Do you want to learn to create lasting and memorable keepsakes that show your unique and personal artistic skill? Scrapbooking is a fantastic craft that allows your creative side to go wild. You can do so much more than just placing photographs in an album. Not only do you have your one-of-a-kind photos to work with, but also you can assemble your scrapbooks with virtually an unlimited array of embellishments to jazz them up. Adding embellishments to your scrapbooks will most certainly add interest, dimension and color, making your album distinctively yours.

What is meant by embellishments? Embellishments are much more than just paper. They can be made from various materials like plastic, wood, cloth and metal. There are many embellishments you can purchase. Several of these are charms, brads, ribbons, eyelets, buttons, beads, feathers, fibers, hemp or jute cord and tags. In addition to the commercial products you buy, you can add personal items relating to the theme of the scrapbook; such as a train, concert or Broadway play ticket. You can make use of party invitations, snippets of wrapping paper from gifts and even the confetti. For a scrapbook with a travel theme, try using a map of the location where you vacationed.

Embellishments can be attached using glue dots, which are extremely strong and great for sticking even heavy embellishments to album pages. Tear off the size you need and place the embellishment on top of the glue dot. Apply it with a little pressure for a couple of seconds. Also, you can utilize a glue pen or double-sided tape, which works well too. You may also wish to sew certain embellishments onto the page with embroidery floss and colored or invisible thread whichever meets your need. There are even colored staples that can attach your embellishments to the page.

While you are trying to add the perfect touch to those pages, remember to use embellishments sensibly. Do not lose sight of the fact that the photographs are the main focus of the page. Embellishments should only be used as an accent to compliment your photos. You do not want the embellishments to take center stage or make your layout look too crowded.

The varied selection of embellishments will set your pages apart from plain and boring photo albums. Instead of just putting photos on a page, with the application of embellishments, you will get those creative juices flowing. You now know just some of the embellishments that are available to use and its time for you to jazz up those scrapbooks.

ScrapPea.com has a wealth of information on the craft of scrapbooking. You may browse more articles on this fascinating hobby by visiting us today! ScrapPea.com

Take some time to stop and look at nature. Pick up a rock or two and think about where it might have started out and what it might have gone through to end up where you found it.

Rocks

The smoothest rock is the one
that was in the roughest part
of the stream,
where it was tossed to and fro,
bouncing from rock to rock
or tree branch,
losing a little of its roughness
with each bang,
until gradually it comes to rest
in the calm, quiet sand
at the edge of the stream.
When you pick it up
and feel its smoothness
you can feel the vibrations
of its tumultuous journey
and know that
despite the troubles you now face,
you too will come to a calm
and quiet place,
your rough edges smoothed,
and you will grant peace
to those who hold you close.
The energy you contain
will speak to their hearts and minds
and calm them,
and they will realize
that they too can have this peace,
if only they will trust
that God has their best interests at heart.

We seek out the smooth stones
because we know that they
can easily skip across the surface
of the water for a great distance.
Those with rough edges
quickly sink to the bottom -
they have no longevity.
A good “skipping stone” is a great find indeed.
For it is in the heart of the stone
that the strength is found.
The outside edges are weak
and break off easily,
but the centre becomes purer
and more durable
as the roughness is ground away.
So too our inner core
becomes more durable
as our rough edges
are smoothed.

Copyright Fran Watson February 2005

Fran Watson
http://www.franwatson.ca
http://www.diet-basics.org
http://www.moremoney4u.org

What ideas can I think of?
This Valentine’s Day?
To make you happy.
To make you feel more of my love.
For I don’t know, where are you?

What gift can I give you?
Chocolates, a jewelry piece, or a cute teddy bear?
On the Valentine’s Day.
For I don’t know, where are you?

What can I talk with you?
What shall I hear from you?
On the Valentine’s Day.
For I don’t know, where are you?

Who shall I tell about my worries?
With who do I share my thoughts?
With who shall I share my goals?
On the Valentine’s Day.
For I don’t know, where are you?

Where have you gone?
Why did you go away?
Where do I search for you?
When will you return to me?

My Valentine.
Where ever you are.
Know this much,
that I am mad in love with you.

My heart cries for you.
My eyes search for you.
My soul is empty without you.
For I love you.

When I shall watch,
other lovers.
Meeting on The Valentine’s Day.
I will cry over my fate.
I will cry over your absence.
I will cry all alone.
For there shall be no one,
except God to hear my cries.

Honey, I am waiting for you.
Please come back.
Oh, God, let her read this.
Let her know that I am waiting.

Mohatta writes about different aspect of life. Love, inspiration, pains, humanity, truth etc. He is currently dedicated content writer for http://www.screenenetwork.com network. One of the websites for which he writes text for the eCards, Wallpapers and Screensavers is http://www.cupidecards.com.

When you are hoping to purchase a new pristine telly, one of the critical decisions that you may need to make, especially if you have young kids, is whether or not you want to wall-mount you’re LCD/Plasma telly, place it in a living room cabinet or on a telly stand.

If you decide that you wish to lay your telly on a television stand, it is advisable to buy your stand when you buy your new pristine telly so that you are capable to set it up once it turns up.

Some models of TV’s come with a stand already included, however if you’ve preferred TV is not one of these, you will have to settle on if you want to get hold of a stand explicitly created for your telly or a traditional TV stand that is specifically designed to fit any product of TV.

If you choose a stand particularly created by your TV’s manufacturer, you will indeed have to ensure that you have the proper model number of your particular telly at hand when you are searching for the stand to go with it.

Additionally, there are also many kinds of telly stands currently on the market to purchase, for that reason you will have to decide whether you demand a floor stand, a base stand or simple a desk-top stand. You might prefer to purchase what’s identified as an “open cabinet”. Open cabinets are television stands which, unlike the traditional furniture TV cabinets, include open shelves with the intention that you can store your computer games whilst still being capable to get clear entrance to the wires & the back of your telly when you call for.

Opting for the most appropriate cabinet to work with your set-up can be tremendously complex, considering the number of manufacturers in the market at present. To help you in making the best choice there is a substantial range of guides available online now.

When you obtain a television or home cinema system, you may possibility also desire some accessories to go with it. There’s a great choice of TV accessories to be had currently such as; remote controls, TV stands, telly cabinets, wall-mounted fixings & television cables to name a few. Great offers on LCD Stands online at Digital Direct!

This integral part of the power to gearbox is essential in stabilizing the gearbox and driving the locomotive. This unit is critical depending on the type of locomotive you are going to modify.

Small engines usually have some space problems and the can motor drive shaft to the gearbox drive shaft is almost non-existent. To solve this dilemma you have a choice of two means of fastening the two drive shafts together and still maintain stability of the gearbox. One is the old method of using neoprene tubing to act as a drive mechanism and to stabilize the gearbox. The other is a U-Joint and couplings however, this method requires a means to stabilize the gearbox.

The newer tubing available today is far more stable and holds its elasticity far longer than the original tubing. Previously the tubing lost all elasticity and became brittle. On the other hand the U-Joint and couplings works similar to the drive shaft on an automobile. The draw back is that when the shaft turns there is a monetary break in the stabilizing properties of this type of mechanism. The coupling can slip out of its hold due to the torque and the desire of the gearbox to ride up or spin on the main gear.

To compensate for this anomaly one must find a means to hold the shaft connection steady. One way is to build a bracket with a bearing to be attached to the frame of the locomotive. The shaft of the can motor is then inserted into the bearing and the bracket is attached to the frame. Once this is done, the U-Joint and coupling are placed on the can motor shaft and the two interfaces, can motor shaft and gearbox shaft, are coupled together.

With this method you must have a means to adjust the couplings so the do not bind. This is usually done by having drilling an oblong hole at the attach point for the can motor. This allows the user to move the can motor backwards or forwards before tightening the fastener down. However, many times the space between the two shafts is so small the neoprene tubing method is the only means that will work.

The other type of stabilizer is the torque arm. This one is my favorite however, it is complicated. You have to build the torque arm from scratch. The trickiest part of this operation is the drilling and taping of two holes in the gearbox casement. You must be very careful not to penetrate the void in the gearbox casement.

The other part is making the torque arm its self. This is a relatively long piece of brass sheeting at about a quarter inch wide. You would cut it to meet the length of the locomotive you are working on. One end is bent up 90 degrees. This end would have two holes drilled to match the two holes on the gearbox encasement.

At the point where the can motor would be stationed you would build a bracket with a right angle tab. The bracket would be drilled out to match the can motor configuration and the two screw holes in the can motor. The bracket would then be soldered to the torque arm. The end of the torque arm would be equal in length from the gearbox encasement to the end of the can motor.

On the bottom of the torques arm just beneath were the can motor sits you would solder a sold brass shaft of 2mm in diameter and about inch in length. Also, you would solder in place a small half spring at the same soldering point. Then you would drill an oblong hole in the frame where the original motor attach point was located. This hole will allow the 2mm shaft to ride up and down much like the real torque arm does. The motor is heave enough to stop the gearbox from trying to spin.

This is, in my opinion, the best stabilizer of them all and keeps the drive mechanism in perfect alignment.

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.

Have you ever wondered who these folks are they call “Ham Operators”? or “Amateur Radio Operators”? Well, here is your personal invitation to join a friendly high-tech hobby that has something for nearly every member of the family. Regardless of your age, you can become a radio amateur operator. Its not based on your gender, or even your physical ability. There are folks from all walks of life who become “Ham” operators by passing a simple entry-level exam and earn their Technician ham license.

Its amazing and exciting never knowing who you’ll run into when communicating with other amateur radio operators. It could be a doctor, a homemaker, a young person, a retiree, teacher, student, astronaut etc. The sky is the limit because people from all walks of life are ham operators. Yes, even congressmen , movie stars and music stars. People like Ronnie Milsap, and many other stars.

One of your closest friends in the amateur radio hobby will be an organization called the American Radio Relay League. Its URL is www.ARRL.ORG. You can go there and learn a lot about becoming a ham operator.

This hobby affords you an opportunity to not only have loads of fun but gives you an opportunity to give back to your community by volunteering with the other hams in helping with communications during a time of need. If you are interested, why not stop over to the ARRL site and learn more and possibly get started in one of the best well kept secrets in the hobby world?
See you on the air soon I hope.

Denny Knutson, LPN,EMT, Maa
Emergeny Room Nurse
Bellin Health - Bond Health Center

After the video production is ended the editing point initiates. Automatic editing control units remain put for the most with the editing companies and the technically qualified specialised professionals bring high levels of creativeness at some stage through the editing assignment. In general throughout the editing job the worthwhile aspects of the video footages are kept and surplus fragments are erased. There is a lot of useful software that are in high use for the task. The aim of the video is analyzed and subtle amendments are made also. Sound clips & background music are also made use of at some point during the editing. There is also Special Effect Generators (SPG) which helps to make the specific footage even more smarter. Many of the video production companies provide the video production & the editing services. Vidify can work effectively to deliver white-label online video production and publishing solutions.

These days many video production companies exist to satisfy business objectives of different businesses. Apart from organisations presentations, videography is also utilised to preserve significant instances of life such as anniversaries, birthdays, special occasions; travel to name a few. Portable video cameras with digital chips are today extensively accessible on the consumer market. Short films have turned into being fairly popular not counting being quite enlightening & interesting. In reality online videos allow people to relate better to the topic than any other brand of communications.

Today, quite a lot of people are setting up video production and publishing studios as need of these kinds of agencies are at a rise. It’s also feasible to acquire stacks info from the World Wide Web about video production just with a couple mouse clicks. The growth of video industry has influenced the development of video commercials and to make valuable commercials, a highly regarded video production firm is fundamental. Internet videos play a significant role in implementation of business promotion and now video production and marketing is a well-liked concept with the internet users. Therefore, across the globe online video production and publishing plays a big role.

Most little girls have sweet little earrings, bracelets and assorted trinkets. What they need is a box to store them in. With Mom’s, Dad’s or big sister’s help, here’s a cute bunny box to hold those treasures.

Little boys will have fun making these keepsake boxes too - and probably think of other animal faces to create.

What You’ll Need:

1- 3″ x 4″round craft box, these can be found at craft or discount stores.

1 - piece while felt ( for ears)

1- piece pink felt (for ears)

2- 1″ white pompoms (for nose)

1- ” pink pompom (for nose)

1- ard nylon fishing line ( for the whiskers)

2- black buttons (for eyes)

1- small bottle of white craft paint

1- small bottle pink craft paint

1- bottle of craft glue

Directions:

1. Paint the outside of the craft box top and bottom white - let dry

2. From the white felt cut two ears. They should be about 2″ x 5″ inches in length and diameter. The will look like a long leaf.

3. From the pink felt cut two smaller ears (for the insides of the bunny’s ears). These should be about 1 ” x 4″ in length and diameter. These will also look like a long leaf. Next, glue the pink ears on top of the white ears. Let dry.

4. Cut two holes into the center of the top of the box, about 1″ inch across, to poke the ears into. Push ears into holes. Then dab glue around the openings to secure ears to the top of box - let dry.

5. Glue the two white pompoms on lower half of the side of the box - for the nose. On top of the two white pompoms glue the pink pompom.

6. From the yard of nylon fishing line cut six 2″ inch pieces. Dab pieces with glue. Then tuck three pieces behind the left side of the nose, then three pieces on the right side of the nose, for the whiskers.

7. Glue the two black buttons above the nose for the eyes. Lasly, paint two pink circles beside the bunny’s nose, for rosy cheeks.

Change the color of the box, the shape of the ears and the colors of pompoms, and this bunny face can easily be changed to make a dog or cat face. Be creative!

Carol Fraser Boles has a master’s degree in Special Reading and an Educational Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She has more than ten years experience teaching K-12 reading in public schools. She now manages her own business and is a member of The Lieurance Group, a freelance writers cooperative. Find out more about her and her writing services at http://www.lieurancegroup.blogspot.com or visit her blog at http://www.teacherspetplace.blogspot.com or email her at Cwrites-56@hotmail.com

Recipes are part of a family’s heritage. Every family has favorite recipes that have been passed from generation to generation. Some are handwritten on recipe cards, and others are tucked away in old, worn cookbooks that are slowly falling apart. These treasures won’t last ever, and they should be preserved for future generations. One way to make sure these recipes live on is to put together your own family cookbook. Computers have made it very easy for people to accomplish this task–and the work isn’t all that hard. Your cookbook could be as simple as 8 1/2″ x 11″ pages hole-punched and tied together with yarn. Or you could protect the pages inside of a report cover. I’ve used report covers with a clear plastic front to show off the artwork on the title page of the cookbook. If you have access to a color printer, you can make a beautiful full-color title page or cover for your cookbook. If you don’t have a color printer, black and white can look very nice also.

You can set up your word processing program to subdivide your pages into two columns, essentially allowing you to view two 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ pages at a time. (You also need to set your page orientation to “landscape.”) When you print out the pages, you can cut them in half with a paper cutter and have the pages bound together with a plastic comb binder. Office supply stores like Office Depot will do this for you for a very reasonable price. I have done many of these cookbooks and usually use colored card stock for the cover. One 8 1/2″ x 11″ page of card stock cut in half creates the front and back covers. To protect the covers, you can have them laminated, or I have also applied clear contact paper to the card stock before cutting it in half. This worked great!

You can also create recipe “booklets” by subdividing your pages in your word processing program, and then instead of cutting them in half, lay the pages on top of the full sheet of card stock and then fold the pages in half, creating a booklet. You can buy fairly inexpensive staplers that will reach far enough to staple the center of the booklet.

It’s that easy! Your cookbook of favorite family recipes is only limited to your imagination. I have seen cookbooks of all shapes and sizes, many with hand-drawn pictures in them. The more you personalize it the better. Make sure to include who you got the recipes from and maybe even which country they originated from. I even saw one that had copies of handwritten letters photocopied onto the back cover of the cookbook–it was very original and definitely a nice touch. One cookbook I did for my family had a dedication page in it that listed all of the people whose recipes were included in the cookbook. It was especially neat because it included my family as well as my husband’s.

Family cookbooks make great presents for friends and family members. They can be given for all different occasions, including Mother’s Day, weddings, graduations, birthdays, and Christmas, just to name a few. Because you can photocopy them as you need them, they are also very inexpensive. Your family will treasure them.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com

Ceramic decals have been used for decades to enhance the value of ceramic products. Hand painting using colored glazes (enamels) is more expensive and the production rates are much slower. However, the ware may be more valuble than decaled ware.

Decals can be produced by silk screening or by lithography, the former being more expensive. Silk screening allows heavier color deposition.

The process to make a decal is to add colored oxides to drying solvents and binders to form an ink. Low-melting frits may be incorporated in the inks to assure that the decal will sink into the glaze on firing. The colors are printed or silk screened each color individually onto a special decal paper. A cover coat is applied to the printed decal sheet before the final drying of the decal sheets.

Go to http://www.beldecal.com/create.cfm to learn the actual details of the process. (It’s a pretty stinky process. Take a sniff while you are reading.)

Several color separations are used. For fine china, seven passes through the silk screening process are often required to obtain the color detail desired. Three-color separations are okay for many other products.

Now I’m going to send you away again. Richard Wasowski, a long-time friend of mine, (don’t call him “Dick,” please) wrote an article for Ceramic Industry Magazine (I was once the editor of this magazine) on the digital process for decaling. This newer process will probably someday completely replace the older methods. Go to http://www.ceramicindustry.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2710,80851,00.html.

Oh, you came back again!

Decals are typically printed on large sheets. A worker cuts the sheets into individual decals and places them into water (usually with a wetting agent) where they soak until another worker slides the decal off the paper and places it on the ceramic ware.

He or she then squeegees out the water making sure that the decal is placed correctly on the ware and that there are no bubbles trapped under the decal. The decal is dried, usually in open air, and then fired on a 1-3 hour cycle.

Decaling is a low-loss process. If there is a flaw in the decal after firing the ware usually must be scrapped. It may not be profitable to continue processing a piece of ware that you know will be sold as seconds.

Now days, enamel and or precious metal are often incorporated in decals.

This saves two extra firings if both enamel and precious metal are added. If precious metal is added separately, it still saves one firing. This can be very cost effective. For one thing, you are not wasting gold or enamel nor do you have to worry so much about environmental considerations.

The End

Ceramic defects, decals, decaling, decalcomania, decorating ceramics, color separation

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine, Jones is Executive Representative of International Wealth Success. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (IWS wealth-success books and kits and business newsletters / TopFlight flagpoles)