Hobby Shop Blog

The magic that you see magicians performing today is really

truly amazing. It seems like every year the bar is being raised

to put the challenge on the rest of the magic community to come

up with the next “big thing”. Magic shows are getting bigger;

they’re getting more elaborate; they’re getting extreme. But is

bigger always better?

Think about it. What would you rather see, David Copperfield on

stage performing one of his unbelievable elusions with all the

lights, pretty assistants, and fire and smoke or some ordinary

Joe walking up to you on the street and asking you to pick a

card, any card?

What’s your first reaction? Of course, who wouldn’t want to go

see David Copperfield? He is the man, well known for all of his

mind blowing magic that he has performed on stage and seen by

millions on TV. Hey, if I was asked this question, I’d be the

first to admit, I would choose David Copperfield in a heartbeat.

But let’s take a step back and think about this question, David

Copperfield or Ordinary Joe. You’ve got the glamour versus the

struggling street performer. Why would we choose Copperfield

over Ordinary Joe? Is it because we know what Mr. Copperfield

can do and we know whatever he does is over the top and we will

enjoy it? Most likely, but what about Ordinary Joe? Why not

give him a chance?

If you really think about it, do you know what this Ordinary Joe

can do? Nope. So maybe it may be more exciting to see what he

can do over Copperfield. Just maybe this Ordinary Joe has

something that you and the rest of the world have never seen

before. He may even have the next “big thing” in magic.

Maybe Ordinary Joe isn’t so ordinary after all. Now that I have

put this perspective into your mind, I’ll ask the question

again, Copperfield or Ordinary Joe? It’s still a tough sell,

isn’t it? We are still drawn to the glamour and lights of

Copperfield because we know what he can do, he is a proven

entertainer.

You may be asking yourself, so what is the point in all of this?

My point is that David Copperfield use to be that Ordinary Joe

and now look at him. He is far from ordinary. So next time,

take the time to give that Ordinary Joe a chance to show you the

magic he can do because he could be showing you the next “big

thing”. In the end, magic being performed by some one on the

street or on some big stage, it is still magic and that’s what

counts.

Elegant ornaments

http://www.maddylane.com/project9.html

“Beautiful baubles”

Hands-on time: Less than two hours per dozen.

Total time: Plus 48 hours for paint to cure.

Skill: Easy to moderate.

Cost estimate: Less than $10.00 for a dozen.

Materials & tools:

Clear or frosted glass balls in assorted shapes and sizes

Vitrail and Porcelaine 150 paints by Pébéo

Copper leafing and adhesive size by Renaissance Foil, Detla

Micro beads

Assorted beads

Decorative wire in 22 to 25 gauge

Assorted colourful and white rice papers

Mod Podge by Plaid

Sparkle Glaze by Delta

Iridescent flakes, rhinestones, tassels, gold string and Fun wool for decorative accents

Applicator bottles (small plastic bottles with a nozzle tips)

Basic tools needed; wire cutter, scissors, painter’s tape, a sea sponge and assorted paintbrushes, and metal glue

*(all above items are available at arts and craft supply stores)

This year, deck the halls with beautiful ball creations in medleys of rich colours and styles. Make your own holiday ornaments to add among your cherished oldies and to treasure for years to come. Decorating the home with impressive ornaments has never been easier to achieve, utilizing only a handful of basic craft supplies. Glass ball ornaments with sophistication from eclectic to elegant designs are painted with brilliant colours and magnificently decorated with copper leafing, rice paper, beads, tassels and ritzed up with glitz.

Aside from decorating a traditional Christmas tree, ball ornaments make distinguished decorations to beautify an entrance, a hallway, or to grace a mantel. Mixtures of solid colours or striped balls are simply splendid displayed in tall vases, large bowls or incorporated into a spectacular centerpiece.

If you live in a small space, decorating with ornaments is a fantastic way to add wonderment to your décor without incorporating a huge tree. Smaller glass versions are perfect to jazz up tabletop trees and to create stylist floral arrangements.

Preparing the base of the glass ornaments:

Prepare the glass surface for painting by washing the balls thoroughly with soap and water and wipe dry.

Attach a decorative string to the metal cap tips that come with the glass balls. It makes it easier to handle the balls while painting and practical to hang them for drying on an ornament stand or a coat rack with pegs.

Paint the surfaces of the glass balls with a soft bristle paintbrush using Vitrail paints in your choice of colours from emerald, red violet to turquoise blues. I used a rich palette of crimson, brown, and burnt amber. Since these are decorative items only, I used Vitrail solvent based paints because the colours are brilliant and they don’t need to be heat set. Once painted hang the balls to air-dry. They will dry within hours and be ready to decorate within a 48 hour period. Use a solvent base cleaner to clean your brushes well.

Eclectic paper collage; Painted glass balls are garlanded with assorted scraps of colourful and white rice papers. Use paper bits and pieces leftover from other holiday projects. Apply a coat of Mod Podge over the surface of the ball. Randomly apply and layer tiny paper pieces around the ball, leaving some areas exposed in order to see its colour. To secure the paper composition into place, apply a top coat of Mod Podge and let dry. Once dry apply a coat of sparkle glaze to make them glitter and glow.

Renaissance: Apply vertical stripes evenly spaced all around the ball with a fine point paintbrush using Porcelaine 150, Vermeil gold. For a majestic look apply rhinestones garnishes over the dried gold stripes using metal glue.

Baroque: Apply narrow painter’s tape to create two stripes on the bottom half of a glass ball. Apply adhesive sizing with soft paintbrush to the area between the tape stripes. Set the ball a side to allow the adhesive to become dry and tacky to the touch (15-60 minutes). Place and press copper leaf over the adhesive medium to adhere to the ball. Use a clean soft brush to secure the leafing into place and to remove excess pieces. Top off with a wire length fastened around the cap, bead the ends and add a tassel.

Old world: Apply adhesive sizing randomly around the ball and follow the leafing steps as above. The leafing will only stick to the areas where the medium was applied. Apply a length of Terrifically Tacky Tape around the center of the ball. For a gleaming touch, sprinkle iridescent flakes over the tape and gently pat it.

Glistening swirl: Simply dab a colour of Vitrail paint around a glass ball using a sea sponge. Once dry, apply a band of rice paper with a swirl pattern at the center of the ball with Mod Podge. Apply glitter glaze around the ball. Wrap a piece of coloured wire around the cap of the ball and decorate the ends with beads.

Beaded Rococo: Pour assorted metallic Porcelaine 150 paints into applicator bottles, one for each different colour. Using one colour at a time, squeeze the bottle to release paint along the sides of the ball, letting some of the colours overlap and some areas free of drippings. Let it dry and set for 48 hours. Garnish the ball with a band of colourful micro beads using Terrifically Tacky Tape. For an elaborate cap finish use fuzzy wool and bead accents.

Give older ornaments a renewed look by sprucing them up using the same supplies in order to blend in with your new ornaments. Each year make and add new styles of ornaments to your collection. Make extra ornaments to give as gifts to friends, teachers and relatives.

Variations;

Ribbons and fabric remnants make fabulous ornament embellishments. For a dazzling look use sequins, glitter glues, and old jewellery odds and ends. Modern and minimalist styles of ornaments can be made utilizing materials such as clay, foils, tinsel, wire, and mesh. For special effects make basic geometric shapes using textured or snow paints. For fine details or to inscribe your dinner guests names onto a personalized ornament use Porcelaine liners or markers by Pébéo.

Copyright MaddyLane Designs © 2006

maddy@maddylane.com

http://www.maddylane.com

This is an excellent way to let your child participate in the decoration of his or her room while at the same time having fun working on a creative crafts project!

All you will need for this project is probably already laying around your house. Find a wire coat hanger, some yarn, some colorful construction paper, glue, and decorating materials, such as paint, markers, crayons, stickers, glitter, etcetera.

Cut 6 diamond shapes out of the construction paper, it is fun to make them different colors, because each diamond represents a kite…and we want several different kites. You can make them different sizes as well to add variety, a good rule of thumb for the average size is five or six inches tall and three or four inches wide. Make them big enough to give your child room to create a masterpiece on each one!

Have your child spend time decorating each of the kites. To add variety, it is fun to have varying media used for the decoration, for example some might use crayons, a couple with paint, and one or two with glitter or stickers.

Once all the masterpieces are done, affix yarn to the bottom of each kite to represent its tail. Six inches or so will do, again it is fun to add some variety in lengths and colors. Stapling works just fine, although glue or tape will do as well.

Now, cut six bow shapes out of the construction paper to attach to the end of the tails. This can be made easier by cutting the shapes into a tuxedo bow-tie shape of two opposing triangles. Of course you can always spend the time to make them curvy and add as much detail as you want. Attach them to the end of the tails using staples, glue, or tape.

Now you can have your child attach the kites to the hanger. Again, varying lengths of yarn can be used for this purpose, however try to encourage your little one to space them along the hanger in a relatively even manner to ensure balance. This is not rocket science, it doesn’t have to be exact, just roughly balanced.

Now you are almost ready to hang the work of art. Have your child participate in the selection process of where to hang the mobile in his or her room. Once a suitable location has been agreed to (away from ceiling fans and the like), tie a piece of yarn to the hook of the hanger. This will allow the hanger to rotate freely and be a true mobile. Then, attach the top of the yarn to the ceiling, either by tying it to a hook, or using a stapler, thumb tack or push pin.

You now have a kite mobile! Add to the fun by spending time with your child making up stories about flying kites, or which make believe character each kite belongs to, or anything else that will stimulate the imagination. The possibilities are endless!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of OnlyHangers, an online specialty store offering a variety of styles and types of coat hangers. For more information, please visit www.onlyhangers.com.

Let’s admit it, it’s not going to be a walk in the park learning the right oil painting techniques online. But if you don’t have a lot of time and maybe you don’t have the kind of financial resources to learn oil painting techniques by attending classes right now, you can always try to find online resources that will help you adopt the right oil painting techniques.

Nothing can take the place of one-on-one guidance but with in-depth information, useful tools and your own willingness to learn, you’ll master the art of oil painting just as quickly as a person who attends oil painting classes for three years. You don’t need a certificate to prove that you can paint in oil as well as others, your own portfolio and samples is proof enough. That’s the amazing thing about art. Your talent speaks for itself and you don’t really need a college or academic body to affirm it for you. Most artistic geniuses of previous generations didn’t get the kind of guidance or lessons that some of our artists get today – and look at the number of outstanding artists we have in those times compared to now.

When you’re relying on online resources to help you learn the right oil painting techniques, the most important thing is for you to absorb whatever is being said, research words and terms that you do not understand through communities and message boards, and then apply the stuff that you have learnt from those lessons consistently.

So, the steps to learning oil painting through online resources are:- Absorb: read and take in whatever that they’re trying to tell you. You don’t have a lecturer or a teacher to stand over you and correct your mistakes. That’s why your reference to the online resource should be meticulous.

Research: One of the biggest challenges to learning oil painting online is that sometimes you’re left in a lurch because no one teaches you all those technical terms that they’re spurting out and you’re lost. Either research the word through www.wikipedia.com, www.dictionary.com, or go to online communities and post your questions there. Don’t be ashamed or shy to ask. The biggest mistake you can make is to hold back and pretend that you know.

Application: Application is the biggest and most important part of learning oil painting through online resources. Keep in mind the things that you have learnt, print it out and file it nicely so that you can be reminded of it later on.

Feedback: This is also called ‘humbling’ time. Whenever you’ve learnt something new, copy it into digital format by either scanning it or taking a picture of it, go to an online forum and get feedback from people like you or from professionals. Don’t take their feedback or comments personally, instead, take it professionally in your stride. Their comments and feedback will only serve to make your work better the next time round.

You would be surprised at the items that have been collecting dust in some of the garages and attics of many worldwide households. When it’s time to do a little spring cleaning, eBay fills with some of the unwanted possessions from a wide range of characters. You never know when that collectible you’ve been wanting forever will appear as a listing. Every day, people take advantage of the chance to grab onto things they would never think they would see again.

Make sure you are prepared the next time you are looking for an item to add to your collection. Most eBay users find what they are looking for situated all in one category. A helpful way to keep an eye out for potential purchases is to find a category that fits your needs best. Once you have established a suitable category, you should add it to the Favorites section in your browser. This makes checking in on new items much easier.

If you’ve been collecting for a while, chances are that you are already quite knowledgeable on the pieces you wish to purchase. This is your time to shine because often times, a seller doesn’t even know what a great find they have in their possession. They may post a rare item up for less and are unaware of its monetary potential. Sometimes, important details are not included on a product description, which deters other collectors, but from your expertise, you are able to decipher a diamond in the rough.

Sometimes, emailing a seller to ask questions is a good way to confirm your suspicions. If you can bear to part with it once you’ve acquired it, you may want to resale the item to make a larger profit.

If a seller lists that they are selling an item that is “rare”, keep in mind that this is not always true. Sellers are regular people like you and me, who have been known to stretch the truth a bit in order to attract potential buyers. Some sellers will just put the word into their descriptions because they think it makes the item sound better, not knowing the complications. Don’t fall into the trap of bidding on something you aren’t familiar with.

Some people will aggressively bid on an item like it is the last auction in the world. Consider all of the thousands, something millions of items that newly appear on eBay and remember that usually, what comes around goes around. You’ll have your chance to find something just like it, if not the same. It is OK to walk away from a negotiation when the stakes get too steep. When you don’t turn the other cheek, you will wind up paying too much for the item. Bidding wars can become quite expensive.

Even though you win an item at a reasonably low price, you must factor in the cost to ship it to you when the final bill rolls around. It doesn’t make sense paying $20 in shipping costs for an item you won for $2, does it? A nice way to get around some costs is to buy a few items from the same seller, who will then often offer discounted postage.

Are you interested in buying a vintage poster or even a collection of them? If so, you are not alone. Vintage posters are not only ideal for collectors, but they also look great as home or office décor. For that reason, there is a good chance that you may be looking to purchase at a vintage poster. If so, do you know what to do next? While your first thought may be to go out and find a poster to purchase, there are a number of important factors that you will first want to keep in mind.

Perhaps, the most important thing to consider, when buying a vintage poster, is who you are buying from, this is especially important online. Although the internet has made it easy to shop from home, it has also made it easier for you to fall victim to a scam. That is why it is extremely important that you do not do business with just anyone. You will want to find an online vintage poster store or dealer who is not only well-known, but highly rated. It is the best way to ensure that you are really buying a vintage poster.

In addition to who you do business with, you will also want to keep the vintage poster in mind. When it comes to vintage posters, a number of different pieces are considered vintage and for different reasons. In most cases, you will find that vintage pieces, such as a vintage poster, come from a specific time period. This time period varies and it may be dependent on the piece, as well as the artist. To determine whether or not the vintage poster you are looking to buy is actually vintage, you may want to do a little bit of research. You should easily be able to do that research with a standard internet search.

It may also be a good idea to keep the price of a vintage poster in mind. As you might assume, the prices for vintage posters vary. A number of different factors influence the price. It is not uncommon for a particular piece of artwork to cost more than most; however, it all tends to depend on the popularity and the beauty of the vintage poster in question. It is also not uncommon for vintage posters made by a particular artist to cost more than others, especially if the artist is extremely well-known for their talent. When it doubt, it is always best to ask questions or quickly research a particular vintage poster online.

By keeping the above mentioned factors in mind, particularly who you plan on doing business with, you should easily be able to find the vintage poster of your dreams. In fact, you wouldn’t necessarily just be getting the poster of your choice, but you may also end up getting it from a well-known dealer and for an affordable price.

Filipino Kali is the martial art of stick fighting. Hard, bamboo sticks are used for defense and to attack. They have made this particular fighting style into a unique and deadly martial art form.

Kali Practitioners are first taught weapons fighting before hand to hand combat, differentiating itself from other martial art styles. A student in any other Asian Martial Art is expected to master hand to hand combat before moving on to weapons.

A definition of Kali would be: A Martial Art specializing in the use of two baton-length sticks, with techniques adaptable to empty-hand or edged weapons.

The word “escrima” originates from the Spanish verb “escrime”, meaning to fence with a sword. Escrima is thought to have originated during the Spanish occupation of the Philippine Islands. Escrima is often used synonymously for Arnis and Kali.

Kali is an ancient term used to signify the martial arts in the southern Philippines. This martial art style is known as Kali-Silat. During the occupation by Spain, it was forbidden to practice Kali.

Studies of dance forms in the Philippines show the influence of Kali. Kali martial arts movements are ingrained in all the hand gestures and footsteps of the dances. These Kali patterns are not to be seen in the dances of India, Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, Pacific islanders.

Both men and women were taught martial arts in the Philippines. Combat was a fact of life and used against neighboring tribes, warlords and foreign occupiers.

Kali, Ecrima or Arnis stick fighting was developed over a period of many centuries. The people of the Philippines fought constant foreign invaders during this time. Each struggle against a new culture added to the Filipino Martial Arts as Kali warriors developed techniques to counter, combat and integrate many foreign styles. More than 100 different Filipino Martial Arts styles developed, which can be grouped into three complete self-defense systems which utilize sticks, swords, empty hands and other weapons. The systems are called Northern, Southern, and Central.

In Kali the assumption is always to use the edge of a blade, be it sword or knife. Kali employs many techniques, including strikes, stances and weapons handling, which have influences from China, Arabia, Indonesia and Spain.

The Southern islands, where influenced by Arab missionaries and became know as (Moro Filipinos”), fierce Moslems who violently opposed foreign peoples on their native land. During the American occupation in the early 1900s, Moros, marked by tiger-eyes and red headbands - signifying a resolve to kill until killed battled American trrops.

The Moro’s we so ferocious that the American soldiers found their .38-caliber pistols ineffective. As a result the .45-caliber pistol was designed as a knock down weapon specifically to deal with the Moros. The American militray term “leather neck” comes from fighting the Moro’s during this time. American Marines would wrap their necks in leather to keep from getting injured by the Kali warriors.

In 1935, the Philippines were occupied by the Japanese during World War II. Known for close-in, hand-to-hand combat with bolo knives, Filipino troops established themselves as fierce guerrilla forces.

Following the war, many Kali practitioners migrated from the Philippines to Hawaii and California. They lived close together, working as farm laborers and practicing their martial art in secret.

After years of secrecy the old Kali masters started to teach a younger generation the beautiful and deadly Filipino Martial Art. Its sad to say that the older generation of Kali masters believe the martial art is dead in the Phillipines.

Todays Kali practicioner shows respect to the art by the use of a visual salutation. They touch the closed fist of their right hand to their forehead and the open palm if the left hand to their heart.

Some of these masters of Kali who have continued the art are Angel Cabales, Regino Ellustrisimo, Leo Giron, John LaCoste, Ben Largusa, and Floro Villabrille.

For additional information and other Martial Arts articles visit: http://www.allmartialarts.info

When redecorating your room, you may be faced with looking for new lampshades (or perhaps a lampshade you currently have has gotten damaged). So why not make your own!

If your lamp currently has a lampshade on it, half of the battle is already won! You have a base to start building your new shade. When selecting a material for your new shade, you can use paper, fabrics, plastic, or any heat-resistant material. Do keep in mind though, that the surface of a 100-watt light bulb can reach over 200 degrees and could cause a fire hazard. Make sure the material you choose for a lampshade is either far enough from the light bulb, or is fire-resistant.

Next, have fun! Take a trip to your local craft store or fabric store and get some ideas for your fabric or other material for your shade. Remember, the more transparent the material, the more the color of your light will change by the material. If you use a lightweight, transparent green sheer material, your finished lamp will give off a greenish glow. On the other hand, a heavy piece of velvet (or how about some thin strips of tree bark) won’t allow much light through at all. Light will escape from the top or bottom of the lamp only. Keep this in mind as you plan your new lampshade.

To begin making your new lampshade, you will need the measurements of the current shade. If possible, take the old shade apart by carefully cutting it along it’s seams. You can then use this as a template for your new lampshade. However, don’t be stifled by the old shade! You can easily create an entirely new look with a piece of rigid wire, bending it into a new shape for a new shade. In this case, making a new cover may be a little trickier, but the process is the same. Simply cover the lampshade frame with your material. For fabric you can sew the seams or glue it. The same is true for other materials. If the glue is far enough away from the light bulb, you can even use hot melt glue.

The best part of making your own lampshades is that if you don’t like your creation, or you redecorate your room, you can quickly and inexpensively make a new lampshade.

Try using song lyrics in your next layout.

Song lyrics can be a great source of title and page inspiration for a scraper.

Music and songs play an important part in our lives. Hearing a song again can evoke a lot of emotion, bringing back fond memories of special times, special people and special places.

Of course, different songs mean different things to different people - but you can use songs to ‘tap’ into those memories to create unique, and highly personal scrapbook pages.

How do you use lyrics on your pages?

Well, here’s a scrapbook journaling idea for you to try using a wedding layout as an example.

If the bride and groom have their own ‘special song’ then you use that to add a personal touch. If not don’t worry find another suitable song instead, there are lots of song lyric web sites on the internet that you can browse.

Pick a section from your chosen song for example, the first verse of “A Groovy Kind of Love” by Phil Collins and journal the lyrics around the edges of your page.

Then embellish your border with some appropriate wedding stickers, die-cuts or punches. Tie it all neatly together, by using the title of the chosen song as the accent title for your layout.

What about a friendship page? You could use some of the lyrics from “You’ve Got a Friend” by Carole King, maybe decorate your border with musical notes.

Doing a page about someone’s birthday? You could journal the words from “Happy Birthday” and embellish the border with cakes, candles or other birthday memorabilia.

Don’t limit yourself to just a section of a song, use all of it if you want to.

Write or print out the complete song lyrics onto some nice paper and add it to your page. If you don’t have the room left on your album page make a pocket envelope to put your song sheet into.

You can apply this scrapbook journaling idea to any kind of page theme, not just the ones listed here as examples.

There have been tens of thousands of songs published over the years covering all sorts of subjects – the possibilities for the resourceful scraper are endless.

Just make sure that the song title or lyric you are going to use is suitable for the theme of your layout and you’ll soon add a quick, simple and memorable piece of journaling to your page.

Buying quilting fabric seems like it should be pretty simple. And, frankly, when I began quilting, it was simple. At least I made it that way. I wandered through the fabric store and found fabric I liked – the pattern, the color, the design. But generally, I bought fabric just because I liked it.

As a result, my quilting fabric stash included all types of fabrics – polyesters, cotton/polyesters, rayons, and some wools. After a few quilting experiences (some of which were pretty bad), I learned the advantages of different fabrics. Now I look at a few different things when I consider fabrics to buy.

Generally I prefer natural fibers. It’s probably a sense of connecting to quilters of yesteryear. Or it may be that a comment made to me years ago about “wrapping a baby in plastic (polyester)” just stuck with me – in a negative sense.

While I prefer natural fibers, I have made some fun quilts that include lame, and an occasional polyester or poly/cotton blend, because it offered some design benefit that I couldn’t find in cotton – like a sports logo.

This is one of a series of articles about different types of fabric quilters use in their quilts. For simplicity, I will focus on the natural fibers cotton, wool and silk. I have used them all (although not in the same quilt). So you will get my firsthand experience and observations. Personal opinion as it is.

Since you can go online and find plenty of articles and websites that describe the fascinating way fabric is made and dyed, I’ll let them do the describing about that, and I will focus just on what quilters want to know – how will it be working with that type of fabric?

Since 100% cotton fabric is clearly the most popular quilting fabric, let’s start there.

There are several specific reasons quilters prefer 100% cotton:

• Cotton is easy to work with. After you sew a seam, you can easily finger press your seam allowances in the direction you want them to go. (That means that your fabric will stay put without pressing it every step along the way.)

• Cotton sticks together while you sew your pieces. Polyester tends to slip and slide, requiring pinning or basting, lest your patches end up being sewn all cockeyed.

• Cotton has a little “give” to it that synthetics don’t have. This allows you to pull and tug a bit (as well as bunch it up a little) in order to get the seams to match and make your corners square.

• Cotton breathes. Whether you are making a baby quilt or a bed quilt, 100% cotton fabric will allow air to circulate while capturing the warmth. How this works is just a mystery to me, but it seems to be true.

• Cotton absorbs the dyes better. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that the colors are more vibrant and the patterns have more depth.

• Cotton is durable. It has stood the test of time and constant use.

• Cotton can be torn (or ripped). Although this can be a benefit or a drawback, it means that you will be able to determine exactly how the fibers line up. You will be able to “square up” the edge just torn, since it will not rip across the threads.

Part II explores the types of 100% cotton fabric, and some of the considerations as you purchase and use these fabrics in your quilts.