Instant Down Loads

With society being so geared to the fast track, no one wants to wait for anything, everyone wants its now.  The technology of the Internet feeds and supports those wants and needs.  When you buy a book, pattern, music, etc., we could go on an on, you can now down load it and you have it.  Some times I think "Have it Now" isn't always good, but that's another article.

If you look out there, you will see most sites who sell patterns, web sets, clip art, etc., are mostly done with instant down load, so the customer can "Have it Now" and keep doing what they were doing.  With this attitude of "I need it Now" you loose some of the customer service and getting to know your Seller or Buyer, because mostly all communication is electronic (where there is no communication).  When you do hear from your customer it is usually when there is a problem and the customer is mostly up set or at least irritated.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm one who loves to use the instant down loads, it frees me up from having to send out all orders that can be done at the time of purchase. Plus if frees up your time to create new product, work on other things and spend more time with your family.

There are so many ways of doing instant down loads, you can pay and have it programed into your website or you can use a third party that you pay a monthly fee.  Now I have elected to use a third party and the fees for most part are very reasonable and simple to add the code they provide for your product.  With the ID you can add your product to sell on more than one website, your blogs, just where ever you want to sell your product and there is no fee's for selling you just pay your monthly fee. The fee is based on the amount of storage you need.  When you have it programmed to your site it's only on that site, so it limits you some what if you offer your products in more than one place.

You can google instant down load programs and you will get a good selection to research.

Here is a site that many of the pattern lady's use and  you may want to check it out.

http://www.ipmpro.com/

Plus with this program you are also able to list your product in there download store which is included in your fee's.

Hope this has been informative and helpful to you all,

Happy Downloading to you all!!!

Re-Sizing Pictures for your Sites

So many times I go to sites, that when I click on the picture and it fills my whole screen, and sometimes you still can't see what the products is.  When you have pictures that large it takes up a lot of space on your site.  I like to keep my Thumb Nails at 150x150 and to enlarge to no more than 250x250. It helps if you start with a clear picture, then you can crop your picture to show just what you want and re size it to the size you want.  Smaller pictures take up less space so you get to show more, and also helps your site upload faster to.

There are some re sizing sites that are on the Web that are free, some have free trials, and the cost is small if you don't have a program. So check out these sites:

http://www.webresizer.com/

This one you can crop, frame and resize for FREE. But you can only do One (1) picture at a time.

http://www.picresize.com/

This one you can crop add special effects and it's free too.

http://www.avs4you.com/

This  AVS Image converter and you can do multi pictures at one time. Plus AVS has many more programs available too. This program also has a watermark available too.

Happy re sizing to you all.!!!!

In a Pinch Homemade Snow

Is it just murphys law, that late at night when all the stores are closed and you need to finish

that last minute gift and you have either ran out of Snow or you go to the jat and

guess what it is so dry it is almost like dust. So you try adding a little water and nothing, so you let it sit

and now it's just a gooy glob of whatever and it diffently won't work for what you need it to.

So, what do you do? Well here's your answer.

You go into the supply closet and find some rough styrofoam balls, get a bowl and then you rub

the balls together and caught the stryofoam in the bowl, when you think you have enough

add some white glue to the mixutre and mix,(you can also add some glitter if you choose to.)

Now you can smooth it on what ever you needed to and you now have homemade snow.

The left overs I put in either a jar with a lid or a plastic zip lock bag and it will keep for a little while.

This is great alternative when nothing is open, you can also add cinnamon and spices to it for another look and a great smell, too.

Hope this will help you out of pinch for that last minute gift, or creative time.

Hand Dyeing 101

Hand dyeing dates back to ancient times. Our ancestors used beads, shells and other materials to produce results similar to tie dyeing. Could Joseph's "coat of many colors" have been an example of early tie dyeing?

Our ancestors also used materials that were extracted from plant roots and from flowers, leaves and berries. These included blackberries, safflower, marigold, red cabbage, sage and indigo. We still use these natural dyes today. However, synthetic dyes produce more permanent, accurate and consistent results.

Tie dyeing emerged again in the 1960s as a new generation sought to express its freedom and individuality. Individuals produced custom results through different techniques and colors, creating their own personal statements on clothes.

What Is Hand Dyeing?

Simply stated, hand dyeing refers to the process of imparting colors to fibers using a dye by hand. The choice of dye you use depends on what you dye and what results you wish to produce. Here is a brief overview:

•Fiber-Reactive Dyes -- Fiber-reactive dye is the most permanent of all dye types. One popular brand used by many artists and craftsmen is Procion MX Dye. Extremely popular for tie dyeing, this cold-water, fiber-reactive dye can be used in many ways including tie dyeing, batik, airbrushing and screen printing. Procion comes in concentrated form and is mixed with cold tap water to produce vivid, almost electric results. T-shirts are commonly used with this dye and can be washed with other garments without the dyes bleeding onto contrasting colors such as black. Most times, fiber-reactive dyes are the dyes found in tie-dye kits and in one-step fabric dyes.

•All-Purpose Dyes -- In contrast to the Procion dye's preference for cold water, all-purpose dyes are used with hot water. They are mostly used when dyeing nylon, cotton or rayon. All-purpose dyes are sold under many brand names including Rit dye.

•Acid Dyes -- They sound a little scary, but acid dyes can be easy to obtain and very economical to use. An example of an acid dye is food coloring. Food coloring can be used to dye certain blends of wool, silk and nylon. Heat is required to produce washable results. Dyeing silk ribbons with sweetened drink mix such as Kool-Aid is a wacky sounding but fun technique.

•Natural Dyes -- Natural dyes simply fascinate me. They are best suited, however, for projects that do not require a lot of washing as they are less permanent than synthetic dyes. Generally speaking, wool is the best fiber to use with natural dyes, so dyeing yarn to use with crochet or knitted projects is an option. Many times a mordant will be used with natural dyes. A heavy-metal ion, a mordant is a substance that helps hold the dye to the fiber. It can be complicated to use and highly toxic. Dyeing with natural dyes produces less accurate results than dyeing with synthetic dyes, and results can be difficult to replicate.

Different Methods of Hand Dyeing

There are two basic methods of dyeing fibers with the dyes mentioned above. Fibers can be dyed using the immersion or direct-application technique.

•Tie Dyeing -- Tie dyeing is probably the most widely used method of direct-application dyeing. Concentrated fiber-reactive dyes are mixed with water and applied directly to the fiber with squirt bottles. Additionally, the garment is tied in places to prevent the dyes from reaching them, which produces an endless array of unique patterns and designs. Fabric can be tied off with string or a rubber band.

•"Scrunch" or Low-Water Immersion Dyeing -- Also know as "crumple" or "crackle" dyeing, low-water immersion involves the use of a small or "low" amount of water mixed with dye while you crunch the fabric together. A dye mix is poured over crumpled fiber, and colors are allowed to bleed and spread to produce unique and varied color gradations.

•Batik -- This method is similar to tie dyeing in that you directly apply fiber-reactive dyes in squirt bottles. Beeswax and paraffin waxes are used to draw designs onto the fibers. The wax will act as a resistant when the dye is applied.

This was some information that I had found and thought I would share with you all.

Happy Creating to All!!!

Recipes and Tips for the Crafter

So many times we run out of things at the most inopportune time, or your in a small town and you don't have access to a lot of products and you have to order what you need.  What ever it maybe we have all been in that situation at one time or another.  Here are a few things to help you out when your in a pinch.

Have you ever ran out of Snow Paste and it's midnight, nothings open, well here is a tip and I use it all the time now, I just seem to like it so much better than the store stuff.

Materials Needed:

2 Styrofoam balls (the coarse kind)

Container

White Glue

Craft Stick

You sand your Styrofoam balls together over a container for the shavings, once you have the amount of shavings you need, add your white glue and mix to farm a paste.  That's it, how simple is that.  Store in and airtight container.

Sometimes I will add Mica Flakes or Glitter for some variations. I pick up Styrofoam at the dollar store or when I find it on sale, so I always have a supply of stashed away.

Grubby Snowman Heads

Materials needed

Styrofoam Balls approx. size 2.5 to 3.0 inches

Joint Compound or Plaster

You can coat your Styrofoam balls with your joint compound or plaster and let dry. I like to insert a stick in the styrofoam balls so it is easier to coat the balls and let them dry. Once your heads are dry then you are ready to paint them, you can hand paint or spray paint the heads completely.(This also will help your joint compound and plaster cure and get hard.)

Add your faces and ear muffs, hats and what ever else you want to decorate your heads with and also remember you can shade your snowman heads too. If these are going to be an ornie then attach your hanger and your ready to go.

Grubby Jars

Material Needed

Jar

Old Cookie Sheet

Sponge Brush

Wax Paper

Glue

Cinnamon

Ginger, Nutmeg, allspice - optional

Spray sealer

Take your jar that you want to have the grubby look and paint a thin even coat of white glue over the whole jar. Then put your spices in the bottom of the cookie sheet and roll your jar in the spices until the whole jar is covered with spices and tap off the excess and let dry approx. 1 hour. Then repeat the process until you have achieved the desired look that you want, once that has been completed use your spray sealer and seal your project and let dry and you might want to put two to three coats, letting each one dry completely before you put the next coat on. The type of spray sealer is for your desired look, I like the Satin or Matt sprays the best, gloss and high gloss are just to glossy for me, but it is your preference and the look that you want.

Variations: You can use instant coffee grounds to dust with and it will make a darker look for your project.

You can also mix glue and your spices together and paint this on in thin layer and let dry and repeat the process until you have the desired look you want and then seal once completely dry. If you put this mixture on to thick it will slide down the jar and glob around the bottom and peel off, so your key to success is to apply think layers and let dry dry between applications.

We hope these tips and recipes help you with your up coming projects.

Enjoy and Happy Crafting