The art of tying your own fishing flies

With summer upon us and kids being released for school, many families will have more time for recreation together. As mentioned in our last post, water sports are some of the most enjoyable. If your family enjoys fishing, and handmade crafts, the art of tying your own fishing flies can be an enjoyable activity for kids and adults alike, and can develop into a lifelong hobby.

We found an educational site with excellent tutorials that develop from the most basic fly-tying skills and build upon them sequentially in order to master more complex ties. Steps are illustrated with photos so you can see exactly what your fishing fly should look like as you work on it.

All of the basic materials needed are listed. However, raising the craft room (especially if you craft with feathers or fibers) can provide an endless supply of variety for developing your own fly-fishing creations. When I first began selling my fiber assortments, which were developed with scrapbooking in mind, I was surprised to find that I also attracted a great many fly fishermen who enjoyed using the variety of colors, textures, and iridescence the fiber collections offered to create unique fishing flies. Feathers are similarly in demand, and can provide stability and motion to lures as they move through the water.

Try your hand at tying fishing flies as a family. You might discover a new passion, or instill the love of a new craft in your children. And enjoy spending time together as a family, creating something useful that you can have fun with in the great outdoors!

Enjoying maximum water fun!

Boat ownership opens up a whole new world of enjoyment. Some of the most popular hobbies and pastimes involve being on the water. Whether you enjoy the thrill of waterskiing, the relaxation of sunning on a deck gently rocked by waves, entertaining family and friends aboard a private floating party, or have mastered the skill of hooking and landing the biggest fish, your desire is found in the oceans, bays, rivers and lakes. And the boat is your ticket to arrive and cruise your destination.

But before you start browsing ads for Boat sales there are a few questions you need to answer in order to select the boat that's right for you.

Probably the first thing to consider is where you intend to use the boat, which will determine the size of the craft you need, as well as start to determine the type of hull. If you're planning to fish freshwater and want to reach out-of-the-way beds where fish hole up, you're going to want a fairly small craft (maybe 9-16 feet or 3-5 meters) that will navigate shallow waters. If most of your time will be spent just offshore, you'll prefer a larger boat with a deeper hull that will provide more stability. If you plan to take long cruises and spend a significant amount of time in deeper seas, you're probably going to want a minimum of 32 feet or 9-10 meters or more in order to be prepared to weather rougher conditions.

The next thing to ask yourself is what activities you'd most like to enjoy on your boat. A pontoon boat will give space for a small crowd to party, barbecue, dine, dive, sunbathe, and much more and can provide a safer environment for children. A cabin cruiser can be your "floating hotel" with full amenities including sleeping cabin, kitchen, and bathroom only a few steps from water fun. A wide variety of fishing boats offer features customized for the type of fishing you'd like to do, whether inland dodging among trees following the fish into their hiding places or deep sea with towers offering excellent vantage points and rod holders, outriggers, and wells for live bait. Thrillseekers might enjoy a speedboat, or prefer a ski boat. These are only a few types from which to choose.

Depending on what you enjoy, you can often find a boat that suits many different water activities. My favorite was made by  Bayliner boats - a medium-sized bow rider with a deep-V hull. During the summer, we often launched the boat into a calm inlet that was ideal for waterskiing. It was also a great boat for cruising along the shore, and offered an ideal spot for sunbathing on the bow for two people. My friend and I often relaxed in the bow section while the men fished from the back. We also enjoyed sunrises on the water with wine and cheeses, and sometimes packed a picnic to enjoy in the bay. The boat also served as a floating base from which to dive in and swim with the dolphins, and we used it to visit small islands that were otherwise inaccessible. We did use it for parties as well, when we went out with another friend and anchored the two boats near each other.

It was equipped with a cover that could be used for shade, making it suitable for full days on the water. If you aren't used to that much sun, the reflection of the rays from the water intensify the effect and can really burn your skin, so having a cover or shade available will stretch the time you can remain on the water. The deep-V hull made it much more stable than my friend's tri-hull, which at high speeds always felt as though my insides were being jarred if the water was the least bit choppy. In contrast, the deep-V cut through the water and handled bay conditions smoothly. We even took it into the ocean and out for several miles for deep-sea fishing, but it did lack the equipment that would have made handling the poles easier and when weather conditions turned threatening, we were forced to return quickly, and never venture far for safety's sake. The only other drawback was that the passage between the inlet and the bay was fairly shallow, and there was no room for error in navigation there.

That boat would have been totally unsuitable for anything more extended, since it did not have facilities, and was also too large to navigate most freshwater bodies near our home, but being a sort of "midrange" boat, it filled all the other niches we enjoyed admirably.

Consider what activities you enjoy and where you plan to take your boat, educate yourself on the many types of boats available, and then select the boat that best fulfills your needs. Add water, and enjoy!

Make your next event TRULY memorable!

Would you like a way to make your next event memorable and unique? A photo booth rental provides fun, memories, party favors, and a way to share the fun of your party, all wrapped up in a neat package.

Fun - have you ever ducked into a photo booth with a friend, giggling while you struck a series of comical poses and waited for the camera to flash? Bring back those fun times but in a more professional way using a larger booth that can comfortably accommodate groups of up to 8 adults at a time.

Instant party favors - Your guests can print out their photo strips instantly, and have the option of adding text or graphics for even more fun. Everyone can take home reminders of the event!

Share Memories - Photos can be uploaded into an online gallery so guests that weren't able to attend will see all the fun they missed by not coming to your party (just kidding!). Long distance family and friends will feel included by being able to "visit" your party. Photos can also be compiled into a DVD for sharing with everyone, and letting you keep all your even photos in one handy place. Keep memories of your special event alive by viewing slideshows of your guests having a great time.

Photo booths have come a long way too. These aren't the grainy black-and-white boring-background shots of the mall photo booths of the past. High quality digital images and color backgrounds that pop produce images you'll be proud to add to your scrapbook, wallet, or photo frames.

These aren't the tiny, dingy booths tucked in fair midways and shopping malls. Rental photo booths were designed with weddings and other very special events in mind, and are tastefully designed to complement your theme and decor. They can even be personalized inside and out to reflect your personal style or highlight your event (which makes them great for corporate events too, since you can include logo graphics and more).

The next time you are planning an extra-special event, and want to spice it up with fun for everyone and make memories to keep forever, keep the new photo booth rentals in mind.

Dads My Rock

Thanks for the post from Sylvester Campbell

My dad has been really helpful during this house search. I don’t want to sound like a sob story but I recently had to move back to Texas after a broken engagement. I bought a house near my parents so I wouldn’t feel so alone, packed up my dog and started boxing up my stuff! Dad took care of a lot of the back end stuff like looking into electric companies in dallas for my new house, setting up my cable and even stocking my pantry with staples so I wouldn’t have to eat pizza for the first few weeks I lived there. I really miss my fiancé and I hate that things didn’t work out but now’s just not the right time for us to be together. I liked living in New York because it was such a big city but Dallas is going to be fun too. I missed my family while I was there and owning my own house is going to be a lot of fun. I’ve recently gotten really into the environment so I want to do something with my art when I move to Texas. Basically, I use things found in nature to make art and sell it to galleries and coffee shops, and so far I’ve actually had really good success. My parents have been so supportive and my sister is also a huge help. She said she’ll come over once I get all moved in and help me gather materials for my art and that will be nice. Those are the kinds of things my fiancé used to do with me so it’s going to be tough not to have him there with me! I’m going to start a whole new life for myself and it’s going to be great. I’m not saying it’s going to come easily but it sure isn’t going to end me, I can tell you that! Dallas…here I come!

What to do with a concrete floor?

We haven't been around as much lately due to a lot of remodeling work going on in getting a house ready to sell (although a lot of the work would make great blog posts!). One of the biggest challenges we faced was a bare concrete floor in the living room of the house. It had once been carpeted, but a leak around the chimney in the roof caused water damage, so the carpet had been torn out, leaving bare concrete floors, carpet glue, and tack strips. Ugly, and NOT appealing to potential buyers! So what to do ... carpet? Painted floor? Linoleum? Ceramic tile? Hardwood? Epoxy floor coating?



Carpet was one potential solution to the problem, but several comments came from buyers that they would plan on tearing out any carpet due to allergy issues (and one had pets and didn't want carpet). My sister just pulled up all the carpet in her house as well, because she likes to keep things VERY clean, so we thought that carpet might not be the best choice.

The simplest solution would be a painted floor. If we were going for a solid color, that isn't hard to do. A roller and a can of porch paint is all we would need, and I've done it before. Unfortunately, it comes out looking - well, more like a porch. Not what we going for in a dramatic staging for our living room. Since that room has a huge fireplace, it really needs to be the stand-out room it can be in order to sell the house.

For that reason, we quickly rejected linoleum as a possibility. I've seen nice-looking linoleum installations (well, a very few!) but they usually end up looking low-end very quickly and most buyers think "cheap" when they see linoleum.

Ceramic tile doesn't have that stigma, but the living room opened to the kitchen/dining area, which was tiled in slate gray tiles with just a titch of green. Very difficult to match or blend so it was decided to just avoid ceramic or similar tiles.

We were running out of options.

Hardwood was actually our first thought, but there was a 100+ pound dog running around the house. It would have looked beautiful, but would also have been very vulnerable to scratching by his claws, and all the preparation for selling the house could have been ruined.

They actually make various products to protect floors from pets' nails, but somehow, I don't think my dog would be as willing to wear them as this fellow seems to be.

In the end, an epoxy finish seemed the best choice. Although these kinds of finishes are most commonly seen in garages and similar service areas (where they make a very clean and professional impact!) there is such a wide range of colors available that can be augmented by chip blends or quartz blends and other special treatments that almost any kind of finish can be achieved. We've had epoxy concrete floors before, and found them to be VERY durable after proper curing, easy to clean, and always giving a polished look. The only drawback is that they are very unforgiving if you happen to drop anything fragile on them! But for looks, durability, and ease of maintenance, epoxy floors are hard to beat.

Don't some of these colors look great? Now, if only I could apply that finish to the dated laminate and cultured marble countertops and vanities ... in the right color it would look just like granite!

Nest gift bags - more printed fabric

Speaking of printing on fabric ... last time we featured a method of fabric printing that replaces screen printing. This method produces images printed on fabric, and can be printed directly from your computer printer, giving you complete control over image selection. The possibilities are endless!

A great example are these super-cute nest gift bags from The Graphics Fairy. Many wonderful free downloads of vintage images are available on the site as well. Be sure to take a peek!

Of course, the image can be anything you'd like. And you can use the fabric to make a gift bag, as shown, to decorate a storage basket, to sew onto a purse, to make into a pillowcase, to mount on a frame for wall-decor, to cover a scrapbook or journal, to decorate a hand towel, to make a dresser scarf, to customize patches for clothing, or anything your imagination can come up with! That's the beauty of this method ... you really are unlimited in what you can do with it, and the images you can use.

I'm going to be doing a lot more of this myself (as soon as I get my printer repaired!)

St. Patrick's Day goodies!

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
... An Irish Blessing

St. Patrick's Day is almost here, and we've assembled our favorite collection of party goodies, crafts, and decorations to make for our reader's enjoyment.

First up, these "Pot of Gold" cupcakes. These are SO cute, and will have everyone asking how you made them (and envying your cupcake-decorating skills). 

Looking for something a little more sophisticated (and lovely!) for a grown-up style party? These would be great for St. Patrick's Day, or anytime! We found these wonderful Celtic Knot cookies and can't wait to try them!

Another sweet treat for St. Patrick's Day are these Grasshopper Brownie Bars. These caught my eye, because they are very similar to a recipe I used to make at Christmastime. I used to bake a fudgy chocolate sheet cake and let it cool completely in the pan. Then I mixed my icing with peppermint extract and green food coloring, and spread that over the top. Next I melted the chocolate layer and poured that over the mint icing layer. I'm interested at how these brownie bars would work, since brownies are chewier than cake and might provide a really nice texture. I did enjoy my nice light cake topped with mint and chocolate too, though, and it was a hit with the whole family.

These Leprechaun Hat treats are the CUTEST little things, developed by a super-creative mom! She says they are easy and the kids enjoyed making them. These just make me smile! The little shamrocks on hers are not edible, but if you could find cake sprinkles in green shamrocks, that would make them perfect!


And for crafts and decorations ...

Kaboose is a great site for kid's crafts. These rainbow and St. Patrick's Day Shamrock mobiles are suitable for kids from about 6 years old and up to make, and are made using a paper plate for the upper edge. Children would be proud to produce such a pretty project, and would probably enjoy having it hanging in their rooms long after the holidays (especially the rainbow mobile).

Children of any age can enjoy making these paint-stamped shamrock clovers. They are made using a heart, so you don't have to search out fancy clover stamps AND they help teach kids about putting shapes together to make other shapes. This is a great idea that can be adapted to all kinds of projects if your kids are older, and if they are younger, they can use these to make cards, art to hang on the fridge, t-shirts, or party decorations.

This St. Patrick's Day photo wreath is a wonderful project for kids that would make a great decoration, as well as a wonderful gift for grandparents or other family members. It's one of those wonderful projects that turns out well while being simple enough for kids to put together, giving them a real sense of accomplishment. The design could easily be adapted to other holidays as well, just imagine a heart shaped cutout (it could be made from cardboard, since the circle here comes from a paper plate), with pink tissue paper and heart-shaped photos for Valentine's day, with a "love" sentiment on a bow-shaped or heart-shaped piece at the bottom.

This Lucky Sprouts project is brought to you by TLC. We love this idea, since kids can get involved in seeing how seeds sprout into tiny green plants. This is a great time of year to introduce sprouting seeds and growing and let them get excited about plants, and then you can bring them into the gardening season to teach them more. We think this one is a great idea!

Get your FREE vintage printables here!

We've found a few exciting new (and older) sites that offer FREE vintage printables and couldn't wait to share them with you. Wonderful ephemera for making framed botanical prints, altered art cards, tags, bookmarks, for scrapbooking, and anything your imagination can create.

There are currently 775 vintage botanical images available at Viintage.  Featuring flowers, fruit, and more so you're sure to be able to find images suitable for your projects.

Viintage's selections by artist Ernst Haeckel are especially rich and colorful, and feature botanicals as well as animals and sea life.

The entertainment and recreation section contains everything from vintage photographs to medieval works of art to handbills and more.

There are a wide range of advertising images, from Coca-cola to cigars and cigarettes, and thousands of uncategorized advertising and stock images, plus children's books, posters, and more. Visit Viintage.com (two i's in "vintage") for your free vintage downloads. All are in the public domain, so you are free to use them however you wish.

Now, for some tried and true old favorites ...

Astrid's Artistic Efforts offers many freebies for download. Featuring sweet images of Victoriana, birds, flowers, muted colors and distressed backgrounds, some with inspiring words, in a variety of shapes and sizes, we LOVE her work!

I also really love VintageFeedSacks. The art is all categorized, so just click on what you're looking for and view all of the images in that category. Advertising, Victoriana, 20th century vintage, ephemera. Everything is public domain and completely free to use in any way you like.

I find the owner of WhimsyDust to be a gracious and kind, as well as very talented lady, if her blog is any indication. She often shares such lovely images from her Etsy store, free for use in any way you like, including commercial. You have to scroll through her blog to run across the images, but "visiting" with the dear lady in this way is worth the time spent.

Another of my favorite blogs - The Feathered Nest - shares some absolutely wonderful graphics. Terms of use simply says they are mostly all very old and you can use them however you like. Again, you have to dig around for them, but there are so many lovely projects posted on this blog that I didn't mind either.

The LilacGarden has some nice freebies designed especially for decoupage. While this one probably isn't as easy to fit into a decoupage project as most of them, I had to choose it because it was so inviting and made me smile. The Lilac Garden offers two pages of free images and backgrounds, but they do gratefully accept donations which are passed along to the site owner's church.

Another favorite is Percy and Bloom. There is a fairly good category list allowing you to search for what you need - some categories have page after page of posts, and some are more sparse. You can search by subject, or in some cases style. There are interesting little tutorials interspersed in with the free graphics as well. This is a good place to lose some time before you know it.

Far Far Hill is worth visiting as well. They have such a variety of offerings, from background paper to elements to ephemera and postcards, silhouettes, frames, and vintage photos. Styles vary. Links to older freebies expire though, so if you see something you really like, it's best to grab it.

And finally, no list of graphic sites would be complete without mentioning Karen, TheGraphicsFairy herself. Karen runs a wonderful site with thousands of images, searchable and categorized. I love her site's search ... I typed in Christmas Children and got ONLY posts that had both words as a tag. The site features Victorian, line drawings, type, clipart, and much more. Karen even fills special requests for images when she can, and alters images for her site as well. A real treasure-trove of printable graphics!

These are just a few of our favorite sites for downloading free vintage printables. We'll be sure to feature more in upcoming posts!

Valentine's matchboxes - cute gift-giving idea!

If you have children who will be participating in any kind of Valentine swapping, these Valentine's Day matchboxes are a super-cute way to make special gifts instead of the regular buy-a-pack-of-character-valentine's drill. They are a little time-consuming, but with a couple of weeks to go until Valentine's Day these are worth a look. The cost is minimal, and you can place whatever goodies you like inside as a gift ... candies (might want to wrap them in a bit of plastic wrap since the box held matches), stickers, or those little shapes that expand in water are all fun. Check the discount trinket section at stores like Target, Wal-Mart, or party supply stores for nice little tuck-in gifts if you need inspiration. You can also print out little sayings or poems, Chinese fortune cookie style, to include with your gift. Have fun!

How to choose an artificial Christmas tree

Have you decided to switch from real to an artificial tree for Christmas this year, or does your old artificial tree need replacing? If you plan to buy an artificial Christmas tree, there are a wider variety of options than ever before. Trees are available in a number of styles, a wide array of colors; perhaps you're interested in a flocked tree, a rotating tree, or want to save time in decorating (and taking down) the tree every year by buying a prelit Christmas tree. There are also a numb of factors to consider in order to assure you get the tree that will suit your home and give you the best value for your dollar.

The first thing you need to know is the exact size of the tree you want to buy. Decide where you'll put the Christmas tree, and measure the height of the ceiling. If your ceilings slope, remember to measure the height of the ceiling where the center of the tree will be placed. You'll need to make sure that the height of the tree you purchase plus the stand and the additional height of whatever tree topper you plan to use will clear the ceiling with enough clearance. Consider how full you want the tree to be in that spot. How far out from the wall would you like to place it, and how much space will you have? If your room holds a lot of furniture and you need to shift it to make room for the tree, a very full tree is likely to look cramped and get in the way. If the room is too small, or too crowded, you may even want to consider a tabletop tree. On the other hand, if you have a spacious room, you wouldn't want too narrow a tree or it will look out of place. Be sure the planned fullness of your tree will suit your space.

The next consideration is probably color. If you have a modern decor scheme, you may want to opt for one of the more avant-garde colors such as red, orange, violet, or metallic. If your room is ultra-feminine you might enjoy a pink or white tree. If you prefer traditional decor, you'll probably want a green tree. Now is the time to decide if you would like the green tree to be flocked with artificial snow.

Style is best determined by how many ornaments you have and the style of your decor. Fuller tree styles can appear well-decorated with a minimum of ornaments, while more open finger-like branches are capable of displaying a multitude of decorations. Make sure the style you prefer will look at home with your chosen decor as well.

Cost is going to enter into the equation at some point, but try to compare cost with the quality of the tree. A cheaply made artificial tree is going to appear shoddy and will likely have broken branches and open "holes" within a few years, while a better quality tree might cost more initially, but can actually be a wiser investment if it remains full and is in use for ten or twelve years or more. The best way to assess whether the tree you are considering is of good quality is to compare the number of tips and branches from one tree to the next. The higher the number of tips and branches, the better the tree will look and the longer it is likely to last. Of course, it is also likely to be more expensive. If it makes you feel any better, find out what a cut tree in the size and style you like would cost this year. Expect it to probably increase in price (most things do) over the next ten or twelve years. Figure out how much you'd spend buying cut trees every year, and you may find that purchasing an artificial tree instead can be a tremendous bargain.

Convenience factors are a part of your decision as well. Pre lit Christmas trees are available that save you the hassle of twining the lights yourself -- as well as untwining them and storing them when it's time to take the tree down. Prelit trees usually cost more, but save on buying lights and save a lot of time and aggravation.

Another convenience issue is ease of set-up.  Artificial Christmas trees have traditionally been set up by erecting a central pole, then fastening in the branches one by one. Sometimes it can be time-consuming just to figure out which branches go in which layer. If you do buy this kind, make sure the branches are well-marked, or take the time to re-mark them yourself when you disassemble it after Christmas. However, a simpler option are the trees which fold out and are already assembled. You usually have to attach 2 or 3 poles together to form the height of the tree, but these are much easier to put together. Again, there is likely to be a slight increase in cost with these more convenient models.

Some trees automatically rotate, play music, change colors, and have other specialty features built in. If you are interested in any of these and have room in your budget for them, consider those options as well.

Armed with your measurements and a knowledge of your preferences, you should be able to sift through the wide variety of available artificial Christmas trees and find the one that is perfect for you and your home.

Matching your Christmas tree to your decor

Many of us use the same ornaments and decorate our Christmas trees in the same way year after year. There's a lot of comfort in tradition, and a sweet sense of nostalgia in handling family treasures year after year, so we're not knocking that.

But perhaps you're looking for something new, and wanting to make a style statement with your Christmas tree instead? Matching your Christmas tree to the personality of your room can make all the difference.

Maybe your decor is shabby chic, complete with chippy white furniture, flowers and porcelain, wrought iron pieces, crystal chandeliers, ornately-framed mirrors, and more.

A white Christmas tree decorated in soft pastel ornaments, either traditional shapes or Victorian-inspired motifs, draped with strands of pearls and decorated with pink ribbons and flowers might be your choice.

If your home is more lodge-styled, with rustic accents such as a stone fireplace, exposed wood log beams, and leather furniture ...

You might prefer a natural-looking tree that looks as though it came in to spend the holiday with the family from just outside. Decked out in traditional red-dominated ornaments and soft lights to complement the fireplace, this tree would be very much at home in such a setting.

If your decor displays a country influence, with cottage style curtains, traditional wooden and upholstered furniture, and hardwood floors, a good candidate would be a tree like this:

I always find trees like this great fun to decorate, maybe because so many of the ornaments can be handmade. An emphasis on red is common. Garlands are often cranberry or popcorn strands, ribbons, or burlap. Ornaments can be crocheted, wooden, hand-sewn, made of dough, recycled Christmas cards, pinecones, or a wide range of materials. Lace, red ribbon, jute, or gingham bows can be tied on. This is also a great style for children to help in decorating, or even in making ornaments.

And if your decor is sleek and minimalist contemporary, all smooth lines and open spaces, there's a perfect tree for that as well.

Open, airy, more negative space than positive, monochromatic and clean, such a tree would introduce a spirit of Christmas into your room without a lot of fuss and distraction.

These are just a very few of the choices available. Trees of every color are on the market today, as well as more unusual choices such as bare branch trees, palm trees and other non-traditional species, and much more. Something to suit every taste, whether you want your decor to fit the image we all imagine when we hear the words "Christmas tree" or to be completely and totally unique. The choice is up to you!