pendants, graduations and business plans

I spent the evening last night making a beautiful necklace from a prismacolor painting I did of a stark tree set against an orange post-storm sky and when I got to the earrings, I found I had punched the hole in one of them too close to the top and there was almost no plastic above the hole. It broke, of course. Grrrr! Now I have to redo those. I used my new toggle clasp style on the necklace and it looks awesome! I'll post photos after I redo the earrings. The photo I was working from can be seen to the left. It is the photo that was selected to go to the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs (ANAC) state show in Kearney this June. I hope it does well -- I've gone to state before, but I have never won an award there.

I worked on my wire wrapping skills last night too, even though I did not have heavy enough wire for the project. I should have used 18-20g dead soft square wire, but all I had was 22g half hard round. The piece can be seen in the photo above. I have GOT to sell something so I can afford to buy some new supplies! Until I get the loan to open up my business, I am broke, broke, broke! Sure hope I get it!

I have finished my business plan (rough draft) and will get it sent to the very nice gentleman at REAP who has been helping me with this whole loan process. He will look at it and make suggestions for improvements before I turn in the formal version. He is out of town today and I leave town tomorrow, so it will be a week before we compare notes. I am so anxious to get this whole process over with and get the business open (if it is meant to be).

My daughter graduates from kindergarten today -- complete with a gap-toothed smile because she lost both of her top front teeth in the past week. She looks so beautiful in a white dress with a lime green sash, white tights and white sandals. Her beautiful caramel brown hair is cut into a bob just above her shoulders and fits her sunny personality perfectly. She is so smart and sweet and she just brings tears to my eyes! :)

I had better go get dressed up for graduation and package the homemade chocolate cookies were are taking for the reception.

Happy creating!