Category: Crafts

Chocolate Wedding Favors

Providing chocolate as a wedding favor has been a time honored tradition for many centuries. The practice of distributing wedding favors began with the European upper classes, who had the wealth to provide elaborate gifts to their guests. Wedding favors began as small fancy boxes known as a bonboniere. A bonboniere was fashioned of crystal, porcelain or gold and were often encrusted with precious stones. The boxes were meant to hold bonbons or other confectionery delicacies, at a time when sugar was quite expensive and believed to have medicinal benefits.

Confectioneries, primarily chocolates, have continued to be a favorite wedding favor. Variations on the classic bonboniere have continued throughout the ages. Elaborate wedding favor boxes are produced from porcelain, crystal, stainless steel or pewter. Designs available from each medium vary extensively to accommodate any personal taste or wedding theme. The most affordable boxes are fashioned from white chipboard, which may have a solid color or be printed to reflect traditional wedding themes. More elaborate boxes have a foil laminate exterior and include embossed designs. Whatever the box design, they are intended to hide a secret gift of decadence inside.

The rich, smooth texture of chocolate truffles have made them an delicate token of appreciation. The elegant simplicity of a single truffle or a cluster of three, is sufficient for a sophisticated wedding favor. Truffles are affordable and easy to find at online suppliers or local candy shops.

A trend in chocolate wedding favors, has been the creation of unique labels for otherwise ordinary chocolate bars. “Branding” the bar with an unique label creates a personal statement from the bride and groom. Smaller chocolate companies that specialize in providing personalized chocolate, can create a mold that will appear to be engraved with a sentiment from the couple. Many of these same companies carry stock molds for wedding themed chocolate bars and coins. They are able to produce chocolate pops and three dimensional chocolate confections that resemble traditional wedding themes, as well as the bride and groom cake topper. The molded candies are produced from white, milk or dark chocolate. Couples can select to have the molded chocolates hand painted with edible gold and silver finishes.

A simple, fun and inexpensive chocolate wedding favor is created by filling unique, clear containers with candy coated chocolates. The popular coated chocolates can be purchased in bulk and are made in a wide range of pastels that complement any wedding color scheme. The choice of clear container includes a variety of items such as glass jars, clear boxes, organza bags and plastic tubes to make a delightful wedding favor.

The thought devoted to combining the choice of chocolate and a distinctive container, allows for the continuation of chocolate as a legendary wedding favor. The versatility of chocolate, enables a couple show appreciation to their wedding guests in a variety of ways, while delighting their guest without great expense.

Chinese Holidays

Like most other countries, China celebrates New Yearx92s Day on the 1st of January, and Labor Day on May 1st. An anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement took place in China on May 4, 1919. It marked the rise of Chinese patriotism and a re-evaluation of Chinese cultural institutions, such as Confucianism. China celebrates Youth Day on the 4th of May. This is held to commemorate May Fourth Movement.

July 1, 1921 marks the day of formation of first National Congress in China. Hence, July 1st is called CPC Founding Day. CPC stands for Communist Party of China. China celebrates the anniversary of Zheng Hex92s first voyage on July 11 and is referred to as Maritime Day. August 1 is marked as Army Day in China. This day commemorates the Nanchang Uprising on August 1st, 1927. 1st October is the National Day of China and marks the birth of Public Republic of China (PRC) that took place on October 1, 1949.

First day of first lunar month is celebrated as Spring Festival or Chinese New Year based on the Chinese calendar. Lantern Festival is held on 15th day of the first lunar month. China celebrates Dragon Boat Festival on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, also called Duanwujie. It celebrates Double Seven Festival on 7th day of 7th lunar month. Both these festivals are based on Chinese calendar.

Double Seven Festival is the Chinese version of Valentinex92s Day. China celebrates Spirit Festival on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, and Double Ninth Festival on the 9th Day of the 9th lunar month. All these festivals are based on the Chinese calendar. China celebrates Qing Ming Jie or Tomb Sweeping Day in early April or in the fifth solar term, based on the Chinese calendar.

Civic holidays of China are New Year’s Day, Spring Festival, Labor Day, and National Day. New Year’s Day is a daylong holiday, while the other three are held for three days. In addition, adjoining weekends are adjusted in order to have a three-day holiday for New Year’s Day and a seven-day holiday is given for each of the other three civic holidays.

Childrenx92s Art Supplies

Are your children enthusiastic about the arts? Do you see budding artists in them? Encourage your children to be the best they can be. Fire up their creativity. Provide them with the tools to help them realize their dreams.

Children’s art supplies include basic art materials such as art paper, pens, coloring materials, sketch pads, brushes and clay. Most of these are available in art shops or even from art dealers. These art materials are perfect for your little artists as they are child-sized, washable and non-toxic.

How and Where to Find Children’s Art Supplies

For moms who want to develop the artistic inclinations of their children, there are a lot of quality art materials available online.

The Internet hosts many online shops that include children’s art supplies in their catalogues. On these sites, you can find a wide array of choices. There are starter kits for young kids and complete art sets for older children. These shops also offer miniature art equipment to suit your children’s needs. Online shops also offer art supplies at discounted prices. You can order anything you want with just one click and have your purchases delivered to you promptly.

Children’s Art Supplies Safety Tips

Although most children’s art supplies are safe, there are some objects, such as scissors, bottles and other items that can hurt your children if handled improperly. Make sure that you supervise young children in their art activities. Teach them how to use the scissors correctly. Keep breakable bottles at a safe distance from their work area. Keep a close eye on items that have small parts, lest your children swallow and choke on them. After your children have finished creating their masterpieces, be sure to keep all art materials far from their reach.

You can leave older children unsupervised in their art activities. However, in buying them art supplies, check for non-toxic materials.

Cheap Wedding Favors

Planning a wedding of any size or budget can have numerous items that may be quite costly. In addition to planning for the dress and cake, a bride will want to spend thought considering the wedding favors for her guests. These small tokens of appreciation don’t have to be expensive. Frequently, the most enjoyable part of planning a wedding, is the selection of the wedding favor. Preparation for right the token at the least possible cost adds to the fun, allowing the bride a chance to tap into creative talents.

The practice of providing gifts to the guests of weddings began with European aristocrats who would endow guests with a fancy box called a bonboniere, named for the bonbons that it would protect. A bonboniere was crafted of crystal, porcelain or gold and could be encrusted with precious stones. Today these gifts for the guests, are known as wedding favors and is a tradition that has continued worldwide since the sixteenth century. A common belief of many cultures worldwide was, that the wedding couple was the focus of benevolent spirits who brought good luck. They believed that the same auspicious luck could be passed on to anything they touched. Betrothed couples would give small items to others in the village to share same good luck, that was expected to last a year.

For more than a thousand years, almonds were a common gift given to the wedding couple, signifying the good wishes on their new life together. Brides would choose to pass on those same good wishes to others by preparing a small gift of the almonds, beautifully wrapped in elegant fabric. The custom in the Middle East is for the bride to make a gift of five almonds to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness. In the thirteenth century the trend of coating almonds in sugar became popular. Today the candy coated nuts are pastel adorned treats, known as Jordan almonds and remain a staple of many wedding celebrations. Jordan almonds provide one of the most common and inexpensive wedding favors when wrapped by delicate fabric to form small bundles tied with ribbon.

Wedding favors are typically presented to guests at the reception table, but can be distributed at the end of an informal gathering of coffee and cake. Brides have learned be very creative when it comes to selecting wedding favors that won’t go over budget, and still honor all of her guests. The trends may vary each year, but the favors a bride selects are never out of fashion. Recent favorites have included flower seeds packaged in transparent, frosted envelopes with a small sentimental card attached with a ribbon commemorating the event. Decorative candles tied with a delicate ribbon are another great item to show sentiment and many can be purchased for about one dollar. Custom designed bookmarks with personalized sentiments can be cherished by guests for a lifetime. Today’s desktop publishing software and quality papers greatly reduce the cost compared to the costs of using a professional printer.

The art of presenting wedding favors, provides unlimited possibilities for a couple to express gratitude to guests for being present at the event. Wedding favors serve a dual purpose of allowing the bride to express herself emotionally or creatively and can be chosen to provide décor to the reception table. The selection of inexpensive favors doesn’t have to compromise quality or elegance. Simple placecards in small decorative frames or placecard holders will make a lasting gift selection. Frames and placecard holders can be made with a variety of materials from ceramic to stainless steel, for about a dollar each. Decorative candles, soaps and cookies are easily found in a variety of shapes from cupids to wedding cakes. Stylish bottle stoppers and bottle openers are available in a variety of shapes and crafted in frosted glass or stainless steel.

If a bride is open minded to a wide range of gift items when shopping, it’s possible to find excellent prices on bulk purchases, or closeouts from retailers that specialize in wedding paraphernalia. Avoid having gifts engraved or personalized, as that will greatly drive the prices up. If it is desired to personalize an item, consider custom designed labels for chocolates, coffee or packages of tea assortments. Although prices for private labeled chocolate bars can be about $2.00 each, a bride or her friends can design and print unique labels with a home computer. Candy bars can be picked up at the local grocery for as little as a quarter each or bought in bulk from a club store.

The presentation of wedding favors is a time honored tradition and provides the bridegroom couple with an excellent means to share feelings with those they care about. Wedding favors continue to be one element of the wedding, where presentation and imagination have a greater value than the price of the item.

Chain Saws

Unlike all other mechanically driven saws, the chain saw is very different, as it is gas operated. It has a two-stroke engine that produces one horsepower for every pound it weighs.

The chain saw can be a very dangerous tool, if you do not know how to use it. Chain saws are very powerful. They make cutting firewood, small trees or fallen trees easier. But many accidents occur as a result of mishandling the chain saw that could have otherwise been prevented.

A majority of accidents result from the misuse of the sawx92s moving chain. So when using the tool, you have to be familiar with its parts. Proper practice with the saw is essential to learning how to safely operate it.

Another important rule is never to work alone when working with chain saws. Having someone to assist you ensures safety and protection.

There are different types of chain saws available. Figuring out which one is the right one for you is very easy. It all depends on the extent of use, as well as on how often you intend to use it. Lightweight saws are only good for occasional cutting of limbs, small trees and firewood. If you will use it more frequently, middleweight saws are more appropriate. Heavyweight saws are usually designed for professional use.

Anybody can learn to use chain saws, along with proper safety precautions. If you plan to use a chain saw, do not use one that is too heavy for you to handle. If you are just a beginner, start with a smaller, lightweight saw until you become familiar with the tool. You do not want to get hurt while using a saw, so always be alert and cautious with this potentially dangerous tool.

Flower Arrangements

Flower arrangement is an art that first originated centuries ago and traveled all over the world, taking different forms in different countries is now a part of our lives. Flower arrangements first appeared in Classical Greek and Roman times and went on to be defined as an art in Europe from the 14th –17th centuries before turning east to America, China, and Japan.

The principles of traditional flower arrangements are balance, harmony, proportion, and color. All flower arrangements, if done in the traditional style, must embody these principles. These designs are inherited from an earlier time and are said to be decorative and appealing to our senses of touch, smell, and color in their form, texture, and fragrance.

If you have a garden that you would like to use for arranging flowers, find a vase you would like to use and support it with a base to stick flowers into. Cut flowers from your garden early in the morning, as the stems contain more water in them than later in the day and won’t wilt as quickly, then synchronize the color of your flowers with your environment. Of course, with practice, you can do much more inventing as you go along.

Since flower arranging is an art, how your arrangement looks finally depends on its creator. You can custom design your flower arrangements to suit a variety of occasions such as a wedding, corporate event, anniversary, or birthday. You can also make flower arrangements from all kinds of materials such as fresh flowers, dried flowers, silk flowers, and paper flowers. You can dress up your life with well designed flower arrangements. Choose, innovate, and create the magic of flower arrangements for fun and style.

Wholesale Beads

As beads serve multiple purposes and can be used for creative work like jewelry making, crafts, handbags, and the like, they are gaining popularity among women and kids. Apart from this, craftsmen and artisans use these beads to enhance the value of their product. They combine these beads along with their weaves to create beautiful patterns. Creativity gets a new horizon when one starts working with beads

Among a wide range of beads available on the market, they are classified on the basis of their color, size, cut, finish and availability. Certain beads are widely available and hence cost less, where as beads like pearl and Swarovski crystal are rare, precious and expensive.

Suppliers boast of their collection of beads, and import these beads from different corners of the world to meet the increasing demand. They then supply the beads to local markets, and give great bargains if bought in bulk.

When going for bead purchases, there is a wide variety available. You can choose your beads based on size, color, shape and cost. If you want to choose a bead on color, you can choose it from a rainbow of colors like aqua, aquamarine, charcoal, cobalt, emerald, black and any other color in existence. There are various sizes to choose from. You can mix the sizes and arrange them in different styles to suit you. If you want to mix shapes, you have various choices including oval, round, banana, butterfly or even candy. You can also buy a mix of different beads readily available with the suppliers. If you are going to buy a precious bead then you should also focus on the cut and clarity of the bead.

The History of Aprons

Aprons have been cooks’ companions for hundreds of years. Indeed, aprons were used by men and women for a variety of tasks long before they were seen on 1950s television. During this era, women were portrayed as homemakers and good mothers and you rarely saw them without their aprons.

Some researchers point to Biblical references about aprons. They cite a passage in which Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves to make aprons to cover themselves. We traditionally think of aprons being used for cooking, and while that is true, they have served as a cover-up for other tasks that tend to be messy. Occupations such as butchers, welders and bakers have always used aprons to protect both their clothing and bodies from their work.

For centuries, homemakers have used aprons. Even since the early 19th century, women have used aprons to keep their clothing clean. They have also used aprons to carry essential utensils such as rolling pins, for gathering and carrying eggs and for transporting kindling wood. Aprons have been an effective tool for many, many years.

It was not until the 1940s and 1950s that society started to see the stereotypes of the “perfect mother” who always wore an apron, no matter what. Until that time, aprons were thought of as a functional piece of the wardrobe.

Today’s aprons are more stylish. Perhaps surprisingly, aprons have made a fashionable comeback, even making occasional runway appearances in the form of the apron dress.

Candles

The use of candles dates back to around 400 B.C. The first beeswax candles appeared during the middle ages; prior to that, candles were made of fat obtained from slaughtered animals. Now, candles are made of everything from animal fat to plant cells to synthetic materials, as well as a number of manufactured and organic scents and colorings to really personalize the type of candle you buy. You can even make your own. The purpose of these candles was solely to provide light. However, they were oily, had an unpleasant smell and emitted thick smoke.

Beeswax candles grew in popularity very quickly. These produced less smoke, gave off a pleasant scent, burnt for longer periods of time and did not drip. In those times, candles were not for used by the common man, as they were very expensive and they were considered a luxury item.

Blended wax candles burn slowly as compared to plain wax candles. Today candles are available in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and styles. These include votive, tapered, round and scented types. Nowadays, people even use soy and vegetable candles. In the past, candles were always handmade, but these days, outside of specialty shops, most candles are machine made.

Candles are no longer used as the sole source of light. They are now used for their visual effects and decorative purposes. They are also used on religious occasions, for lighting altars. They are also used as emergency lighting, in case of electrical failures. And, of course, most common modern use for candles is on birthday cakes.

Candle Wedding Favors

Candle wedding favors are one of the best wedding favors to be shared with the guests to commemorate a wedding. Giving candle wedding favors is an ideal way for the couple to renew the feelings of joy and togetherness with their guests. Candles usually have an important role in the wedding ceremonies and almost all wedding ceremonies include the lighting of at least one candle or two to symbolize the union between the newly wedded couple. Candle wedding favors remind the guests about the special moments of the ceremony for a long period of time.

There are many varieties of candle wedding favors available such as traditional votives and novel candle wedding favors in different shapes and sizes. Wedding favor candles are mainly available in attractive red rose or heart shapes to highlight a sense of romance in the air. Traditional couples often select classic pillar style candle wedding favors. There are candle wedding favors to match any theme and style of the weddings. These types of wedding favors are the best way to capture the symbolism of wedding ceremonies.

There are different types of wedding favor candles such as flip flop, coconut and ornament candles. Among these, flip flop and coconut candles are ideal for the summer weddings. Candle tins can also be personalized for any type of wedding ceremony. They are usually romantic, decorative, and cost effective. Because of the huge selection of sizes, styles, colors, designs, and scents, it is easy to fit the candles in any decorating theme. The candles and candle holders are usually selected to match the reception colors or shades of the couple’s favorite colors. Personalized votives and votive holders make the best guest favors.

Candle wedding favors provide high quality wedding favors and are considered the favorites for spreading the romance of your wedding. If you really feel like lighting someone’s fire, you can give them these wedding favors which are so perfect for thanking them also. There are also travel-friendly candle wedding favors which allow the guests for a little candlelight romance wherever they go.