Crafting Secrets

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My sister’s three year anniversary with her fiance is coming up so she wants to make something special for him. She wants to make a pink flamingo pillow for him (his favorite animal) so she asked me to try and find a pattern/guide or something to help her, but I can’t find anything.So can someone with skill for the craft lend a helping hand?

You have a few choices here. One (the most difficult by far) is to make a pillow in the shape of a flamingo. Another (not quite as hard, but still slightly tedious) is to get a pattern for a flamingo cut-out, make it from colored fabric, and applique it onto a solid-color background and make that into an oval or rectangular pillow. Then again, you could get transfer paper and print out a picture of flamingoes and make a pillow out of that. The simplest by far would be to hit the quilting shops in your area and find pink flamingo fabric. Make a couple of pillows out of that.

If your sister has asked you to do this, I’m guessing she does not sew. She would, obviously, opt for the most difficult option, I’m sure, as she is not doing the work. I would recommend either of the last two. You look them over and see what you think you can pull off. Then, if you like, email me for instructions on how to make a pattern for the cut-out to applique or for instructions to make a shaped flamingo pillow. (Please be specific if you email me. I am glad to help, but get requests fairly often. One gal wrote "Yes, please. Tell me about how to do that.")

Is it possible to "cheat" like in the mining guild where you can use a dwarven stout to raise your mining and smithing lvls?

No possible way to get in without 40 crafting.

Anyone who enjoys crafts or hobbies knows the frustration of having to dig through everything to find what you need only to have to fight for a spot to work after the search. Many people stuff all of their items into a traditional closet and find it hard to use because they can’t see what they have. Custom closets designed specifically for your craft is exactly what you need. Everything is kept neat and tidy while still allowing you to see exactly what you have so there is more time to be creative and less time spent hunting.

Divided Shelving

Laminate sheets, paper, bristol board, wood, and many other items are difficult to store because of their size and shape. You want to be able to see the types and colors you have, but they need to be protected so they don’t get bent or ruined. Divided cupboards in custom closes are the perfect solution. Vertical is best for larger sheets. A sliding door works to hide these cabinets when you aren’t using them.

Horizontal shelving is ideal for scrapbooking papers, stickers, and other small items. If you are concerned about having them fall out, consider having them installed at a thirty-degree angle and use shallow wire baskets. These are also great for yarns and other oddly shaped items.

Drawers

Smaller items such as pens, pencils, paints, and paintbrushes as well as supplies often pose a challenge for organizational systems. Having a series of small drawers is helpful for these kinds of items. You can fill them with spools, wooden shapes, die cuts and other items and keep everything separated. When you are ready to use them, you can pull the entire drawer out. For larger drawers, be sure to have moveable dividers.

Specialty drawers such as pull out workspaces are a convenient necessity for custom closets. They are great for holding your supplies while you’re working, or have them on the end of a countertop to make it easy to work with larger projects.

Containers

Plastic dividable containers are the hobbyist’s best friend unless you don’t have enough space to stack them up. Make sure to include a number of shelves that fit your various containers perfectly. Adding doors onto each will help you to hide the mass of containers when you’re finished. For supplies that are just too nice to hide away, custom closets can have glass sliding doors to keep out the dust.

For ribbon and rolls of paper, custom closets can have an area with lengths of dowel to feed them onto. If you keep the paper towards the work surface, you can inlay a measuring stick and use it to measure out what you need or use the edge of the countertop to tear it off. Have holes routed in the top to sink cups into. You can keep pencils, scissors, paperclips, and other small items in them while keeping them out of the way. For wreaths and other hangable items, use pegboard as a backboard for the unit. It doesn’t matter if you have a huge space for a closet in Chicago or a small space in a New York apartment, the only rule with these types of storage spaces is to design them specifically for your items and habits.

Ronald Eapen
http://www.articlesbase.com/hobbies-articles/custom-closets-for-organizing-crafts-hobbies-and-projects-743835.html

When one first begins to be acquainted with the world of miniature collectibles, it may seem a bit difficult to determine a starting point. If you have a creative side, then you may think about crafting miniatures yourself. For many though, the joy of miniatures is fully encapsulated in collecting the work of other artisans and using them to create specific dollhouse designs that fit well within the décor of your room or home. If you find yourself in this latter category, here are some suggestions that may be helpful as you get started.

Determining what you want to accomplish is the first step in collecting miniature doll house accessories. If you already have some pieces, you may want to think about using them as a base from which to build your collection. Are these pieces similar in style? Do they come from the same time period? Will they fit well within the same collection? You will also need to consider how big you want your display to be before you begin. This will help you set some goals as to how many pieces you need and whether or not you want to set up a simple room box or a more elaborate miniature doll house.

If you’re going to attempt crafting and constructing your own miniatures, you’ll now be more prepared to build the ones that will fit best in your display. If you don’t want to build your own furniture or feel you don’t have the skills, the questions above can be a good checklist for you when you’re out shopping for new additions or contemplating buying some pieces at a craft fair.

One important lesson that you need to learn before you begin shopping for your miniature collectibles concerns scale. Miniatures are constructed using a sizing scale. This scale ensures that the figures within the room box or miniature doll house are correctly proportioned. As an example, 1:12 scale means that 1 inch in your miniature display is equivalent to 12 inches in reality. This is the most popular scale used in miniatures, although you may also see some built to 1:24 scale and even some in such fine details as can be presented in 1:144. Though most toy doll houses are not made to scale, any piece that would be worthy of collection will be precisely made to scale. You need to make sure that all of the pieces within your display are to the same scale in order to preserve the integrity of your dollhouse and miniatures.

Just like any hobby, miniature collectibles range in price from cheap to quite costly. You’ll need to determine your budget for starting off and whether you want to focus on collecting high-quality or rare pieces to build your collection slowly, or whether you’d like to buy an assortment of pieces to have nice rooms soon, and replace the pieces with better ones over time. How you choose to enjoy your hobby is up to you. Gather the right information to make wise choices and well thought out additions to your collection.

Veronica Scott
http://www.articlesbase.com/hobbies-articles/starting-your-hobby-of-miniature-collectibles-125177.html

Fun Facts About Bamboo

Bamboo is an extremely fast growing tropical grass with thick, hollow stems. Bamboo can grow as tall as 100 feet and can grow over three feet in one day. I have a variety of bamboo in my back yard and have seen this amazing growth.

Bamboo leaves are the preferred food of the giant panda. Pandas can consume up to 14 pounds of bamboo every single day!

The hollow-cored bamboo stems are commonly used for crafting furniture, flooring, paper fishing poles, and more.There is even bamboo clothing.

There thousands of different types of bamboo found growing all around the world.

Bamboo is a common Chinese symbol which stands for grace, strength and longevity. Bamboo can also stand for fidelity and loyalty.

Bamboo is commonly used in the Asian practice of feng shui to help slow chi. When hung from overhead beams bamboo counteracts the unwanted energy of the overhead beams.

Bamboo shoots, when properly cooked, can be a tasty and nutritious way to give your cuisine international flair.

“Lucky Bamboo” is not really bamboo at all. A member of the family Dracaena, lucky bamboo is a plant (not a grass, like actual bamboo) that can grow in a simple preparation of water and pebbles.

Bamboo flowering is extremely rare. Decades can pass between flowerings. Usually after bamboo blossoms, it dies. However sometimes it is possible to save the bamboo if this happens.

When harvesting bamboo for crafting purposes, you’ll want to get it before it begins leafing and is still young. The best time for this is between two and five years of age.

Bamboo can grow in many different climates and conditions, depending on what type it is. With thousands of varieties, you can surely find a type suited for your environment. There are many hardy varieties that can survive most any climate.

Lyn Davis
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/bamboo-a-renewable-resource-137926.html

Planning a Halloween Wedding?

If you’re anything like me, Halloween is your favourite holiday. Costumes, Spooky decorations, hauntings and – of course – all that candy! So when you begin planning your upcoming nuptials, of course you think a Halloween Wedding would be perfect!

So now you know your theme – Halloween – but what kind of Halloween wedding do you want? With such a broad, fun theme, anything goes! Pick a style that suits your personalities and budget.

What does Halloween mean to you? Maybe you and your partner love being scared together – watching scary movies or visiting haunted houses. Or perhaps you are Gothic at heart – loving the romance of vampires and deserted graveyards. Are you pagans who consider Halloween part of the sacred Samhain festival, or do you love dressing up in costumes the most?

I’ve included a few ideas to get you started.

A Harvest Festival.

A fall-themed harvest wedding hearkens back to ancient pagan festivals – celebrate new life and fertility with your guests. Invade a campground for the weekend, and bring in instruments, fire staff, costumes and cameras galore. Build your own stone circle from riverstones and hold your ceremony within. At a harvest festival, the food should take centre stage. Roast meat on the spit and serve with hearty fare – potatoes, home-made breads and, of course, pumpkins.

A Masquerade Ball

For an elegant Halloween affair, consider masquerade ball. Rent an opulent Victorian hall and serve canapés and Halloween cocktails while a string band leads the dance. Inform all guests they are to come in masked costume and provide masks and props for those who forget. Alternatively, you could designate one table as a craft area, and provide scissors, coloured paper, string, glitter, feathers and fake jewels for guests to make their own masks. If you plan on inviting children to your gothic wedding, a make-your-own-mask table will be a hit!

A Horror Movie Night

For fans of horror and splatter films, a movie-themed Halloween wedding celebrates your “unique” interests. Hold the ceremony on the stage of a theatre. After dinner (corn dogs, pizza and popcorn) assemble on the stage for dancing. Project scenes from your favourite horror films on the backdrop, and scatter Halloween props throughout the tables and chairs.

Cemetery Picnic

Perfect for relaxed, gothic weddings held in the summer months, a small church wedding and cemetery picnic create a charming atmosphere. They’re also inexpensive without scrimping on class and ambience.

Many small local chapels have small cemeteries attached, and the chapel services for larger cemeteries are available for wedding hire. After your service, assemble amongst the graves for photographs, then unfold your picnic blankets and enjoy.

Perhaps one of these ideas appeals to you, or maybe you need to do more thinking about how to create your dream Halloween wedding. But once you have a solid wedding theme and style sorted, you can move onto the fun part of wedding planning – choosing the venue, décor, favours, decorations, flowers, cake and, of course, the beautiful wedding dress!

Stephanie Green
http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/halloween-wedding-theme-ideas-706345.html