Clay pot crafts are a cute way to make home decorations. In clay pot crafts, clay flower pots can be crafted into a variety of decorative things that appeal to gardeners. Usually, the crafter begins with new pots. The pots are often decorated with paint as well as being tied together with rope or cord to create things.

Pots for clay pot crafts can be purchased in many different sizes, from tiny ones not more than 2 inches in diameter, to huge ones over a foot across. For a beginning project, start with smaller pots. The beginner should also choose clay pot crafts that don’t use too many pots in too elaborate a design.

An example of a good craft for someone new at clay pot crafts is to make a bell from two clay pots. Buy one pot that is about five or six inches in diameter, and another that is very small. You will use the small one as the clapper for the bell. You will also need some decorative cord, two large wooden beads, and paint in desired colors. You may also wish to purchase some glue-on jewels to decorate the bell. The bell makes a nice decoration for a front porch.

Cut the cord two feet (60 cm.) long. Fold the end over 3 inches (8 cm.) and tie in an overhand knot, making a loop. This loop is for hanging the bell from a hook or a nail. Now turn the larger clay pot upside-down. Pass the loose end of the cord down through the hole in the pot. Lay the pot on its side and slide one of the large wooden beads up the cord until it is about 10 inches (25 cm.) from the loose end. Now tie the cord around the bead so that the bead cannot slip from its position on the cord. If you have done this correctly, you can lift the pot by the loop. In clay pot crafts, the beads must be large enough to stop the cord from going through the hole in the bottom of the pot.

On the loose end of the cord, you are going to attach the small pot in the same way. Slide the small pot up the cord to make it easier to tie the other large wooden bead on the end of the cord. Now when you lift the entire arrangement by the loop, the smaller pot should hang freely inside the larger pot, making a pleasant sound when it claps against the larger pot.

Decorate the outside of the larger pot with paint as desired. You may like to paint it in black and white patches for a Holstein cow theme. You may also like to decorate the top of the bell with silk or dried flowers and greenery and a ribbon bow.

For a variation on this craft, make three of the bells and hang them from a horizontal piece of driftwood or other interesting piece of natural wood. When making hanging clay pot crafts, always make sure the beads are large enough and are tied tightly in place, because the clay pots will break if they fall to the ground.

Other clay pot crafts include making a large doll or scarecrow of nested pots strung together and painted. The doll can sit on a chair or a step of the front porch. Paint his face to look like a scarecrow, a jack-o-lantern, a gnome, or a child. Clay pot crafts are especially suited to being displayed outside.

Stamp collecting, also known as philately, is a popular and educational past time. Stamp collectors save stamps from letters, especially those from other countries. They also search out old stamps that represent a past time. Stamp enthusiasts can be found everywhere. Their notebooks and glassine envelopes filled with stamps are fascinating to look through. Many of the stamps they collect are very valuable as well.

Materials needed for starting a stamp collection include a stamp album and special mounting tapes called hinges. Tools you will find useful are a pair of small tongs or tweezers for carefully lifting delicate old stamps and a magnifying glass for finding minute details. The beginning philatelist can start with the stamps on the mail that arrives this very day. To remove a stamp from an envelope, carefully tear away the envelope from around the stamp being careful not to tear the stamp itself. Now soak the stamp in warm water. The remaining piece of envelope will turn loose, allowing you to lift the stamp from the water with the tongs.

Lay the stamp on absorbent paper. When dry, place a heavy book on top of the stamp to flatten it. As a past time, stamp collecting requires precision and neatness. Place the dried and flattened stamp in the album by using one of the hinges, or store it in one of the tiny glassine envelopes unique to stamp collecting.

Many collectors specialize in collecting currently available commemoratives as a past time. Stamp designs are varied, beautiful and interesting. Commemoratives are those special stamps that are released by the post office for a limited time. They can commemorate special people or events. Most nations print commemorative stamps from time to time. American stamps have featured wild life, artists, antiques, and many other themes. In fact, there is an annual contest in which American school children compete to draw the best picture of a wild duck. The best duck art is featured on a stamp.

A fun way for a young person to build a collection of foreign stamps is to find a few pen pals in foreign countries. This activity helps people make friends as well as broadening their outlook. There are also companies that will send out introductory collections of foreign stamps in order to get stamp collecting customers on their mailing lists. These collections are usually colorful and contain a wide variety.

Stamp collecting is an educational past time. Stamp collections can sometimes become very valuable to the right people. If you are looking for a new hobby or past time, stamp collecting might be for you!

Making our ideas come to life and creating them with our own hands is a great source of satisfaction for many of us. Handicrafts such as making hemp jewelry have been and continue to be very popular among both hobbyists and would-be entrepreneurs alike. Aside from being a productive way to pass time, making hemp jewelry encourages creativity and is a great and inexpensive way to have fun either by one’s own self or with friends and family.

Growing hemp is illegal in the United States because it comes from a variety of the cannabis plant, from which the drug marijuana is derived. Commercial hemp is the fiber used in making hemp jewelry, and it’s available in numerous arts and crafts stores nationwide. The benefits of wearing and making hemp jewelry are numerous: it is attractive in its uniqueness, it is strong and durable, it can be customized in myriad ways, and it is environmentally friendly. Fashion designers, including Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, are including hemp-made accessories among their offerings. Also, celebrities such as actor Woody Harrelson have been vigorously endorsing fashion accessories made from hemp (and he has had several brushes with the law because of his ardor).

Making hemp jewelry doesn’t take much getting used to. It is similar to macrame in that involves a lot of knot-tying. The beauty of it is you are free to experiment with various knots and weaves to create unique and attractive patterns. You can also accent hemp jewelry with beads of different colors and sizes. Dyed hemp fibers are available in a wide range of colors and textures, so it’s fun to think of how to make several hemp rings, necklaces, bracelets and anklets that will go with your everyday outfits. Sources of inspiration abound, including numerous web sites that specialize in hemp fashion.

Hemp jewelry has been associated with the hippie culture of the 1960s and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a relic from that era that has evolved to fit with today’s fashion trends, with both the young and not-so-young wearing it all the time. But making hemp jewelry does not have to be confined to a certain genre or style. What’s important is the fun factor, as well as the satisfaction experienced in a job well done.

In this modern age of electronics and rapidly advancing technology, you’ll find many options available when it comes time to upgrade your address book and daily planner, even if you should decide to stick with your tried-and-true paper version.
Paper-based planners, contact management software, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smart mobile phones can all help you get your schedule and contact information organized quickly and effectively.

Don’t keep separate contact books for work, home and other activities. Instead, merge them into one with clearly labeled divisions or categories. You might also decide to color code with small labels to designate personal, professional, or other types of contacts, such as your child’s school or troop leader. Collect all your addresses before entering them. Don’t forget to include community resources, professional associations and co-workers, medical and dental providers, insurance contacts, and other professional and personal business contacts in addition to your personal address book. Check that addresses are current and correct, and update those that aren’t. Be sure to include alternate phone numbers and e-mail addresses where applicable. Devise a system, such as a calendar tickler to remind you of birthday, anniversary, graduation and other and holiday cards. Notate whom you sent them to and when.

Should you choose to update to a PDA or mobile phone for contact organization, those equipped with Blue Tooth technology have the capability of synchronizing with computers if they’re within a few feet of each other. This is a quick and convenient feature that alleviates the worry of cables or ports.

If you decide to continue to use your paper planner, be sure to photocopy important information so you’ll have it at your fingertips should your planner be misplaced or destroyed and you have to recreate it. Try to choose one that allows you to easily add more pages or different types of tools such as a receipt folder, business card organizer or detailed calendar. This way your planner grows with you when events in your life dictate, such as a career change or addition of an activity.

Most craft ideas are geared to individuals, whether kids or adults. Sometimes you’d like to have a craft idea that works for a group of kids working together. Making a mural together is an idea that works for a group. By working together, you are creating something to decorate a shared area. Individual crafts can be displayed, but one unique item is often more effective than a group of items that are almost identical. In addition, sometimes kids’ crafts, like it or not, just become clutter when they are taken home, and it isn’t long before Mom throws it out. This craft idea of making a group mural can be displayed for several weeks and will not become clutter in anyone’s home.

The basic materials for a kids’ group mural is freezer paper. Freezer paper is about 18 inches wide, and it is very tough. One side is plastic coated. That is the side that is designed to be placed against the food. You will have better luck drawing on and gluing things onto the other side. Class or group murals can feature a number of different design elements. You can mix up some finger paint and let the children make hand prints (or even foot prints!) on the paper. You can let them scour old cast-off magazines and color catalogs for pictures they like and let them cut the pictures out and glue them on. They can add scribbles, designs, signatures, slogans, or pictures using markers, crayons, or gel pens. They can attach stickers to the mural as well. This craft idea is very flexible!

For making the mural, choose a topic that relates to the group in some way. If the group are girl scouts, for instance, and have been learning to camp, the mural can feature pictures of items related to camping. If you’ve been learning about dinosaurs, you can use them as a theme. If you want a really messy project that makes a cute mural for fall, mix up finger paint in fall colors. The children can each make a tree by first laying their forearm in brown paint. Then they lay their arm on the paper to make the trunk of the tree. They should spread out their fingers so their arm print has five short branches at the top. To make the leaves, the children make fingerprints all around the top of the tree using paints in other fall colors. If you add a few drops of dishwashing detergent to finger paint when mixing it up, it will be easier to clean off the children’s arms. Do make sure they have old clothes or smocks for this craft idea.

Little preschoolers will like making a mural with an animal theme. You should probably find and cut out animal magazine pictures to start with, and then let the children choose the ones they like for gluing down. Glue sticks are neat to use with small children. They will paste some of the pictures upside down. Expect it and do not scold them. It is the process that is important in this craft idea. The children can also use animal cookie cutters dipped in finger paint to stamp animals on the mural, too. You may need to tape the paper to the table so it doesn’t slide around while the children work.

An elaborate form of this craft idea that adults often make is a quilt around a theme. Each person in the group creates a quilt square to represent some aspect of what the group stands for. These quilt squares can be colored with fabric pens or crafted of patchwork or applique. Again, the craft idea is to build group solidarity and not to highlight one artist’s skills over another. When the quilt top is completed, it can be a group project to tie it or quilt it. It can be hung in a special central location or given to an appreciated leader or member.

Your short lesson on how to remove carpet stains: act fast. Carpets today (most) come with stain-resistant treatments, so spills can be removed if you get to them quickly. The longer you wait, the more difficult removing carpet stains becomes. And no, there are no stain-proof carpets – yet.

Spot Cleaning Carpets

Professional carpet cleaners will tell you that “spots” are removable, and stains are permanent. In any case, the appearance of carpet stains can be improved even when the stain cannot be fully removed. Follow these guidelines :

Blot up liquids, don’t rub them in! Just use a clean white cotton cloth or plain white paper towels. When you have removed the liquid, rinse the spot with water and blot again until dry. Repeat this if necessary to remove more of the stain, but don’t scrub, or you might damage the carpet and set the stain in more permanently.

With semi-solids, such as peanut butter, pudding and such, scrape and lift gently with a spoon. Rinse out the remaining spill and blot dry.

Dried solids can be broken up and vacuumed. Repeat this until it’s all gone, then rinse with water and blot dry.

Stain Removal Guidelines

When you’re not sure how to get out specific carpet stains, try water first, before you try carpet stain removers.

When you use a cleaning solvent, apply it to a cloth, then work it in from the outside of the stain to the center, so you don’t spread the spot. The procedure is this: apply the cleaner, extract (blot), rinse, extract, and repeat until you can’t get out more of the stain. Always extract solvents completely, then dry the carpet quickly when you are done. If any of the stain remains, deeper down in the carpet, quick drying prevents it from wicking up to the surface.

Carpet Stain Removal Secret

One of the best tools for removing carpet stains is a shop-vac. A wet/dry vacuum cleaner can quickly suck up spills, and more importantly, you can repeatedly flush the area with water and suck it out. This is more efficient than blotting with a cloth, AND less likely to cause damage to the carpet.

Say “Happy Birthday”
Capture the precious moments of your kid birthday party for all time by taking great pictures with your still camera, digital camera and your video camera.

Your child gets ready to blow out the candles on their birthday cake (the cake you spent so much time making), you pick up your camera to capture this very important moment in your child’s life and…

You’re out of film, you’ve run out of Smart Media cards for your digital camera or you’re out of tape for your video camera, or you’re out of batteries! Sound familiar?

While everyone waits, the candles on your wonderful kid birthday cake are now melting away, and your child and all their guests are getting impatient.

Film cameras, digital cameras and video cameras are now fairly common in more and more homes.

But most of the time, our cameras sit forgotten on a shelf in a dusty closet… Then, at the last minute we say “now where did I put the camera?”

So do yourself, your family and your child a big favor…

Several days before your kid birthday party, find your camera or cameras and get them ready to capture all the very special moments of your child’s birthday party.

Pick up plenty of batteries (make sure they’re the right ones)

Charge up your video camera batteries

Pick up plenty of film

Pick up Smart Media cards for your digital camera

Pick up plenty of blank videotape

Make sure your cameras are working

You absolutely don’t want to leave these preparations until the last minute…

If you do, it’s very likely you’ll run out of time and won’t be able to stop for batteries or film or videotape.

How To Take Great Pictures Of Your Child Birthday Party

*A Tip From Grandpa Mike

I spent a lot of years as a professional videographer,(I even won a regional Emmy) so when it comes to taking pictures and shooting video, I know what I’m talking about.

First of all, if you don’t have time to take pictures yourself, make sure you ask (someone you can trust) to be your “official” photographer and or videographer…

Don’t pose all your pictures… Literally “capture” some of the action of the kid activities you’ve planned… Take pictures of your guests as they arrive (especially if it’s a costume party).

Take pictures of your child and their guests playing birthday party games, doing crafts, playing with balloons and anything else they do…

After a while, your guests will forget about the cameras and you’ll be able to capture some excellent candid shots.

Don’t pose your subjects in front of any windows. The outside sunlight will cause your subjects faces to be much too dark, even if you use a flash.

And remember, you can give some of your guests disposable cameras so you’ll be sure to get some “kid’s point of view” shots.

Polaroid cameras are also great because everyone can see polaroid pictures soon after you’ve taken them and you can even let your guests take their picture home as a party favor.

So remember

Get all your cameras ready well in advance so that when your birthday child gets ready to blow out the candles on that very special cake, you’ll be more than ready to capture the moment on film or video.

Who knows, that shot could turn out to be a wonderful family heirloom!

Making beaded jewelry is an inexpensive and fun hobby that nearly anyone can do. The materials needed are readily accessible and cost very little money. Aside from the requisite thread, needle and the beads, there are also some other materials that the hobbyist can use in making beaded jewelry. Hobbyists can also experiment with various beading techniques to make interesting and unique creations.

There are several techniques involved in making beaded jewelry. Stringing is one, and wire-working with beads is another. Various types of string are available: cords, plastic, twine. Additionally, silk and nylon threads can also be utilized in making beaded jewelry. Using hemp fiber in beaded jewelry making is a nice touch – it makes for an unusual product and would also be a great topic for conversation. Wire of various thicknesses is another popular option. Additionally, wire is used to make beaded jewelry items such as necklaces, hairpins and earrings, and to attach clasps.

Beads for jewelry come in all shapes and forms as well. In spite of beaded jewelry’s reputation for being inexpensive, a person can also use precious gemstones like pearls and precious metals, such as gold and silver, to make beaded dress accessories. For beginners, however, less costly materials are widely available for making beaded jewelry: glass, crystal, coral, to name a few. Whatever materials the artist uses, he or she is easily able to customize the type of beaded jewelry to be worn personally, given as a gift, or sold to beaded jewelry enthusiasts.

To enhance the overall visual effect of the beads, a number of knotting and stitching techniques are recommended. There are simple knots and stitches for beginners, and with practice, they will be able to progress to the more complicated and fancier methods used in making beaded jewelry. It’s interesting to note that knots have mystical connotations in some cultures. For some East Indians, knots can be used to curse a person. In Gypsy lore, it is important to untie knots in the clothing of a woman in childbirth. And the expression ‘tying the knot’ derives from the ancient Romans, when the groom would untie the knots of his bride’s girdle before consummating the marriage. In which case, it should be ‘untying the knot.’

It is a known fact that advertising is made to attract our eyes. Marketers work very hard to plant visual memories in your mind. They use anomaly phrases, rhetorical questions, sexy images and ironic text. There are many reasons why this is done but the biggest reason is that it works. Our eyes are often caught and our brains captured for a moment while we digest the advertisement. Since the advertising world has done such a good job in making us look and think there is a slight hesitation in our gaze and direction of sight. This of course is the world’s best time to snap a shot or grab an image of a human on a surveillance camera.

One of the best methods of insuring that images are captured is to place them behind power advertising promotional signs. So often surveillance cameras are put up on corners of buildings or on ceilings. We saw after the 7-7 London Transit Bombings images of perpetrators used by police investigators to track down the other links of suspects and perhaps even prevent future attacks. As we study the human eye gaze innate characteristics and the time of visual recognition we see that some images take the mind-eye visual registration a second extra. This is enough time to catch a really good image of each passer by for use in face recognition software to use for searching databases of “Watch List” humans who are most apt to be problematic to our civilization.

Often if a person of ill intentions is casing a location, doing a dry run or preparing for an evil act, they will avoid cameras when they see them. One concept is to put up cameras in plain view, which are dummy cameras or decoy cameras. When someone avoid them they will look away causing an anomaly or someone who has something to hide. Then as they look away we would be wise to hide a hidden camera in a somewhat shocking advertisement, behind a glass or plastic encased ad. As the person looks away he or she is hooked on for a second longer on the image. Bingo, we got the image even if they attempted to avoid every camera in the place. This would work in Stadiums, Shopping Malls, Board Walks and Airports. Think on this.

Photos of family, friends and favorite places add a touch of personality, style, flair, and jazz to any room. Sometimes however it’s difficult to think of inventive and creative ways to display your treasured pictures.

First you need to take a good look at the photos you want to display. One of your favorite photos might be a large group picture, but it may not actually display well when hanging on a wall. Save that one for the scrapbook and look for pictures that have vibrant images that convey a message or a thought.

Older photographs can be brought to live with the advances in photographic reproduction technology. If you have a favorite old photo that’s fading, or has been damaged or crinkled through the years, take it to a photo shop to have it restored and reprinted. You might even be able to do this yourself at home with photo imaging software. You might want to consider added a special effect, enlarging or cropping the photo differently to add a new perspective to a familiar photo.

Mixing frames of different styles and sizes can be fun, but takes some planning and forethought. Lay the framed photos on a tabletop or the floor and rearrange until you find a workable arrangement, then employ a friend or family member’s help when measuring and preparing to mount on the wall. Have your level ready to be sure that a picture that looks straight actually is straight.

Photos don’t have to be limited to the walls. Tabletops, desktops, bookshelves, and your family entertainment wall unit are all great places to add a picture frame. Even a dressing screen can make a clever and unique backdrop.

You can even decoupage photos onto a table lamp base or mirror frame for an added jazzy effect. And by using fabric transfer sheets, you can even transfer a favorite photo onto a pillowcase or wall hanging. Photo collages of friends or family members make great placemats. Simple arrange and laminate.

This is also a great way to hang a collage on the wall or corkboard above your desk or in your office. Individual laminated photos can be affixed to magnets to put on the refrigerator and other metal surfaces in your home.