Creating Your Own Holiday Traditions
February 13, 2008
I love this time of year — decorations on the houses, a cold nip in the air, beautiful music everywhere you go. I often have a hard time understanding why so many people get so FRUSTRATED during the holidays — until I go out in public and partake of the madness. Between the crowds, the crazed spending, and the pressures to participate in every social event that comes along, it’s no wonder that some folks dread this joyous season!
So I invite you to make a pact with me — this is the year that you decide to step off of the treadmill and do your own thing. Who says that you have to have a nervous breakdown to celebrate properly? Where is it written that you must give in to the consumer feeding frenzy? If I remember correctly, the holidays are supposed to be a time when you celebrate all that is good about life — when you enjoy the company of your friends and family — and when you spread goodwill wherever you go. The holidays are a time when you get to practice being the person you always hoped you could be — how can you do that when you are going 90 miles an hour? Let’s take time this year to develop a few holiday rituals that focus on your true priorities.
9 Tips For Taking Great Digital Photos
February 12, 2008
Introduction
Modern cameras are highly automatic in operation. They have auto focus and auto exposure. The camera will focus on the subject - often identified by a small circle or square at the centre of the viewfinder - and calculate an appropriate exposure by detecting the level of reflected light - usually from the same spot. A slight pressure on the shutter release will activate those two functions, without taking a picture. Further pressure on the shutter release will result in a photo being taken.
1 Take care to Focus and Expose on the Subject of the Image
Imagine you are taking a picture of your girl friend against the background of an interesting harbour. Your girl friend is six feet away while the harbour is around 50 feet away. You position your girl friend carefully - she is important to you - at one side of the picture with an interesting view of the harbour in the distance. Now do you want to focus on the harbour - or your girl friend? Position the square or circle at the centre of the viewfinder over the spot that you want to focus on and correctly expose - take a slight pressure on the shutter release - and keep that pressure while you move the camera to frame the image you want to take - then, and only then, push the shutter release fully down and take the photo. If you want to have everything in focus - then see 7 Depth of Field.
Learn Origami
February 11, 2008
Basic folds
Most of the designs that you will learn will use a square piece of paper ? and most will be done with origami paper, so the directions will show a colored (or gray side to indicate color) and a white side.
Also, most patterns will have an arrow that points you in the direction of where the fold should go. We have talked about the different types of arrows earlier in the book.
The following folds are reasonably simple. It may take a while to get the terminology down, and the way they show up on the directions, but with a little bit of practice you will most certainly get the hang of it.
There are 10 folds you should know as an apprentice origami artist, but two (or three) that you should become very familiar with. All of the folds are:
* Valley fold * Mountain fold * Petal fold * Rabbit ear fold * Squash fold * Inside reverse fold * Outside reverse fold * Crimp fold * Sink fold
We’ll go through all of these in some detail, and they will get you well on your way to making some of the fantastic creations you see in origami.
Beautiful Dreamer, Stephen Foster, Americas First Folk Song Writer
February 10, 2008
"Beautiful Dreamer" was written by Stephen Foster just before his death in 1864 at age 37. The song became one of his most famous and most popular. However, as with the approximately 200 other songs that Foster wrote during his brief lifetime, he did not receive the recognition or financial reward that he deserved.
Stephen Foster was America’s first great songwriter, yet he died with 38 cents in a leather poke and a scrap of paper on which he had written a bit of song lyric, "dear friends and gentle hearts."
Stephen Collins Foster was born near Pittsburgh on July 4, 1826, the same day that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died. Foster died in 1864 when he suffered a fall at home while weak from fever. The fall cut open his head and he died in New York’s Bellevue Hospital shortly thereafter. Foster had been suffering from alcoholism for years prior to his accidental death.
Young Stephen was able to play tunes on the guitar at age two, and at age ten he performed popular comic songs with local boys. By age 18 he wrote blackface minstrel songs which were the popular folk music of the day. At age 21 he composed the minstrel song, "Oh! Susanna," which became a hit, resung, repeated, and whistled across the country. In fact it became the unofficial anthem of the California Gold Rush two years later.
Top 15 Valentines Day Quotations
February 9, 2008
Easy Origami
February 9, 2008
Starting out
Origami is an art of paper folding, therefore all you should need is a piece of paper and you can start folding away without any problems, right? Well, almost. You might need a few other things that we will talk about in this chapter.
Aside from the materials, we are also going to show you some of the basic folds, and how to read the directions of many of the patterns that you can find.
Materials
In origami, you might not just need paper ? it always depends on how far you want to take your creations. Here are some of the tools in you should have in the toolbox:
Paper
Foil Backing
Scissors or blades
Glues and paints and other craft goods
Paper
You can almost use any type of paper in any color that you want. But, in order to make your origami fun and not frustrating, it might be best to use standard printer paper. If you use thinner paper, you might tear or wear out the sheets. If you use heavier paper, it might not be the easiest to work with, and the folds get more difficult to make as the paper folds over itself.
Handmade Quilts are Made with Love and Make Great Family Heirlooms!
February 8, 2008
Today’s handmade quilts are more like a work of art than a bed cover. With all the wonderfully artistic quilt patterns available to quilters today, we are beginning to see some absolutely breathtaking quilts glowing with character and personality. If you are lucky enough, hopefully someone will give you a handmade quilt that you can enjoy and pass on to your children.
When I hear the word “quilt”, I think of the colorful patchwork quilt draped across my Grandmother’s bed. Her quilt consisted of a well thought out arrangement of bright colors and shapes that she had cut out from leftover fabric remnants. All the patchwork pieces were lovingly sewn together into a one-of-a-kind pattern creating a quilt that even today continues to add a cheerful traditional charm to my own bedroom. My Grandmother’s handmade patchwork quilt is now a beautiful family heirloom that will be cherished by many generations to come.
If you don’t have a beautiful patchwork quilt to pass on as a family heirloom, there are many quilt kits available to you. This way you can make your own quilt instead of buying one and it will have more sentimental value to your loved ones as it was handmade by you!
7 Tips For Defusing Holiday Stress
February 7, 2008
KNOW THYSELF
The first key to creating a peaceful holiday season is identifying those holiday traditions that you ENJOY and those that you don’t. When you spend your precious time and energy on activities that you don’t find rewarding, you are destined to become FRUSTRATED and cranky. So go ahead and be honest with yourself before the season even starts. Make a list of every possible holiday "obligation" that you can think of. Your list might contain (but not be limited to) the following:
- send greeting cards
- bake holiday goodies
- decorate the house
- shop for gifts
- wrap gifts
- make the holiday meal
- attend church services
- go caroling
- volunteer
- visit extended family
- visit friends
- spend time with spouse
- plan family get-together
- spend time with kids
- decorate the tree
- clean house
- shop for food
- attend a concert/play
- watch holiday TV
- visit Santa
- look at lights
- host a party
- attend a party
- take a walk in nature
A New Way to Use Old Snapshots
February 6, 2008
If you’re like me, you have hundreds of photographs sitting in envelopes. Pictures from birthday parties, weddings, family gatherings, anniversaries, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. You have already put the best snapshots into albums and these are leftovers. You don’t want to throw them away, but you also don’t know what to do with them.
Instead of letting your snapshots take up space and contribute to the clutter in your home, use them to make collages (at a cost of less than $10 each) that you can give as Christmas gifts to family and friends. Here’s how:
Build Your Own Bar Stool (In An Afternoon)
February 5, 2008
Bar stools are as important as the best wine in your bar. It is said that if you don’t get a good stool to sit on, you won’t enjoy the drink. By a good seat it means that not only it should be comfortable it should be attractive too besides having other minor and major specifications. Nowadays, there are lots and lots of options available, may be the number match to that of the number of the brands of beer available in the whole world. But the irony is that not many match all the required specifications. The options available in the material that we can use are metal, wood, bamboo, iron, etc. The styles available are retro, swivel, whether it has back or not, different metal colors, different designer fabrics, whether it is meant for indoors or outdoors and so on and so forth. We as the owner of our bar, we are the best judge of our bar and hence we are the only one who can decide, which is the best for ourselves. At times we want to make our own bar stools to cater our need. Here are some tips to make one yourself.
