Jack:
I believe I understand what you're trying to do, and the source of your
frustration.
If I'm reading this correctly and interpreting it right, you are working on
a web page on your local machine. It displays perfectly in preview and the
browser, with all your pictures present. Yet when you e-mail it to yourself,
no graphics appear. Have I got it so far?
The problem you're encountering is that your e-mail client doesn't know
where to go to get the graphics when it displays your e-mail. Everything is
on your hard drive, and the references aren't correct.
When you publish to a web server, your e-mail client will be able to access
your graphics, and they will show up.
Hope this helps.