Creations & Collections

Introducing Musical Instruments to Children

Fe — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:48:00 +0000

Giving your children access to different musical instruments is a great way to introduce music to them. It is also a way to spark interest in music as a whole. This allows your children to discover an interest in playing different musical instruments. It is important that you, as a parent, shouldn’t be too eager every time your child shows interest in a particular instrument. You may end up buying different expensive musical instruments that your children may not end up using. In introducing music to your children, it is best if you provide them first with simple and easy to maintain musical instruments. This includes traditional musical instruments such as tin whistle from musicians friend. Traditional musical instruments do not require expensive replacement parts or electricity. This will also give your children an important lesson about history and culture.

Stamp Collection : Queen Elizabeth II

Fe — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:43:00 +0000

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states, known as the Commonwealth realms, and their territories and dependencies, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. She is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and, in some of her realms, carries the title of Defender of the Faith as part of her full title. (source : Wikipedia)

Desktop Postcard Holder

Fe — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:25:00 +0000

I am organizing my small office space here at work and aside from making sure that I have all the boxes and folders that I need to organize my files, hubby wanted to have a postcard stand that I can place on my desk. All of the postcards that we’ll receive for the month will go on the stand first before they will be sorted out on our album. This will allow us easy access every time we need to refer to them or we need to make a post about them.

We wanted to make a simple postcard stamp, something that will not take too much space on our desk. Hubby was able to come up with this using barbecue sticks:

We still have a lot of organizing to do, I still have to make a list of all the things that we need to organize. I may have to use a mobile app that makes organizing notes and making to-do list simpler and more convenient. I actually find such apps very useful, just like one who designed any.do app that I saw awhile ago, especially for individuals who have a lot of things to accomplish within a particular time frame. I’m still reading some reviews and feedback that can help me choose which app is suitable for me. For now, I am happy with the mini postcard stand that we have for our desk.

Theme Park Ride: Log Flumes/Log Rides

Fe — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:36:00 +0000

Log flumes (colloquially known as "log rides") are amusement rides consisting of a water flume and artificial hollow logs or boats. Passengers sit in the logs, which are propelled along the flume by the flow of water.

The ride usually culminates with a rapid descent and splashdown into a body of water, which may happen more than once (normally the largest drop being just before the end). It provides people with an entertaining way to get wet and cool off on a hot summer day, with certain seating sections usually being splashed with more water for a more exciting and wet ride. (source: Wikipedia)

Here’s a miniature version of a log flume made out cardboard:

Planning to Purchase a Guitar for the Kids

Fe — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:04:00 +0000

We have been meaning to buy a guitar for the kids but we haven’t really gotten the time to buy one. We were at the mall last week but since we had to go straight back home after watching a movie, we weren’t able to look into the various guitars that were being sold. The thing is, we also haven’t decided whether we should buy a new one or a pre-owned one. We are also looking online for online retailers of musical instruments and find out how we can save on buy instruments that are pre-owned but are still in good condition. Hopefully we can decide within the next few days so that the kids can have a guitar that they can use during their summer break.

Finger Board Skate Park 2

Fe — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:43:00 +0000

We have another version of a fingerboard skate park. The first one that we created was made from popsicle sticks and barbecue sticks. This time, we used cardboards and a few sheets of old newspapers. By the way, you can view the first one we made here.

The old newspapers were used to seal the edges:

We used white paint and this is how it looks like:

Buying Affordable Art Supplies

Fe — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:46:00 +0000

Finding a reputable source of affordable art supplies is important especially to budding artists who may have a limited budget. As a general rule, buying products in bulk, not just art supplies, can offer huge savings to customers. Manufacturing and industrial companies, for instance, know that buying high quality industrial parts such as tooling components and lag screws at discounted rates can translate to bigger savings for them. The same goes to buying art supplies. After determining the various art supplies that you may need, more importantly those that you will be using heavily, you must know where you can buy them at wholesale prices. Going to an art supplies stores without having a list with you can be very overwhelming and you may end up buying items that you don’t really need. Aside from personal recommendations, you can also search online for reputable art supplies retailers that offer high quality art supplies at the most affordable rate. Be on the lookout for clearance sales by local art supplies stores and end of the year sales by various online retailers. You are sure to get huge savings on your purchases if you are updated about such sales.

Theme Park Ride: Caterpillar

Fe — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:33:00 +0000

‘The Caterpillar ride is a vintage flat ride engineered by the inventor Hyla F. Maynes of North Tonawanda, New York who dubbed it the Caterpillar when it debuted in Coney Island, NY in 1925. It is a fast-paced ride that generates a decent helping of centrifugal force, causing the riders on the inside of the seats to crush the riders on the outside of the seats. It was once found at nearly every amusement park around the USA, but is now so rare that an original Caterpillar ride can only be found operating in five parks today. Though only four Caterpillars are known to be operating, there have been reports claiming there are additional Caterpillars in storage or standing (but not operating) at a few other parks.’ (source)

Here’s our own version of this popular theme park ride; one of our latest arts/crafts projects that is made from popsicle sticks:

Tips on Starting a Collection

Fe — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 15:43:00 +0000

So, you were inspired by a friend or someone you know and you have decided to start your own collection. How exactly do you go about it? Here are some simple tips that you can keep in mind to help you decide which items to collect and how should you go about starting a collection:

· What are your interests? You may initially think that you should start collecting items that are popular such as stamps and coins but if you are not genuinely interested in them, you will end up collecting items that don’t really mean something to you personally. Look into things that interests you; maybe you already own a few of them. You can add more to them and slowly expand your collection.

· Research on the possible sources of items for your collection. For stamp and coin collections, your sources would include stamp and coin retailers and even friends and relatives who may own a couple of rare coins and stamps. If for instance, you’re a cigar enthusiast and you would like to have a cigar collection, find a reputable cigar retailer that sells authentic cigars such as the alec bradley cigar. You don’t only get to expand your collection but you also get to taste the finest cigars that are available in the market.

· Learn how to properly store or display your collection. In starting a collection, you don’t only have to set aside a budget for your collection but you must also invest in the proper storage and display tools for your collection. Proper storage will ensure that your collection will not get easily damaged. The damage that may be caused by the exposure to different elements such as heat and dust can be prevented when your collection is stored properly.

· Interact with other collectors. You will learn a lot from them. Join a local club of collectors. They can offer valuable tips and helpful advices on how you can succeed as a collector. You may even get to swap items with them.

· Be practical and set goals. It may be unwise to start collecting items that may be too expensive and are not in accordance to your lifestyle. You may think that having a jewelry collection is unique but if you do not have the resources, you may not be able to sustain your collection.

By keeping these simple tips in mind, you’ll be on your way to having a unique collection that you’ll be truly proud of.

Back to Sending Postcards

Fe — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:44:00 +0000

After months of being inactive at Postcrossing, I was finally able to send some postcards again two weeks ago. I ran out of postcards and somehow, I haven’t gotten around to buying postcards whenever we visit a bookstore. Anyway, we were able to visit the local post office and we dropped off ten postcards. As of today, three of them have already been received.

Here are the postcards that we sent along with the stamps that we used:

We also bought some stamps for the next batch of postcards that we’ll be sending (we still need to buy more postcards though) :

We plan to send another batch of postcards next week, hopefully we get to buy some when we visit the bookstore this weekend.