"Found Myself"- An online community serving the art and artists

There are many places at the net where you can buy or sell art, but you are asked to pay fee or commission to the site, but "Found Myself" is a community which serves art and artists by offering a free to join place for them. You can submit, sell or buy paintings, digital photos, illustration and sculpture work at the site.

Found Myself has a forum (4986 members) dedicated to people with something to say or something to show, and provides a forum for their artwork or hobbies.

Here you can buy art and sell your work commission free. Post your feelings on painting, photography, design, movies, sports, music, or whatever else in the art community message board/art forum. Upload your work to the image gallery, where artists' creations are showcased. You can even get and style your own personal online art gallery.

Foundmyself currently gets more than 50,000 visitors per month, with 200,000+ page views. They provide an audience and the tools necessary for selling your art, but the sale is between the seller and the buyer.

They show no ads, and continually work to improve the community. The entire system is based on trust.

What they need in exchange for their services?

If after using our services for a few months you find that they're beneficial to your life and/or career as an artist, we would expect you to donate some money to help keep the site going. If you sell a painting through the site, or find a client through the site, we would also expect a donation relative to the money you make. They expect an active participation and a minimum 20% donation for the site, otherwise there are no commissions or hidden charges around.

Every person with a free account can sell their art, view statistics, style their gallery, and use all the tools and goodies on Foundmyself. Individual gallery size has been increased to one gigabyte (1,000 megabytes) per person. That's thousands of large images.

Check the help section for more information.

They have another exciting tool 'Online painting program' where you can draw anything and then share it with others. It is interesting to see other member's drawings at the same place.
Link page: "draw"

Note: The pictures shown in this post are taken from the forum gallery.

Online Calligraphy Learning resources

There are many online links from where you can learn calligraphy for free. You don't need to spend lot of money for this hobby as the material you need to learn or practive is easily available from a stationary or art/craft shops or you can buy it online as well.

You need to be patience if you want to learn this 'art of lettering' or writing. (Note that calligraphy is called 'art of lettering') If you are passionate about writing and have a little bit knowledge of drawing then you can easily adopt this hobby to improve your skills.

There are some places where you would be asked for some fee or donation, but if you don't want to take it as a career, then don't waste money and use the free links to learn it.

Calligraphy Learning resources:

* Learn Calligraphy.co.uk is a place where you can learn basic lessons of calligraphy like, How to use the calligraphy pen, which inks to use, how to build up the letters and how to plan and decorate your calligraphy project.

* Free calligraphy lessons from Chuck McGavren's site

* An online resource with easy to learn articles: Learn Calligraphy

* Read an online magazine for calligraphers 'Pen People" but it is not free.

* The Edward Johnson Foundation is a research centre for calligraphy and the lettering arts. It is dedicated to the promotion of public awareness of calligraphy, not only as an art form in its own right but also as the seed and reference point for many other lettering disciplines including modern typeface design. Based in Ditchling, Sussex the birthplace of the modern revival of calligraphy, the Foundation is working towards the establishment of a permanent centre for learning, research and education in the lettering arts.

Calligraphy - An art of beautiful writing

I have been concerned some way with the topics 'I have written at this blog' about various hobbies. One of may favourite hobby is calligraphy. I have learned Arabic calligraphy from a tv tutorial. As Urdu is my mother tonue, Arabic calligraphy was easier for me to learn. Later I bought a book and other calligraphy material to keep practicing for Urdu and English calligraphy. I am proud to say that due to my interest in calligraphy I am one of the teachers who's writing and art skills are appreciated well.

I am including all useful links and resources which would help you learn the basics of this hobby. You can use your calligraphic skills to make many things which would show your art/drawing skills, your innovation, and creativity as well.

Few Things You Can Create With Calligraphy:
Scriptures and inspirational quotations, Poems, Invitations, Greeting Cards, Business Cards, Announcements, Maps, Posters, Certificates, Awards, etc.

Calligraphy (from Greek kallos "beauty" + graphẽ "writing") is the art of writing and the meaning of this word shows the simple definition of this term "beautiful writing" - Another definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"

Before the invention of the printing press some 500 years ago, it was the way books were made, each copy being written out by hand by a scribe in a scriptorium on materials like vellum or parchment with a quill in one of the period bookhands like rustic, carolingian, blackletter, etc.

The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen, which may be flat- or round-nibbed, and the brush. For some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens—steel brushes—can be used. However, works have also been made with felt-tip and ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. Ink for writing is usually water-based and much less viscous than the oil based inks used in printing. High quality paper, which has good consistency of porosity, will enable cleaner lines.

Arabic calligraphy, is the art of beautiful or elegant handwriting as exhibited by the correct formation of characters, the ordering of the various parts, and harmony of proportions.

In the Islamic world, calligraphy has traditionally been held in high regard. The high esteem accorded to the copying of the Quran, and the aesthetic energy that was devoted to it, raised Arabic calligraphy to the status of an art.

Useful resources:
* 'Calligraphy' article at "Wikipedia"

* Society of Scribes is a non-profit educational organization which promotes the study, teaching and practice of calligraphy and related disciplines. It was founded in 1974 in New York city.

* An article from John Stevens of "Caligraphy Centre"

* "Calligraphic Islamic" A site dedicated to Arabic and Islamic calligraphy.

* Cynscribe Directory is a resource for calligraphers,lettering artists, papermakers, typographers, graphic designers, paper decorators, scrapbookers, rubberstampers,greeting card makers,book designers and artist bookmakers.

Get Scrapbooking Tips and Tutorials at- "A Cherry On Top"

I love scrapbooking as a creative hobby and after searching the net for "scrapbooking" resources and links, I was simply amazed to see many wonderful sites with scrapbooking ideas, tips and layouts. And most amazing thing is that most of the stuff is FREE.

is one of the sites which offer scrapbooking, paper craft, stamping tips and tutorials absolutely free of cost.

What more you can get from "A Cherry on Top"?

* It is a place to find contests, challenges and online crops, so you
can win prizes, getting exposure of your work through their contests.

* Search the Gallery to view digital layout, photograph, crafts and
card pictures to get thousands of ideas for your scrapbooking
projects.

* Join the ACOT Community with 35600 members. It is the place where
you can get in touch with other hobbyists, get tips, ideas and share
your suggestions with all.

It is one of the hobby sites with largest collection of scrapbooking products. When you are inspired by any layout or project, simply
search the database for scrapbooking products.

Sign up for our Newsletter to get weekly newsletter with layout ideas,
thoughts and product information. Get general scrapbooking or digital
scrapbooking newsletters by registering FREE.

Learn free online photography tips and techniques

Inernet has become a rich source of information for hobbies. You can search and get hobby ideas which helps you learn and choose them as your pastime. You don't need to join any course or read books to learn photography, world wide web has offered many useful resources and links where you can learn photogaphy tips and techniques for free.

* Photo.net is an online community with hundreds of thousands of active members and many more casual viewers visiting daily. It started in 1993 helping people who wish to become better photographers.

* Photography.comPhotography.com is a comprehensive online source of information for amateur and professional photographers alike. Providing in-depth articles on everything from equipment to techniques. Product reviews help users make important decisions on how and where to spend their money. Photography.com also offers an extensive collection of stock photos that can easily be searched and sorted to quickly find exactly what you're looking for

* Photography tips is intended to help beginners get started in photography, and become so good at it that they turn into advanced amateurs. It also offers useful tips and hints for accomplished photographers. You have to be a member if you want to access whole site content. But still you can access many site features.

Free Online Photography Course

Photography is one of the popular hobbies which is a profession as well. I still love to take pictures and it is one of the hobbies I enjoy most. As photography is directly linked to scrapbooking, you can easily use your photos to make artistic projects. I remember taking pictures with my first 'Yashica' camera. Now I have 'Sony'cybershot, 8 mega pixol which my 9 year old son can handle very easily. Even my cell phone has camera can take 2 mega pixol pictures and the pictures are really nice. I believe that despite of huge development in technology, you still need to learn about photography. Digital cameras has made 'photography' a child's play, as you can take high difinition pictures within seconds. Learning photography has become easier due to latest digital cameras, and by applying some tips and techniques you can create wonderful pictures.
This post is about a FREE online photography course and as it is from a professional photographer, you can learn it easily while sitting at the comfort of your home. Either photography is your hobby or not, you can still learn from this online tutorial.

Jodies Coston's Free Online Photography Course

Freelance photographer Jodie Coston offers a free online course in photography, covering everything from aperture to zoom.

The course is divided into 10 lessons, each presented with loads of sample photos and assignments at the end. Coston employs a friendly, personal style and provides plain-English descriptions of complicated subjects. Even better, host site morgueFile maintains a separate discussion board for each of the lessons, so you can ask questions, share info with your "classmates," etc.
This course is actually a couple years old, but it's still an excellent introduction to photography.
(You can't download the lessons as PDFs they're in HTML)

Site link: Site link

Interesting related posts:

- Photography tutorials at 'YouTube'

- Rick Sammon's Top Ten Digital Photography Tips at YouTube

- 30 Photos That Inspired Me to Learn Photography

(Note: Both pictures of this post are taken by me, with a 2 mega pixol Nokia N70 camera)

Everything starts with reading - 2008 National Year of Reading

I don't remember from which age I started reading story books, but I can recall the memories of my love for books. I am a reading lover and although I don't get time to read paper books and digital media has taken it's place. But I am sure to say that reading is one of my most favourite hobby of all times. Due to my reading habit, I people around me know me as an informed and skilled person. I have more knowledge and creative skills as compare to my colleagues and all credit goes to my 'reading habits' for sure. I love blogging because it has given me both reading and publishing (which is a form of writing) opportunities.
Many people don't know that 2008 is being celebrated as a national year of reading. Site 'http://www.yearofreading.org.uk/'communicates the importance of reading featuring literacy initiatives and resources.

Why this celebration?

"The National Year of Reading (NYR) is a year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms. It aims to increase awareness of the many values of reading – anything, anytime, anyplace – for children, families and adult learners alike." It aims to help build a greater national passion for reading in England – for children, families and adult learners alike.

As an educator and a parent, I feel like supporting the reading habit among our young genenration. Digital media has its own power and technology age has provided so much iformation and sources for them that they have forgotten to touch paper books, or magazines.



Among other benefits of reading is an important factor that it can keep your mind active and engaged well at old age. Developing good reading habits from a small age would help us get the benefits of reading. But today's parents shouldn't forget that children take reading habits from their parents first and then from other sources.

Reading doesn't always mean reading books, but everyone would agree that everything in life starts with reading. Books are an extremely valuable source of knowledge and enjoyment. Children and adults can read to develop their language, vocabulary, and all round comprehension skills. Spelling and writing skills are also improved by regular reading.

Beside academic learning, reading also offers a wide range of other life skills. Books can help children learn more about the world around them. They can read and learn about morals, friendship, love and family.

"We Scrap" A Community dedicated for promotion of scrapbooking

Scarpbooking is one of those popular hobbies which provides you opportunity to be an artist. It is a combination of art and crafts because when you create beautiful scrap pages or books, it resembles to a piece of art. A simple picture or photo becomes many grades higher attractive and appealing to all. Scapbookers who are passionate about this hobby can get more ideas and tips by participating in scrapbooking clubs, communities or forums. You get inspiration, ideas and opportunites to make your work more appealling and of course you get chances to earn from your hobby as well.

"We Scrap" is a community based site which is dedicated for the promotion of scrapbooking. You can find useful resources, tips, ideas and suggesions at the site. You also get guidance if you are interested to make money from your hobby.

What you can get from this site?

- If you are a learner and want to take classes of scrapbooking, this is the place to start.

- Scrapbooking Directory: A comprehensive and searchable directory of scrapbooking stores, consultants, retreats and scrapbooker's for hire.

- Resources page has many resources like articles, tutorials, tips, tricks, and other tools which are helpful for this hobby.
- You can also learn how to make money with your hobby as you can get help from this community. On every step you get help from this community to make money from your hobby.

You can check their forum for contest news, tips and tricks and lots of stuff which you would love to browse. There are paid membership options with more facilities, but you can also get free membership as a guest.

Useful Scrapbooking resources and links

Srcapbooking is a wonderful hobby that is favourite pastime of millions. This post would help you learn about scrapbooking as a beginner and for experienced scrapbookers there are many useful links and resources.

According to 'Wikipedia': Scrapbooking is a method for preserving personal and family history in the form of photographs, printed media, and memorabilia contained in decorated albums, or scrapbooks.

In addition to preserving memories, the hobby is popular for the strong social network that scrapbooking can provide. Hobbyists, known as "scrappers" or "scrapbookers," get together and scrapbook at each other's homes, local scrapbook stores, scrapbooking conventions, retreat centers, and even on cruises. The attendees share tips and ideas as well as enjoying a social outlet.

Modern scrapbooking began in the early 1980s when the first scrapbooking store opened in Utah. But the hobby really exploded about 10 years ago, turning into a $2.5 billion annual industry. Scrapbooking is bigger than golf; 'addicts' say the hobby enables them to document their family stories.

One in four households has a scrapbooker, compared with one in five households with a golfer, according to Creating Keepsakes magazine.

As the hobby has grown, it has evolved. It provides a growing market for women entrepreneurs, a way to celebrate faith and a way to raise money for charities.

Scrapbooking also provides a spiritual outlet for a growing number of people.
Scrapbooking has long had a strong spiritual component, said Brent Plate, an assistant professor of religion and visual arts at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.

We live in a world that has gotten rid of many of its rituals, Plate said. Scrapbooking has provided a new kind of ritual.

Sources:
- WikiPedia
- The Freelance Star

Useful links for scrappers:

* A search engine for scrapbookers: 'Creative Klix'

* "Better Homes and Gardens" pages for scrapbooking

* "Scrapbooking ideas for kids"

* Information for beginners "Learn 2 scrapbook"

* Helpful tips and tricks for using your computer to enhance your scrapbooking. Free scrapbooking clip art, fonts and page layouts available. 'Computer Scrapbooking'

* Dmoz Directory 'scrapbooking sites'

* Dmoz Directory 'Scrapbooking Chats and forums'

* Scrap of mind is an online magazine for paper, digital and Hybrid Scrpbookers.

Scrapbooking ideas and tips

Scrapbooking ideas and tips can help us learn more about this fascinating hobby. The more we are involved in creating projects from it, I believe more ideas would come to mind and the process of creativity would be very satisfying. This article would help you learn from other peoples and sites enabling you to start this hobby or develop more ideas for scrapbooking. Beside many benefits of this craft or hobby, scrapbooking maintains links among the past, present and future.

Scrapbooking ideas:

Cheryl Menders is one of the women who have broken into the scrapbooking business. Two years ago, the longtime scrapbooker created the Croppin' Companion--plastic folders for pages in progress. They have a large pocket for storing a scrapbook page and two smaller pockets--one at the top and one at the bottom--for photos, memorabilia and other items.

The mother of three runs the business from her Stafford County basement. The folders are available at croppincom panion.com.

Menders, who has a master's degree in physical therapy, never expected to become a business owner. But she's glad scrapbooking has provided the opportunity.

"It's a God-sized project. It's been his since the beginning," she said. "I couldn't do it on my own."

• DO scrapbook the pictures you most recently developed and then work backward as you get more comfortable.
• DON'T buy too many supplies before you actually need them.
• DO be sure all materials including the adhesive are acid free and photo safe. 
• DON'T scrapbook every photo--just use the ones that help you tell your story. File the rest.
• DO make photos the focus of the page. Be careful when choosing decorative papers and embellishments like stickers, which can easily overwhelm the photos.
• DON'T forget to include not only details like the place, date and the people involved but also emotions attached to the photos, when appropriate.
• DO use photo corners to position photos or documents--like birth certificates--you might want to take out of your books later.
• DON'T be afraid to crop your photos to emphasize the person or detail in them.
• DO scan or take photos of 3-D items like trophies, medals or school projects so they can be used in your books without adding bulk.
• DON'T wait until you think you have enough time--start today. 

Scrapbooking trends:
The trend these days is toward simple and clean pages, said Kanak of The Cropper's Corner. Many scrapbookers are using fewer photos and fewer embellishments per page, she said.
The emphasis is on photos and backgrounds that capture a feeling. "It's the less-is-more approach," she said.
Black and white pictures and geometric shapes are other big trends, said Theresa Buzsta, a manager and buyer for Scrapdoodles in Central Park.
Embellishments made with felt and velvet ribbons are also popular now, Buzsta said.

Source: Fredericksburg

Sites with scrapbooking ideas and tips

* All Scrapbooking Ideas offers useful stuff for not only beginners but for intermediat level scrapbookers who are in need of new ideas or tips for their favourite hobby. There are catagorized ideas like as baby, christmas, military, wedding, vacation, computer, graduation, and valentine.

* Scrapbooking Ideas provides ideas and tips for many occasions.

* Your Scrapbooking Tips has around 100 tips for scrapbooking.

* 'Texas Scrap Mania'

* A scap Affair A blog for scapbooking lovers.

* "We Scrap" is an online scrapbooking community with full of resources providing wholesale discounts to members and promote scrapbooking in a fun, friendly environment.

"Computer scrapbooking" - A creative way for scrapbookers

Scrapbooking is a combination or art and crafts as you can create many scrapbooking projects with a little help. Sometimes your imagination and a bit of creativity is enough to create a project.

You can easily use computer for your scrapbooking hobby, which is called computer or digital scrapbooking. Computers bring all kinds of new possibilities to scrapbooking letting you create everything from simple journaling to entire scrapbook pages.

Advantages of Computer Scrapbooking

- Computer Scrapbooking is cheaper than traditional paper-based scrapbooking.
- You can correct your mistakes
- There is unlimited supply of scrapbooking materials
- Computer scrapbooking means that whatever you make, it's already going to be in an electronic format that is suitable for electronic distribution, so you can email it to your friends without even needing to go near a scanner.

"Computer Scrapbooking" is an online resource which is about computer scrapbooking. There are articles, fonts, layouts and links to other sites helping you with your scrapbooking hobby.

What is computer scrapbooking?
(In their words)

Computer Scrapbooking is anything related to using a computer to enhance or create scrapbook pages!

Print, Cut, and Paste
Most people begin the adventure into Computer Scrapbooking by using their computer to create design elements that are printed, cut out, and then attached to regular scrapbook pages. Creating text for journaling (captions) and toppers (headlines) is an easy first step. There is a huge variety of computer fonts available that are great for scrapbooking. Using computer clip art is also very popular and economical too. Two big advantages with both computer fonts and clip art is that their supply is unlimited (you can always print more) and that there is much more flexibility in sizing them to best fit the scrapbook page designs.
For more details: Articles archive

Related post: Creating Your First Computer Layout

- Digital Scrapbooking – Scrapbook with a computer!

How to save money with your holiday 'Shopping' ?

Holiday shopping is an occasion when we have to spend big amount of money for gifts, parties, gatherings and may be for our travel and other expenses. It is mostly difficult to keep our expenses in the budget range, but still we can try to save money with our holiday shopping.

Cash back credit cards can be a good way to earn money while you spend! Instead of making your everyday purchases with standard cards, you may apply for credit cards with cash back bonus, as with these plastics you will get some money spent on purchases back.


Cash back cards with credit rewards are different. Make sure that you have read all the terms and conditions to learn what cash back percentage you will get, whether there is a limit that can be earned in a year and so on.

More tips to save money with holiday shopping

- Visit the stores online of offline with a list of exactly what you need.
- For every holiday season budget household and other expenses. Make special envelopes for every spending.
- It is advised to not watch television shopping channels or visit sales or discount news.
- Pay for your purchases by cash or cheque. Use plastics for big purchase or where you get cash back offer.

- Shop online: Many websites have exclusive holiday sales that aren't available in stores. To get the most bang for your buck, many sites offer free shipping -- even on returns.

- Scour the web for coupons: Type the name of your chosen retailer plus the phrase "coupon code" into your search browser, and you're likely to find deals that range from a percentage off the total purchase to gratis shipping.