The Model Info Center

A popular addition to scrapbook pages is newspaper clippings. Newspaper clippings of birth announcements, team photographs, or favorite celebrities add a personal touch to scrapbook pages.

Newspaper contains about 4% lignin. Therefore, yellowing and brittleness of the newspaper paper will eventually occur. However, since the percentage of lignin is low, newspaper will preserve for many years before this deterioration process begins to occur. To further slow this process, use Mylar or page protectors to protect the newspaper from the outside elements.

Various graphics and clip art are available on the Internet. Many of these items can be downloaded or printed for free. Downloading and printing images is a good way to find pictures or photographs of your child’s favorite television character or band for a unique personalized touch. Print these graphics or clipart directly onto lignin-free and acid-free paper.

Kids bring home the greatest creations of macaroni, glitter, and finger paint. Unfortunately, the macaroni bits and glitter is soon all over the floor or eaten by the dog.

To save these creations, without the macaroni and glitter mess, simply scan and print your child’s creations for use in your next scrapbook.

Kid’s art is great for use for kid’s rooms, grandparent scrapbooks, and kid’s scrapbooks. These pictures can be used as backgrounds, as focus items, or as embellishments.

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.

Chamonix Mont Blanc is a beautiful place with the infamous Mont Blanc as well as jagged glaciers. The group love to go paragliding or from time to time wandering around. I invariably travel from Santa Ana and stay at a Chamonix guesthouse during my stay.

I used to went to Hotel Ibis Melbourne but it sometimes didn’t meet the standards of its its advert: The Hotel Ibis Melbourne is situated within walking distance from the central business district, approximately 12 miles from Melbourne International Airport. Local attractions include the Queen Victoria Markets, the Royal Melbourne Zoo, and the Rialto Towers Observation Desk.Hotel amenities include 24-hour front desk, business services, guest laundry, babysitting, onsite parking, car rental, baggage storage, currency exchange, safe deposit box, laundry/dry cleaning, and conference facilities. Guests may also enjoy the sauna and gym.Guest rooms feature individual climate controls, AM/FM alarm clock radios, satellite/cable TVs, international direct-dial telephones, refrigerators, coffeemakers, and in-room movies.

In comparison in Chamonix Mont Blanc the self catered chalet is always excellent. As well dining in my families’ favorite restaurant, Culvers Restaurant, eating pistachio pie is a pleasure. Chamonix is a large enough town to insure that there is lots for the non-skier to do. Including a casino and a shopping arcade of designer boutiques, Chamonix offers a choice of skiing, alpine charm and sightseeing which not many ski resorts can beat.

Until recently crafts were usually sold locally or, at best, regionally. Now you literally have the whole world at your fingertips! Some of you may choose a gradual progression from selling to friends, to selling at fairs and shows, to retail selling … and so on. Others may decide to jump directly from selling within their circle of friends to the worldwide Internet market - the costs are low enough that this is surprisingly doable.

My first career was as a special education teacher. After 15 years of teaching I earned an MBA degree followed by CFA (Certified Financial Analyst) certification. After 15 years in finance I was a vice-president and portfolio manager of a major insurance company before I was downsized. Tired of the rat race, I opted for early retirement. Looking for something to do with all my free time, I started crafting and am now making a nice supplemental income from it.

As a crafter and a businesswoman, I feel I have some valuable insights into the craft business that I can share with you.

Getting Organized
to Sell Your Crafts for Profit

At some point in your progression from crafting for fun to crafting for fun and profit, you go from handcrafting individual items for yourself and friends to filling quantity orders for a broader marketplace. That’s the time to take a very business-like approach to your craft business. This needn’t be daunting. You don’t need an MBA or management experience - just a bit of common sense. If you’re going to do this for profit, you need to understand

The Four M’s:

1. Meet your market;
2. Minimize your costs;
3. Maximize your selling price; and
4. Market the heck out of your product.

Simple, right? But very few people get it. Look at the high failure rate for new businesses. It takes effort to be successful, but the task is hardly impossible.

Traditional craft retailing methods are what most crafters use to get started. They’re the easiest way, especially if you don’t know if anyone will buy what you make.

I believe that there is a market for any well-made craft, whether decorative or useful. The problem facing many crafters is how exactly to go about selling them, or more accurately, finding paying customers. The fact is that there is an awful lot of competition out there.

My own business got jump-started by my “circle of friends”. My friends noticed and liked my calling cards and began to ask me to design and make cards for them. Starting with just Broderbund’s Create-a-Card program, I was soon earning a nice supplemental income in just a few hours a week. It probably helped that I was retired and live in an area dominated by retirees.

But I think that everyone has a “circle of friends” either socially or at work. Of course you don’t want to impose on their friendship by making a hard sell, but rather use or display your crafts in front of your friends to see if they draw any interest. If they do and if they’re priced right, you’re on your way to craft retailing for profit. If your “circle of friends” market starts extending to friends of friends, you’re probably ready to tap the general marketplace of craft retailing.

Most crafters are aware of the periodic craft shows put on by local groups or even by the local Parks Departments. These usually cost little or nothing to join and should give you a fair idea of whether there is any broader interest in your craft. What better way to jump into craft retailing?

There are also organized craft shows that tour the country, most of which charge an entrance fee for participants. Check your local papers, especially the free shoppers, for information about upcoming shows

Another venue for craft retailing is at the local flea markets that spring up in every community just about every weekend. Again the entrance cost is usually minimal. The only other thing you need is a little marketing savvy.

With little cost and some effort, you will be well on your way to knowing whether there is a market for your craft. Once you know that, you can move on and think about other ways of selling, such as in galleries, on consignment, on eBay or from your own website.

All these methods and more are discussed in great detail on my website,
www.theartfulcrafter.com. Come visit and see what you can do to become successful in the craft business!

Eileen Bergen

The Artful Crafter

www.theartfulcrafter.com

It’s in him. The music. All the notes, and melodies, words, and lyrics. His music so strong it reaches out through his finger tips to bring the keys he plays to life. It flows through his lips and produces a sound that only the “great ones” know how to make. Music emerges from the depths of his soul, and orchestrates itself in the deep recesses of his mind. Harmonious sounds, encased in walls of brilliance. Creating new mysterious lyrics. Mystical content mixed in with unimagined pieces of a man’s soul. Released into the world. Inviting the hearer into his place for a listen. A chance to get a taste of what’s been stirring in his mind, and now is seeking to find a place in yours. And when it does; because that kind of music never fails to reach us. It leaves its imprint in a way that elicits an appreciation that lingers long after we’ve heard it. An impression that never fades. It’s there. Alongside all the others he’s crafted, and waiting for the ones he’ll bring still. His music. The essence of who he is, and more than what he does. He’s devoted to, skilled in , and all about his music. And by him the music lives…

Shakespeare’s sonnets require time and effort to appreciate. Understanding the numerous meanings of the lines, the crisply made references, the brilliance of the images, and the complexity of the sound, rhythm and structure of the verse demands attention and experience. The rewards are plentiful as few writers have ever approached the richness of Shakespeare’s prose and poetry.

“Sonnet XVIII” is also known as, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” It was written around 1599 and published with over 150 other sonnets in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe.

The first 126 sonnets are written to a youth, a boy, probably about 19, and perhaps specifically, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. His initials, W.H., appear in Thorpe’s dedication, and the first volume of Shakespeare’s plays, published by two of his fellow actors, Herminge and Condell, after Shakespeare’s death, was dedicated to William Herbert.

“Sonnet XVIII” is one of the most famous of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It is written in the sonnet style that Shakespeare preferred, 14 lines long with three quatrains (four rhymed lines) and a couplet (a pair of rhymed lines).

The Sonnet praises the youth’s beauty and disposition, comparing and contrasting the youth to a summer day. Then the sonnet immortalizes the youth through the “eternal lines” of the sonnet.

First Quatrain

The first line announces the comparison of the youth with a summer day. But the second line says that the youth is more perfect than a summer day. “More temperate” can be interpreted as more gentle. A summer day can have excesses such as rough winds. In Shakespeare’s time May was considered a summer month, a reference in the third line. The fourth line contains the metaphor that summer holds a lease on the year, but the lease is of a short duration.

Second Quatrain

This quatrain details how the summer can be imperfect, traits that the youth does not possess. The fifth line personifies the sun as “the eye of heaven” which is sometimes too scorchingly hot. On the other hand, “his gold complexion,” the face of the sun, can be dimmed by overcast and clouds. According to line 7, all beautiful things (fair means beautiful) sometimes decline from their state of beauty or perfection by chance accidents or by natural events. “Untrimmed” in line 8 means a lack of decoration and perhaps refers to every beauty from line 7.

Third Quatrain

This quatrain explains that the youth will possess eternal beauty and perfection. In line 10 “ow’st” is short for ownest, meaning possess. In other words, the youth “shall not lose any of your beauty.” Line 11 says that death will not conquer life and may refer to the shades of classical literature (Virgil’s Aeneid) who wander helplessly in the underworld. In line 12 “eternal lines” refers to the undying lines of the sonnet. Shakespeare realized that the sonnet is able to achieve an eternal status, and that one could be immortalized within it.

The Final Couplet

The couplet is easy to interpret. For as long as humans live and breathe on earth with eyes that can see, this is how long these verses will live. And these verses celebrate the youth and continually renew the youth’s life.

“Shall I Compare Thee” is one of the most often quoted sonnets of Shakespeare. It is complex, yet elegant and memorable, and can be quoted by men and women alike. It has been enjoyed by all generations since Shakespeare and will continue to be enjoyed “so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see.”

Sonnet XVIII, Shall I Compare Thee?

By William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?

Thou are more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:

But thy eternal Summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

*****************************

Garry Gamber is a public school teacher. He writes articles about politics, real estate, health and nutrition, and internet dating services. He is the owner of http://www.Anchorage-Homes.com and http://www.TheDatingAdvisor.com.

Life Coaching is a type of therapy that has become very popular over the last 5 years. The term performance coaching first became accepted in the United States where, together with NLP aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, it became part of a new excellent wave of extremely proactive therapy modalities.

In many ways both Coaching and NLP are an answer against certain variants of the human-centred therapy movement, in particular Person-Centred Counselling. A criticism of the person-centred approach is that it is exceedingly reactive and not extraordinarily proactive. Although all this works magnificent with some clients, with other folk long periods of impasse or low return for time and effort occur. Coaching and NLP are both humanistic in stance, spending time on improving a clients well-being rather than delving into the minefields of childhood, as in traditional therapy. Their emphasis is, however, deliberately proactive and their to resolve your problems. Change your attitude with Life Coaching in London from Easily Achieve.

Success coaching is not about telling the coaching client what to do. This is a common misconception. Some lifestyle coaches are relatively successful in their business careers and then make the cross over to coaching, assuming that they will only be required to share their pearls of incredible wise wisdom with the customer. This is more like mentoring an apprentice in a specific environment. Lifestyle coaching is instead about life as a collective.

LOVE AND FAITH

Love and faith
These are two
Intangible things
God looks for in you.
Love is monumental
Unable to be measured
It’s accompanied by a feeling
And actions instrumental.
Love is expressive
Contagious like a disease
It melts the hardest of hearts
Brings men to their knees
Love is a job
At which all choose to work
Love is easy and complicated
Requiring homework.
Love is an art, even a science
Beyond formulas and compliance.
Love’s impression is true
When you are affected
You will surely know it too.
A heart stripped of love
Is left feeling blue
A heart deprived of love
Often doesn’t know what to do.
Love believes all things
Love makes you sing
Love rejoices in the truth
True love is never lustful and loose.
Love endures all things
Despite difficulties and pain
Love believes the best in people
And is slow to complain.
All pails in comparison to love
The God kind of love from above.
Is always worthy of
Care and attention
Nurturing and full of affection
Unconditional and never wavering it is.
From such flows eternal security and bliss.
As for eros however
It can betray with a kiss
This did Judas to Jesus.

The God kind of love however
It never fails
To it all other kinds of love
In comparison pales
True love must be tested
To reveal to what extent
It is or is not invested
To fully discover
Where it has never existed
True love in faith endures
When relations are strained
And there is much pain
Love and faith abides
When people in unbelief
Have left and exited
Love and faith embraces
Where others have rejected

Faith from above
It works by love
Faith is a force
A fact and an act.
The Holy Spirit is known
As the spirit of faith
Enabling you to confront your problems
Rather than flee in fear
Seeking merely an escape.
For problems reappear
In other forms and people
But if you master love and faith
The victory will always be yours
As a sower and a reaper.
Be not deceived therefore
You reap what you sow.
So don’t be quick
To pick up and go
To walk out and leave
That someone you once loved
It’s time to reevaluate
What you’ve called love.
Many misappropriate the word love
Not knowing what it is of
Many love sport
Others love possessions
Several love their work
Some love food - a favorite dish
But love and faith together
Is God’s wish.
A wish for humanity
That they might forever abide
That they might remain satisfied
Dwelling in the presence of God
Settled in all they dreamed of
Nestled in the arms of love
Secure in divine relationship
Confident in the word of faith
Able to escape
The snares of the soul
Capable of contentment
Being always whole.
Love and faith
These must we seek
Love and faith
These must we speak
Love and faith
Hold fast to them
Love and faith
To be God’s dearest friend.
Love and faith
To keep you until the end.
Love and faith
To give new beginnings again.

by Paul Davis - poet and prophet

Paul Davis is author of Breakthrough for a Broken Heart a book telling us “How to overcome disappointments and blossom into your dreams!” He is a minister, life coach (relational & professional), dating expert, popular worldwide keynote speaker, creative consultant, humor being, adventurer, explorer, mediator, liberator and dream-maker.

Paul’s compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul has also brought revival to many in war-torn, impoverished and tsunami stricken regions of the earth. His nonprofit organization Dream-Maker Ministries is building dreams and breaking limitations.

Paul’s Breakthrough Seminars inspire, revive, awaken, impregnate with purpose, impart the fire of desire, catapult people into a new level of self-awareness, facilitate destiny discovery and dream fulfillment.

Paul can be contacted at: RevivingNations@yahoo.com - 407-967-7553 or 407-282-1745.

For additional info:
http://www.CreativeCommunications.TV
http://www.BreakthroughSeminars.org
http://www.DreamMakerMinistries.com

Please ignore the aliens
 They are taking over my brain
 Impulses come and Impulses go
 Hoping that my soul will still remain.

My soul is slowly dying
 Remembering my past
 The life and love I hold within
 If only they would last.

The aliens within
 Strip me of my Hope,
 My Smile, My Strength, My Determination
 I forget the tools to cope.

I know that I am worth the fight
 I don’t like to admit
 I can not do this on my own
 As I reach up from this pit.

This pit of isolation
 Desperation and Dispair
 I want to find my inner strength
 To grow and become aware.

Aware of possibilities,
 A life where I am free
 Free to Learn, Love and Live
 A life where I can see.

My truth that comes from within
 I can see my outer strength
 Strength to reach out, for your support
 I will go to any length.

You are stronger, than this monster
 That works to control my brain
 With your hand, support and truth,
 My soul will still remain.
 

Note: The only way to keep the aliens from getting in is to reach out to others. Find the truth within yourself and you will find and love the “real you”.

Mary Pat’s life has been dedicated to serving those in need, physical, emotional and spiritual. Her work reflects her strength, spirituality, love of nature and sincere heart as she walks this journey we call life. Mary Pat holds a B.A. in Religious Studies along with a M.S. in Experiential Education.

THE ESSENTIAL

Here I stand alone in my days of youth,
 And tell myself a sacred truth.
 Verses of vigilance, songs of wisdom,
 Accompany me to the far-off stardom.
 There's a lot to think, there's a lot to do.
 I'm yet to see the green and blue.

Then someone cries I’m going down,
 How then will I get the glitzy crown?
 But the winds through my hair whisper their say,
 And chant about that big fat day.

Fears strikes, angst engulfs me,
 But my spirit, empowered, tells me what to be.
 I splash the water on my face,
 And bear the part of human race.
 Everything from war and peace.
 All the tastes of faith and fleece.

Still, I feel, my lass and her dance.
 I believe the depth of my own romance.
 Dust and fire, mist and storm,
 Inside of me are all day long.

I
 A queer feeling arises when I’m at this.
 I constantly feel there is something somewhere I miss.
 I ponder hard and get no fact.
 I wonder what’s the zenith of my act.
 Then I think ‘who am I’?
 I’m here but I don’t know why.

I? I wonder what’s there about me.
 I just don’t know what am I supposed to be.
 Is the soul pure/impure?
 My goal, about it I’m never so sure.
 Then I think ‘who am I’?
 I’m here but I don’t know why.

Are my deeds good or bad.
 In my hereafter will I be happy or sad?
 Will my possessions be milled over high or low?
 My headway can either be swift or slow.
 Then I think ‘who am I’?
 I’m here but I don’t know why.

Lastly, I can either step in heaven or hell.
 But I cannot describe my words and ways so well.
 Myself I don’t know what to call.
 I know one day I’ll cross the Styx, but that couldn’t be all.
 Then I think ‘who am I’?
 I’m here but I don’t know why.

My soul and torso shall be detached.
 Then of course I should feel unscratched.
 This is the scene beyond my insight.
 I really don’y know anything about my future plight.
 Then I think ‘who am I’?
 I’m here but I don’t know why.

Yes, I don’t know why I’m here.
 I’m in search of something pure and clear.
 It’s my essence which I want unfolded.
 I want to break the bonds within which I’m enfolded.
 Then I think ‘who am I’?
 I’m here but I don’t know why.

My work has been published in VoicesNet Anthology, Powell, Ohio. I write about different topics. Other than poetry, I also write prose.

I take it back
I’m sorry, we were good and right
Your love is gone and I don’t want to be alone tonight

He was a patch for the hurt you gave me
Our future seemed bleak
I didn’t know you could be scared and weak

I know it was wrong
I didn’t know I could make you cry
I’m sorry, this time I won’t lie

Now I know it’s only for you
Please give us a new start
Bring back my heart

How can I explain
I expected words for security
I’ve learned love’s purity

Sometimes, love makes us crazy
I didn’t know you were sensitive
Now I understand why you can be defensive

It’s forever yours
Please give us a new start
Bring back my heart

I can’t take this pain another day

It’s my fault, tell me what to do
Now I know I love only you

My spirit is broken
I walk away in shame
To live a life of blame
Without my heart

For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: “It might have been.” - John Greenleaf Whittier

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. - Jean Jacques Rousseau

What could be if you examined the possible fruit of your choices before acting upon them? Would you understand you must have patience, especially with love?

Copyright 2006 Patti Pacifico

Lyrical may be used without extra commentary, with proper copyright credit, of course.

A former computer professor turned Internet writer, I have combined elements of the film,music,and publishing industries to create a new genre exclusive to the Internet- Digi-Tome’s. Interested in a different way of learning and beautiful way of living, I created the world’s first digi-tome, “life”.

http://www.pattipacifico.com
http://www.respectfully-pattipacifico.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Patti_Pacifico (RSS feed for my ezine articles)