, I'm going to be a mother-in-law and a grandmother! Yep, my little Natalie is going to be wife and mommy. Her fiance is Bryan, and he is a wonderful man -- I could not ask for a better life partner for my baby. They are both VERY excited about the baby, which is due Christmas Eve but we all know that babies come when they want to and not when the doctor says they might! Now, this is not new news for me, at least not the mother-in-law stuff. Natalie and I had been looking at wedding gowns and making wedding plans:



They will probably do all of this later. For now, things will be simple, laid back and stress-free until the little bundle of stinky diapers arrives! This is, however, a lesson to all of you girls taking the pill. Antibiotics will screw with the effectiveness of your pills!

These are the photos I took in the yard yesterday. We'll start with the big weed that I did not want. We have a very sweet, octogenarian that T-man does odd jobs for. She lives over on Lake Austin, in a wonderful mid-century split level with nifty landscaping and lots of AGAVES! So T-man thinned them out and brought them back here. Then he just kind of dumped them to the side of the drive not realizing that they are like weeds. This one is also called a Lechugilla (Agave lechugilla) and is probably 12 years old, because that's the minimum age for producing the stalk. One day the stalk was not there. The next morning is was eight feet tall. Now it's about 15 feet tall.



These are the rain lilies (Cooperia pedunculata). They just pop up all over the place after a good rain.



This is our Fairy Rose. Everything about this rose is tiny. It has just started blooming, so there were only two blossoms yesterday.



These are Pink Evening Primroses (Oenothera speciosa), which we also call Buttercups. The pollen is powdery and sticks to your nose. If you hold a buttercup under your chin and your chin shines yellow, you'll be rich (or you like butter, depending on which old wives' tale you prefer).



We call this onion flower because of the way it smells, but I'm not sure what it's botanical name is.



I have no idea what this little vine is, but I have it all over the yard and the chickens love it. It makes little pea pods, too.

And I had to end with pictures of my neighbor's prickly pear (Opuntia lindheimeri - below), which is in their horse pasture. The shadow was actually caused by Zephyr, one of their horses, who really wanted to know what I was doing and why I was doing it from the other side of the fence.



Happy browsing, and I hope the sun is shining wherever you are. I'm going back to my beads!

Forget The Housework, Here Are The New Photos

I want you to know that there is now a clear spot in front of me where before there definitely was not! So there!

It's sunny, so I took a couple of photos. Atlantis is finished:




And here are some lovelies from my back yard. First is the antique rose that blooms outside my bathroom, right by my tub. I'm not sure what type it is, but the cutting came from the family cemetery that goes back a century or so:



And this is called Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium spp.). T-man actually mowed around the clumps of flowers yesterday:



And this is my prickly pear flower(Opuntia lindheimeri):



Other things are blooming, like the pink evening primrose and rain lilies, so I'll try to get pictures of them this week. Unfortunately no bluebonnets came up this year. Plus, I'm halfway through another new bracelet called Fantasia.

So I ask you, who needs to do housework?

Beads In The News

This link was sent to me by my dear friend Jim. It features the stunning Catherine Deneuve, beads and prison. What a combination, but it's a great story.

Other than that, it is Monday. I must attempt to clean house today. Ugh. I hate housework. I am actually using my cyber work day to tidy up, dust and vacuum. Again, I say UGH.

A Different Direction

Today I am off to Jerry's Art-A-Rama (say that with big loud echoes). A friend is commissioning some art. She wants some abstract paintings for her model units in her apartment complex. Abstract is right up my alley. I love playing with the paint brushes and I love getting paint all over my hands. I wonder if T-man knows where all the parts to my easel are?

On the beady front, I finished Atlantis and have started another new bracelet. I'll get a picture as soon as we have sunshine again. I did finally learn that I need some natural sun light as well as the photo box to get some decent pictures. I'm still not entirely happy with the results, but they were the best I could manage for now.

It's gray and rainy this weekend. Hopefully being with friends and seeing the bright paints, inks and pencils at Jerry's will make for a brighter day. Have a great weekend!

Today Is Yesterday

Yesterday's plans got put on hold due to an attack from my Meniere's Disease. At least mine is sporadic right now. Guess I should "make hay while the sun shines", so to speak. Unfortunately, the therapy does not help me. Maybe because the symptoms are so sporadic at this point. I love carnival rides, and mine don't cost a thing!

So, look at yesterday's post and that's what today is.

Today . . .

. . . is for getting a little more organized. Calendar updates need to be made first. Then I need to clear away some things from my work space, a.k.a. the couch. I'm going to bag up a few things to go to Goodwill. After that, I'm going to try a few more photos. I've also got a post for you that will take a few days of research. Fortunately, I can save drafts to be published later! Finally, I'm putting the clasp on Atlantis.



I've been sitting here surfing this morning. I think while I surf. Call it multi-tasking. That way I don't seem like such a slouch. Anyway, while I surf I think, and when I think it usually results in a pattern, a palette or a project -- my three P's. In my world, they are just as important as the three R's. I have four more 2010 locations I would like to apply to, and I'm wondering if I should submit tried and true projects or come up with something completely new. I'm welcoming suggestions, beadlings, so throw 'em out.

Well, Finally

I'll go see if I can get some more decent photos now!

Frustration

I'm trying to take photos today and so far it is NOT going well. I've tried the table top studio with the spot lights in as many different places as possible, I've tried no table top set up, no lights, inside, outside, sunlight, shade. I even put it on Stinker's lovely black fur. CRIKEY! Nothing is working. The only things I have not tried is T-man's camera (which doesn't give me the detail I like), the scanner (which is not set up to function with the lap top) and a different day of the week (after all, it is Monday). To top it all off, every time I pick up the computer to check the photos, Bella wants to sit in my lap. Poor baby, I think she's feeling my frustration and trying to comfort me.

I really would like (and need) to be able to pretty much point and shoot and get a good photo with my digital camera. Am I asking too much? I really don't think so. I do think I need a new camera and have been actively shopping for one. Any suggestions?

Photos, Kits, Crayons, Eggs

Today I am putting together 40 kits to send to Dallas. One of the lovely ladies of the EGA in Dallas is teaching one of my designs to both of the Dallas chapters, the Greater Dallas Chapter of the EGA and the Dallas Needlework and Textile Guild. My little Goddess of Chocolate will be taking a road trip. Many thanks to Sharon D., first for having bought the kit and then for loving it so much she wanted to show all of her friends how to make their own. I love my EGA friends!

This is what I'm trying to finish up so I can put the pattern in the web site shopping cart (I wont' even waste your time with a link, even though the blank page is lovely). Evidently I either take an inordinate amount of time with each stitch or I keep getting distracted while I'm stitching. This should have been finished last week but, as you can see, it still has a couple of inches and a clasp to be stitched before it's complete.

And this is what is waiting in the wings. I apologize for the glare on the bags. Maybe someday I'll learn how to get rid of that in Photoshop. If you can tell me how, I'd greatly appreciate it. Anyway, I do believe that I have definitely crawled out of my comfy crayon box with this one, kids. By the way, this is just one of the tropical themes waiting in the wings. The other is lemon/lime/aqua. I have not left my soothing greens and violets behind. No, that will never happen. I just need to explore those other crayons for a while. They were getting lonely and they were starting to make a lot of noise as they have been in the dark for a very, very long time. In fact, I looked for the olive green and violet but they seem to be missing. I'm expecting a little ransom note written in orange, yellow and day-glo pink crayons any day now.

So there it is in a nutshell -- my current and future work, those little things that keep me ticking. This is a family weekend, but Ariel and T-man have taken off for the day running errands. (What they really did was run away so they wouldn't get roped into helping make kits!) We'll spend Sunday at my parents' with the siblings and their kids. The little ones will be so excited, because the Easter Bunny will have *gasp* been in the house! Yes, it will be a dark and stormy Easter morning here in Central Texas, and the Easter Bunny will find his way into the house which will stun and amaze my little nephews. I hope you have a lovely weekend! I plan to have a very boisterous, chocolatey one!!

Maybe I Don't Want To Be Nice

It's just a thought. Sometimes it's a BIG thought, however, my momma raised me better. This is what prompted today's attitude problem. (giggle) Not that I was feeling unkind. It just felt good to say it. Okay, I feel better (and nicer) now.

Today has more beading, errands with Natalie and then some kit building. That's all. It's just more of the same, but then that's the way this biz rolls. Know what I mean? How many of your days this week have been more of the same old thing?

Oh, Hello

My goodness, it's been a week. So sorry. I have no reason, no excuse other than stuff happens and it's pretty much SSDD around here. I'm beading busily, busily beading and there's not much else to say today. Think black and gold, very elegant, calls itself Atlantis. I'll have a photo when it's finished. I'm trying to have it as the first goody on the web site. I hope your day is more interesting than mine! Later.