Feng shui self help tips to relieve stress

The way we feel and the way we act is affected in a great amount by the environment which surrounds us. By learning how to properly organize what surrounds us, we can improve our lives. As you learn self help tips to relieve stress you may experience a more well balanced life

The term feng shui means "wind-water" in English. Feng Shui is the system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven (Chinese astronomy) and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi.
Feng Shui was developed over 3,000 years ago in China. Historically, feng shui was widely used to orient buildings—often spiritually significant structures such as tombs, but also dwellings and other structures—in an auspicious manner.

Feng Shui helps us to balance the energies of any given space to assure the health and good fortune for people inhabiting it. Boosting your Chi and living in harmony with the world’s energy around you alleviates stress and brings peace to you, your home, and the people in it.

Self help tips to relieve stress

1. Decorate with nature. Decorate the surroundings inside your home with aspects of nature to bring yourself peace and relaxation. Feng Shui uses things like running water, fresh flowers, and plants to relieve stress and create a soothing environment. Only use fresh flowers and keep them healthy. Wilted flowers and plants represent tension.

 2. Adjust your lighting. An important part of Feng Shui is the way your room is lit. For an optimum feeling of peace and comfort, as well as a romantic mood, all rooms in your home should be very well lit.

 3. Use colors to create different moods. In Feng Shui, colors represent different emotions. Use the power of color to create a flow of positive emotions within yourself. Choose the colors of your room carefully according to the principles of Feng Shui to create the mood of your choice in your home. * Purple represents spiritual awareness. * Blue is used to create a soothing, relaxing atmosphere. * Red enhances energy.

 4. Use scents to relax. Aromatherapy is often practiced alongside Feng Shui and complements it nicely. Through the use of aromatherapy, you can easily enhance your mood or pull yourself out of a bad one. * Choosing the right aroma for the right room is important. Certain scents promote peace and tranquility, while others increase energy and help you to get pepped up for the tasks you face. Using the proper aroma will remove the negative energy from your presence.                

 5. Arrange your furniture and fixtures to support your success. The arrangement of your furniture and the things around you is a large part of Feng Shui. Even the things you have hanging on your walls can make a big difference in your productivity, relaxation, and feelings of security.
 * Remove overhanging shelves and objects. Overhanging shelves, according to Feng Shui principles, are like a cloud hanging over your head. The underlying goal of these principles is to create an environment in your home or office that makes you feel secure, safe, and balanced.
 * Remove as many sharp objects and corners as possible. Sharp objects and corners represent harshness and can hinder your stress relief efforts.

 6. Organize your space. Clutter causes confusion. An organized living or working space promotes calmness and peace within you. An important part of Feng Shui is the order that comes from having everything in its place. You experience peace when everything is where it’s supposed to be and you can find what you need without feeling rushed. Feng Shui is a beautiful art that can relieve your stress and bring an overall feeling of balance into your life. Begin using these strategies today to experience more positive energy in your life and greater levels of productivity.

Tips source: http://personaldevelopmentmaster.com

Learn basic collage techniques and tips

This post is about the basic knowledge of collage which a creative art form. These techniques and tips can help you learn the basics of this creative hobby and start your first collage work.

Collage is considered an established art form, where everyday objects are transformed and given new meaning. The ultimate goal of collage is to assemble a collection of objects or materials and transform them into a new visual form.

A collage may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas.' Collage is usually more of a two-dimensional art. Once you start adding more dimensional items to your collage, you are dabbling with sculpting.
There is another kind of collage which is called 'digital collage'. Digital collage is the technique of using computer tools in collage creation to encourage chance associations of disparate visual elements and the subsequent transformation of the visual results through the use of electronic media. It is commonly used in the creation of digital art.

You may collect variety of materials and explore how they might be put together into a composition. You can start with cheap and easily available material like paper, newspaper, old magazines. The next step is to get a scissors and glue and that's it. You may create a unique crafts piece or a card to show your talent using this form of creative art.

You may collect newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs and other found objects to start creating your first collage work.
Collage is usually more of a two-dimensional art. Once you start adding more dimensional items to your collage, you are ready to create art.
Collage can be as basic as cutting pictures you like out of a magazine and gluing them onto a piece of paper. You can use one type of medium, such as magazine pictures, or combine several together such as tissue paper, magazine pages, tin foil, or fabric. The process can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.
Making a collage in not something you need step-by-step instructions for.

There is a basic procedure you may follow to make a collage:
1- Prepare a base for your collage
The base for your collage can be a piece of paper, poster board, cardboard, canvas, empty picture frame, or any other flat item. If you are using paper then using a heavier paper is a good idea.
You can use almost anything you like to create your collage. A few commonly used items are magazine pictures, photographs, or fancy paper. Go through your craft cupboards, magazine racks, and even your junk drawers to find unique items you can use. There are plenty of other mediums you can use that you might not think of, check out this list of creative collage materials.    
2- Type of Glue
The glue you choose to use for your collage project will depend on what items you are using in your collage. In some instances you might use a couple different kinds of glue in your collage. To create paper collage you need simple glue stick. For other mediums other than paper, you may find crafts gule at crafts shops.                       
3- Creating your collage.
Once you have your base, the items you will use to create your collage, and the appropriate glue, you can start making your collage. You can try to plan it out a little bit by arranging your collage items on your base before you glue it down.

You can use a scissors or utility knife to cut the items you are using into the desired shapes and sizes. You can also experiment with tearing your items. Once your collage items are all in place, set it aside and let it dry.


Create a wall decoration with easy available materials:
Gather your old magazines you don't want anymore and cut off some cool pictures, words, or celebrities. When you're done place everything on the "background" (thicker paper or colored paper) and set it to fit perfectly. Then use some glue and get a new decoration for your wall.

Related: familycrafts.about.com
Picture credits:
nancygoodmanlawrence.com
www.joannecaseyartworks.com
www.art-e-zine.co.uk

YouTube video: Paper Collage Techniques with Nita Leland

Useful links:

* http://www.collageart.org/ is a site for collage lovers offering useful information about many related sites etc.
* Learn collage with free online tutorials.
* How to Make a Collage
* Torn Paper Collage Portrait
* Download 'Collage Techniques: "Painting with Paper" from 'Slide share'
*Ideas and Techniques to Create Unique Collage Work
*Develop your creativity with collage

Learn drawing -How to draw trees?

Pencil drawing is a popular medium to create drawings. As a beginner you can start learning drawing from anywhere. There are lot of books available which demonstrate the step by step instructions. Today I am reviewing a book which is really helpful to learn the basics of drawing.

You can learn few important drawing techniques to create various part of trees like leaf, branches and trunk.


"Drawing Trees" is an art instruction book written by Denis Naylor.

                                       
- You can learn about "Proportions and angles", and how to measure with a pencil held out straight at arm's length,
- There is a good tip on how to gauge angles of the branches, and size of the branches in comparison to the tree trunk.

For example there is drawing of oak leaves and acorns and whole-tree projects of Lombardy Poplars, Sequoia, riverside Birches and tree roots.

 'Drawing trees' paperback is available at 'Amazon' I have uploaded this files at file sharing site and you can now download ebook for free.

Download ebook free at 'Deposit files'

List of Ebooks and Guides to Learn About Blogging to Download for Free

You don’t need to buy ebooks to learn about blogs or blogging as there are a lot of blogs which offer free tutorial based post, basic blogging lessons, guides, useful tips, techniques, and tools to help you. Check these free ebooks which are quite enough to learn basics of blogging, make money online techniques, traffic tips etc. This post is about list of free blogging ebooks or guides which you can download for free.

The links at the post would take you to directly download page or if it is a PDF file, you many download it by clicking right mouse button and save as—

Read more at: List of Ebooks and Guides to Learn About Blogging to Download for Free

How to learn calligraphy?

I am in love for calligraphy from the very young age and being a calligrapher myself I was appreciated well when I joined the teaching profession. I still love to learn and teach about beautiful writing which is called 'calligraphy'. This post is for the people who want to learn it online or get some tips to start it as a hobby. There is a good variety of stuff online which can help you to learn or start it but the material or helping books can be purchased online or offline from your nearest crafts or stationary supply store.

* The best site without any ads is 'cmc gavren' which has been selected as one of the best educational resources on the Web by StudySphere, one of the Internet's fastest growing educational resources for students, teachers and parents. It provides step by step easy lessons to learn 'calligraphy'

* 'Calligraphy Centre' helps you learn how to start or begin this hobby. There are many helpful links, articles, and tips.

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

* 'Studio arts' is a very popular site which has been visitied over one million since 1997.

'Studio arts' says: 'Calligraphy means"beautiful writing." Calligraphy can be both a delight to the eye and an inspiration to the spirit. In our technological age, the appreciation for the art of calligraphy has grown incredibly. Calligraphy is a fun hobby, a great business, and a creative art.'

* 'The Calligraphy pen' is a blog where you can find calligraphy pen use, buying guide and maintenace tips.

* 'Scribblers blog'

* Calligraphy sites at 'The craft directory'

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.

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)

"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.

Learn about leisure activities

This post would help you learn about "leisure, leisure activities, importance, benefits, ideas for leisure activities and more". I have selected these posts for easy navigation purpose.

* What is "leisure" ?

* Recreation, hobbies and leisures providing refreshment to life

* Benefits of hobbies and leisures

* From where to get ideas for hobbies or other leisure activities?

* Develop a Hobby For Your Leisure Time

* Importance of Recreation and Leisure Activities In Our Lives

Origami- An ancient art of paper folding

Origami is a popular hobby and I enjoy making origami models from many years. It is one of hobbies, which I like becuase of easy availability of material. You don't need to buy kits, hobby material or other stuff from hobby stores or malls.

Colouring square paper is enough to learn or have fun with this art. And white page can be used as well, as you can colour it yourself. I have tried origami simple models at my nursery class as art projects and I found that children are very happy to learn easy to follow paper folding models.

Do you know that origami or Paper folding has become an art form, because people are making paper craft models whick are itself a piece of art, from this easy available and cheap product "paper"?

Let's learn the definiton of Paper folding:

"Paper folding is the art of folding paper; it is known in many societies that use paper. In much of the West, the term origami is used synonymously with paper folding, though the term properly only refers to the art of paper folding in Japan."

Origami is very easy to learn from the web, as there are many useful and FREE sites, offering you to learn techniques of this popular hobby.

- paper crafts links

For skill development it can be used as a helpful hobby:

* Learn origami for development of creative abilities

* Learn origami at the internet!

Learn about YO-YO and playing tricks

Yo-yo is an ancient hobby and those who are in love of playing it and learning yo-yo playing tricks are yo-yo hobbyists. There is no doubt that Yo-yos are one of the most popular toys around, evern after hundreds of years.

According to the definition by Wikipedia:

"The yo-yo is a toy consisting of two equally sized and weighted disks of plastic, wood, or metal, connected with an axle, with a string tied around it. First becoming popular in the 1920s, "yo-yoing" is still enjoyed by children and adults alike.
The basic design of a yo-yo consists of: a round body, which holds the axle that is connected to a string, which is held by the player."


Tom Harris says in an article How Yo-Yos Work
:
"On the surface, the yo-yo is an incredibly simple toy -- it's really nothing but a spool attached to a length of string. But in the right hands, it can be something extraordinary: An accomplished yo-yoist can send the yo-yo flying out in all directions, make it hover in mid air, then snap it back into his or her palm. Ordinary string and wood (or plastic) are brought to life!"

Yo-Yo is not only a sill toy but it is a favourite hobby or pass time of new generation.

What more we can get from this hobby?

A yo-yo is a perfect toy for learning skills that involve coordination, balance, eye-hand coordination, and dexterity. Children gain self-confidence and self-esteem as they learn to do tricks with their yo-yos. That is a lot of value for one of the least expensive and most enduring toys around. Yo-yos are perfect for taking along on a trip. They demonstrate gravity and encourage observation, patience, and follow-trough.                   

Learn the yo-yo playing tricks


Following sites can help you learn yo-yo playing tricks:

* At Yogema is an online store for yo-yo supply, but it provides many tricks in form of videos, so you can learn it easily. Site suggests that you cannot master the tricks within few minutes, but it needs constant practice of it. Pick one new trick you want to master. Then spend at least one hour every day watching the video and practicing that trick. There are around 47 tricks you can learn from the site.

* Begin 2 spin

* How to Yo-Yo

* Check the Yo-Yo.net for a lot of yo-yo related tricks and other information.

* You can find more site links at this link page provided by "Yoboy.com.au"

* Museum of Yo-yo history

* About chinese yo-yo

Share your hobbies with others at "HobbySwap"

We also know that "swap" mean exchange. It is a good idea that we can also swap our hobby links and resources with other people having same interests. There are a lot of forums and message boards, where you can ask questions or share your hobbies. But "Hobbyswap" offers the specific place to share our hobbies with each other. And to learn or teach our knowledge about hobbies, we don't have to show our profile or e-mail at the site. You are not bound to be a friend of other members.

hobbyswap.org is a place to learn and teach. You swap here by exchanging lessons for FREE, and share your hobbies with other members.

Hobbyswap.org is a collection of public networks, like cities, towns, and schools, and private networks, like private groups and companies. Members can only connect with people who are within their network or networks. Members can also create their own private or public networks.

To find teachers or learn about your interest or hobby, first you have to add your own hobbies. Add hobbies that you want to learn, teach, or find activity partners for. Next, you have to add networks to be able to find teachers and swaps.

- Your e-mail is not shown at the site.
- You can add "Hobbyswap" to your Facebook Profile.
- This is not a social networking or dating site.

* Get start here

* sign up here