You will need:

Beeswax or another type of wax

Wicking

A tall dipping container

A tall container of cold water

Washers or bolt nuts

Double boiler (or two pans)

Newspaper

Scissors or sharp knife

To begin, cover the area with newspapers as this is one of the messiest forms of candlemaking. Decide how long you want your candles. You will be dipping two at a time, so measure a piece of wicking twice your desired length, then add two inches. Cut the wicking. Tie the washers, bolt nuts or a similar small object to the wick. These will be used to weigh down the wicking and keep it straight during the dipping process.

Beeswax makes the best taper candles, as it adheres to its own layers very well, however, any wax can be used to produce decent result. Heat the wax in a double boiler, or if you don’t have one, make one by placing the wax in a pan that sits on top of a second pan filled with water. Heat the wax until it is melted. It is very flamable, so if it begins to smoke, remove it from the burner immediately.

You don’t want the wax to be too hot for this project or the dipped layers will be too thin to adhere. As soon as the wax is melted completely, remove it from the heat. Pour it into the tall dipping container; the container should be several inches taller than your wicking.

Holding the wick in the center, dip both ends into the wax, almost to the top; just beware your fingers don’t touch the wax. Wait until the wick hardens. Dip the wicking into the hot wax once again, then quickly dip it into the container of cold water. This will immediately harden the wax. When you pull the wicks from the water, run your hand down them to remove excess water, which could cause bubbles in the finished candles. Continue alternating dips in the wax and the cold water, removing excess water each time. Keep your dipping hand steady as possible to ensure straight candles. Keep dipping until the candles reach your desired thickness. Usually about 25 dunks makes a good candle.

Using a sharp knife or a pair of scissors, cut the now wax-covered weights off the bottom of the candles. Once more, dip the candles into the wax, then the water to give them a smooth finish. Drape the candles over a stick or a dowel and leave them to completely harden for a few days. At that point, you can cut the wick in the center. The candles can be made into a lovely gift by bundling several together and tying them with ribbon or raffia.

Next. Make a list. These days, when just about everybody has had a financial re-awakening, to put it as genteelly as possible, giving things people really need and can use is a priority, So, be aware of who needs  what on your list. 

I know one lady who is giving  boxes of potatoes to give as gifts, because, as she says, everybody eats and it so happens in her rural area of the country, potatoes had a very good season and the price is right. A thirty pound box will go a long way, maybe help get  family through the the winter and  is currently going for about ten dollars where she lives. So, be practical and be creative.

Next up are thrift shops and consignment shops. Maybe you feel odd about this, but don’t. Think of all the teens on your list who are into vintage things and odd accessories. Maybe you don’t want to give “USED CLOTHING” as a holiday gift. That’s understandable. Think about the other things you are apt to find in thrift shops. Books, for example, Then again, maybe you know somebody who is about to move into a new living situation and likes shabby Chic. You’ll find dishes , coffee, mugs, glassware, and the list goes on. Take them home, polish them up, box them up pretty, and you have one happy friend on Christmas day. You can find old picture frames here too. Take  a couple home, make a great  photo montage of good times remembered, ,frame then up and give that as a gift. You’ll find fabric, trims, and yarn if you are a crafter or a knitter. 

 Small pieces of furniture can be brought home and painted and baskets can be found to be  filled with items found at other off- price and off price/off season stores. You know my favorites. I don’t need to name them here. Then there that wonderful store that has all the affordable things right there when you first go in, hmmmm, think it has a logo, maybe red and white. … circles? ….check that out and fill a thrift store basket with the goodies you find there.

Of course the other things are the sales that are happening now. Retailers are trying really hard to make a profit, or even stay in business. Try if you can to buy from the local independent retailer. Who knows, he might even give you a deal if you tell him you can get the item someplace else for less but you want to shop locally. Be courageous and dicker. Don’t be afraid d to ask. It’s worked for me and I encourage my friends to shop locally whenever possible. These are our neighbors and we wan them to have a happy holiday too.

Consider bartering also. You have a hobby or a craft. Make earrings maybe? Know somebody who knits? Looks like a win-win to me.

Then there’s the “service gift coupon”. It starts by saying ”This coupon , given in love, entitles the recipient to …. ” Whatever, One oven cleaning? A weeding and planting come next spring? Several wonderfu back rubs? Oh, are you thinking about getting Grannie a Pointsetta at the grocery store? Don’t. It only lasts awhile Instead, get her an Ivy plant or an African Violet. Those will last all year and are easy to care for. She’ think of you all year long,every time she water’s it.

Next up is presentation. Wrap kitchen items in dish clothes. Put a bow around them and forget the wrapping paper or the gift bag. People only throw them out anyway. If you really need to wrap, get a big roll of red or green or brown craft paper at someplace like Micheal’s, AC Moores or Staples and use that to wrap. Chances are you will be able to use it for a lot of other things too . Got kids? Let them stamp the paper with commercially bought stamps or those they can make by carving in soap or potatoes.

Remember, be creative, let your imagination and you rlove be your guide and have fun so you can enjoy the season and the spirit of giving without going broke!!

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Gift giving should be a pleasure, it certainly should not promote stress and debt. Modern children expect modern, expensive gifts and the majority of the Christmas budget is saved in order to achieve the dream.

We all love to give Christmas presents, but worry about saying we can no longer afford to do so. Ways to help take the strain of additional festive expenditure is to make gifts for friends and family. Those who you know would appreciate the effort, meaning and reason behind the gift.

Search your home for all the items you put away in case they came in handy. The pretty ribbon, paper and card.

Make your own gift vouchers, make them to suit the person receiving it. Fold a piece of card and decorate it.

Print GIFT VOUCHER on the front and on the inside add THIS VOUCHER ENTITLES THE BEARER TO:

Then add what ever the voucher is for, (see ideas below). To make an envelope this site has free templates for you to follow. Cheap paper and card can be found in many stationers, choose festive bright colours to make them look a little more special. Paper glue and glitter are also cheap to buy, let your creative side shine.

Image via Wikipedia

A Babysitting Gift Voucher:

Offer one sitting free per so many months, weeks etc. What parents wouldn’t want a free sitting service knowing their child is in good hands?

A DIFY Gift Voucher : For Male or Female 

Do It For You…Make a gift voucher offering a service, one you know they need and you can do for them. Painting a room, offering the paint and time as the gift. Digging over a garden, clearing it or replanting it. A packet of seeds inside the card would also make the gift a little more special. There are many things that could be offered on a DIFY Gift Voucher, just think of who would like to receive one.

Image by YimHafiz via Flickr

A FBIPMFAY Gift Voucher: A Free Baked Item Per Month For A Year.

This voucher entitles the holder to one baked item per month for a year. Who wouldn’t be delighted to receive a baked goody, a delectable delight, a scrumptious surprise, every month? Food is a great way to show you care.

A SJOJ Voucher: A Six Jars of Jam/Jelly Voucher.

Whatever fruit is in season, make jam/jelly and give it in a jar with a pretty fabric top. The gift will be well received as the surprise is in the jar. What flavour have you sent this month?

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Use your imagination, make up your own codes for vouchers, get creative and enjoy the gift of giving without breaking your budget.

Cindy Woodsmall of Flowery Branch, Georgia was always told, “Write about what you know.” but Cindy wanted to write about something she knew very little about, and her book landed on the best sellers book list. More than a half million copies of her book are in print right now. Most of them bought by mainstream readers captivated by the charming lives of the Amish she portrays so realistically in her book.

Cindy’s interest in the Amish goes back to elementary school in Maryland where her best friend was Amish Mennonite. She recalls visiting her friend’s house where she saw a huge difference the moment she stepped in the front door. “It was peaceful and quiet…and different. It made a great impact on me.”

Image via Wikipedia

During her research Cindy felt she needed hands on research to to be able to feel the life style, hold it, touch it. So she went in search of an Amish person who could answer her questions and give her an understanding of the Amish lifestyle. Here is how she managed to find her way into an Old Order Amish community in Pennsylvania.

Cindy’s sister knew someone who knew some one who’d worked at an Amish birthing center. That woman knew of an Amish family who might be willing to help. So Cindy found Miriam Flaud who under took to help her. For a year Cindy and Miriam communicated through the birthing center go between. And then one day Mariam said,”Why don’t you have Cindy come visit me?”

Image via Wikipedia

Cindy remembers the midnight train she and husband Tyler took from Gainesville, Georgia: Her book begins with it’s frightened 17 year old heroine, Hannah Lapp, taking a similar late night train ride.” I spent 18 hours on a train to get three sentences just right,” laughs Cindy. “but even better, it brought me to Miriam.” Under Miriam’s watchful eye, Cindy has written about everything from a whipsmart Amish businesswoman trying to balance competing demands of Old Order and English worlds to an Amish who extends a helping hand to a destitute single mother and is shunned by his community as a result. Along with a sub-plot about the modern realities like physical abuse and the lingering effects of 9-11.

Image by Jeremy & Taylor via Flickr

The difference in both womens worlds are wide. There are certain aspects of the Amish world that Miriam will not share with Cindy and most of their communication is done by snail mail. But the two women have grown close. Miriam reads the manuscripts Cindy mails to her by kerosene lantern after the sun sets on the 150 acre family farm in Pennsylvania. Cindy and Miriam are presently working on a non fiction book of short essays addressing the same topics, from their respective Amish and English points of view.

“Its unique” said Shannon Marchese, Cindy’s editor at WaterBrook Press, of the relationship that’s developed between the author who works on a laptop in front of a 54 inch flat TV set and Miriam, whose simple handcrafts hang on a wall in the Flowery branch home.

http://quazen.com/arts/visual-arts/ellen-crafts-illusions-and-artful-doges/

http://quazen.com/reference/biography/mary-mcleod-bethume-miracle-worker/

http://quazen.com/reference/biography/anne-sexton-poet/

http://quazen.com/reference/biography/anne-sexton-2/

When you do your Christmas shopping without prior planning you’ll spend most of your time ‘humming’ and ‘hurring’. Take a notebook and pen, list out the people you intend to buy a gift for, a rough idea of what to get them and the kind of shops you should look in.

Use the list you plan your trip, get the single pieces first and drop them at home or in the car. You don’t want to be carrying too much through the crowds.

2) Aim for the larger stores

The smaller shops can be just as busy but less staffed than larger department stores. This means longers waiting in lines. You can also find more room to move in larger stores.
Larger stores also carry a wider variety of products so you can get more in one go and find more of a choice while you’re at it.

3)Don’t be afraid to use gift cards!

Younger people tend to be very specific in their desires but with older people, if you can’t think of what to get them, get them a gift card!

Most shops these days offer gift cards. From as little as £5 you can preload a card with credit for that particular store and give them an option of selecting the gift themselves.

You can also get specialist gift cards offering things from grow your own grapes to skydiving, these gifts can vary widely in price but there are some pretty interesting gift ideas.
4) Enlist a friend

Christmas shopping does not have to be done alone. By bringing a friend you not only make it a social experience, but you’ll have someone to help carry the bags and give their opinion on gift ideas.

The only downside here is, if you want to get that friend a gift you’ll have to go separately or distract them.

5) Get delivery Enlist a friend

Most of the larger stores offer a delivery service. A lot of this time this is free if your purchase is above a certain value. You can get an item delivered to your house to save on carrying or you can get it delivered directly to the recipient.

Be warned, however, that the postage services are likely to be very busy around the holiday period. I would only use postage delivery if you get your shopping early enough.

6) Have some extra gifts

We are only human. We’ve all been in the situation where we’ve either forgotten someone, or someone has got you a gift and you haven’t got them anything.

Don’t rely on the ‘it’s in the mail’ excuse, we all know it’s fake. Have a few extra generic gifts wrapped but unnamed. If you need them, use them. If you don’t then keep them for next year or even give them as additional gifts.

7) Use the internet

We use the internet for everything these days, why should Christmas shopping be any different? You can get gift ideas, research products, compare prices and even do the actual shopping online.

Remember!

Just remember the festive period is meant to be fun. Don’t get too overly stressed, stop for a coffee and try and enjoy it.

Sometimes people friends and family seem to have everything. Or maybe you don’t know enough about someone to form a good idea of what they want. Don’t worry. You can still get a great generic gift, which appeals to everyone, for a low price.

How to chose a Christmas gift

When you’re deciding what to get for someone, don’t focus on what you dont know about them. Focus on what you do know. How old are they? How mature are they? Are they a night in or a night out person? An indoors or outdoors person? When you’re staying generic basic details like these are all you need.

The problem with generic gifts

There is one problem with generic Christmas gifts. You want to stay generic without being boring. Don’t commit too much to something you’re not sure they’ll like, but you don’t want to buy them book ends. Book ends never make good gifts, if people want them they already have them.

The benefit of generic gifts

If you find an interesting but generic gift, you can’t go wrong. It doesn’t say ‘I know you well’ but it won’t say ‘I know nothing about you’ either. Getting someone a generic Christmas gift is a safe bet if you’re not sure what to get them.

Finding a cheap generic christmas gift

Finding the gift is really not that hard. When you have the basic idea of the person then go with what you know. The internet is a huge help here.

If, for example, they’re an outdoors person. A quick Google of ‘outdoors person gifts’ will throw you a whole range of ideas. The same idea will work with pretty much any type of person. You’d be surprised what you can find by being vague with a search engine.

Another idea is the ‘gadget shops’, There are a whole range of these now and it’s likely there is one in your area. These shops usually have a range of smaller items for around $10. They’re novelty items but they make great generic gifts for the young or the young at heart.

The best generic Christmas gifts

If you don’t have a specific idea, the best thing to go for is a book or DVD. With the book aim for something humorous like a parody or a comic strip. I don’t mean Superman or anything, Something which can be appreciated by everyone like ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ or ‘Dilbert’ to a lesser extent.

With the DVD, if you don’t know a specific genre stick with a classic. You’re better getting them a classic they already have but like, than a genre they hate and would never watch. If you’re at a complete loss, phone and ask if they have that DVD so you could borrow it.

In the end remember, it’s the thought that counts. Don’t stress out over getting the perfect gift. A gift is a gift and they’ll appreciate it either way.

What advantages does a solar atomic watch have over your $5 digital watch? Well, aside from looking good they don’t need their time adjusted, they don’t need their battery changed and they are good for the environment.

A solar atomic watch is powered by; you guessed it, the sun. This means they’re totally green when it comes to the environment and you won’t find yourself running late because of a dead battery.

Atomic watches are astounding accurate. They adjust their time according to low frequency radio signals. Some solar atomic watches even adjust their time automatically when changing time zones. Some watches take signals from more than one sever but the most accurate is to be found in America. It’s known as the Cesium Atomic. It’s said the server there is accurate up to one second in a million years.

The doubt people seem to have about solar atomic watches, or any solar powered mechanism, is if there is no sun, the battery will die. I wouldn’t worry too much about this however, the watch can charge from artificial light. They can last for up to 6 months on a single charge. It’s unlikely you’ll sit for more than six months in pitch black so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

Some solar atomic watches have extra features like altimeters, thermometers and a barometric pressure reader. It’s unlikely you’ll need these for a walk around town but if you’re travelling or engaging in outdoor activities often, this is an added perk.

The price range of a solar atomic watch can vary pretty widely. They can go from as little as $50 to as high as $500. The manufacturing brand and the included features vary the price but they all do the basics and it can be a good long term investment. I prefer to buy one good watch, rather than ten a year that I know will break.

With the push to ‘go green’ a solar powered watch is a good start. Couple that with accurate time keeping and a stylish design and you have yourself a solar atomic watch.

For the gamer in your life, it’s pretty obvious. Give them a PLAYSTATION 3 game console (unless they already have it). It’s not the cheapest present in the world – setting you back $300. With the new option to download Netflix movies, Playstation 3 is bound to be on a lot of people’s wish lists.

For the college student on your list, the item they just shouldn’t live without is the LIVESCRIBE PEN. Now don’t think I’m suggesting a simple, little pen…oh, no. This is a pen that’s right out of the Jetson’s future universe. Let’s say you’ve taken notes during a lecture. The pen will record your audio, and when you place your pen over a section of the notes you took, the pen will play the audio that was recorded at that exact moment you wrote down those notes! Pretty awesome, right? The LiveScribe pen can be found at Amazon or Target for $170.

For children, the hot gift is the PLEO DINOSAUR. On sale now for $250 at Amazon. How can a dinosaur cost that much? Well, this dinosaur is actually a robot that reacts to its environment and can express emotions. It’s being marketed as a Ugobe life form. Freaky, but pretty damn cool. It starts out as a 1 week-old newborn and grows over time. So, you’ll want to make sure the recipient of this gift has the patience to put up with the sleepy and somewhat inactive new “pet” for a bit of time before it “grows up”.

However, some TINY good news – the Ikee virus affects only those phones that have been unlocked – a procedure that allows you to use the phone with any SIM card to share files etc. So if your phone is unlocked, then I wouldn’t really celebrate. Also those phones that haven’t changed the default password of their iPhones from ‘alpine’ are susceptible to the risk.

The symptoms of the Ikee virus include the wallpaper changing to an image of Rick Astley, the popular 80s singer with a message saying ‘Ikee is never going to give you up’ – threatening, but equally humorous, methinks considering the reference to Rick’s song success.

Okay, maybe I’m dramatising this too much but the main point that Ashley Towns was trying to make through this virus, after he revealed himself as the creator of this bug on Twitter with the name Ikeeex, was to get iPhone users to use their phones in a protected manner through secure passwords etc and to encourage them not to ‘jailbreak’ or unlock their phones. Apart from the two symptoms mentioned above, nothing happens to the data stored on the phone itself.

Maybe this is just the starting step and nothing major will happen but I shudder to think the kinds of different worms that can be created now to infect iPhones. Ikee was very basic in the task that it did and it probably won’t make a drastic difference to someone’s phone (apart from a very pleasing picture of Rick Astley) but a Finnish security firm shares my worries too. They think that despite the creator having declared his virus, many other “variants” may come up which may have much more dangerous effects like “password cracking” to those iPhones which have the passwords changed.

At the moment there isn’t much trouble but iPhone users, I’d keep an eye out for suspicious stuff and remember, stay safe!

On the outer shell, Motorola did not have moved forward. Most reviewers are peeved by the sharp edges. Isn’t it a cool thing to have sharp edges when everyone else is going for the rounded design?

The screen fills most of the visible part. In fact, this is the largest touch-screen for a smart phone. The images are crisp. Feel impressed at the fast response. The onscreen keyboard works in both landscape and portrait orientations.

Beneath the display is a slider QWERTY keyboard. The keys are back-lit. So no problem typing in the dark. No one is going to complain the 5 mp camera either. Its photography capabilities would put many digital cameras to shame.

As mentioned earlier, the phone responds fast. It seems Android has taken a huge leap from 1.0 to 2.0. The operation is just as smooth as any other phone. Google™ Maps, Gmail™ and other Google apps are there for obvious reasons. You can access Google search with a single press of a button – a common feature for Android phones. In addition, there is also support for AOL mail, hotmail, IMAP and POP. Add calendar and contacts management tools to the mix. It also supports a mega collection of 10,000+ apps. Android 2.0 does not leave you enough room to moan.

The full functionality of Google Maps and navigation system is yet to be revealed. The layered maps – traffic data, satellite view and Google latitude – must make highway driving a lesser hassle.

Did I miss something? Call Quality! Well. Motorola Droid has crystalline clear voice in Verizon device. No static or noise. Just the sound you want to hear. And, it pairs smoothly with a Bluetooth headset.

Will it be an iPhone killer? Not likely. Will it be a great smart phone? Yes, definitely.