One fact about collectible dolls that is pretty certain is that people will most likely always continue to collect them. That is not the issue that is in question in this article. What is in question is if we’ll be collecting these dolls simply for our own enjoyment or if there will continue to be a market for new collectible dolls.

Back in the days when collecting anything was unheard of, most of the dolls that people bought eventually ended up in the trash or collecting dust in an attic. Certainly we didn’t go through the trouble of hunting high and low for a certain doll, paying good money for it and then bringing it home only to let it sit in its box on a shelf. But that is the reality of today’s collectors. All because one day somebody realized that all these original dolls like Barbie and G.I. Joe were slowly disappearing from the world and that maybe they might be worth something. And then it started.

The guides started coming out telling people that a 1959 Barbie doll could get them $2500 at a sale if they could find one. That’s when the craze started. It was like somebody had told the human race that their oxygen supply was about to run out if they didn’t all jump off a cliff. People started running to garage sales, antique shows, novelty shops, and then when the Internet became as popular as it is today, they started to hit every auction site they could find, not just to buy but also to sell if they had anything worth selling.

The problem with this new attitude about old things was that people began to think it would carry over to newer things that they purchased. Whenever someone saw a new doll they would buy it, hoping that someday it would be worth a lot of money and they would have something either for their retirement or to pass along to their children. The problem with that thinking is that the reason the old dolls were actually worth something was because people didn’t keep them. Most ended up in the trash. But with the new attitude of saving everything and anything, the value of the newer dolls, even years later, was getting to nowhere near the current value of the older dolls. To give you an idea of this problem, a doll that was purchased 10 years ago for say $20 wouldn’t be worth more than $25 today. The estimated value of these dolls even in 20 years isn’t more than $35 or $40. People were not seeing the increase in value that they were hoping for. Why? Because everybody was saving these dolls. There were literally as many of these doll 10 years later as there were when they first came out.

Does this mean that collectible doll collecting for profit is dead? The experts say that for the newer dolls, yes, but the older dolls will always go up in value.

Some companies are trying to counter this problem by releasing dolls in limited quantities. But it is still doubtful that even these dolls will ever be worth what an old Barbie Doll is worth, simply because all these dolls will ultimately end up in its original box on a shelf. Something that Barbie never had the luxury of.

The petals are dissected and a rough sketch is drawn using the petals as a guideline. Leaves are another aspect of some flowers that is also copied. With the amount of varieties of flowers in the world there are so many ideas you can come up with. Some times people take two flowers and combine them making one very unique paper flower.

Paper flowers are much cheaper than real flowers and are also maintenance free and can last indefinitely, that’s why many people replicate real flowers through paper flowers as there’s nothing sadder than a wilting bouquet. It’s very hard to throw away a bouquet from a loved one when it dies, with paper flowers you may never have to. Paper flowers can be made with many different kinds of paper creating different textures and unique colors not found in natural flowers that the creator may prefer.

The scent of real flowers is one thing that cannot readily be duplicated although this allows for the creator to imbue the paper flowers with her or his own specially preferred scents, although paper flowers do not hold scents for very long. The art of making paper flowers is practiced a lot in Japan where origami is a great hobby. Origami can be quite elaborate and when based on real flowers can take a great deal of time to complete, but in the outcome you will have a treasure worth keeping for a long time. Paper flowers may be cheaper, last longer and require no maintenance however real flowers are irreplaceable, their true beauty coming from their ephemeral nature and as such we should never take these delicate blossoms for granted.

The most patriotic symbol for any country is the flag, and in the US is no different! The American Flag is the most patriotic lapel pin that a citizen can wear. Fortunately there is no shortage of pins to be had! There are cloisonné, die cast, sequined and any imaginable variation of the American Flag on patriotic lapel pins. After 9/11 the sale of American Flags in the form of flags, pins and signs skyrocketed from the shelves, and today that patriotism is still evident with the American Flag everywhere, including on lapel pins. An American Flag lapel pin is a simple way to declare your feelings of pride in your country. Many of our politicians and celebrities have begun to wear patriotic lapel pins every day as part of their normal dress. American Flag lapel pins are elegant, and come in a variety of designs. Many people who travel internationally take American Flag lapel pins along on their travels to exchange with people from other countries or to hand out as small tokens from America.

Of course, there are many other patriotic lapel pins including military pins in support of our troops, pins remembering the 9/11 tragedy and the police and firemen heroes also from 9/11. A patriotic lapel pin gives recognition to those who have sacrificed to protect the nation’s freedom and rights, and shows that you are aware and thinking of that contribution. The commemorative Olympic lapel pins are also patriotic and among the most sought after pins by collectors. So, dig out your Lake Placid Olympic lapel pin and wear it with pride!

Many patriotic lapel pins can be purchased in 14karat gold and sterling silver, which make great gifts. Be sure to shop carefully and purchase a pin that truly reflects your patriotic enthusiasm. Most of all have fun, enjoy your lapel pins and wear them!

Charlie Day was on his way to Lordsburg, New Mexico. As he drove along the vast nothingness of eastern Arizona, he came across a family of urchins surrounding a man butchering a cow. Curious, Charlie stopped and inquired what the man was doing. The man replied that he was broke, homeless, jobless, his family was starving, and he had been fortunate to find this cow just in time to ease his family’s suffering. Charlie helped the man finish the job and then said: “Since that is my cow, why don’t you just cut off that hind quarter for me and you can have the rest for your family.”

Charlie Day continued his journey to Lordsburg, having just forgiven a cattle rustler and provided aid to a starving, destitute family.

I was born in the depths of the Great Depression, the second son of four boys and one girl. Jobs were scarce. People with families were lucky to have food, let alone a roof over their heads, or even shoes. Nevertheless, I never went hungry, was never shoeless, or without some kind of shelter.

Whenever you ask someone how their family happened to chose to live in the Gila valley, they usually replied that they were on their way to California when their wagon broke down, or they ran out of money, so they just stayed where they were. My father’s family was like that, except dad’s father came to the Gila Valley to build cotton gins. My dad arrived with him in 1923, when he was eleven years old.

My father only went to the 6th grade but he always had a job at the “PD” (Phelps Dodge Copper Company) in nearby Morenci, Arizona, because he had two particularly useful talents. He was good at arithmetic and he spoke fluent Spanish. The “PD” always gave him a job as foreman of the “Bull Gang,” a group of Mexican laborers with picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows. They did not use power tools or complicated machinery. They would dig ditches, trenches, install pipe, pour concrete, build structures, lay rock walls, or anything requiring pure manual labor.

We were also cotton farmers, and as the cotton was picked, and weighed, dad kept a list of the weights on a sheet of notebook paper tacked to the side of the cotton wagon. At the end of each day, he could scan the column of numbers and write down the total almost instantly. He did not recognize this as any particular talent and expected everyone else to be able to do the same thing – an expectation that brought me no end of grief.

Working along side my dad, handing him tools and stepping-and-fetching materials, without warning, he would suddenly say: “What is seven times nine?” It always caught me off guard and would blow me completely away. One kind old neighbor lady (Well, she was old to me because she was going on thirty-something.) noticing the discomfort these spot quizzes were causing me, called me aside and said: “Wash you hands and come to tea, seven times nine is sixty three.” That kind lady saved my life! To this day, I do not know what nine times seven is, but whenever I need to know “what is seven time nine” that little rhyme goes through my mind in a nanosecond and I know it is sixty three. For nine times seven, I reverse the numbers and follow the rhyme.

When World War II started I was 8 years old, and in the third grade. As soon as school was out for the summer, my Dad would take the entire family to California’s San Jouaquin Valley.

Dad (with our help) built a four wheeled wagon from an old automobile chassis. It had a wooden platform bed, wooden sides, and a “covered wagon” canvas top with bows fashioned from curved pipe. It looked like a Conestoga wagon with rubber tires. I wondered what all the people passing us found so interesting. Everything we owned was in that wagon - stove, refrigerator, utensils, canned food, bedding, clothing, spare parts, and tools.

We pulled that wagon behind our 1936 Chevrolet 4-door sedan at the sizzling speed of 30 miles per hour. The speed was sizzling because the temperature in places like Needles and Desert Center, California was a sizzling 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. Other than your own shadow, there was no shade. We envied the cars that passed us with their new-fangled evaporative coolers protruding from the passenger-side window. When we were fortunate enough to have air conditioning, it was a 25 pound block of ice sitting in the floor with the vent open to blow down on the ice. Ice was scarcer than water, which was five cents per glass in Desert Center, California.

When we arrived in California, we became migrant farm workers, but I did not know that at the time. That term was not invented yet. We often lived in an army tent. Now, I feel a kinship with John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath”. Then, I thought we were in heaven. Peaches, plums, apricots, grapes, pecans, walnuts, cherries, apples, tomatoes, wild geese, green grass…my favorite was the prune plum – it tasted like a Dr. Pepper.

There was clean, clear, cool water in the canals for swimming. (Well, that is what we thought it was there for.) We would dive into the canal, pass underneath the head-gate boards, squirt through the sluice, and out the other side. We did not have the slightest idea that it might be dangerous.

The down side was mosquitos. In the evening we would gather cow chips, arrange them in a circle, light them, and play our childhood games in the protective smoke.

I never wanted to leave, but as the summer closed, dad would pack us up and we would return to Greenlee County, Arizona just in time to get back in school and for him to return to the PD and the Bull Gang.

The things we saw and experienced were priceless (no pun intended). We saw General Patton practicing desert warfare tactics in the desert west of Blythe, California. We saw the giant dams which provided irrigation water for the San Jouaquin Valley. We saw the mighty Colorado River at Blythe. Our favorite things were lemonade stands shaped like lemons or oranges, watermelon stands shaped like watermelons, hot dog stands shaped like a hot dog, coffee shops shaped like a coffee pot, motor courts shaped like Indian tepees, and cider stands shaped like little brown jugs. Wow! Greenlee County had nothing like that!

Between Phoenix, Arizona and Globe, Arizona, way out in the desert we came upon a lonesome roadside stand selling cast plaster animals. I knew they were cheap and not particularly art-worthy, but they fascinated me because they were hollow. I always wondered how they made them hollow. I could understand plaster since that was what they used to splint my broken arm (from “bombing Tokyo”), but how do you make plaster hollow?

That curiosity finally led me to making bronze sculpture. I explain the mold making process in my website Art Gallery if you would like to learn more about it. I mingle the process with some of my artwork for your viewing pleasure.

Here are a few ideas to help you save money with your sewing that you may not have thought of.

Save buttons, zippers etc from clothing that has worn out. Keep a sectioned container and store these items, you will be surprised how often you can recycle.

Always check the remnant table when in your fabric store, you will find some great bargains. Often times you can combine like colors in prints, stripes and plain fabrics into an outfit, and all from the remnant table.

With the cute tops around, like the camisole styles, they take little fabric so the remnant table is often a great place to find fabric for these.

You often see the plain color singlet style tops on sale, these can be made individual for just you, with beads, appliqués, braiding, cording, embroidery, once again, your imagination can have a party.

End of season pattern sales are a great place to stock up on patterns, they can go at very reasonable prices, great savings.

If you buy end of season fabrics when they are on sale, you will have them to start your next wardrobe for next season. You will be a “season ahead” so to speak.

Check out the Manchester stores and soft furnishings. I use a lot of soft furnishing fabric, mainly because they are different and you rarely see them made up into fashion garments.

When flat sheets are on sale, they usually are really fantastic prices, they can make up into wonderful curtains, or join two to make a duvet/quilt cover, sew around the edges, leave one end open, add buttons and buttonholes and ….viola!!! a new quilt cover and matching curtains. They can also be made into a couch throws. Your imagination will have a wonderful time with what you can do

When interior design shops have to replace their sample ranges, many of these samples are just the right size for throw cushions and other craft items. It only takes a question and they can only say “yes or no”. If they say yes, you are a winner. If they say no, then ask the next design shop you find.

Check out the shops that have a rewards system. If you join as a member, when you have spent a certain amount you qualify for a discount on your purchases. See if you have one with this offer near you and take advantage of it. If there isn’t one, why not suggest it to your favorite supplier.

I hope these tips have given you some ideas, so start saving money with your sewing, it’s all in the planning.

© CTBaird 2006 SewMoreForU

Spa wraps are great gift ideas or bazaar items, too.

Sew spa wraps for all the men, women and children in your family. Everyone needs one. Use for after the shower, bath, or when you do your hair or at the spa or pool or the beach.

Spa wraps have elasticized tops that can be worn above the bust or at the waist.

Sewing a spa wrap is a quick and easy sewing project. All you need is a beach towel, approximately 1-1/4 yards of 1 inch to 1-1/4 inch wide sport sew through elastic and about 6 inches of hook and loop tape or large snaps.

Here is the how to sew instructions.

First of all, make a decision about what you want to use to sew the spa wrap. Colorful beach towels are great to use as well as fabric. Your choice may be based on what size you need the spa wrap to be.

Smaller towels work well for small children.

Lighter weight towels work better than heavier ones. They aren’t as bulky to sew or wear and also dry faster.

Sewing Tip: Always preshrink all fabrics including towels before you sew.

The average beach towel is about 62 inches long x 34 inches wide. Find some good bargains at your local flea market.

The length of the beach towel will generally go around most bodies with some over lap. If you need more, sew 2 towels together or add half a towel.

Cut a piece of 1 inch to 1-1/4 inch wide sturdy sport sew through elastic to be about 2/3 of the length of the towel or fabric that you are using. This depends on the stretch of the elastic.

Example: For a 62 inch long towel, cut the elastic about42 inches long.

Divide the towel and the elastic into eighths. First fold in half, then again in fourths, then again in eighths. These smaller sections are easier to handle at the sewing machine.

Pin the elastic at the eighth marks to one long edge on the wrong side of the towel.

Set your sewing machine for your largest and longest zigzag stitch.

As you stitch, stretch the elastic to fit each pinned section of the towel.

First stitch along the outer edge of the elastic and then go back and stitch along the inner edge of the elastic also stretching as you sew.

If you prefer, you can sew a lightweight fabric casing to the wrong side of the towel and insert the elastic drawing it up to fit the size you want.

Cut two strips of hook and loop tape about 3″ long.

Pin the rough (hook) side of one strip to the inside edge of the overlap on top of the elastic.

Stitch around the hook tape to hold securely.

Pin the soft (loop) side of one strip to the outside edge on the right side of the underlap.

Stitch around that tape.

Now place the corresponding pieces of hook and loop tape up against the stitched in place pieces of tape.

Put the wrap on your body to help determine where to sew the corresponding pieces of tape.

Pin those pieces where they should go and unhook them from the stitched tapes. Remove the wrap.

Stitch around these tapes where you have them pinned.

WOW! You just made a spa wrap!

Now, for some designer touches, try these ideas:

Add a large pocket cut from contrasting or matching fabric or even mesh fabric on the front.

Monogram or use one of your embroidery designs on the pocket before applying it to the wrap.

You could bind the outer edges of towel with fabric to match the pocket.

If you decide to bind the outer edges of the towel, round the square corners first. It looks better and is easier to bind. See the following sewing tip to make a nice curve.

Sewing Tip: Lay a dinner plate down at the corners of the towel lining up the edges of the plate with the edges of the towel. Draw the outer curve of the plate to get a very nice even curve.

If you are using a plain towel, add a fun embroidery design using instructions to embroider on terry cloth to decorate your wrap.

Applique a unique design on the spa wrap.

If you prefer not to use hook and loop tape, use very large snaps or heavy duty gripper snaps to hold the wrap closed.

You are the designer! Have fun with it!

It just makes sense!

For those who have heard this for the first time, you should realize that you only require standard parts from an auto parts and hardware store to create a helicopter (that can really fly). These parts can cost you a little under a thousand dollars if you know how to select good parts. Or, if you want instant parts, homebuilt helicopters are sold in kit. You can order this online complete with instructions on how to build it. This is becoming more and more popular for its guaranteed safety and sure flight.

With an engine, rotors, rotor head, rotor blade, control stick, foot controls, a seat, and other basic component of a conventional helicopter, the homebuilt helicopter can lift you off the ground.

You might question the danger it can present to the pilot. The reality is homebuilt helicopter are as stable as any other types of helicopters provided it flies on a good weather condition. They can fly as fast as 80mph and as high as 10,000 – 12,000 feet.

Homebuilt helicopter imposes great experience. It gives opportunity for individuals to fly their own helicopter without the need to spend so much money on flight training school. Since homebuilt helicopters are considered ultralight helicopters (weight usually at the range between 150-190 lbs), you don’t have to acquire Pilot license. Flying a homebuilt helicopter can convert you from a simple mechanic into a pilot instantly. Here’s the analogy: if bicycle is to motorcycle; homebuilt helicopter is to twin-engine helicopter. The main difference is, the homebuilt helicopters are motorized (although wit less power) and can lift you off from the ground with the same experience you can get from a conventional full-size helicopter.

There is no greater feeling than flying on your own. And this is totally possible wit a homebuilt helicopter. It is safe, exciting, full of thrill, and most of all, it is for everyone.

Ideally when you begin acrylic painting you will have a work space that is level and in a good light. Artificial light can make the colors look different when compared to natural light. It is a good idea to get full spectrum light bulbs from an art store if you have to paint in artificial light. This is a worthwhile investment.

Layout you palette, paints, brushes and water to the right hand side if you are right handed – or left if you are left handed. It is handy to have some paper towels too.

Acrylic Painting Tip

Try to get into the habit of placing the paints in the same position on the palette every time you paint. This will save you time – you wouldn’t be searching for a color if you always put it in the same position.

I like to group colors, like having all the blues together. It is most important to always put the white in the same place.

Tips on Placing Your Painting Materials

I position the palette next to me – I am right handed so it is to the right. Then the tubes of acrylic paint to the rear of the palette. I use a reservoir palette that has a space for the brushes, but if I didn’t I would have the reservoir for the brushes to the right of the palette.

I store the dry, clean brushes I’m not using in a jam jar – with the brush handle ends down so that the tips do not get bent out of shape. This is to the far right of all the other equipment.

I place the water container(s) to the rear of the painting area but within easy reach. The paper towel is there too.

Be sure to cover the work surface as any acrylic paint that dries on it will be difficult or impossible to remove.

And my Top Tip is to put any drink on the opposite side - away from the palette and paint. Otherwise you will end up cleaning your brush in your drink – and believe me it won’t add to the flavor!