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The Perfect Gift for the Home Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:34:00 +0000

Every Family has one. An obsessive Home Decorating Fanatic. You want to buy them something special. Something that is somewhere in the arena of home design, But What?

This is quite the predicament. What do you buy a compulsive home designer? Someone who dotes over their home like a middle-aged man with a new sports car. Last year you bought them that knick-knack thing but you haven't seen it since. The year before that you bought that new cleaning machine thingy, but they never use it. The holidays are fast approaching and you have to buy them something and you would like to buy something special for their home. But What? Maybe some paint. No. You can't just go out and buy paint for someone. You don't know what color to choose for them and any color you choose would probably be the wrong color. So I guess paint is off the list.

How about a tool of some kind? Well it's pretty hard to pick out a tool for someone else. You don't have any idea what kind of tools they have and what tools they might need to do home improvements. And tools just don't seem like a warm and thoughtful gift. Unless it is for your husband and you already know what tool he wants. How about some new curtains or blinds? No. You cannot just go out and buy another person window coverings without knowing what they want and spoiling the surprise.

To buy a gift for a person like this takes much thought and you are already stressed enough with all you have to do for the holidays. May I suggest a gift that is perfect for the DIY Home Designer, a gift that will truly be received with gratitude, love, and affection? What every home designer needs and will appreciate now and for many years to come. A gift that never goes out of fashion, and is multi-functional in any home.

Before I tell you what it is let me pass on my own experience with people who love me and try to buy me things to decorate or improve my home. Over the past few years at Christmas I have received from my children and grand-children an assortment of Flashlights. Does anyone need a flashlight because I must have twenty of them? I have also been given an assortment of multi-function screwdriver kits. Not the good kind that are really useful, but every sort of cheap un-useable screwdriver set that you can imagine. My family does try hard to get me something that I will appreciate, but since I am a Flooring Design Consultant they try to buy me things that will help around the house or at my job. Last Christmas I got a tape measure with a built in calculator that is so small it impossible to see without a microscope. Like I said, my family loves me and they try but there are just some things that you cannot buy for other people. Especially someone who is into home design, except for one gift, the perfect gift. A gift that I would appreciate, so I know many others would too.

That perfect gift is an Area Rug. Area rugs are versatile, mobile, and warm. Do you have a family member that has hard-surface flooring in their bedroom? An area rug right next to their bed would be well received. It would keep their warm feet from immediately touching the cold floor when they first wake up in the morning. Do you know someone who has a multi-function room and one part of the room needs to be defined as the family portion? An area rug will fit the bill. Do you know someone that just needs some spark and color in their home design? An area rug is perfect for that.

I know many of you are thinking that you would not know what color rug to buy. That is the easy part. Simply choose a color that accents their base colors (walls, furniture, decorations). Or buy a rug that is an accent color. Just work off their existing color palette and if you still have trouble deciding on color you can go to our web site where you can find tools to help you choose that perfect color for that somebody special this holiday season. We also carry an Exclusive selection of hand-picked rugs that will complement any home design scheme.

An area rug is the perfect gift for anybody that is hard to buy for. It is a warm and thoughtful way to say I love you. And by the way, do not buy a cheap olefin or polyester rug from some chain store that will wrinkle, crush and fade in a year. Buy a Quality rug, it doesn't cost much more to buy a wool rug with a fifteen to twenty-five year warranty from us. I wish you all a happy, warm and colorful holiday season and may all that you do to improve your home, or the home of a loved one, be a blessing to all.

Crafts for Under the Sea Parties

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:39:00 +0000

Children are certainly fascinated by animate beings under the sea, especially the bigger animate beings such as as giants and dolphins. Boys be given to be fascinated by fish off all kinds, including all assortments of under the sea creatures. For your child's under the sea party, there is a merriment trade that is easy for the children to make. In order to do the blowfish fish you necessitate old egg cartons, building paper, fishing line, wiggly eyes, and glue. For colourful fish, the colored egg cartonfuls are good to use.

To do the fish, cut out the two underside cup parts of the egg carton. On building paper lineation the cups that volition travel together. Add a fish head, top and tail five lineation to the lineation of the egg cartonful cup. Cut out the lineation so that it looks like a fish. If you're not certain of your drawing skills, you can happen a form online to do certain your fish really looks like a fish and not like something from another planet. Some children are very good artists, while others deficiency accomplishments in that area—have A form ready for those who necessitate it. Use gum to the rims of the egg cups and then gum the building paper lineation in the middle. Add the sinuate eyes and usage lines to pull five details. When you gum the organic structure together, you can add some fishing line if you desire to hang your fish after the gum dries.

The undertaking is not hard and is one that children of all ages can make, whether male child or girl. Be certain to set it on your listing of trades for the adjacent under the sea party.

Lapel pin trading at the Little League World Series

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:41:00 +0000

I recently attended the L.L. World Series in Williamsport dad and could depict my experience in one word inspiring. The thought of being surrounded by people and children from around the Earth participatingin Americas pastime, Baseball. However, it is no longer and probably never was just Americas past times time, but the full worlds!

Upon arriving I immediately came across people trading lapel pins, dice struck enamel, photograph etch enamel, promotional pins...Little League baseball game pins. Children and grownups from the United States trading with others from Japan, China and even Saudi-Arabian Arabia. They carried portfolios around with 100s of baseball game lapel pins from old age of collecting, I'm sure.

I noticed 1 peculiar male child telling the other that the pin in inquiry to be traded was last old age most popular pin and would necessitate a trade of 4 pins to have his one. They agreed and the trade was completed. Both male children were happy and they moved on to the adjacent individual for another possible pin trade.

Vendors were on land land site offering manufacturing of these tooth enamel pins and the terms were very inexpensive, one in peculiar was B2 Promotions the web site is www.b2promo.com the other was lapel pins and badges www.lapelpinsandbadges.com They have got been producing pins for over 20 years.

This type of lapel pin involvement at the World Series lasted the full hebdomad of the games and looked as though this was the chief ground these children attended Williamsport! not for baseball game but for pin trading. Imagine that, maybe Americas favourite interest is not Baseball maybe it's lapel pin trading!

Cherie, female parent of three!

Free Face Painting Designs For Children

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:05:00 +0000

When I first decided to learn face painting, I looked all over for free face painting designs For children.

I went to the library, bookstores and searched the Internet. I had dabbled in One-Stroke Painting (a neat decorative painting technique made famous by Donna Dewberry) so I figured I could paint a kids' face at the same "pretty good" level that I could paint a mug for Father's Day. Um, not quite.

Once I really got into the research, I couldn't believe the level of artistry that was out there in Professional Face Painting. The world of Professional Face Painting was filled with real artists from all over the world. I'd never seen an island sunset painted on someone's face that looked so real I wanted to grab my coconut drink and head for the nearest hammock.

The designs were absolutely breathtaking, but not quite what I was looking for. I had fifteen three and five-year-olds coming over and I wanted to paint sweet little designs on their cheeks. Not to mention the attention span of a three-year-old didn't lend itself to a full-blown Caribbean sunset.

In the course of much more in depth research, I learned these basics:

- Use the right paints (in other words, if the packaging doesn't specifically say "face paints" or if they're for some other purpose besides face painting, don't use them on skin!)

- Use the right supplies (this includes brushes, sponges, glitter, etc.)

- Choose designs that are within your skill level and that are appropriate for your audience.

- When you are just starting out, choose just a handful (maybe five or six) designs and offer those to the children. Practice them religiously so that you can paint quickly and keep the line moving.

- Speed is key. Nuff said.

- The beauty is in the details. Small touches like glitter or highlighting can make a design from "okay" to "Wow!"

Look for Free Face Painting Designs that show you step-by-step directions; you will find the learning process much easier.

Practice some basic, popular designs like hearts, butterflies, flowers, snakes, fish, spiders, balloons and you will have enough designs in your arsenal to make most kids happy. Preschool Coloring books are great places to find Free Designs like these because the lines are bold without a lot of detail.

In the end my event was a huge success. Everyone went home with a little butterfly, heart, monkey or sun on their cheek. The kids were so proud of their cheek art and I was so proud to be able to paint them.

Transformers Toys Are Hot Collectibles

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:35:00 +0000

Transformers, the movie recently caused a stir in the US box office, and ever since I can remember, as I kid I had dozens of transformers toys. Today transformers toys have become collectable items, and there is a market for old transformer toys, I remember my first ever transformer toy was a green tank. Recently I was surprised to find out that the tank was now worth nearly $500! If you have been smart enough to hold on to your transformer toys then you should log on to different sites to know how much your transformer toy is worth.

Contrary to popular belief transformer toys too are catalogued based on their year of manufacture; the earliest being transformers manufactured between 1984 and 1990. In fact if you have a transformer toy that was manufactured between 1984 and 1990, then you will be surprised to know that a lot of the transformers from that time are now collector's item and can go for upwards of $100. Transformer toys have been popular in countries like Japan, USA and Canada; in fact a majority of transformer toy collectors are in Japan, however the demand for transformer toys in America is also on the rise.

Depending on the condition of the toy and also the year of manufacture a transformer toy can be worth a lot, in fact if you are lucky to be the owner of a limited series transformer Autobot from the 1984 series, an original unopened transformer from the first generation of transformers could be worth close to $1000.

Another popular collectors item in transformer toys are 'bootleg' transformers, these toys are actually made for a particular country, since they are not authorized for distribution in countries like the US or Canada, they are very rare to find. Another misconception with 'bootleg' transformers is that they are poor quality copies; this is not true sometimes the 'bootleg' transformers are superior in quality to authorized transformers products. If you have a transformer toy that was not an authorized transformers product, then you might just be in possession of a rare product and you should hold on to it.

With so many transformers toys produced in the past 3 decades it's become increasingly difficult to keep up with all the product lines, in fact in Japan alone there are some very interesting transformers available. One of the most controversial lines of transformer toys called the Kiss Players line is considered to be for adults only and some toys are pornographic in nature. Once again since this was a limited series created in Japan alone, this makes for a popular collector's item.

If you are looking for transformers toys or other collectables related to transformers, you can visit sites like transformersnation.com that offer quality transformer toys, and offer transformers toys that attract both first time buyers and collectors alike. If you are still not sure what you are looking for, or how much your transformer toy is worth, you can always search for other transformers related articles and products online and find out what your transformer toy is worth today.

A Crafter's Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 21:34:00 +0000

At birth, each of us is given a set of tools to enable
us to get our journeying on earth. Some acquire paint
brushes, and others acerate leaves and thread. There are
those with knives to carve wood and still others
run wax and do candles. No substance the craft,
the tools are given freely. These tools may not
resemble what the human race cognizes or expects, but
they are thoughts and whisperings in the head and heart. The vision of beauty and colours beyond belief are
woven into the fibre of each of us.

You may state that you never saw the brushwoods or the
needles. My friend, they were there in your fingertips
and in your soul. When a colour struck your fancy or
a branchlet inspired you to believe about the perfect topographic point to
set it - there was your palette of paint and the clay to
do a vase. Inspiration takes many word forms and
forms, but if we lose a tool or two, somewhere later
in life they look and we acquire a 2nd chance.

Crafts and avocations are made in heaven. They are
disguised as such as because the beauty is inside and
we must happen the right touching to open up the doors of
creativeness and ingenuity. Once opened, the Charming
Box will not fold again. The visions come up at the
most inopportune times. Waiting for a bus, rocking a
baby, and even washing a flooring are not excluded. Each is a bead or button to be picked up and used.

When you give something that you made with your
bosom to a loved one, be assured that the quill pens used
to subscribe your name on your undertaking are made of gold. The ink is the fluent H2O of who you are and where
you are headed. If wood is your particular talent, then
a tree experiences privileged to impart you a spot of itself to do
the celestial sphere proud. Yarn, sparkles, and even a plume
all are happy to do your thoughts come up to light. So,
make to your heart's content, give gifts as if they were
one of a kind, for truly they are, and base proud when
you manus your tool box or sewing handbasket back to the
Almighty. If they are well used, then your life will shine. If they haven't been touched, then the human race is less of
a topographic point because of it. Carry Through your dreams, and be the
creative person that you cognize is in your being. We all delay and
hope that the beauty you make will assist us visualize
the hoarded wealths of the human race we will come in someday. Trade and cognize that you are doing the work of the
existence - and as the expression travels "Live Well and
Prosper" in ways you have got just started to discover.

Cut Your Own Faceted Gemstones - It's Not That Hard To Do

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:23:00 +0000

Step One: Selecting the Rough

If you are interested in cutting your own gemstones, the starting point for any gem cutting is, of course, the rough. There are places in the US where you can actually dig and mine your own gemstones, but for most folks, getting rough means buying it. Gemstone rough comes from small mines all around the world, and most goes to commercial cutters, but there are a few dealers who specialize in selling rough, and it is possible to buy gemstone rough and save money. Sometimes rough looks like a crystal and sometimes it just looks like a chunk of colored glass. For the example I used on my website, I choose a piece of amethyst from Brazil that I purchased some years ago. The amethyst miners actually take the rough crystals of amethyst and strike it with hammers to knock off the flawed portions of the stone. This produces a clean piece of rough that has broken edges as shown in the photo on my site.

Step Two: Making the Preform

The rough gem is then sawn with a diamond saw and ground into a shape close to that of the finished stone. The "shaped" rough is called a preform. A big key at this first step is to identify and remove any remaining flaws and then find the shape of the rough that will yield the largest stone out of what remains.

The preform is sawed in diamond grit saws and ground on coarse grinding wheels. One side of the stone is cut with a flat surface - this will eventually become the table or main flat facet on top of the stone. In the beginning, this main flat facet is used to orient the rest of the stone. At this stage the stone is called a preform, and you can see what the final shape will be.

Step Three: Dopping the Stone

In my example, a pear shaped preform is "glued" to the brass dop stick. The flat tops of these dops are matched to the flat table facet on the stone. The glue that is used is actually a special high temperature wax.

In my example, the dopped preform has was been glued flat side down on to the brass dop stick. The rough end of the stone will be cut away to form the pointed base of the stone. Contrary to what a lot of people think, faceting is NOT a process of chipping or cleaving with a little hammer. This process is used for diamonds only and then only in place of sawing to prepare them for cutting. Regular faceting is a process of grinding and polishing - this is true with both diamonds as well as colored stones. One or two different grit flat lap wheels are used to grind in the facets and a polishing lap is used to put a final polish on them. Diamonds are cut and polished on one lap.

Step Four: Cutting the Stone on the Faceting Machine

Here the preform is being cut and polished on a lap on my homemade faceting machine. The bottom part of the stone is cut first. Each flat facet is cut on a grinding lap, and then the lap is changed and each facet is polished on a polishing lap. The location of each is set by the toothed gear and angle protractor and the hand set. This is a polishing lap on the machine in the photo. My machine is partly home made. The mast and hand set are by Master Co., but the rest of the machine is home made. The mast set up is also old - it dates from the 1950s. In spite of that, it still works quite well. Twenty four facets on the cullet have now been individually cut and polished.

Step Five: Cut and Polish the Cullet, Transfer

The bottom part of the stone, (also called the cullet) has now been cut and polished - all the facets on the base are now polished and complete. Now it is time to flip it over and cut the upper portion of the stone, known as the crown. In order to do that, the stone must be transferred to another dop. The new dop will hold the base of the stone so that the top portion is exposed for cutting and polishing. As the first dop had a flat surface to match the table facet, the second dop has a "V" shaped notch to match the "V" shaped bottom of the stone.

Step Six: Polish the Table and the Crown

The stone has now been transferred from the first dop in order to turn it over for polishing the top side of the stone - called the crown. The first facet to be cut and polished on the crown side is the top flat or table facet. In order to do this, a special 45 degree dop holder is needed to allow us to reach the table. This photo shows the table facet complete and polished but none of the rest of the other top (or crown) facets cut in - they are to be cut and polished next.
After all the facets are cut in and polished, the stone is removed from the dop stick and cleaned to remove any remaining wax. The wax can be softened by gentile heat, and most of the wax removed. The rest of the wax used in this process washes off the stone when it is soaked in alcohol.

Step Seven: Set the Stone in Nice Jewelry

In my example, the finished Amethyst stone – with all facets complete and the stone removed from the dop sick, cleaned is shown set in fine jewelry. If you take a look at my website, you will see that it turned out very nice, didn't it?
So there it is, the whole process from a lump of purple chunky glass like stone, to a beautiful gem.

Not quire finished...

noreply@blogger.com (Talent) — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 06:19:00 +0000

I haven't quite finished my gifts, as I'm still working my way through the last one. However, this knitalong definately helped me finish my first two and it's been a great experience (especially since this is the first knitalong I've participated in).

Here are the pictures:

First, the completed Ruffles scarf...

Next, the completed Midwest Moonlight scarf (this one is a close-up because I couldn't get a good photograph of the whole thing that still showed enough detail)...

And lastly, the one I'm still working on, Misty Garden...

I'm pleased with how these are turning out and I can't wait to pass them on to their recipients. :)

These will also be listed on my blog once they've been gifted.