Making Scented Candles – 4 Tips for Creating Aromatic Wax Beauty

November 28, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

Aromatic candles heighten the ambience of any room in the house. If you are a romantic kind of person, you’ll appreciate the aroma of these scented wax masterpieces. Treat your guests to a touch of mystique and a sense of calm. And, of course, the glow of almost any candle highlights the elegance of the room.

Even before it is lit, the subtle fragrance of a scented candle will heighten your energy level,. When you arrive home tired and worn out from the day, the aroma & warm glow of a scented candle tends to loosen your tightness & lift your energy level.

Scented candles serve as wonderful gifts for any occasion and every season especially when they are made by your own hands.

1. Pick Your {Candle Fragrance}

Fragrance oil is available in virtually any craft shop. You can also shop for it online. I would suggest that you opt for fragrance oils rather than going for cheap water or alcohol based fragrances. Since your wax mix will be oil based, your fragrance should also be oil based. Why? As oil & water do not mix, a water based perfume tends not to mix with oil based wax.

2. Choose Your Wax

The basics of {scented candle making} are more or less the same as for ordinary wax candles. Start by selecting your wax. Available in the market is a versatile range of wax starting with the naturals, beeswax, palm & soy, and progressing to paraffin or gel wax. Decide on the aromatic intensity of your candles before making a wax selection. For instance, wax with less density holds less fragrance than higher density wax.

3. The Art of Scented Candle Making

Let’s cover the method for making aromatic candles.

1st step is to melt your wax. Use a double boiler for this purpose. That means place the wax in a small pot and, in turn, put that container into a slightly larger pot containing water. Now heat the H2O. Use a thermometer so as not to burn the wax. Maintain the temperature at a constant 170-180 degrees F.

When the wax is melted, put a wick in the mold & take the wax from the heat source. Next add your fragrance oil. A mixture of 1 ounce of fragrance oil to 1 pound of wax will create a fragrance level equal to 6% of candle density. Greater amounts of fragrance oil will cause the candle to burn out quicker.

Now pour your melted wax/fragrance mix into it’s mold. The only task left is to let it the mold cool before removing your candle.

Congratulations on a job well done!

4. Experiment as You Go

Start experimenting and you will soon become an expert in all aspects of making candles. By using different fragrances and colors, you will perfect the art of candle making and thoroughly enjoy the process.

It’s a great feeling to award your friends with a {scented candle that is homemade} knowing that they will find the fragrance both relaxing and invigorating.

Crafts Hobbies – Guide For Setting Up Lionel Model Train Sets

November 28, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

Model train hobbyists of all ages enjoy Lionel model train sets as well as other great brands like Bachmann, Hornby and Athearn. Every hobbyist knows they cannot run their trains until their train sets are successfully set up. This article provides tips for setting up any train sets.

First, remove all of the contents from the box and take inventory of them. Compare them with the list that indicates the parts that should be included with the kit. Group like-pieces together and place all of them on a table. Since, all of the kits components are needed to successfully assemble the train set, do not hesitate to contact the hobby shop, if a piece is missing. You may need to return the kit or just be provided with the missing piece. The sooner you do this, the more likely any issues will be addressed and overcome.

Undercutting in a form prevents using solid, one-piece molds to make the candle. There are two ways of handling the situation. One is to use a mold that separates into two or more parts. The other is to use a mold made out of a flexible, stretchable material.

Two-part molds work well for making candles that are symmetrical. I think you can imagine a mold in the shape of a turned wood carving split down the middle. In using such a mold, the candle maker clamps the two halves together, seals the seams so they don’t leak melted wax, pours the candle, and finally separates the two halves of the mold after the wax has hardened.

2. Take the shorter end of ribbon and tuck it up into the flowers, leaving a piece hanging out at the top. Then take all the stems, and bend them up and over the flowers (so the flowers are inside and the stems are like a cage), gathering them at the top.

3. Weave the longer end of the ribbon through the stems, over and under. You may need to keep fixing the stems to keep them evenly spaced from one another. As you get closer to the top, start winding it tighter. Push in any stray flowers or loose sections of ribbon.

4. Tie the two ends of the ribbon together to secure the wand.

5. Finish the wand by trimming any uneven stems, and tying a bow at the top. Or, you could tie it in a long loop for hanging (or add more ribbon).

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ribbon widths or lengths. With a longer ribbon, you could weave all the way to the top, secure it, and then wind the ribbon back down to the stem and tie it together there. Really, once you know the basics you can play around with tons of different ideas.

As lavender gifts, wands are versatile. You can make several and place them in a basket for home decor, or use them to decorate the outside of your other presents. If you’re giving clothing as a gift, slide a lavender wand inside the box for a sweetly scented surprise!

Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez H.
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Creative Fun With AquaDraw, The Best Art Toy For youngsters This Xmas!

November 26, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

it’s easy to find out about AquaDraw, one of the best toys for christmas around!  This christmas is the ideal time to show your children the wonders of Tomy’s Aquadraw!  The range of Tomy Aquadraw acessories and toys that are available provide an ingenious way for  small children to get into drawing and painting, without the mess!  Each child likes to draw and paint, and this wonderful range of toys assists kids to develop their artistic ability and creativity! 

Tomy is definitely one of the most well regarded names on the planet when it comes to toys and games for younger kids to enjoy, and they have outdone themselves more with the marvellous AquaDraw toys range.  With these wonderful toys, learning can be fun as youngsters learn more about their own creativity with a safe and clean art studio toy. 

There aren’t any brushes, no ink and no paints to get messy.  Just fill the roller, pen or bush with water and little hands can create all kinds of design on their Aquadraw mats!  See the reviews you can find on the net and see just the way in which the Aquadraw toys from Tomy work, along with how it is possible to get them at the best prices around for xmas.  The Tomy AquaDraw play sets are easy to use, simple to clean, and certain to create hours of thrills and artistic pleasure for you and your kids. 

They’re great fun for little kids and can be employed again and again, meaning there is much fun available the whole year round!  It is simple to find reviews of items like the Tomy Aquadraw Travel Drawing Bag, Tomy Aquadraw Classic and Tomy Rainbow Aquadraw and many other wonderful Tomy Aquadraw toys that are bound to make your kids laugh with delight as they create their very own footage and design.  The Tomy AquaDraw toys range is a wonderful addition to your kid’s toy collection, and is sure to be used a great amount over the coming years!

How You Can Use Shadowbox Frames to Protect Your Mementos

November 26, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

Do you have a special keepsake or souvenir that you want to share with others and keep protected? Then, a shadow box picture frame is the perfect framing solution.

Shadow box frames allow you to create a unique and personal display of your keepsakes. Imagine your pictures from school, birthdays, graduations, weddings or any other special occasion being proudly displayed in a shadow box frame by themselves or with small mementos of that special time. A child’s accomplishments, like a sports photo along with medals or other sports items make a wonderful shadow box display. Shadow box frames can be placed on a table top surface or hung on a wall for an eye catching display.

Shadow box picture frames can be found in a variety of sizes, colors, shapes and depths to accommodate almost anything you decide to display.  They come in a variety of standard colors like white, walnut, blue, green, red and basic black colored frames. A standard ready made shadow box can be found in either a rectangular or square frame shape with depths ranging from ½” to 1 ¾”. You can also have a custom shadow box frame made if you want a unique shape or need a deeper shadow box (up to 7” deep). Custom shadow box frames can be made to hold sports jerseys, collector plates, flags, sports memorabilia and just about anything else.

Shadow box frames allow you to display your special pictures or unique collectibles while protecting them from damage. There are many items that are perfect for displaying inside a shadow box. All you have to do is use a little creativity and you’ll find lots of ideas. Here are a few ideas you can do with using a ready made shadow box frame:

  1. Post major news events that touched your life. Maybe you or a family member had their achievement headlined in the newspaper. You could protect and share your news clippings in a shadow box frame along with other meaningful tokens.
  2. Do you have a precious collection that stays hidden away in a box? No matter what you collect, you can show them off in a shadow box frame while keeping them clean and protected. This could be an old spoon collection, letter openers, political pins, and just about any other small collectible item.
  3. Are you proud of your flower garden? Save those beautiful blooms by drying them and displaying them in a shadow box. Enjoy your garden indoors with a dried flower display that will blend with any decor.
  4. You can proudly display athletic accomplishments whether they’re your medals or your kids. Ribbons and medals should not be hidden away in a box, but should be proudly displayed, even if the display is just for your own enjoyment and satisfaction.
  5. Are you an ocean lover or beachcomber? You can show off those beautiful shells you have collected over the years. A shadow box display of your shell collection will bring a smile to your face when you think back to all your special trips to the ocean.
  6. Have you collected sports memorabilia from a specific team or event? Show off your team spirit with a shadowbox frame display. How about a musical event, show or concert you went to? If you collected memorabilia from a favorite recording artist, protect it and display it in a shadow box frame.

A shadow box frame is a great way to display and protect any photos and keepsakes that are important to you. If it is special enough for you to collect and save it, don’t hide it away. Display your mementos and memories in a shadow box so you can be regularly reminded of those special times.

How Glass Blowers Make Glass

November 23, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

We use glass in countless household and industrial items, and most of the time we don’t even realise it’s there. We use it in our cars, buildings, light bulbs and wine glasses, but few people know exactly how glass transforms from raw materials into the functional molded end products. Lets take a look at the required procedures for making glass.

1.) Sand is well known to be the main ingredient in glass, although other materials are needed. The most common form of sand used is called Silica, and this is combined with specific amounts of soda ash and limestone. The amount of each component used has quite a big impact on how the glass turns out, and additional elements are often used to alter density and colour etc. For example, a glass blower might add a small amount of red dye to the mix to make pink champagne glasses.

2.) Around 1700oC is the temperature that the mixture is heated to. When it reaches this temperature it forms a fluid liquid and all the added elements blend into one. This heat is very difficult to achieve and requires powerful specialized furnaces. Traditionally the glass mix was heated in coal-powered furnaces, however electric furnaces are increasing in number all the time. When the glass mix is in a molten state, it can easily be manipulated and sculpted or blown in to specific shapes. This is a skill that takes years to master and is very easy to get wrong.

3.) After the glassblower has shaped the piece, it is then allowed to cool down. This is a very important step as the rate at which the glass cools has a large influence on the refractive index of the glass and the density of the glass. For example, whisky glasses are often cooled slowly as this makes them less susceptible to scratches, although the refractive index is slightly lower than other types of glass

Removing Scratches from Glassware

November 20, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

Everybody has faced this problem at least once in their life. A favoured piece of glassware has been dropped or just mishandled and has picked up some ugly marks and scratches. You would be amazed just how many people throw the bit of glassware out, even though with a little work it could be made as good as new. With the right knowledge and materials, you can get your glass looking spotless again.

1.) Trying to rub the scratch out using harsh abrasives will not work. This may work on wood, but on your favorite whisky glass, you’ll end up with a horrible opaque patch that will look even worse and be even more difficult to remove. You need to use a very fine abrasive substance such as cerium oxide. You should be able to find this at glassware shops or jewelers.

2.) Next you need a polishing wheel. This is form of spin buffer that has a soft pad and is fitted onto a hand drill. When abrasive is added to the pad and it spins up against the glass surface, it buffs any marks away. If the pad isn’t completely clean then you’ll just make more scratches in the glass, so check carefully first. You should also use the drill on a slow speed setting to avoid damaging you glass. Crystal glass is stronger and so can withstand higher spin speeds.

3.) Scratches that cover a large area or are quite serious will need something a bit more substantial for repair. Special resin is often used for serious scratches and this can be found at most hardware stores or glassware specialists. You’ll need to ensure that the resin you use has the same refractive index as the glass, otherwise it will stand out like a sore thumb, especially on crystal vases and glassware. When you have laid on the resin, the buffer and abrasive can be used to get a consistent finish and get the glass sparkling.

Gifts Paper Flower

November 20, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

When you think about paper flower gifts you may envision a small child giving their mother or grandmother a paper flower they made with their own two little hands for Mother’s Day or maybe even Christmas.

While this vision is correct and children do often make a paper flower for the special women in their lives, many adults also make beautiful paper flowers for many occasions. They can be made for weddings, home decor, and even as gifts. These flowers are for many everyday items not just limited to centerpiece or a bouquet.

For a wonderful gift for a teacher, parent, sibling, friends, co-workers and even a neighbor a pencil or penholders made of flowers. All that is needed is crepe paper a flower pattern or two and a few household items like a pair of scissors, a ruler and clear drying glue.

Another wonderful gift idea is a crepe paper flower covered treasure box or jewelry holder. Again the only items needed are a small box with a lid, crepe paper, a few flower patterns and household tools mentioned above. This is a great gift for young girls, and they can easily be made by these young girls for their friends as well.

What about welcoming a new neighbor with a nice flower centerpiece or a potted plant for their porch? Perhaps a welcoming basket with local information brochures, a gift card to a local dinner or a homemade coupon booklet good for a dinner at your home once they are settled in. You can decorate the basket with flowers and they can either remove the flowers and set them in a vase or leave the basket in tact and use it for something of their own choosing.

Consider making a bookmark with a crepe paper flower. Instead of using a wire stem you can use a green pipe cleaner. I recommend a small flower so it doesn’t get smashed if the book gets stuffed into a purse or a backpack. This is a beautiful way to mark your spot in a book.

You might consider candy holders as another gift idea. All you will need is a small or medium size container; even a pint size milk container will work. Cover the container your choice of crepe paper and select a flower or a few and decorate the outside of the container (minus the stems) then fill the container with candy. This is a great gift for any one who loves candy. Even men instead of using a flower to decorate the box cover it with crepe paper and attach a photo. If it is for a Dad or grandpa glue a picture of the grandchild or grandchildren to each side of the box. If any of the grandchildren are girls make a tiny little flower and attach it to the box next to their photo.

Any handmade gift you can think of can be decorated with a paper flower. For that matter several gifts you might buy can have a paper flower added to them to add a touch of elegance or love. For the gifts that can’t have a flower added you can always add one to the wrapping paper in place of a traditional bow!

Baby Shower Invitations: Creative Tips And Ideas

November 20, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

When you’re planning a baby shower, don’t fall into the trap that many do and settle for less than impressive baby shower invitations. It can be very amusing especially if it aims to invite friends and relatives to celebrate with the would-be parents in rejoicing for the arrival of the new baby.

Hip reality, largely associates contend to facilitate a baby shower provocation is the largely key fixation hip a baby shower since rejection individual want know regarding the celebration if not intended for it. Hence, the party will never be successful if there will be no baby shower invitations to guide the guest as well as the host of the party.

Good enough, finding baby shower invitation ideas are no longer hard these days. This is since technological advancements had categorically provided the humanity with extreme services to facilitate can happen honestly worth it. Simply put, you can now find hundreds of baby shower invitations ideas if you will just browse in the Internet.

In this way, you will have many ideas to choose from and come up with ideas that are perfect for the baby shower. These particular sites on baby shower invitations do not just provide you with themed ideas or other concerns of the invitation but also offer some practical tips on the other aspects of baby shower parties.

Commonly, frequent who ordinarily organize baby showers consumption all-purpose baby shower summons themes. This is because in most cases the gender of the baby is yet unknown.

To facilitate is why, a further aspect of baby shower invite, which must not transpire taken pro granted, are the wordings. It is the lone accountable fashionable setting the mood of the individual.

Now, you can unearth many tools online re the scale of baby shower enticement wordings. You can either find them as quotes or as literary pieces like poems. Emphatically transpire surely to by you decide on the final outcome, resolve not not recall to testimony read the wordings and spelling or else typographical errors to avert problems to may well occur.

Whatever way you want it, you just have to be very careful on your wordings so that you get the best results that you want to have. Greatest of all, sensitive excellent of terms would live safer system concerning order not to hurt otherwise insult the would-be parents.

Moreover, when making baby shower invitations, please do not forget to include the important details of the party and to whom the invitation is for. These things are considered the core of the invitations.

Pro this motivation, it is foremost to take hint of the handle of the guest of honor, see, era, and place of the partaker. It is important to indicate as well whether the party will be a surprise or not so that the guest will not be confused about the real motive of the celebration. Do not forget to include also an RSVP with the date and phone number included.

Finally, present it a position to distribute baby shower invitations 4 to 6 weeks earlier. This preference donate the guests adequate period to set-up their schedules and retrieve period representing the understood celebration. At home this conduct, it would occur better to produce the invitations earlier so to present yearn for occur sufficient count representing one minor adjustments, after required.

Indeed, creating baby shower invitations can be a daunting task, with all the preparations, research, and everything. But what matters most is that these invitations are the ones that will initiate the idea of the celebration, therefore, it should be well taken care of.

Check out the other articles about Baby Shower Invitation Templates and Cheap Baby Shower Favors

Did you Know that Doing A Fall Craft with Children can Add Many Side Benefits?

November 20, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

kids fall craft

Crafts as in generally done, or crafts with kids has never been touted as an activity that is supposed to do more than keep kids busy, give them some fun and as some say add creativity to a child’s life.

Kids crafts however should do more than that, much more, actually.
Kids crafts, done well, in an educational crafts approach, adds 4 benefits to the activity.

It can take them into the academic realm by allowing them to think through problems.

It can make them take initiative really make them creative and raise their self esteem.

I can show you how to get kids to make a crafts, in this case a fall crafts that will encompass all of the benefits above.

If you take a look online, the majority of the crafts for kids are made up by adults.

Adults think of a cute idea, create it, get the materials, and have the children follow in step by step fashion.This creates what we call “copycat crafts”.

Remember though, in order for the children to indeed benefit from the skills above, they need to be involved in actually doing the projects themselves without the adults constant supervision.

Since we don’t want to give the children total freedom which leads to chaos, we give them a happy medium.

As you are setting up a crafts project for kids, the first thing you should have in mind is what is the basic goal of this crafts. Will it be a fall scene, winter scene? Etc. Then, start thinking of the materials you can give the children that will suggest Fall. Imagine a basket full of fall vegetables. Stunning, rural fall foliage.

Two very important or helpful things in this equation are Number one:To gather a lot of different pictures to hang up so that the children can get inspiration from these pictures and pick parts of the pictures that they want use in their craft.

As most crafts projects do well with a focal point, it would be a good idea for you to prepare some choices that the kids can use for their focal points.

Choosing many widths and lengths of tree trunks as the focal point for a fall picture would make lot of sense in this case.

If you look at this Fall craft collage I give step by sep instruction on how to do a fall craft like this.

What happens is, children are free to think on their own without adult interference.

Just because kids are given the freedom to begin projects with minimal restriction is exactly what teaches them initiative taking
Their creativity, of course blooms because they are being allowed to create what they like.
Imagine how much of a self esteem booster this is.

If you are an early childhood teacher you may find another interesting crafts project in this style  called Fall projects for the preschool classroom.

The difference in what this type of crafts, or as I call it educational arts and crafts does for children is indescribable.

An Introduction To N Scale Model Railroading

November 20, 2009 · Filed Under Craft · Comment 

The N model railroad scale is one of the smallest popular train scales on the market. The N stands for nine, and refers to the track gauge – nine millimeters between the rails. These are smaller than HO, O, and other more popular scales, and work very well for people who have little room and want to enjoy the model train hobby in the space they have. They’re also great for people who want to run extremely long trains. In general, N scale is smaller and lighter than larger scales, and requires less power.

Even with their smaller size, these trains generally have a lot of detail and realism, often more than O and HO scale trains. N scale trains allow hobbyists to create complex layouts which have a lot of realism in far less space than a larger scale train may take. This makes this scale of model trains a great choice for transporting layouts to expositions and other public exhibits.

The N model railroad scale is small, but still popular enough to feature plenty of worthwhile figurines, buildings, vehicles and other worthwhile accessories. Just like the larger scales, detailed N scale scenery is available, with functional lights and sound simulations. There are even some steam locomotives that even have real steam boilers in them. The small size of the scale allows it to be more versatile in respect to power, too – hook into your existing supply, or use a battery.

You can fit N Scale Railroad almost anywhere, including small apartments or rooms dedicated to other uses. Even extremely complex layouts will fit on a single sheet of plywood, and are easy to move around. You’ll find many examples of layouts in photographs and in online video. Beginners can get access to books and instructional videos that can be a huge help in putting together their layouts.

There are those who assume that because N scale trains are somewhat less popular than some of the other scales, there are too few accessories and other products available for hobbyists. Thankfully, this is not the way it is. You may not be able to find everything you’re looking for at your local shops, you can find just about anything you could possibly want online; there are even websites which are N scale specialists.

Beginners are sure to enjoy the N scale model railroad sets from Bachman, including the White Christmas Express. This set comes with the track needed to build a 34″ by 24″ oval and a steam locomotive complete with two cars, tender car, a caboose and a working headlight. A speed controller and power pack are also included here and there are a variety of other accessories and Bachman sets available.

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