Hobby Shop Blog

Are you tired of sending the same old Christmas cards depicting boring baubles and dreary bells year in and year out? Have you ever thought that you could design better Christmas cards yourself? Why not have a go this year?

The best time to begin collecting material for making Christmas cards is during the previous year’s yuletide season. Collect as many seasonal clippings, ribbons, bows and small decorations as possible from magazines, wrapping paper, gift tags, Christmas cards, advent calendars…the list is endless - you won’t have to look far for inspiration during the Christmas period.

Once you have amassed all of your material, store it in a special craft chest. You may wish to divide your material into different themes and put it into individual drawers in your craft chest.

You can then decide when to begin making cards for next Christmas. This will depend on how much time you have throughout the year and how many cards you wish to make - do you want to make a card for everyone on your Christmas card list or just a few for close friends and family?

Before starting to make the cards, you will need to buy either some card for cutting, folding and making your own card blanks or some ready-made card blanks with envelopes - this is the quickest and easiest way. Look in the crafts-paper crafts-card making section of eBay for good value packs of card blanks and matching envelopes or try your local craft store.

White or cream is a good background color as it enables you to use a variety of colors on top but you don’t have to restrict yourself to this color, you can be as creative as you like. Red and green also make good background colors for Christmas cards.

You may also wish to buy peel-offs, which are stickers with such greetings as ‘Happy Christmas,’ ‘Season’s Greetings,’ etc. They are useful for giving your cards the finishing touch but are not essential, as you could write a greeting using a silver gel pen, for example, or not include a greeting on the front of the card at all.

Sticky pads are another useful addition to your Christmas card craft making kit. These small foam pads with adhesive on both sides give certain images a slightly raised effect, allowing them to stand out from card slightly. They are excellent for giving more prominence to centerpieces.

You could also buy other materials like handmade or mulberry paper but these are not necessary if you have amassed a lot of your own Christmas material.

Alternatively, if you do not have any materials for making the cards, you could buy a Christmas card making kit. This will include several card blanks as well as many bits and pieces that you can use to design and make cards. It may even have suggested designs and instructions, which are great if you lack a little inspiration.

As far as tools are concerned, the only essential tools are a pair of scissors, a ruler and some glue. A glue pen is very useful as it allows you to apply glue very finely to small decorations.

Now the fun begins…just sit down and let you imagination run wild. Try out different designs on the cards without sticking them down. If one design doesn’t work, discard it and begin again but don’t be too judgmental - the idea is to have fun. Some designs will be better than others but you won’t develop your own style if you don’t give your creativity full rein.

As a finishing touch, you could add a little sticker on the back saying ‘handmade by…’ These stickers are available to buy or you could print them yourself from your computer. If people like your cards, you could have orders coming in for next year’s cards and before you know it, you will have set up your own card making business. You could even sell your surplus cards to friends, at local groups and fairs or even on the Internet. eBay is a good place to start selling hand-crafted items online.

If you do begin selling your cards, bear in mind that you can only sell your original designs. If you have copied someone else’s design either from a book, magazine, website or another source, you cannot sell it as it would be a violation of copyright, unless it is explicitly stated that it is a copyright-free design.

So, sit down, relax and enjoy a creative pursuit in the run-up to Christmas. The rewards could be greater than you expect.

Copyright © 2006, Ian White Access 2000 Pty Ltd

Be aware that some leather products that have been around for a long time have new formulations. Therefore, chemically you are really looking at an entirely new leather product so while you think you may be achieving certain results from using the product last year; this year with the new formulations, the results achieved could be very different. Additionally, some leather products that have been in use for a long time were used for a different purpose than used today.

Acrylic Copolymers

Technology continues to offer new leather products such as acrylic copolymers that form a barrier ‘net’ too fine for water molecules to pass through, but still porous enough to let water vapor in so the leather can still breath. These products do not have the slippery consistency of silicone sprays and do not have a negative effect on dyes.

Most reputable leather merchants will also give you guidelines about how to care for your leather. Some even provide information about how to tell good leather from bad.

Beeswax

This natural leather product has been in use for a long time. Today, it is combined with ingredients that are more modern, which allows for better leather products to be made. One of the primary things that beeswax does is provides waterproofing although it also replaces natural oils.

Blackball

Blackball is a combination of beef tallow, beeswax, and soot that was used in the 18th century as a multi-purpose leather treatment, waterproofing, conditioning, and blackening in one fell swoop.

Cleaning

A simple wipe down or brushing with each use is a good idea for your leather items to help knock dirt off the surface and keep dust from working its way into the pores. For heavier soiled leather or for stains, cleaning should be done to keep the dirt and other debris from working its way into the leather and becoming a permanent, more than likely unattractive part of your item.

The concept here is not washing per se. You are applying a detergent of sorts to the surface to emulsify and lift off soils and stains. Follow directions and determine first if the type of soil you are dealing with can be removed with spot cleaning. If needed, you can clean the entire area of the leather.

Cleaning is always followed by conditioning. Just be sure to let the item dry thoroughly and naturally, and avoid using hair dryers unless specified to be okay by the manufacturer. In some cases, using a hair dryer on low heat is permissible but of course, you want to do this with extreme care.

Conditioning

You can follow the manufacturer’s recommendations, or just use common sense here. It is not difficult to tell if your leather is a bit tired. Regular conditioning will prevent deterioration such as cracking, which is important since once leather is cracked there is no going back.

Cracked leather can only be fully repaired by replacing it. Although it can also be dyed so the leather appears uniform, the crack will remain. Conditioners run the gamut from oil to wax and both function as conditioners. Wax tends to make leather harder, which works for some items such as a bicycle seat while oil tends to make leather softer as what you would find with a leather sofa.

Lanolin is another conditioner that is used. Obenaufs has leather products that are worth considering, especially if you are working with a specialized garment such as motorcycle and firefighter’s gear. Obenauf’s also makes boot care kits that people rave about.

Conditioners also function as basic waterproofing agents or sealants. This makes perfect sense since it is the same principal at work as in nature when the hide was still on the animal. If you are working on a leather item that is not going to be in direct contact with your skin, oil is great. Boots and the outside of a jacket are good candidates.

It is always a good idea to give oil a day to soak in, regardless. If you are working with an item that does touch your skin, or fabric, for example a seat of some sort, give the product time to soak in and maybe a gentle cleaning before you sit on it or wear it.

Mink Oil

Mink has a fatty layer under their skin and have great pelts, as you know. This fatty layer is rendered and turned into Mink Oil, which is used to treat leather. Mink oil will leave furniture feeling greasy. It’s primary purpose is as a water proofing agent for hiking boots. It is not recommended as a protective coating for upholstery leather. Some Mink leather products have filler ingredients so read the label if you prefer good quality.

Neatsfoot Oil

A “neat” is a beef animal, and this oil used to be made out of cow hooves, hence the name. It is heavy oil and is known to rot cotton stitching on leather items that have been sewn. Of all the raw oils, Neatsfoot oil seems to have the most colorful history. Neatsfoot oil was combined with all sorts of things to keep leather (especially footwear) serviceable.

Saddle Soap

Saddle soap is a great solution for saddles but can actually harm upholstery leather. Saddles are made from tough, vegetable tanned leather that can take the alkalinity of saddle soap. It’s intended to remove manure and related heavy soil from saddles.

Upholstery grade leather has been processed differently, usually processed with chromium tanning which imparts supple characteristics. Saddle soap speeds up the demise of upholstery leather by breaking down the fibrous structure through chemical reaction.

In the days when most leather items were the natural color of the hide, this was not an issue. In fact, the age finish that saddles take on was desirable. As dying and bleaching leather has become more popular, people are more concerned about the leather staying the original color purchased.

Silicone

Most guidelines for leather care also recommend staying away from anything that has silicone in it. Silicone leather products produce nice finishes. However, there is not anything in them to condition the leather.

A newsletter for Jaguar enthusiasts warned that use of silicone on leather seats could make future repairs, especially re-coloring very difficult. If this is not an issue, silicone polymers sprays are non-greasy leather products that can be used on all leather, including suede to produce this type of finish.

Some guidelines put petroleum products in the same category as silicone. For leather conservation as in a museum or collectible, petroleum components are used in leather products where animal-based products might not be as suitable because they could be a medium for bacteria or mold contamination.

Stripping

Another process to mention is stripping. Stripping takes all of the oil out of the leather, leaving you with the raw material. If you were going to dye leather, stripping would be necessary.

Sometimes new leather has a finish layer that prevents absorption of a conditioner or sealant so you may want to strip this off before conditioning. Usually, as you use the item, this factory applied conditioning will wear off. Keep in mind that there are commercial leather strippers on the market that are petroleum-based solvents - Naphthalene is a perfect example. The downfall is that commercial strippers can be pricey.

Interestingly, Zippo lighter fluid is made of the same chemical and is much less expensive, but a word of caution, before you go dousing your new leather with lighter fluid, ask the manufacturer about any sealant that might have been used. Some of these wear off naturally so by the time you are ready to condition, you will not need to strip the leather first.

Leather products can now be found in most stores. In fact, even your grocery store is likely to carry them. Lexol and Leatherique have been around for a while and have great reputations. The makers of these leather products say that they have kept the good effects of “raw” products traditionally used on leather and used modern chemistry to modify them, as a way of reducing or eliminating some of the not so desirable effects.

Magnesium (School Chalk)

This substance can be used to clean buckskin. Simply use a soft brush on the rough side and chamois cloth on the soft side. School chalk or corn meal will also absorb grease. If you are working with white buckskin, using magnesium on the stain after brushing lightly is a popular home remedy.

Kids like to play with puppets, because they can use their fantasy during this period (and they have rich imagination). They can imagine peoples, animals, different situations and life attitudes. These puppets will be prepared from wooden spoon. This is a simple and cheap idea, which is in every household. It will entertain your kids for a while.

You need the following raw materials:

• wooden spoon
• cardboard
• paint
• paintbrush
• scissors
• colorful ribbon
• glue

And the game can begin!

First of all let your kids choose their favourite animals. For example: dog, cat, lion and so on…

Second step: paint the wooden spoon with the basic colour. You can use bravely high colors. For example a mouse can be blue, the cat may be pink, in this case it’s not problem. The main thing is your child feel the decision freedom and use his imagination. (You can take a look at a sample picture on my website.)

Third step: cut ears from the cardboard, embellish these and fix with the glue to the wooden spoon.

Fourth step: paint face (eyes, nose, mouth, moustache, tooth ̷ for the animal puppet.

Last step: tie with colorful ribbon the neck of the puppet.

Only your fantasy set a limit to the number of the puppets you can make. Also you can prepare the members of the family, as puppets.

You can find picture on my website.

In Counter Strike, Iceworld is a controversial map indeed. People see it as requiring no skill or just as much skill as any other map. This article will attempt to show you some strategies and tactics on iceworld, a map that inspires love and hate from all facets of the CS community.

I learned Counter Strike on classic maps like mansion, assault, dust, and italy. Each one is a completely different animal. The each possess a noteworthy difference from Iceworld, especially as tactics look. They each have an objecive. Plant the bomb, rescue the hostage, and an unmentioned objective, get the VIP where he needs to go. Iceworld has no such objectives. It is a small map and looks very much like a pound(#) symbol from overhead. A buy zone is located in it’s center and T’s and CT’s spawn across the map from each other. With no objectives the goal is total anihilation. Kill all of the opposing force before they kill you.

Environmentally, every wall can be shot through if you have the right gun. When you run around the map you can hear your footsteps, or someone else’s, in the snow. The sound of heavy fire from all sides is all around you from the start, and often to the finish. Small walls peak out of the sides of the map on it’s right and left paths, as well as an extended wall of ice at the middle point of each spawn point. Guns lay on the ground on each side to be picked up. The map is very simple. It’s lack of complication raises the ire of many players who want something more “complicated” to do on the map, like the aforementioned objectives.

I find this map exhilarating. It’s small size and simple design means it’s often total chaos. You really have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Iceworld rarely offers any time for a player to take a breath and a lot of players never get to reload once before the round ends or someone gets them. You may find yourself going against 5 CT’s by yourself or turn a corner into a firing squad. A split second decision to reload or pick up another gun off the ground can be pivotal on if you make it out of the round alive. It makes you think on your feet as you could be overwhelmed by opposing forces from any direction at any time. It’s a Deathmatch type map though specific “Deathmatch” iceworld maps exist for those who don’t like the short wait time between rounds on it.

Having played this map for a long time now, there IS strategy to it. The elegance of iceworld is in it’s simplicity, and in some smaller details a lot of tactics and strategy on this map are missed for it’s Deathmatch look and feel. Iceworld is great map to learn human behavior and how people react to intense shoot outs and large player rushes.

Using the AWP and watching two of the three paths is an obvious one. The middle should be guarded first to take out anyone trying to cross through it. Opposing AWPers will often have to be dealt with too because controlling the middle is strong for any team on this map. A second AWPer will usually cover what you are unable to, but if none exists cover the areas they are missing. Slowly make your way around the level. The AWP is not a quiet gun and on it’s sound alone an enemy can find where your shot came from. Use the walls on the right and left for cover shooting through your own spawn point and to theirs. Drop it if necessary.

For the rushing player the SMG, TMP, Mac10, and p90 are taken so they can get to the other side as fast as possible with a gun they can spray with. Typically, this does not end well for the rusher because an AWPer is watching one of the sides they rushed on. Going up the middle often meets the safe fate due to the assault guns, and the AWP itself, well positioned to guard these areas from the start of the round. A rushing player may find it better to turn into the middle of the level and let all the other team’s snipers check their points first before rushing in. Time is short on the map, so staying one second too short, or one second too long, at any spot may have you surrounded at any time, but the pause is important to make use of the opposing players natural rhythm to check the paths for enemies.

Assault rifles, like the Steyr Aug and Commando really shine on this map. At the beginning they’re as good as AWPs watching all the major paths. When the map is winding down they allow accurate shooting at a distance without having to get into close combat. Iceworld’s longest distances are often forgotten and these guns have the ability to let you move faster than when you have an AWP and still get a punch in your power. It’s added power means it’ll be easier than for other guns to take out multiple opponents at one time without the need to reload. Reloading is a skill in itself on Iceworld and making your need to reload less will make you stay alive a lot longer than most.

Shotguns change the game for the person with one. Not the auto shotgun, or “noob tube” as it’s been immortalized, but the m3 single shot pump shotgun. Under a wave of gunfire you’re likely to get one or two shots to their fifteen or more. In a map as chaotic as Iceworld the pump shotgun teaches best the use of the environment, however much or little you have of it. Skills some players take for granted that they have now but had to learn before can also be learned with this gun on this map. Strafing, shooting while moving, using walls for cover. The biggest of these the pump does wonderfully in the chaos of Iceworld is shooting while moving. While rushing on one side you fire at the enemy while heading somewhere else, mix moving and stopping to confuse your enemy’s fire without messing up your own. Making sure the one shot you do get is accurate and will either kill the enemy or seriously hurt them, so if you get a second shot, you’ll finish them off. The pump will have you finding yourself hiding, ambushing, and trying shots you would not normally try if you had a different gun under the same amount of fire from all directions.

Not all servers allow HE Grenades to be used. I find it’s much easier to dominate with them, but are not necessary on the map. Grenade spamming is simple enough to do, and throwing one at the start of the map will almost always hit somebody. There are times when you will not throw them to your enemy’s spawn, but that’s usually when you see a rush coming that way and simply throw it in front of them.

On Iceworld the opposing team is trying to get your spawn point and you’re trying to get to their’s. This is very important to remember. Knowing you’re attempting the same thing will go a long way in raising your Kill To Death ratio. Once they get to your spawn point they’ll come back to their own. As Iceworld is a very time related map with everything happening in under a minute to two minutes tops, the passing time is important to know where the enemy is at any given moment. It doesn’t take too long to cross the map without opposing gunfire coming your way so you should be able to put yourself in the right place as the map is winding down. Keep an eye on your teammates. Use their eyes to see around corners and find out what gun an enemy is using on their end. Locating AWPers is easy when they take out a member of your team as well. Your teammates also provide eyes where you are not there. You can plainly see if your team is winning or losing the gunfight if you went right when they went left. Note the guns they have and if any players over there may cause a problem for you. Particularly useful at the start of the round is to fire at the bottom of their wall, either on the right of left side. Many players simply duck behind a wall being shot at by the enemy and more often than not avoid getting hurt badly, or even hurt at all. Firing at the bottom of the wall often brings them around the corner.

A great training tool and guide for getting better at Iceworld and many other maps is the http://fpsbanana.com. If you’re rusty at anything I’ve mentioned or need to perfect it, it’ll be a great investment and greatly increase your Counter Strike skills on any map. Iceworld may not be the most respected or popular map the game has ever had, but this guide and regular play will greatly improve your skills when put to use. I hope I’ll see you some Iceworld servers.

Introduction:

Glass is a non-absorbant painting support which does not allow paint to easily adhere to it - apart from through the paint’s own drying process.

For this reason the outlines of a subject painted on glass need to be simplified when applied to an extremely smooth glass surface. Simplifying a subject does not necessarily detract from the end result after the painting is completed and the final result can often have an appearance similar to that of naive art in relation to composition and form and a certain number of other details. Many artists may find that such simplification can actually be very appealing.

Working the paint or changing outlines without smudging the surrounding areas of undried paint may require some concentration in the beginning, as well as a certain amount of skill, but with patience and the development of their skills using this painting technique, artists will find that applying and mastering the use of glass as a support will become easier as time progresses.

MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR PAINTING ON GLASS

Glass

Choose clear unflawed glass (or plexiglass) in the shape and size you wish to use. In order to begin mastering the technique of reverse painting it is advised to choose smaller sizes to begin with.

Paints

It is important to use a paint that will adhere properly to the surface of the glass. Oil based paints or acrylics are often used for this reason.There are also opaque and transparent ceramic artist colours that have been especially manufactured for using on a non-absorbant surface. Metallic colours (eg. gold, silver or copper) can also be interesting to work with. There are an increasing number of new art products available today that may be suitable for painting on a non-absorbant surface such as glass.

Paintbrushes

To begin choose a selection of small or medium-sized paintbrushes with fine, flat and pointed tips. Larger brushes can be used for working on a larger scale. Artists can also use less conventional tools for applying paint if they wish, depending on the effects obtained through experimentation that may interest them.

A penholder

Used for outlines (if required) and finer details. It can be an advantage to use interchangeable nibs suitable for creating both thick and thin outlines.

Ink for creating outlines on glass

The inks used need to be suitable for applying to a non-absorbant surface such as glass. As an alternative paint can also be thinned down into a more liquid form and used for creating outlines in which case attention must be given to to creating the right mixture of fluidity and thickness.

A painting palette or something similar to mix your paint on.

A palette knife -(optional) for mixing paint.

Artists paint cleaner or thinner - used for cleaning or sometimes for thinning, and depending on whether oil based or water-based paints are used.

A paint-drying agent - (optional) For mixing with paints to help speed up the drying process

Paper towelling or some clean rags

A mirror - (optional) can be used to check the progress of your painting while you are continuing to work. Place the mirror in a position where it will reflect your artwork from its viewing side.

Cellotape - or a similar average-width sticking tape

An easel - (optional) to prop your work on

A glass-cleaning product

PREPARING THE GLASS

Choose a piece of clear glass in the dimensions you would like to work with and check carefully to make sure the glass is neither scratched nor flawed. It is worthwhile remembering that a flaw in the glass itself will often detract from the finished appearance of a painting and may be impossible to remove after the completion of your artwork.

The sheet of glass that is to become your artwork consitutes the following:

(1) The ‘painting side’ - which is the side you will be painting on.

(2) The ‘viewing side’ - which is the side you will be looking at (or through) as you progress with your work and after it has been completed.

To render the cutting edges of the glass safe take a length of cellotape that will correspond to the length of one edge. Apply it carefully along that length (ideally so that it is folded equally over each side of the glass).

Repeat this procedure for the other 3 glass edges. The edge of the cellotape will also help mark the outer limits of your artwork.

Clean the surface of the glass thoroughly with a glass-cleaning product. Use paper towelling or any cleaning material that will not leave dust or threads on your painting surface.

Store the glass where it will be safe. If placed between sheets of newspaper it will be protected from scratches and dust.

CREATING OUTLINES

Art products in liquid form that are suitable for creating outlines on glass may be readily available in some countries. Oil-based paint,water-based acrylic and ceramic paint can also be used for this purpose.In order to create fine lines these paints must sometimes be thinned down in order to use with a pen nib or similar line-drawing tool.

To prevent lines from being effaced too easily you can use a paint that is oil based for creating the outlines of your subject if the paint you will be applying over the top of it (after it has properly dried) is water based. Reverse this procedure if your outlines are created with a water-based paint.

Always use a liquid paint product that will provide the best adhesion possible to a glass surface.

Due to pen nibs clogging relatively easily, attention must be paid to cleaning the nibs regularly.

OUTLINE METHODS

Method 1.

If you have a steady hand you can use a freehand method for applying outlines directly onto the surface of the glass.

Method 2.

Use an original subject for your painting (e.g. a drawing) and place this under the glass then copy it onto the glass surface.

Method 3.

Place a layer of carbon-paper on top of the glass then place your drawing on top of the carbon paper and with a pointed object trace the subject onto the glass. Be careful not to damage your original image (the image being copied) when using a pointed object.

Method 4.

A tracing table can be used for creating outlines. This is a table with a sheet of clear glass inserted into the top and with an electric light source situated beneath it. For those who frequently need to trace their work a tracing table can be very practical and useful.

Method 5.

You can omit outlines altogether.

APPLYING THE PAINT

Most artists have a preference for how to work when creating an artwork. Once it has been decided whether to work on a table or use a table-easel or a standing easel, it will be necessary to view the artwork regularly from its observation side in order to see its progress.

Some artists simply take the glass in their hands and turn it around to look at it directly from the observation side. Others prefer to use a mirror placed directly opposite their working area so that they can observe their progress while they paint.

Mixing and blending

If you are blending colours always do so on a palette or similar flat object before applying them to the glass. If colours are not well blended or mixed the result will be a streaky appearance in the paint on the observation side of the glass.

Avoiding smudges

When creating a reverse painting on glass it is important to watch out for smudges or particles of dirt or dust that may accidentally be transferred onto unpainted areas of your artwork as you are progressing. Unless removed these may appear as flaws that will show when viewing the artwork from its observation side. If they are also inadvertently covered with a layer of paint removing them afterwards may become very messy and difficult. When lifting off any smudges always be careful not to damage outines or other areas of paint you have already applied.

Applying the paint

Once the outlines of your subject have thoroughly dried you can begin to apply paint to fill in the remainder of your artwork. Begin with the smallest and most detailed or intricate areas first e.g. eyes, faces, small figures or objects etc - and always keep in mind that your artwork will be observed from the opposite side to the one your painting on and that you are painting in reverse and that therefore foregrounds precede backgrounds.

When applying the reverse painting method it is a good policy to reflect carefully on the sequence in which your painting will develop before beginning to apply your paint. This will create a methodical attitude that is essential for this particularly interesting but also intricate painting technique.

Wishing you many pleasant hours of reverse painting!

When making a log bed, or even buying a log bed, there are many important factors you will want to first consider. Woods come in many different types, colors, and textures. Some are easy to work with, some are not. Some would make great small pieces, but not large items like a bed.

If you have an oak dresser and want an oak bed, you can’t just go pick up the first oak wood you see. Even within specific genres, there are many different types and where some oak wood may be white, other oak wood may be a slightly pink color. Some woods do not age very well, others will last for years and look beautiful.

Some wood may damage and dent easily, others hold up remarkably well. Log bed wood can be rounded, using actual logs, or you can turn it into planks and make a less bulky frame.

When you are at the lumberyard deciding all of these things, make sure that you know the difference between softwood and soft wood, and hardwood and hard wood. Softwood and hardwood are the terms used to tell if a tree is coniferous or deciduous. Coniferous trees grow needles and last all year long.

They are softwood. Deciduous trees are hardwood and the are classified as having leaves which grow in the spring and turn brown and fall off in the fall. When you are making something as large and solid as a bed you are going to want to use harder wood. However, not all woods classified as hardwood are hard, just as all woods classified as softwoods are soft.

For example, some types of pine wood makes some very nice wood. It is fairly hard wood. But it is classified as softwood. Be aware of the differences so that you do not end up with something that will not work for your log wood bed.

Beautiful and functional candleholders made from flour and salt dough. Cheap and easy to make and look rather effective.

You will need…

4oz (100g) Plain Flour

3oz (75g) Salt

Hot Water

Paints

Spray varnish or clear lacquer

Begin by dissolving the salt in a small amount of hot water. Add the flour and mix to form dough. Add cold water if necessary but don’t make the dough too sticky.

Now you’re ready to model your candleholders. It’s helpful if you have a candle handy to gage the size of the candleholder needed.

You need to start off with a base. Roll out some of the dough with a rolling pin. Use a cutter or a glass to cut out a circle from the dough. This is the base of the candleholder.

Roll two long sausages that are long enough to reach around the edge of the base. Twist the sausages together to create a nice rope effect. Fix the twisted strip around the base with a little cold water for glue. Add decorations to your candle stick base…

Holly is attractive and gives the candleholder a festive flavour. Roll out an amount of dough with a rolling pin and using a knife cut out a prickly holly leaf. Use the knife to press on some leaf veins. With a dab of water, stick the leaf draping over the twist edging. Roll three small balls of dough for berries and stick them at the base of the leaf.

Rose Candleholder…

Cut two leaves, press in some leaf veins and stick the leaves on the twisted edge so that they over hang. Roll six small balls of dough and squash them to make circles. Pinch the bottom of one of the petals so that it almost folds in half. Wrap another petal around the first pinching the bottom and gently moulding the petal so that it curves out. Add the other petals in this way, pinching the bottom. Allow each petal to slightly overlap the previous one. With a dab of water stick the rose between the leaves on the candleholder.

Mousie Brown wasn’t keen on tall candlesticks but he loved our cute little candleholders. To make a mouse roll out a long, thin sausage of dough, make it taper at one end. Stick this to the edging of the candleholder so that it curls like a mouse’s tail. Roll a small mouse sized ball of dough, pinch out a pointed nose. Stick the mouse body to the candleholder on top of the wide part of the mouse’s tail. Roll two small balls and squash them flat. Pinch the bottom of each ear slightly to give the ear some shape, and stick them to the mouse’s head. Roll two tiny balls for his eyes.

Feeling confident? Try making a fancy, more traditional looking candleholder. Roll out some dough and cut out a larger base than before. Create a wavy edge tot he base - Put two fingers on the far edge of the base a fingers width apart. With the other hand, drag your index finger towards you between the two fingers of the other hand, making the dough ruckel up. Do this around the edge of the base but leaving a space with no shaping.

Roll out a chunky sausage and make a dough nut shape to hold the candle. Stick the doughnut on to the middle of the shaped base. Roll out another chunky sausage to make a handle. Stick one end to the doughnut shape (at the point where there is no shaping in the base) and curl it round so that it almost forms an ‘S’ shape, stick the other end on the base.

Once you have moulded your candleholders put them in the oven on a low heat for two hours. The are in the oven to dry out, not to bake so keep the heat low.

When they come out of the oven, leave them for a couple of days to dry out completely. Then paint, spray varnish, and insert a candle.

Looking for a memorable gift or party favor? Try this fun computer crafts set. Everything is included to make 6 high quality key rings from your images or photos. They’re reasonably priced, and pretty easy to make.

Here’s what the set includes:

• 6 clear plastic key ring blanks
• 18 printable sticker inserts
• 2 printer test sheets
• 1 alignment test sheet
• Software on CD
• Instruction manual

I was surprised at how nice my finished key rings looked. They looked store-bought, except they had pictures of my family in them. The photo area is a clear glossy plastic square, and the attached key ring is silver. They seem sturdy and well-made.

This craft kit is very straight-forward and includes step by step instructions. First, you install the software from the CD. This went smoothly for me. The computer requirements are modest and should work on older computers - Windows 95 or higher and 64 MB RAM.

The software is easy to use, for photo software. First, you pick the paper size. The included sticker inserts are on paper size A5, which can print six key rings at once. The paper can be cut in half to make size A6, but I didn’t try that.

The software opens to a screen showing 6 blank spots, that can fit 2 photos each. Then you use the import feature to bring in your photos. There are many options to adjust your photos. You can add text and shapes to the images. The software includes 200 backgrounds and clipart images to further enhance your creations.

As with most computer crafts, you must take some time to work out how to do each of these things. The instruction manual covers each option, but you can try them all out to see how they work. There is a multiple-undo feature, so you can remove any changes that you’ve made.

If you are already comfortable using image software like Adobe Photoshop Elements, I would use that first. Size your photos to 40mm x 40 mm to fill the square with some overlap that will be trimmed off when you print. That worked great for me.

After you’re happy with your photos on-screen, you can print a test page. The kit contains 2 printer test sheets. The software automatically sets your printer to the correct paper size. I put the small A5 test sheet in my printer paper tray and printed on their test sheet. The kit comes with a clear overlay to help you verify the alignment. If the boxes on the overlay match the photos underneath, then your printer should print correctly on the sticker inserts.

Everything looked great, so I put in the sticker paper and printed away. Now, the easy part - I peeled the sticker off the sheet and folded it in half. This created a flat double-sided mini-photo that fit inside the key ring. I clicked the cover into place, and, wow, it looked great!

Just like printing address labels, you do not have to print out all 6 sticker inserts at once. The software lets you pick which spots on the stickers to print. For my first try, I made just one key ring. For the next five key rings, I skipped the first box that I’d already printed. I put photos in the remaining five spots and it printed fine.

Like most computer crafts, getting the image just how and where you want it is the only tricky part. The rest was simple and fun. Personalized photo key rings would make memorable holiday gifts, party or wedding favors, and great promotions for your arts and crafts business.

Ever have someone come up to you and ask the age old question; “What’s your Sign?” This classic pick up line has been used by a whole generation of guys trying to pick up girls - with mixed results. If you ladies want a really good comeback for them, or if you are a sensitive guy who wants something fresh to use for an old cliche, try asking them for Numerology’s equivalent to Astrology signs; “What’s your Path?”

===> Life Path - Your chief number in Numerology

Your Life Path, is your main number in Numerology; It shows what opportunities will come your way, and where your main talents and abilities lie. It’s calculated using Fadic addition. This is the process of adding together your meaningful numbers, and reducing the result to a single digit.

We do this recursively. As an example, lets calculate Johnny Depp’s Life Path. Depp was born on June 9th, 1963; so first we add together the month, day, and year of his birth; then we add together the individual digits of the sum to get (25); and finally we sum the (2) digits of the sum (25) to get a single digit (7).

6 + 9 + 1963 = 1978; 1 + 9 + 7 + 8 = 25; 2 + 5 = (7)

So Johnny Depp has a Life Path of (7).

There are (9) major Life Paths which everyone fits into. There are also two sub-paths corresponding to the Master Numbers (11) in Life path (2), and (22) in Life Path (4). But, these are sub-categories of the major Life paths. I’ve listed them below with a brief description for each one.

===> Life Path (1) the Path of the Leader

In this Life, your goal is to be self-sufficient and stand on your own two feet. These people live to take Action about their Life. Highly motivated and focused, these people are ambitious; they also don’t take advice well. They also have to struggle with being perfectionist, and not being able to tolerate any flaws in their own work.

===> Life Path (2) the Path of the Cooperator

In this Life, your goal is to master the skill of cooperation. These people have great sympathy for the feelings of others. They are natural diplomats and always work towards compromise in problems between people. They are honest and humble, and tend to inspire the people around them. These people have some problems in competitive situations, and don’t handle time pressure well.

===> Life Path (3) the Path of the Entertainer

In this Life, your goal is to entertain other people and make them happy. These people crave love and attention, and tend to use their sharp wit and vivid imagination to get it. These people seem to live a charmed life, getting all the lucky breaks and attracting wealth and prosperity with little effort. They cannot handle boredom, and fear being alone. They also tend to have problems handling their funds wisely.

===> Life Path (4) the Path of the Builder

In this Life, your goal is to build a life’s work based on your own work and sound effort. These people are meticulous planners, thrifty, practical, and love to see the results of their own efforts. They are also very conservative in their thinking and lack flexibility in their thinking. They often fear new and untested ideas.

===> Life Path (5) the Path of the Seller

In this Life, your goal is to create freedom by bringing about change in both your own life and in the lives around you. These people love change for it’s own sake. They are versatile, adaptable, multi-talented; in short these are born salesmen. These people thrive on competition and pressure to succeed. Risk taking and a wild life-style can be problems for them.

===> Life Path (6) the Path of the Teacher

In this Life, your goal is to create balance and responsibility both in your own life, and in those around you. These people love beauty, harmony, and personal peace. They are trustworthy, loyal, and seem to draw life’s responsibilities to themselves. These people hate injustice, and love fair play. They tend to meddle too much in their friends lives, and worry too much over trivial things.

===> Life Path (7) the Path of the Loner

In this Life, your goal is to learn things by personal experience. These people are individualist, and need time to themselves daily to stay sane. They have great powers of intuition and strong powers of reason. These people are perfectionist, and hate to work on other peoples schedules. They also have difficulties taking advice from anyone, and a strong dislike of manual labor.

===> Life Path the Path of the Warrior

In this Life, your goal is to set small goals, and then achieve them through battle or struggle. These people love the struggle for power which fulfills their lives. They are strong, tough, and ruthless in the pursuit of their goals. Success does not come easy for these people, they must attain their goals through struggle. They are the beast of the business jungle. These people also tend to have problems in showing affection to loved ones, and in balancing their career and domestic lives.

===> Life Path (9) the Path of the Humanitarian

In this Life, your goal is to show compassion for the world. These people want to change the world and make it better for everyone. They are charismatic and creative as befits someone with such lofty goals. These people are frequently drawn to positions of leadership in great causes, or religious sects. They are also tolerant of the needs and desires of others. These people can also be hot tempered when their causes are threatened or put down. They are also not usually good detail people.

===> Summation

Regardless of the Life Path you were born with, all are equally valid, with lessons that should be embraced and learned to the best of our ability. For all of us have talents and abilities that we should learn to use to give our lives meaning and to make the world a better place.

Oil paint is an amazing versatile medium. It can be applied in a thick buttery fashion or thinned down to a watery consistency. This versatility opens the door to a number of different painting techniques.

My personal preference is to begin my oil paintings by first sketching out the composition using acrylic paint or with water-soluble oil paints. The popular approach to oil painting is to thin the paint with turpentine to apply your initial layers. Turpentine is quite toxic and I prefer not to work with it. Acrylic or water-soluble oil paints can be thinned down with plain old water and are more pleasant to work with in my opinion.

You can also begin your oil painting by first drawing out your composition. There are a few drawing mediums that work quite nicely with oil paints. My two favorites are vine charcoal and water-soluble pencils. I prefer vine charcoal because it doesn’t smudge like other charcoals and it can be erased easier. Water-soluble pencils are wonderful because they can be applied like ordinary pencils and can be spread around like paint with a damp brush.

If you are the impatient type, you may want to try your hand at the Alla Prima oil painting technique. The Alla Prima method is when you complete the painting in one sitting rather than paint in layers and wait for the paint to dry. Although I usually prefer to work out my paintings in layers, I occasionally enjoy this exciting and spontaneous approach to oil painting.

If you are the careful, patient type of painter, you may be interested in working with the glazing technique. Glazing has lost popularity these days, partly because of the time needed to complete such a painting and it’s difficulty, but the results are something truly unique to any other type of oil painting technique. The composition is first painted with an opaque monochrome underpainting, usually in shades of gray. After this initial underpainting is thoroughly dry, thin layers of transparent oil glazes are applied. Colors are not mixed directly but added in separate layers to get the desired color.

If you are the adventurous type, put the brushes aside and try a set of painting or palette knives. You can achieve some very interesting results with knives that aren’t possible with brushes. The oil paint can be spread on thickly and scraped off with ease. What I enjoy most about using knives is the tendency to not focus on the small details. I am forced to paint in a more relaxed fashion that creates an impressionist style painting. Get yourself a set of painting knives and try to complete an entire painting with just the knives. It’s challenging at first if you are used to brushes, but it’s an enjoyable exercise.

Perhaps you would like your painting to have more body and texture. You could try the impasto painting technique and apply your paint in thick heavy strokes, leaving evidence of all those wonderfully artistic brush strokes. Take a look at a Van Gogh painting and you will see this technique in action.

It’s really no wonder why oil painting is such a popular choice for painters. There is so much to discover in oil painting. You will never get bored trying out all the wonderful tools, mediums and techniques.