Sometimes you just ain't in the mood

for the 'commercial' side of Christmas, as my 18 month old niece & nephew will attest to. Their bigger sisters are somewhat more receptive... I think! Of course Miss photogenic Milla on the left doesn't care whether Santa is there or not, so long as there's a camera she is smiling.

My "Biggest Baby Boy" turned 31 today

He's not exactly thrilled about having his photo taken - ever.
Tough! I'm da Mother & I get to pull rank....or, as I have been known to put it ,"I brought you into this world....I can take you out"
He arrived here right after finishing work... & I thought to grab the camera almost as he was leaving.

Jeremy

I am going to get into so much trouble for this if he ever finds out - oh well, he loves me. I hope.

Ahh the oldest & the youngest! How sweet....then there was me on the other side of the camera, looking & thinking what a classy lot we are - work clothes & school gear wondering where on earth the last "20 mumble something" years have gone!

Dinner was great - so was dessert! Gabriela found a whole new use for salad vegetables - check out her blog.

My Rock - My Wonderful Dad

Fun & fond memories of Dad
Still linger two years on
Forever in my heart is he
Even though he's gone

Papa to his grandsons - walking in Mt Cook National Park back in the 80's

Always had time for his darling ganddaughters that arrived in the 90's.

Rescuer of Barney & friends that were randomly scattered in the garden...... I just love this photo, so had to include it ;o)

Papa to a 'new crop' of grandies in 2003

Borrowing some fruit off of the neighbours tree.

John Gardner Batten 27/11/1927 - 14/12/2006

Going out on a limb

Today I worked on getting my new computer set up. To be honest I was a bit overwhelmed by the thought of transferring all of the old files, photo's & document records that I wanted to retain from the old computer over to the new one.

Having heard a lot of negative things about Vista - I had originally been adamant that I wanted to run XP Pro on this new machine. It wasn't to be! Instead I have Vista Ultimate & I have to say that from what I have found so far I am pretty darn pleased with it.
I spent the morning just exploring Vista, while waiting for my favorite program files to transfer & before attempting the daunting task of just 'how' exactly I was going to get all the other files across in an orderly manner. I am so pleased that I did - I found this brilliant program built into Vista called "Windows Easy Transfer"! It makes life a lot simpler than having to deal with finding everything individually on the old machine!



I've played with my desktop & of course have a selection of frou frou widgets & a bright an bubbly screen saver. Knowing my penchant for a clean , almost minimalist desktop, with a zen feeling background, these probably wont last too long but for now the over enthusiastic kid that wants all the 'pretties' is playing.
The slightly more mature kid is marvelling at the speed of everything, the information that is provided on camera settings in the default windows program.... & most of all, the wonderful screen real estate on that nice 22" monitor! I can't believe that I actually suggested that I would be more than happy to stick with another 19" monitor -lol! I am also eternally grateful to the maille man for talking me out of that idea!
Life has just gotten so very much easier :o)
Right now I can say that I like Vista, but then again I haven't encountered any problems.

On a kind of weird side note - I had been feeling somewhat disappointed that I wasn't able to get the case of my choice, it was out of stock. Now this case was sleek & sexy, with a black brushed aluminium front. Telling myself that it was 'only a case' I proceeded to settle on the next case in that size range with the amount of fans & specs I required, telling my brother that I'd like it in the 'gunmental' finish instead of black if possible. I was told that they only had the black in stock according to their lists. So, still trying to convince myself that a case was really only something to protect all the inside bits, I said 'ok - just go for it then'.

When I went to pick up my computer, the first thing Paul told me was that he'd asked the suppliers when he went to pick his order up & had managed to get the case in gunmetal. Yay - that made me feel a bit better! I looked at the lettering on the box & realised it looked vaguely familiar amongst all it's flash graphics.
When I later unpacked the case & had a look at the logo on that I realised that it was exactly the same font I had decided on a few weeks back for my website graphics!
Almost as if that was 'meant to be' really.

You know what this means.......

don't you?? Yep - I am officially no longer in the position to complain about my computer!! No complaints about speed or rather lack there of, no excuses for taking many daily power naps while waiting for programs to open - if they so desire.
Santa came early! The maille man had decided that I deserved a new computer... to be fair the poor guy has had to listen to my tirades when my machine has frozen up by the simple act of trying to open photo editing software & on occasion has even borne witness (dare I admit this) to my tears of utter frustration when I have lost a whole load of information because of a freeze.
It was suggested that I get a laptop. I have to admit that I dream of a laptop, being able to do all those computer related tasks outside in the fresh air & daylight, away from walls enclosing me sounds like my idea of paradise.... even being able to work for a while standing up instead of sitting down sounds grand, not to mention having access to all of your own information, settings & favorite programs no matter where you go.
The problem is that over the last five years I have gotten used to working with two monitors & I can't imagine editing photo's without being able to view them on two different types of monitors. Referencing material online in one whilst working on a project on the other is a breeze & I wont even go into how wonderful it is to be able to work through a tutorial on how to do something whilst actually doing it without the need to keep opening minimised windows & such.

Call me old fashioned but to me a laptop is & always will be ancillary.


Hopefully I will be able to remind myself of this the next time I walk down the drive & catch a glimpse of the vast expanse green peacefulness & lush tree's with seats strategically placed beneath some of them over at the park, on the next sunny day when I can no longer bear the restriction of wall & fences surrounding me ! ;o)


Last weekend I started discussing with my brother which computer I was going to get, that quickly turned into what spec's I required for a machine to perform the functions I wanted, as quickly as I would like them to.

Having been determined to get a prebuilt name brand machine it was quickly realised that I would get a lot better value by building one. That idea had already been suggested to me, & although I dismissed it at the time, I was somewhat more open to it than I had been previously. "Thank you" for that - you know who you are!

Not seriously expecting to see any results before Christmas, I was thrilled when I received a message this morning saying that I could pick it up today.
I picked it up after school had finished & tonight I finally got to unpack it & start setting it up.

Will you just look at all that screen real estate I'm going to have? More showing off to come.....

Revamped Website Finally!

I've finally gotten somewhere with my website! I've played with font's created logo's & buttons... & even managed to get it all up there so that it displays correctly in all browsers.
I've figured that some web browsers are easier to please than others though!

Now all I have to do is take photo's for the catagory images, that will hopefully work in with the feel that I am after.
If you feel the urge - click on the link to the right & visit the new look FireBird Flamework.

Wordless Wednesday

The Start

Miss 14 made a start on her cross stitch that I meant to post at the time.
In the rush & bustle of the last couple of weeks.....I forgot.
Call it Mothers Memory if you will!

Anyway here is the 'start of her project'.

Appropriately dressed, as any self respecting stitcher would be, in a Fall Out Boy T shirt accompanied by a stunning Santa hat resplendent with flashing lights, she studiously sets to the task at hand.

A few hours later & we have the beginnings taking shape.

I must admit that she has done remarkably well. Over three sessions I watched her progress from getting me to check every single stitch was in the right pace & in accordance with the chart....to being confidant enough to start, take every stitch & finish off a colour all by herself.

Out of the blue

A great day following my friend Rose around the bead stores of this city....well 1 bead store & a big craft store really. I was more of a guide than follower & of course it is fun to enable others to spend their money. Rose will make a far better job of whatever she decides to do with her loot than I ever would....well that's my story & I'm sticking to it!

It was a fabulous surprise to come home a convo on Etsy from Shelia letting me know that she had featured me in her blog "Dragon Feathers" . I've never met Shelia, in fact our paths have only crossed in a thread on the Etsy forums very recently, so it was completely out of the blue & a wonderful gesture. So please take a peek at her store, "Shelialk" & her blog, she has a sale on at the moment & there is still time for those of you Stateside to get some gifts.

Shelia's gesture made me realise that it's important in these quieter times to reach outside the immediate circle of those we know in blogland & through LE to include those who may be feeling the pinch & wondering if anyone is actually out there, let alone looking at their listings....even with the counters & such it can be hard to tell.
Within 4 hours of Shelia's post I had a sale - my first in a wee while. Who knows it could have been coincidence, then again it just might have been a result of Shelia's blog post introducing some new eye's to my etsy store.

Another 'out of the blue' happened early this morning - I wondered why a chirping bird sounded as if it was inside!
D'oh at the chicky that has two cats ;o) Wondered indeed - hey it was only my FIRST cup of coffee!

Big man hands holding said rescued baby bird - two kitty's were shut inside until we could be sure that baby bird had found somewhere safe to hide.

Boadicea

I received the smaller copper beads in the post on Saturday, needed to finish this bracelet this weekend.
I'm not 100% thrilled with the toggle clasp - but it was all that I could get locally that was of a reasonable quality.

That aside - I love the way this bracelet has turned out, once again using early beads.
I'm hoping that someone else will love it too as I have just put it up on my website.

"Boadicea" Bracelet

I've just realised a huge drawback to shopping in person....I have no idea of the name of the gemstone rounds that I bought to work in with it!! At least with buying online you have a record of these things - sounds like a darn good reason to shop to me!!
Just as well that I'm off on a shopping trip with a friend, that will take me back to the bead store where I purchased them tomorrow, at least I can clear up the mystery.

Herculess the Hairy Hedonist...

Age: approx 18 months old
Gender: Male'ish
Occupation: Hedonist
Favorite Colour: Inside Eyelid Pink
Favorite Pass Times: eating, sleeping, winding up the other psycho cat that I am forced to share my territory with.
Leaving fur wherever I can be assured that my female human will sit & pick it up unsuspectingly on the seat of her pants.
About Me: I am impressive - but not easily impressed. I have figured the way to my humans conscience is to now curve the wonderful straight tail I used to hold so proudly up into a ? instead, thereby ensuring that she does NOT forget, for one second, what she did to my masculinity.

Having decided that my human's favorite place to to blob out is now mine, I am totally capable of looking as if butter wouldn't melt in my mouth.

It doesn't matter what shape she leaves it in - I will find a way of sleeping on it.

See!!!!

And just when that 'other' cat decides to get comfortable on the floor - I will go as near to her as I can & plop myself down & ensure that I look even more comfortable.

(she doesn't like me at all - so this is a lot of fun!)

A Recent Piece

The Colours of Tibet

I just love that Moretti 460 - Yellow Ocher. My latest lot is quite greenish, which I don't mind either, but this early bead was made out of my very first 'assortment bundle' of glass from MorettiandMore & has always been a favorite. Maybe it was my Hot Head that allowed the glass to stay a wonderful shade of yellow - who knows, as I certainly can't really recall what the colour was in rod form almost two years ago.

It never sold so last weekend I pulled the 'mini set apart & made it into a bracelet with some lava rock, carnelian rondelles & lashings of Bali silver from my precious wee hoard.

It had been my intention to use plated findings & accent beads - but upon visiting a local bead store & discovering the price of the cheap stuff was only a few cents short per bead locally, of what I had paid at the time for this silver I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.
Looking at this I am so pleased that I didn't!

An Update

I just couldn't resist posting this picture of guess who....
There has been a lot happening for Sophie, since she arrived back from the Paralympics & I could pretty much fill a month of posts with her!
But there is a special reason I am posting this picture - it also features her beautiful sister Rebecca & it's just so darn nice to see them together!

It was taken at the "Attitude Awards" last night
The Attitude Awards are a new initiative developed to honour the outstanding achievements of New Zealanders living with disabilities.

Sophie & Rebecca Pascoe

Attitude Award winners announced

Thursday, 4 December 2008, 5:43 pm

Other Attitude Award category winners announced on December 3, World Disability Day, were Samuel Gibson (Enterprise Award), Kerri Bonner (Youth Award), Mike and Lyn Ryan (Community Award), Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman (Spirit Award), 4Dice Business Group (ACC Employer Award), Cameron Leslie (Sportsman Award) and Sophie Pascoe (Sportswoman Award).

Wobbly, wonky & ......

fugly?

This bead is actually quite nice in reality ....still has a wonky end, but it's actually not that bad.
It simply refuses to put it's best foot forward for the camera. Then again it could be my camera - I have a sinking feeling that the lens mechanism is wobbly & about to throw it's final tantrum.
I might try & get a better photo of it outside....

Just a Quickie

if there is ever such a thing from my keyboard!

First up a photo to prove I can get quite messy - especially when in the middle of projects....of course you just know I'm going to go & spoil it all by saying that I took this right before tidying up ;)

Both the teenager's, & therefore my, moods are slightly better today. I've kitted up her cross stitch (& resurrected an older one of mine) so we can get her started with something to concentrate on. It's all ready to go for after school tomorrow.


Her Nana & I had a plan as another diversion....something she has wanted to learn for ages. A couple of years ago her Dad bought her a guitar for Christmas, with the promise of lessons to come. They never did.
We later discovered that the natural way, for her, was to play the guitar left handed. So back at the beginning of the year I got it strung upside down for her in time to take a couple of guitar lessons at school. The group situation wasn't ideal & I suspect she was left feeling more than just a little frustrated.

She has, however, perfected the intro to "Smoke on the Water" & the chorus of "The Lion Sleeps tonight" struggling along by herself - but after the first 300 times of hearing them, I think we are all a little over it.

So the 'other' distraction was some guitar lessons & we were fortunate enough to find a guy that would come to the house & teach her. It went really well & I think she is looking forward to her lesson next week. I say 'think' because as we all know it is uncool to show too much enthusiasm for something when you are 14. So I happily settled for a 'yes I want to have more lessons'.

Michaela has never been great at meeting new people - it is right out of her very clearly defined comfort zone (something she has not inherited from her Mum!!). She does however warm up to people quite quickly once over her initial shyness. A quick chat with Ross, the guy who is teaching her - revealed that he had read her quite well & wasn't in the least put off by her apparent 'coolness' - lol!



Younger sisters are not to be left out & of course a certain 11 year old decided that baking was what she'd like to do this evening.... she thought a chocolate cake was a good idea & who was I to disagree?
Having been sneakily looking at The Pioneer Woman website for some time now, I needed very little excuse to try my hand at this number:
Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever



It was an outstanding success, except that Miss Gabriela fell asleep tonight before it was cooled enough to cut - but hey she'd licked the bowl & mixing spoon clean, & that's the main thing when an 11 year old is baking....right????

Pioneer Womans Chocolate Sheet Cake ~ recipe

Thought it easiest to post the recipe here as a coupe of Kiwi friends have asked for it.
I really do love this version, it's easily & quickly hand mixed - so there are no mixers or beaters to clean afterwards.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake
Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk. (Check out the back up plan for buttermilk at the bottom - it works perfectly)
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

PIONEER WOMAN BACK-UP PLAN: Living way out in the country, I often find myself missing key ingredients for many recipes and have had to learn to improvise. I usually don’t have buttermilk in the fridge when I want to make this cake, so here’s what I do: pour just under 1/2 cup regular milk into the measuring cup, then add enough regular vinegar to the milk to bring the quantity up to 1/2 cup. Within seconds, it turns into buttermilk and works perfectly. Try it sometime!

Teenage Angst

Ahh the 1st of December & down here in the southern hemisphere we head full on into Summer...... & the silly season.
Today was officially the first day of Summer - so why am I wearing jeans, a t shirt & a jersey? Grey, cloudy, overcast & a smattering of rain later in the day - it kind of suited my mood & the child I have been trying to deal with.

Fourteen is a tough age & often it is difficult to get through to fourteen year olds "don't sweat the small stuff", but to watch as ones child becomes progressively less enthusiastic about everything they have previously enjoyed can leave a parent with a feeling of utter helplessness. It's often difficult to say the right thing - because you can almost guarantee it is going to be the wrong thing as far as they are concerned.

I've watched helplessly as my teenager has turned from a relatively stubborn & independent child into a tearful mess. However I have also discovered things about her - when she is not busy being stubborn, she is far more open to suggestion.

I have a plan, the plan is distraction. I suggested to her that finding a new interest might be a good idea to take her mind off of things & learning a new skill always makes one feel good about themselves. Jokingly I offered to teach her to knit! After I'd received the "You must be kidding" look, that only a 14 year old can give with such utter shock at one even having suggested such a 'Nana' thing, I offered her some time at the torch & may have even implied that she could pretend the glass was those that had hurt her, as she introduced it to the flame.

Miss 14 wasn't fussed on that idea either, but a visit to her Nana's house & receiving the same plan of learning something new resulted in her pointing at a framed needlework hanging there & saying "I've always wanted to learn that".

Well, knock me over with a feather!!!! In my past life every spare moment I had was spent stitching - both my boys & the girls have grown up watching me stitch daily....& never once had she shown any interest in what I was doing - let alone inclination to try.

Buy hey - it was an easy solution, I have a stash of patterns, fabrics, floss & kits that should be deemed illegal! So we sorted out a chart that she'd like to attempt & she happily agreed that I would show her how it was done on one of my existing stashed away WIP's. Today I shall pull the fabric & the floss for her, tomorrow we will hopefully start.

The Chosen Project

Of course I am left sitting here wishing that I had actually purchased a certain chart that I was about to buy - right as I downed needlework tools in favour of a torch & glass.

From the day I first saw Martina Weber's "The Egypt Garden" in her Mandala series, published originally as one of her mystery projects, over 4 years ago I have wanted to do it.

The Egypt Garden

Of course I'd happily settle for Water Garden, Knot Garden, Persian Iris garden, Alhambra Garden, Oriental Harem Garden, Pompeji Garden or the new Hawaiian Mandala - but the Egypt Garden was my first love. I know a friend did get this chart a couple of years back after hearing me rave about it & showing it to her (probably more than once - lol!), so maybe I'll go for another choice if I decide that I really want to complete one of these before they become a 'no-go' for my eye's.

I just wanted to mention that Patty Larkinsmith has a poll for her next tutorial on her blog. Personally I love Patty's beads...& her blog.

Now I don't 'know' Patty apart from having occasionally seen her posts on LE, & more recently following her blog, but to me she seems a sweety.
She has fabulous beads in her Etsy Store & it is well worth a visit. Recently she had a number of beads in her "Tortuga" series listed, 100% of the profit of those beads was to donated to Wildcoast.net.

Patty Larkinsmith - Tortuga Verde

This was in aid of their fight to help preserve marine life along the California & Latin America Coast - in particular the sea turtles.

Now I love turtles, but have never seen one in reality .... even though we share that same ocean, it is way too cold for those wonderful creatures this far south! Whilst I would have loved to have pounced on one of Patty's beads when they were listed - at the time I just couldn't do it.

Back to her poll - it is taking a vote for the bead style in her next tutorial. It saddens me that so far I am the only voter & it has been up for 10 days. Of course I am biased because I would love for her to choose to do her next tutorial on the Tortuga series beads. If she does, I fully intend to donate the proceeds of the sale of my first successful bead from this tutorial to the same sort of organization that Patty did. Turtle have been around for millions of years ....& I want some turtles to still be around if I ever get anywhere to see some!

There is some great information here:

Sea Turtles

A couple more dangly things

I've been busy making pendants out of some of my beads.

It's been challenging as I am not really a pendant wearing person (although I have been called pedantic in the past), so I have tried to let the beads dictate how they want to be presented.

This bigger bead has hand shaped & hammered squggles dangling off the bottom.

This one I left a little plainer - as it just seemed to lend itself to an understated simplistic look.

Two Pendants..... & dangly bits.

These two pendants were made a while back, but I wasn't completely happy with either of them.
The top one was some good glass gone bad, decorated with fine silver & one of the less desirable when I opened the kiln. Still the bead was too nice to write off so it got a bit of a makeover.

The bottom one had a longer dangly that didn't look quite right,.Personally I think that Mallory's lava lamp had been sending it subliminal messages. It's extra dangly was removed this wekend & replaced with two smaller danglies.

Poor wee orphans

I think not!

I just wanted to post these 'orphan lots'. Both are lots I listed as a result of my 'clean out'.
It's strange how what appears to be a boring selection of dark & neutral beads when in a jumbled mess, can become loaded with design possibilities & the springboard for many idea's when sorted into groups of similar beads.

I'm not complaining though - the first set sold before I actually listed it.

The second 'raku orphans' lot is sitting well over reserve & due to finish tonight.

Of course just when I thought I had finished the 'sort & list' frenzy & could get stuck into making some jewelry & gifts, what did I find last night while looking for certain findings I was sure I had....two more containers of 'orphans'.

Shameless Self Promotion

I've been working my (not so little) butt off getting my Etsy Store filled. I had fun dying a new batch of silk ribbons, & also on the process dying my left hand.

I am really pleased with the latest batch of silk ribbons, but learned a valuable lesson when playing with some new dyes. These dyes are specifically developed in New Zealand by Hands Ashford for silks & wools.
I have just discovered they are exported world wide because they are so good, however they are also a lot more potent than what I used for my last lot of silk ribbons! Guess who was inattentive with her colourshift ribbons & ended up with almost a whole batch of dark muddy brown silk.

I did say almost!

I asked the maille man for some chainmalle earrings to go with the bracelets in my store - & voila there they were!

A few bead 'specials' complete the current new additions.

A sampling of my new listings on Etsy.

These are a sampling of the listing's I put on our local auction site - most of which had sold by today.

Tomorrow I hope to finish loading goodies onto my website, then it will be time to start all over again!

Organized Chaos

I work best when things are tidy. I know, I know - but I just can't help it! And yes - I do hear the not so faint echo's of a boss chanting "lana lana lana". I'm methodical - what can I say.

Even my poor torch area is only allowed to get to a certain level of untidiness before I just can't focus on torching & instead get all antsy about not being able to immediately put my hand on the colour glass rod or tool that I want to use.

I decided a clear out & organization of my beads was a good place to start last weekend. Why? Because I wanted to list a few, & those wee treasures that I wasn't quite sure about when they had come out of the kiln, that had been surreptitiously buried in boxes & various other containers just may hold a new appeal a few months after the initial disappointment of their failure to meet my expectations. The fact of their mere existance was, in a way, weighing me down.... quite counter productive for reasons I am sure you can fathom.

I do wish I had taken a photo of this half of my cutting table at 1.00am on Saturday morning it was literally a sea of glass beads - even 3 hours after upending everything onto it's surface & having made some small headway into sorting groups of orphans, I was still looking around with a sense of hopelessness at exactly where to start. At almost 3am I went to bed ....not much further ahead.

Sunday I got ruthless, stopped dithering & adopted an attitude of 'off with their heads'...you know what I mean. They were sorted into groups of sets, focals or orphans & subgroups destined for either Etsy, my website , the local website we have here, or jewelry . By Monday a lot of them were photographed & listed locally. Daily more of them are being packaged in their temporary plastic bags & popped into their venue specific container.

Today on our local website I had 6 sales. What a wonderful reward for the initial sense of hopelessness I felt at 3am on Sunday morning!

Tomorrow I get to play with glass & fire, guilt free!

Lost Treasury

A wee while back I managed to be in the right place ( in front of my computer) at the right time (just as an Etsy Treasury was about to open), & what's more I had what I thought was some pretty awesome choices all ready to go into it.

Fortunately I was quick enough to snag one. Unfortunately I forgot to do my usual screen shot - & that particular treasury contained some of my favorite picks so far! Mind you, I do say that about a lot of them - the poor maille man just saw them all as not so very subtle hints at what I'd like for Christmas (as well he should with the last one!). There were lots of divine lampwork beads, a splash of hand made silver findings & some pretty darn nice semi precious gem stones....it was a positive designers delight.

What a bother that I didn't have a record of my not so subtle hints....or so I thought ;o)

What did I find on the weekend when I decided to put another poster sketch together 'just in case'....

I made darn sure I grabbed a screen shot of that before I changed a thing!

A New Look

Recent mutterings were made about my blog header. I was told that the lettering was pretty much unreadable.....so, being only to happy to please (& not wanting to put strain on the eyesight of those who were finding it difficult to read .... or that possibly need glasses), I've been playing around with my editing software & changed it.

In all honesty it was a good practise run for discovering what could be done with the fonts & text in order to achieve the look I would like for my website.

This is the segment of a bead photo that I experimented with to get the background for my header & logo images, a bit lighter (& easier on the eye as a background) than my previous choices I hope!!

What to do?

I suck at making decisions!! It's official!

For some time now I have been trying to work on my website. I thought I had simplified the job, in the interim, by buying an existing template & I would later look at designing what I wanted from scratch.
Well, crap! I should have known I was in trouble when I couldn't even decide, out of the two templates I actually liked, which of them I personally liked best & decided to seek the opinions of two males. I'm still not entirely sure I made the right choice in the end either.

The template ....& yes the offensive burgundy background will be the first thing that is changed!

Of course I decided that given it was a template available to anyone who wanted to purchase it, that I would like to give it a little bit of individuality & choose my own style lettering for the header & buttons.

BIG MISTAKE!

If only I could narrow it down to just two fonts that I like.

Initially I was firm with myself...I had a criteria for the fonts that I would choose

• Simple - but different, not basic
  
• Tribal in Style
• Worn around the edges
• No scrolls, tails or ye olde calligraphy styles
• Available in both lower case & capital letters

So what have I come up with so far:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

STOP LAUGHING!!!

Now, I hear you asking "what happened to her guidelines?" between guffaws of laughter! Well you may ask!! I have no idea.
What makes it even worse is that these are just the fonts that have names starting with "A" or "B".

In my defense I am being influenced by the graphics in my header. Both the style & the design....not to mention the pesky black area to the right that somehow seems to make life difficult when it comes to the layout. sigh
These fonts wont be in this colour - I've just put them up this way so that you can actually see them.

Hellllllp!!