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A Credit Card Holder assists numerous important aims. It is one of the most functional, extraordinary and a perfect item of usefulness and the one that exists really long-term, thus providing you to build a good reputation for your business organisation. It represents as one of the most efficient ways to spread your society content across a healthy sphere to target your audience, thus availing you to bring home the bacon in a hostile worldwide marketplace. Oyster card holders put up more tractability for publicizing, and is less time occupying than numerous of its other counterparts. It represents a great purpose in getting your company name out there and allows a plenty of chances for advertising your brand. It makes an flawless merchandising tool for any metropolitan area and is always appreciated by everyone because of its utility and enduringness.

1) This item is also crucial for keeping membership cards. It is a high quality product and commonly comes with a cash back warrantee. It will assist to increase the visibility and perception of your brandmark in a special and modern way. This item will truly assist you to deliver your society messages all year long.

2) It is obtainable in a diversity of colors, with plain windows with pvc boundaries and support slip pocket. It has enough space for easily supporting a driving licence or oyster cards. You can mark your logotype in attractive designs and deep colours. You can opt from a wide range of appealing looking artworks or pictures to make it feel really unique.

3) It feels very elegant and durable and is crafted from the most indestructible PVC plastic. Oyster wallets are perfect for adding a bit of vogue for your company logo, which can be embossed on the front. They are also obtainable in several colours and designs that are pre-made.

4) Oyster card wallets are constructed from operational PVC plastic and holding it in your paws will keep you fresh throughout the wintertime. This item is suited for the masters and business organisation administrators. You can hand it out to your business enterprise clients, special clients, employees or delegates, who will always prize and recall your society for decades.

5) They are quite masterful and can be utilised for driving licence, oyster card and bus tickets. They can be boxed and would create an perfect gift for that unique individual. These are highly reliable promotion items, which will assist you achieve all of your commercializing aims.

Oyster holders are the most practical and portable marketing instrument, with long lasting lifespan and durability. They make very useful personal item, to put your brand-name in foremost of your wide audience almost every day of the year and can truly help your business enterprise to succeed in a capitalist world market. They are a great investment and allow a number of promoting chances for you and your business enterprise. They are really suitable for your business identity maturation and enable you to contend world-wide and also to gain trust and allegiance for your business enterprise. These Card holders make quite useable products, for your future client, will obstruct them from being tossed out.

1) They are used for all basic travel passes, a driver’s licence or an oyster card. These items can be created to your own requirements to permit modification of the spine or to bestow extra pockets. They can also be fashioned to suit the vogue and purpose of the ticket or oyster card and can be personalised to help you fit your business’s requirement and accomplish your client’s requires.

2) It feels really exquisite and functional and is crafted from the most functional PVC plastic. Oyster card wallets are ideal for supplying a bit of vogue for your company logotype, which can be adorned on the front. They are also obtainable in several colors and purposes that are pre-made.

3) This item is also central for retaining membership cards. It is a superior ware and normally comes with a money back warranty. It will assist to step-up the visibility and perception of your brand name in a unique and modern way. This item will really aid you to present your company subject matters all year long.

4) An oyster card holder is beautifully hand-crafted in the most indestructible PVC plastic. You can add surnames of each receiver, or expertly boss your company logotype on the top. It is created by utilizing superior quality photographic prints and makes a extraordinary corporate gift that survives forever. It is ideal for your freedom pass, bus tickets, or Driver’s Licence. This Card wallet allows for decent space for your extraordinary design or society logo.

5) Your clients will be able to move in style and protect their valuable travel card or ID at the same time and remembering who gave them such an elegant gift. It can be printed in full color with a assortment of different refinements. By utilizing your company logotype, you can all of a sudden metamorphose this innocent object into an cute stunning promotional tool. This item can aid you to remind your clients of your society brand name, time and again.

Art on canvas has become the new art craze during the last year, primarily due to A0 printers, inexpensive canvas and stretcher bars and an enduring desire for folk to define their tastes in a very personalised way.

Today you can go to a shop that sells canvas prints carrying a camera, and roughly an hour or so later leave the shop with a big canvas print of your selected photo. The possibilities are endless of what you can embellish your living space with : holiday photos, family photos, your own artwork represented as a canvas print, other artist’s works, street scenes, graffiti prints, nature scenes, famous landmarks etc. Fundamentally, it’s possible to select your desired photo/design/artwork you want on the canvas itself these days, and not merely be forced to pick from a finite selection.

So is this a DIY art movement? Not really, not if you want a decent canvas decorating your walls. You’re better off going to a dedicated canvas shop - they ought to be using the best canvas, robust stretcher bars, ought to be proficient in clipping and stretching canvas, and have top-quality printers and software to create the best prints. In addition, they have the expertise to adjust your own photos in order to produce the best result on the canvas.

Numerous canvas print shops are selling their canvases and canvas service online. Just enter a keyphrase into Google e.g. art prints and you will find a great many sellers where it’s possible to purchase these sorts of canvas prints from.

Sinks are probably one of the most essential accessories that must be present in every kitchen and bathroom. However, they do not remain functional for a long period unless they are maintained properly. Care and maintenance for sinks is essential so as to keep them clean and germ free. Also, sinks tend to retain their gloss and shine for a long time if they are cleaned regularly.

Care & maintenance for sinks ultimately depends on the type of material used for the sink. Cleaning of stainless steel and copper sinks involves usage of liquid detergent and water. One can also use baking soda dissolved in water for cleaning these sinks. For cleaning porcelain and enamel sinks, one should never use any harsh chemicals and abrasive cleaners such as vinegar and ammonia. A mild detergent dissolved in water should be used. Cleaning should be done by wiping the surface with a soft cloth.

In a similar manner, stone sinks should be cleaned using a non-abrasive neutral detergent mixed in warm water. Stones tend to absorb moisture. Hence, they should be wiped immediately after cleaning with soap water. Also, one should avoid exposure of these sinks to materials such as lime and calcium. Copper sinks must be cleaned using water-soluble detergents. Also, one can extend the shine on these sinks with periodical application of wax coating.

More on bathroom furniture and wood coutertops at these sites.

Scrapbook photos are a big part of most journals or memory books. It’s

a given that you’ll need a few snapshots to fill out a page and tell

the story. Yet, it’s also pretty easy to go overboard with your

pictures.

We all have that show box full of old photos, and snapshots. For some

of us it’s lifelong goal to use everyone of them in a scrapbook but

this isn’t always a good idea.

I remember many years ago when I attended a college photography class

the instructor made a point to tell us that not every picture we took

would end up perfect. Most in fact would not be usable at all and only

a few, if we were lucky, were worth keeping. I’ve since learned that

this is true, and it’s always a good idea to crop the chaff from the

wheat.

With this in mind, don’t feel too bad about throwing away some pictures

that you simply know your never going to use. We all have them. If

they’re blurry or out of focus, or simply not a good angle of auntie

Jane, throw them out and you’ll be doing you both a favor.

If they are special in some way you can always store them digitally on

disks or in archive boxes. In this way they won’t get mixed up with

the really good shots that have potential in your pages.

In the old days, I shifted from prints to slides since I knew I would

only get a few good shots (maybe) out of a roll. These days with the

new digital cameras it’s a snap to save or delete what you want, then

download it on a computer and print it out on high quality photo paper

or take it to a developer as a disk. Photo technology is an amazing

thing!

Photo editing also lends a good deal of creativity to your scrapbooks.

Using a tool like Adobe Photoshop or other picture editor, you can take

one might look like a rather basic snapshot and play with the colors

and tones to make a unique picture. I did this with some recent photos

of my two daughters. They were simple posed head shots that we tinted

and created a colorful addition to their memory books.

Also remember that using a degree of spacing actually gives the really

great photos more attention and exposure. Don’t just cram every photo

you have onto a page and fill it up. Mix them up with some simple

embellishments and details. This way you’ll highlight them rather than

diffuse them into a collage.

Try to remember that as important as pictures are to our scrapbooking

efforts, they aren’t everything. In fact, some of the very best pages

we have ever seen had few pictures on them. You can tell a story in

many ways. With words, with images, with accents and with color. Your

photos are just one of many ways to create that perfect page.

Kim Washburn has been scrapbooking for nearly two decades. She founded and continues to publish her scrapbooking resource site at http://www.scrapbookphd.com

With an estimated 130 completed quilts to her credit (and counting), Trudy Schwader at age 75 has had a rich lifetime of quilting experience. Conversations with Trudy to make a record of these experiences resulted in a series of articles. What follows here is article Number II.

[Question: You have a legendary fabric collection - enough inventory for a small store! How did you collect so much fabric?]

Trudy: I had 8 kids and I sewed for them all the time - cotton dresses, shirts, whatever. When I sewed I always saved the material that was left, and I still have lots of those scraps (laughs). In fact, I know I have a few scraps from material that my mother used when she made clothes for us back when I was young. Unreal, but I really do have some of those fabrics from the 30s and 40s.

So when I started sewing a quilt, I would usually have scraps to begin with. And then I would go into stores - fabric places you know - and if I needed something special to go with the quilt I was making, then I would buy it. Of course, while I was there I would see other materials, and as I say, some of these bolts of material would jump out and say, “Buy me,” and so I’d buy some of that cloth, too!

[Q: What happened to those pieces that you bought on impulse? I mean, sometimes, you’d have fabrics for a long time that you’d never use and then all of the sudden it’d be just the right thing for a quilt? Or did it end up that those that jumped out and said, “Buy me,” never quite fit for any quilt you made later?]

Trudy: Some. I do use a lot of them, but there’s still a few that I’ve never used. I think this is not unusual for quilters. It takes some time and some ‘mistakes’ to acquire a really good on-hand quilting fabric collection. You need lots of variety and color.

[Q: What advice would you give a beginner? What are some things that you know now that you wish you had known earlier in your quilting experience?]

Trudy: For a beginner, the thing to do is to go to a book, find a simple pattern that you might like and the instructions will tell you about how much material to get. And if you ask them about it, most of the people in fabric stores will give you a lot of advice about what goes together and what doesn’t. There are plenty of books out there that tell you how much material, say for instance for a log cabin. Simple ones like that will give you a good place to start. Those simple ones are the ones that I make now to use up my scraps.

[Q: Speaking of books, do you have a big collection or library, or how did you get your patterns that you use for your quilts?]

Trudy: No. Not a big library. Just a few books that really have a lot of patterns in them. And then, like the log cabin - it’s so easy now for me to put one together or to make variations. The way I make the log cabin, I learned from talking to another quilter. I had gone to a mall to one of the fabric stores, and they have classes. They have people come in and tell about quilts and other types of sewing projects.

[Q: So you learned an easy way, a short-cut way to put together a classic like a log-cabin, by taking a class?]

Trudy: It’s a good idea for beginners to take a class, but this one wasn’t a class actually. The speaker was just showing us some quilts and talking about how to do a few things. It was part of her demonstration with some other items she was selling. It’s like with any craft, knowing a few little tricks can save you a lot of time.

[Q: Can you give an example of a time-saving trick?]

Trudy: Well. Most people might already know about a tool called a rotary cutter, but it is probably the biggest single thing that made quilting so much easier for me than using scissors. It’s a cutter kind of like a pizza-cutting wheel. I can stack up fabric, line it up along the edge of a special ruler that belongs with the rotary cutter, and get a perfectly straight cut every time without the effort of squeezing a scissors over and over to cut out all the little pieces of a pattern.

It’s the best, and anyone today quilting without this tool is really making it hard on themselves. Go get a rotary cutter right now if you don’t have one already.

Theresa Modine’s studies of American folk art and women’s history includes an emphasis on quilting. She is contributing author of The Quilt Box, your resource for a world of quilting information. Addtional articles by Theresa are found at First Class Fabric.

FROM NATURAL FLAWS TO PICTURES
Everyone will I am sure appreciate well hollowed stone antique Chinese snuff bottles, once handled, as the lovely shapes and purity of the stones used just cannot fail to impress. One would imagine that the approach would have been to avoid any inclusions or flaws, and to form the bottle from only the best parts of the stone. This often was the case. But what I find even more fascinating, is the amazing way they deliberately and brilliantly, took advantage of natural flaws and inclusions often found present in these stones.

Most quartz and jade stones have an outer layer of a different colour, particularly the pebbles from the riverbeds. They also have faults and flaws plus other coloured material, often deep in the stone. Sometimes these can be very thin skin-like inclusions, whilst in others large chunks are found.

When one considers that no one knows just what is inside any of these rocks until, as the cuts are made and the secrets of the stone are revealed, they discover how pure, or otherwise, the stone really is. It is with the stones that have inclusions or flaws that ‘Picture Agate’ snuff bottles are made. The best of these incredible bottles, once completed, manage to make the inclusion, that forms the image, look as if it has appeared in just the right place as if to order!

There are different types of work within this group of snuff bottles and the first ones are what we call ‘Cameo’ carvings. These take advantage of any outer skin or blob type of inclusion (of a different colour); they can be quite thick and are carved in relief. Another type is called ‘Shadow Agates’ and these take advantage of markings in the stone where, with the help of only a little carving, an image is created. Lastly, the most fascinating ones are called ‘Silhouette Agates’ but in this group no apparent carving is required. The image is achieved mainly by the angle and choice of shape, as well as the size and position of the bottle to be formed out of the rock so that the inclusion becomes an image. These bottles have to be seen to be believed.

What is really mind blowing to me is the fact that there are even some of these bottles with pictures on both sides!

Sadly, few of them were signed. We only know that there was a certain school of carvers known as the ‘Suzhou School’. Their works are easily recognised by the style and quality of the carving, plus the fact that they make use of every mark in the stone to form the picture. They are amazing bottles when good, but there are many later works that tend to look too stiff and the carving lacks the more fluid artistic touch of the master carvers. Unfortunately, hardly any of these bottles are really well hollowed.

OUR FIRST SNUFF BOTTLE
So to describe my first purchase, this was a ‘Shadow Agate picture bottle’ involving a little carving, and very well hollowed. It is a most appropriate subject and colour for a snuff bottle because the russet inclusions have been used to show ‘Putai Ho-Shang’. He is always depicted as a very corpulent man with a bare chest and abdomen and he is the patron saint of tobacconists. In this bottle he appears surprised by a bat whilst sitting below some tobacco leaves. The bat to the Chinese is a good luck symbol. You can see how easily he appears, nicely placed within the bottle yet only his head and a suggestion of his hand have been carved. (See the photograph by using the link at the bottom of this article).

We now own a number of ‘Picture Agates’ and to illustrate the different types described, the photograph of the Duck with Lingzhi fungus in its beak is a good ‘Silhouette’ example. Incidentally, the fungus is a symbol for wishing long life. This bottle is very unusual as there is a recess carved originally to create the image that serves as a built in dish. (See the photograph by using the link at the bottom of this article).

Lastly, a superb bottle of fishes with pictures on both sides: the pair of fishes on one side are ‘Cameo’ carved and to the Chinese represent fidelity and happy conjugal rights in marriage. On the other side a fish and aquatic plants make use of every mark in the stone, all this on a well shaped bottle that is very well hollowed. All these bottles illustrated were made between 1750 and 1860. (See the photograph by using the link at the top of this article).

ASSESSMENT
To effectively judge hard stone snuff bottles, the first consideration should be concerned with the overall artistic impression. You need to be satisfied that the work looks well composed and well positioned and that the images formed are flowing rather than stiff and awkward. The next stage is to have a closer look at the technical skills. When I look at a cameo type of carving I study the shape and finish of the background, close to the edge of the carving. On poorer bottles this can be indented, uneven and not so well polished as the rest. Really fine examples look as if the raised cameo part has somehow been glued onto a beautifully formed bottle. Engraved work at its best is very precise and provides the detail. When closely looking (under magnification) at a poor bottle these engraved parts can look very crude.

The author has been a very keen Asian antique collector for many years helping to create ‘The Cohen collection’.

To view the photographs that relate to this article please use the following link: -
http://www.jncohen.net/antiques/articles.htm

For more information about Chinese snuff bottles please use the following link: -
http://www.jncohen.net/Chinese_Snuff_bottles/index.htm

There are no specific rules stating that all photographs or mementos must be placed in chronological order. Therefore, it is completely up you the order you wish to place your items and embellishments. You can place your items in a formal chronological order. You can also group items into formal or informal categories such as similar colors, events, activities, individuals, or families. Items can also be placed into random, abstract, or collages.

Each order has its own place in scrapbooking. For instance, chronological order might be useful for an anniversary scrapbook. Pictures and mementos of the couple’s years together could be placed from the first day they met through the wedding day to the present day with each time period on a different page. This presents a feel of as time goes by.

However, a scrapbook for a parent might just have a collage of pictures and drawings. In this case, a collage lends to a feeling of overwhelmingly being loved.

You may or may not want to add text to your scrapbook page. You may want to just write captions below the pictures. You may want to add your own stories or poems. You may want to add journals describing the day to day life of your baby or your child’s accomplishments. Text can be used as either a focal point or simply as a supporting piece.

Text may be hand written. Alternately, computer fonts, letters, text, or three-dimensional images can also be printed or cut and pasted onto the page. In this way, various styles, colors, textures, and visual text effects are possible.

Mia LaCron is the founder of 101-scrapbooking-tidbits.info - http://www.101-scrapbooking-tidbits.info - devoted to helping individuals record, store, and preserve their most cherished memories via the art of scrapbooking.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. There are plenty of crafty brides out there looking for a unique design for their unity candle. They want something that is as special and unique as their wedding day. Many artists are ready and willing to custom make a Unity candle for an eager bride - and charge anywhere from $30 to $200 - and that’s not with any gold-plating or diamonds set into it!

As an alternative, take some of the “momentos” from your upcoming wedding - perhaps a copy of your invitation, some ribbon or tulle to match the gown and do it yourself! This project is as simple or as complex as you make it out to be, and you’re only restricted by your imagination. The best part about this candle is that it will never burn away! We will embed a tealight in the top of the pillar so that you only have to replace the tealight when it burns out. Ultimately you will have a lasting momento of your special day that you’ve made.

You will need:

7-9″ pillar candle
2 clear-cup tealight candles
1 pencil
1 teaspoon
1 tape measure
1 hot glue gun
as many items to decorate your candle as you see fit.

Choose a candle 7-9″ tall and about 3″ wide at the top. Round candles are easiest to decorate, but the candle must be at least 1/4″ larger around than the tealight. Pick a candle that sits flat. We’re going to carve out the top in a minute so that the tealight will nestle down inside. If you have unusual colors for your wedding, try finding a candle in a coordinating color.

Place the tealight cup in the center of the top of the pillar. Do your best to center it. Trace around the outside of the cup. Set the tealight aside. Measure the height of your tealight.

Using a warm spoon, melt out the wax around the wick of the pillar candle. We want to “carve” or melt out a space for the tealight to fit. Work slowly. It’s easier to melt out extra wax than it is to add back wax. We can fill in with hot glue, but we’d rather not do that if we don’t have to! Continue to melt down the interior of the candle, and trim away the wick, until you have reached the depth of your tea light cup height. Test your “well” by fitting the tealight cup into the space you are creating. Once it sits flush with the top of the pillar, you’re all set!

Let your candle cool. Once we begin to decorate, you’ll need to work quickly - especially if you’re using High-temp hot glue. The softer your pillar candle, the more likely it will melt under the heat of your glue gun. Therefore, always apply the glue to to your decoration, not your candle. If you are applying many items - beads for example - allow the candle time to cool every 5-10 minutes to prevent melting.

Because the candle doesn’t burn down, most any type of decoration can be used on the candle, including paper, cloth, etc. The wax should never drip, as it is contained in the tealight cup. This is a great and economical way to add a personal touch to your wedding ceremony. Some decorating suggestions:

1. Cut your invitation out in an oval or heart shape. Adhere it to the candle and edge the invitation with lace or ribbon.

2. Take beads that match your gown and push sequin pins or hatpins into the candle to hold them into place (no glue required).

3. Glue your picture on the candle and decorate with ribbon. This not only makes a wonderful momento for you, but a great gift for your wedding party, as a reminder of their role in your special day.

4. For my wedding, I took a new white pillar candle, spiraled old silver ribbon from the top to the bottom, then turned the candle over and spiraled pale blue ribbons in the opposite direction, creating a checkerboard effect. Then I glued blue and clear crystals borrowed from some old earrings in the center of each “square”. Something old, new, borrowed and blue on a candle that will last for a lifetime!

Best of luck, and best wishes on your special day!

Lisa Robbin is the Director of Product Development for the giving candle, the maker of Heavenly Gems resin-based clear candles. Lisa writes articles on all things candle related in an effort to educate consumers about making the most out of their candle purchases.

You can email her directly at lisa@thegivingcandle.com

Just in time for the holiday season!

SUPPLIES:

# assorted holiday fabrics - this means anything from cotton prints to silk or velvet,why not try something really exotic!
# matching thread
# pins
# chalk or other marker

STEP 1:

For each coaster cut 4 5″ squares of holiday fabric.

Layer two of the squares on top of one another with wrong sides together. You will be looking at the right side of the fabric.

STEP 2:

Fold remaining two squares in half wrong sides together and place on top of first two squares. The folded edges face the middle. These two folded edges should overlap slightly.
Pin all layers together.

Trace around base of your wine glass.

Stitch 1/4″ away from markings thru all layers. Backstitch on folded edges for added strength. Trim away excess fabric and turn.
Push out fabric gently and press lightly. Now comes the fun part. Embellishing each one. Use whatever you may have on hand.

As you can see these are easy for anyone to make. Ideally, each one should be a different fabric so everyone knows which glass is theirs. You can embellish these with ribbon roses, embroidery or leave them plain. Almost any fabric can be used. They can be very elegant or more casual, depending on your lifestyle.

Mary Wilkins has three grown children and six perfect grandchildren. Completely self taught, she has been sewing, and crafting for over 30 years. Her website http://www.sew-whats-new.com has been recognized in many sewing magazines and newsletters alike.

Mary Wilkins
http://sew-whats-new.com
sewwhatsnew@hfx.eastlink.ca
Creating with Needle and Thread