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In the 1800s, scrapbooks first got their name from the different “scraps” (tickets, clippings, etc.) that were contained within them. These days one could make a case for scrapbooks getting their name from the amount of “scrap” paper that gets generated in the process, and before you stick that next strip of scrap paper in the trash, think about it’s possible uses…

Testing out new tools and techniques

Imagine… You just bought an embossing heat tool and are anxious to use it on a layout for your wedding scrapbook. Are you going to give it a test run on fancy paper that cost you $1.00/sheet? Of course not, that’s what scrap paper is for! You can use those small pieces of excess cardstock to test out edging scissors, die cut machines, stamps, chalks, paints and inks.

Layout Templates

We are firm believers in the saying, “measure twice, cut once”. Often used by carpenters, it can apply to just about any other craft, especially scrapbooking. You wouldn’t cut into an expensive piece of paper, if you aren’t quite sure exactly what size it needs to be. So, take some scrap paper and create your own layout template system. There’s no need to spend $60, $80 or $100 dollars on a store bought version, when regular old cardstock will do the trick. Just cut out various shapes to represent the pictures and some basic scrapbook elements (paper strips, mats, etc.) and you’re on your way.

Embellishments

Save those scraps of fancy patterned paper, and even good quality cardstock, to create your own embellishments. You can use small pieces of paper to cover a piece of chipboard, create a frame or die-cut shape or mat stickers for a title.

No matter how insignificant it might seem at the time, even the smallest pieces of paper could be used in another layout, especially if it’s a basic color that you use on a regular basis.

Happy Scrapping!

Michelle has been scrapbooking for over five years and is the owner of Choubox Scrapbook Design (http://www.creative-scrapbook-layouts.com). Choubox is your source for pre-made scrapbook layouts, quality scrapbook supplies and valuable information on how to start scrapbooking.

The fascination for trains occurred when I was about 4 years old. I lived across the street from the Great Northern Roundhouse in Interbay Seattle as World War II was coming to a close.

My father took me with him to the roundhouse one morning. I can remember these huge steam locomotives as we stood between two of them. I was fascinated by the experience until one of the engines blew steam out of a side valve. It scared the heck out of me and I grab my dads pant leg and tried climb up his leg.

This experience didn’t change my feelings for steam engines. I would cross the big street with one of my friends and we would watch the engines on the turntable.

When I was nine I rode the Union Pacific with my great aunt to Salt Lake City from Seattle. That was my first train ride and became my favorite railroad.

A few years later (about 1954) after the steam era had begun to close I rode my bicycle with friends to the Interbay roundhouse. This was several miles from where I was living. When we got there one of the engineers allowed us to board an F unit and ride with him for a few minutes. It was a great experience.

When I would travel with my parents I was constantly looking for trains. During the late forties and fifties there were a bevy of trains to see from Seattle to Salt Lake City. The highways usually followed the train routes and I saw all kinds of steam engines and early diesels. As the freeways took over the train tracks disappeared from view.

The loss of the steam engine era was sad and disappointing. The diesel became king of the road and has remained so to date.

The thing to do is read books on these massive steam locomotives and learn of there prowess and power that helped this country immeasurable during World War II. Find videos that were taken during those years and have been reproduced by several companies. There is always the hobby of trains which I have been doing for the last 50 years. There is much information out there that you can learn from. Being a hobbyist intensifies the learning curve. The sad thing is very few Americans know anything about our railroad heritage. It has been going in a big way at least since 1838 in this country.

Joy Ball has been involved in the restoration and maintenance of a variety of Brass Model Locomotives. Through her years of expertise, Mrs. Ball has perfected the art of train restoration often spending countless hours preserving vintage Brass Locomotive to the running condition of even the newest Brass Model Replicas. It should be noted that the above article was written by Joy’s husband Michael Ball. Receive her free newsletter at http://www.brasslocomotiveworks.com.

Imagine sitting down and looking at all of your beautifully completed albums. Tea in hand you relax because you have finally finished exactly what you set out to do. Here are some ways to help keep you on track with your goals:

•Better Photos: Work on taking better photographs. Plan out the story of your day. Get pictures of the place you’re going, keep in mind what you want to show in your albums.

•Details: Pay attention to details. Watch out for other people in the background that you don’t know.

•Get Close: Think to yourself, “What am I taking a picture of?” when you look through your viewfinder. If you’re getting a full body shot of your baby, then don’t cut out part of her foot or hand.

•Rarely Crop: Do your best to take photos that you won’t need to crop later. Cropping can be fun, but it can be time consuming.

•Enhancements: Don’t spend tons of time adding enhancements like stickers and die-cuts. Not only does this take time but it also distracts away from your pictures. Don’t let the “extras” distract, they should only enhance. Keep it simple and you will enjoy looking at your pages.

All in all scrapbooking is your own hobby and you can organize your albums any way you’d like. But paying attention to little details can help keep you more focused on the task at hand.

When you implement these little ideas you’ll be alot better off because you won’t stress as much getting your albums ready to scrapbook. You’ll be much better organized at the cropping table.

Vera Raposo has been scrapbooking for 8 years. With tons of scrapbooking tips and ideas, Vera is now sharing some of her best scrapbooking ideas for your new baby in her newsletter http://www.baby-scrapbooking.com

Well I got an invitation to a kicking party
 It was BYOB
 And getting started at 7:00pm
 It was to last the whole night
 So I brought my Bible
 Which started a fight.
 You say,
 "Did you win, or lose?"
 "Or get beat up?"
 Hold on now!
 Let me tell you how it went
 I walked into the party
 I established the pace
 I confronted the bartender
 Face to face
 I said,
 "Sir it's time"
 "To close this bar down."
 He said, "No!"
 I said, "Yes!"
 "Now get out of town!"
 He turned to me and said,
 "You want to fight?"
 I said,
 "If that's what it takes"
 "That will be alright."
 So like Paul the apostle
 I smote him with blindness
 As he fell to his knees
 He screamed "Unkindness!"
 I said "It serves you right"
 "You tried to cut my throat"
 "When I was preaching last night."
 You see me
 I'm an invader
 And I take it by force
 I preach against sin, disease and divorce
 And last night I was in his territory
 I got his girl saved
 Her name is Corey
 Meanwhile at the party
 It was going well
 I was kicking over kegs
 Preaching repentance
 Saving sinners from hell.
 So if you ever get an invitation
 To a kicking party
 Bring your Bible and your boots
 And party really hearty!

Looking for something to entertain the kids when it’s raining or too cold to go outside? Child crafts can keep kids busy for hours- and best of all, child crafts can be educational. There are child crafts you can make with kids of all age groups, from preschoolers right through high school aged teenagers.

When the weather isn’t cooperating, give your kids a variety of child crafts to work on. Clear your kitchen table off and gather some basic supplies- it’s time to get crafting! Some kids prefer to come up with their own child crafts; letting their imaginations take over and making things out of miscellaneous supplies like toilet paper rolls, paper, yarn and glue. Other kids prefer to have instructions and patterns for making specific child crafts. You can find child crafts ideas in magazines or online if you aren’t feeling creative enough to make up your own.

Popular Child Crafts for Preschoolers

Before getting started making child crafts, gather all the supplies! As your preschooler is running around the house, go on a search for paper, glue, crayons and safety scissors. Child crafts can make use of nontraditional items as well, so look for empty shampoo or dish soap bottles, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, string, shoe boxes and paper bags. Let your imagination be your guide.

Child crafts for preschoolers should be fairly simple to make, as well as quick in order to hold their attention. Help them make binoculars from toilet paper rolls, or puppets from old socks and markers. Add yarn hair. A favorite child craft of many children is creating “yarn masterpieces”. Give your child glue and different colored pieces of yarn. Let the child place glue all over their paper (gluesticks work great for this project) and then lay out pieces of yarn over the glue in whatever shape they want! It’s like painting with yarn.

Child Crafts for Older Children

As children get older, they are capable of more detailed child crafts. Let grade school children create a city out of cardboard boxes. Flatten a box or two to create the city “ground”, and using smaller boxes, egg cartons, and construction paper, let your child build a city. Draw roads with markers, make trees and houses. Drive matchbox cars through the city, or make your own cars out of egg cartons or other objects.

Children love clay and play dough. You can follow child crafts recipes to making your own dough for the kids to play with. Other child crafts that involve food are potato stamps and macaroni necklaces.

Create musical instruments with coffee cans, and elbow macaroni. Make your own bubble solution with equal parts dish soap and water, and let your kids blow bubbles in the bathtub for a special child crafts treat!

Warren and Karen have been involved in the internet for a number of years and run several websites. They are most interested in providing opportunities for people to connect with information relating to business, health and creativity. Check out their Child Crafts blog for more information.

I wanted to set out some basic knitting instructions as a refresher so here it is. All knitting instructions use basically two stitches, the knit stitch and the purl stitch. Once you know these two knitting essentials you will be able to follow most knitting instructions which are just combinations or variations of these two stitches.

Knitting Instructions for the Knit Stitch

Once you have cast on, hold the knitting needle with the cast on stitches in your left hand. Push the point of the right knitting needle in between the front of the first and second stitches, pointing the knitting needle to the right to feed the point through the first stitch keeping it under the left needle. The knitting yarn should be at the back of the work. Loop the knitting yarn around the right knitting needle from back to front, letting the knitting yarn rest between the needles. Catch the knitting yarn on the end on the right knitting needle and pull it through the first stitch to the front of the work. Slip the old stitch off the left needle. The new stitch is now on the right needle. Now you are getting the hang of the knitting instructions. It is a good idea to keep the knitting yarn draped over the right forefinger, this keeps it to the back of the work too. Repeat this process until all stitches are on the right knitting needle. Now count the stitches, if they are all there, turn the right knitting needle around and put it in the left hand. This is the first row. The knitting yarn will look like it is at the front and you will now take it to the back and start the second row of transferring stitches to the empty right needle.

Knitting Instructions for the Purl Stitch

The Purl stitch will also be in any knitting instructions. Start with the knitting needle with the cast on stitches in your left hand. Your knitting yarn will be hanging in front. Push point of right knitting needle into the front of the first stitch from right to left. Wrap the knitting yarn around the tip of the right knitting needle, crossing over the two needles and hanging once again in front. Slide the right knitting needle down and back taking the new loop of knitting yarn from front to back, through the old stitch. Slip the old stitch off the left knitting needle. If you have followed the knitting instructions you now have a stitch in purl on the right knitting needle and the yarn is hanging, once again, in the front. Repeat this process until all stitches are on the right knitting needle. Now count the stitches to make sure you haven’t dropped any and turn the work around putting the knitting needle with the stitches on in your left hand to start the next row.

I hope you could follow my knitting instructions. This is my version of instructions for the two basic knitting stitches but I have found that it is hard to use a few written instructions. I have found a great book on the subject, much more in depth than I can be. It really helped me improve my knitting with advice on free knitting patterns, knitting instructions, all the knitting essentials. You can find it on my blog called Knitting Instructions. I really suggest you take a look.
Good luck with your knitting.

I love to knit and to teach people how to knit. I also love to blog. I have been knitting for 30 years and have taught many young family members. You can find more information on my blog at http://knitting-instruction.blogspot.com.

Every one of us has that special something that has been in the family for as long as we can remember. It could be an antique jar, a vase, or whatever. As far as we know they have been handed down from generation to generation waiting there patiently for the day that an auction decides how much it’s really worth.

Valuable items such as collectibles, antiques, and rare objects like heirlooms are a part of a country’s culture. They tell us what kind of people a certain place has and what kind lifestyle they had. These valuables are often times overlooked because of the influx of technology.

But one thing remains certain, they are constantly being sought after by people who understand and value these items. People who look at it as a very important part of the story a certain family has to tell and the lifestyle they are projecting. Most of these items are locked away in a cold and dark corner waiting for the day they can once again be part of a family’s heritage.

The good thing about having a lot of these rare collectibles is that they tend to get more and more expensive as the years pass, because they aren’t just good to look at. They are part of history and the part of the culture. And the good thing about it is if these items are kept in mint condition, they can benefit the people taking care of them with monetary rewards. One good place to know just how much value there is in taking care of things of the old, are events like an auction.

In an auction, people who really understand and have a deep appreciation for valuable and rare things come together to translate into monetary considerations the effort of people taking good care of things of the past and other memorabilia of the past generations. In an auction people that know what they want put up a very fierce contention for things they are sure to cost them a lifetime to get. Paintings and art pieces of master artists are sold for millions and millions because the people bidding for it know that after the auction, it will be priceless. And priceless is a word that can easily be negotiated.

There are a lot of benefits that can be derived from an auction, and both the person with the rare item and the treasure hunter of sorts can see it, especially when the stakes are getting higher at every bid. Owners that bring their rare collectibles and antiques to an auction are rewarded for their diligence in taking care of the items.

An auction can be very good to a person that knows how to take care of his paintings of great contemporary artists because these are the top sellers in any auction. People who bring in previously hard to find items are rewarded by the auctioneers with persistence and lots of money.

Meanwhile, people who seek to complete their collections of Van Gogh paintings flock to an auction in the hopes that his own collection would be complete and they themselvescan put up an auction and try to sell their hard work to other people. These treasure hunters are the modern day Indiana Jones that seek to recover the works of an almost forgotten time. The completion of a collection is like their lifetime achievement.

David Arnold Livingston is an entrepreneur with many years
of successful business experience. For tips on finding the
ideal auction resources, he recommends: Fast Moving Auction

To those not familiar with giclee, the term refers to high quality inkjet printing done on materials such as canvas and watercolor papers. Giclee, pronounced zhee-clay, is the choice of many world famous artists and photographers. Giclee prints are displayed at the NY Metropolitan Museum and MOMA as well. Giclee prints from famous photographers have fetched over $10,000.

Can you make giclee prints at home? Technically yes if you are using a pigment based set of inks, fine art papers prepared for inkjet and a high quality desktop printer. In a past article I mentioned that cheap desktop printers are not capable of producing a true giclee. This said, there are some new mid level desktop printers that have the required quality.

The term giclee loosely means “sprayed on” in French. It refers to the injket nozzles spraying inks on papers. It was coined in California by digital imaging professionals who saw the potential of their printers to reproduce more than just proofs.

With the advent of digital photography and the art buyers’ desire to purchase high quality prints on real artist substrates, giclee is becoming very popular. Many portrait photographers now offer pictures on canvas and textured watercolor paper.

If you are into photography, scrapbooking or just want to create interesting postcards, you will find many of the art materials we use professionally available on the internet in cut sheets. The cost is higher than regular inkjet photo paper but the results will be well worth the extra cost.

If you plan to print or have a professional shop print your work, make sure archival inks and papers are used. The coatings and substrates have to be acid free and possibly be without optical brighteners.

For more information on giclee please visit inkjet canvas printing on our website.

Fabio Braghi is the owner and printmaker of a Fine art giclee print company with over fifteen years of experience in digital imaging.

When you think of embroidery, you probably think of your grandmother knitting you a pink bunny rabbit outfit for Christmas. Embroidery just might be the domain of your grandmother, but it still had plenty of people who are interested in getting started in embroidery. There is a real generation gap between today’s youth and their grandparents. Teenagers seem to be more interested in their Sony PS2 and AOL Chat than learning about hand made crafts. However, the tradition is alive and well on the internet. After all, embroidery doesn’t change every six months and embroidery has been here for years. How long has the PS2 been out again?

As far back as Egyptian and Hebrew times individuals decorated their clothing with rich embroidery. The 18th and 19th Centuries brought embroidery to a whole new class of people, and even today, it seems that the craft has successfully migrated to cyberspace. Unlike a lot of other industries including travel agents who have seemed have missed the boat.

The internet has allowed hobbyists and professionals from all over the world to mingle and discuss their latest embroidery projects. There are dozens of custom embroidery websites and people are always looking for free embroidery designs.

In fact, A Google search for the term “embroidery” shows more than 70 merchants advertising their embroidery related products. Bidding for competitive terms can become fierce very quickly. But clearly, at least 70 advertisers think embroidery is a term worth pursing.

Overall, while embroidery might not be a rock’n’roll type hobby (was it ever?), it certainly has gone the way of the Dodo. If you like embroidery, there are a lot of online resources for you to explore.

Tim Branch is a contributing author at
http://www.katesembroidery.com. Kates Embroidery has embroidery and embroidery designs.
information.

Funny Love Poems

When most people think of love poems, they think of serious and soulful expressions of passion. Long sonnets by Shakespeare or romantic poems by Browning and Lord Byron are the norm for love poetry. However, funny love poems can be good for a laugh. They may not be romantic, but they do give your friends something to enjoy.

Some of the best funny love poems are limericks. Limericks started in Ireland and follow a standard form of five lines and a rhyme scheme of aabba. Here are a few limericks written by anonymous authors:

There once was an old man of Lyme
Who married three wives at a time
When asked “Why a third?”
He replied, “One’s absurd!
And bigamy, Sir, is a crime.”

There was a young fellow named Hammer
Whose had an unfortunate stammer
“The b-bane of my life”
Said he, “Is m-m-my wife
D-d-d-d-d-d-damn ‘er!”

She made friends with a young undertaker;
Her last boyfriend had forsaken her.
But she started to curse
When he turned up in a hearse.
She said next time I’ll date a baker!

There was a young lady named Constance,
From boys she wouldn’t stand any nonsense.
If her partners grew deft
She would lead with her left;
The results would not weigh on her conscience.

My sweetheart and I are just wed.
Already I wish I were dead.
Two weeks she’s been spending.
It was time never ending.
We are thousands of pounds in the red!

Limericks are fairly easy to write if you can rhyme well, so you might try writing a limerick yourself that includes the name of your friend or loved one. This is a good way to make a funny love poem that is personalized.

You can find more information about funny poems at:
http://www.love-poems-quotes.info/funny-love-poems.html

Art Hill is an internet poet who operates an independant poetry publishing company.