Supplies you will need for a hair clip organizer: Foam Board or Art Canvas, Non-Toxic Acrylic paint, Paintbrush, Grosgrain Ribbon & a Stapler.

Hair Clip Holder: You can go to an arts and crafts store like Michaels or even Walmart, and pickup a 1/2″ piece of foam board or an art canvas, either one will work. I would suggest the art canvas because it’s more durable. The dimension of the board depends on how many bows you have to store. I personally like 24″ to 30″ wide by 24″ to 30″ tall because it will easily fit on most bedroom closet doors. It’s best to measure the door that you plan on installing it on so you will get the correct size. You will need to paint the board or canvas with a non-toxic acrylic paint in the color of your choice. Once the paint has dried, you will take your ribbon and cut it 5 inches longer than your board. For example, if your foam board is 24 inches tall, cut your ribbon 29 inches long, that way you have enough ribbon to go over the edge of the board and have approximately 2 inches left on each end. Place your ribbon from 1/2″ to 1″ apart, one at a time, across the width of the board. Wrap the excess ribbon ends over onto the back of your board and staple each one to the frame (that’s another good reason for using art canvas, there is a wooden frame to staple to). Repeat this step for each strand of ribbon. The ribbon should be snug because over time it will loosen up on its own. Once you have the organizer complete you just attach the organizer to the door with a couple of small nails and wire. If you would prefer not to have holes in your door, you can get a door hook and hang a decorative clothes hanger from the hook, attach two snap clamps to the clothes hanger and clamp the organizer to that.

Headband organizer: A couple of simple and inexpensive ways to keep your headbands organized is to take your empty 2 liter plastic bottles, wash them out good and fill with water and add food coloring of your choose. The headbands will fit nice and snug over the bottle. Another good way to organizer headbands is to take an empty cardboard container, like an empty oatmeal container and paint the container with a non toxic acrylic paint or wrap the container with gift wrapping paper. Both are very inexpensive and practical ways to keep your headbands organize.

Perry Mink – business owner/author. Hopefully these tips will come in handy when it comes time to organize your hair bows and accessories. There are several websites to choose from when shopping for your hair accessories. One of the more popular websites that has good quality products at unbelievable prices is http://www.beanies2bows.com

Rubber stamps are the backbone of card making and scrapbooking. But you need to know what stamps you have, and how to find them quickly and easily.

There are 3 basic systems for stamp organization:

1. Alphabetically
2. Number system
3. Category

There is not a one-size-fits-all organizational system. You need to have a system that works for YOU. So let’s look at each system.

1. Alphabetical: This is a great system as it’s quick and easy to find things. In addition, we are used to looking for other things alphabetically. The major drawback to this system is that you have to really know the names of your stamp sets. If you’re good with names, this is the system for you!

2. Number system: For this system, you simply affix a number to your stamp sets and keep a list, sort of like a library system where each book has a number. You can simply number your sets in the order you purchase them or make a more specific system where nature sets begin with a 1, greetings sets begin with a 2, etc. This is a great system for the very organized people out there. God bless you all!

3. Category: For this system, you organize your stamps according to the category they are listed under in the Idea Book & Catalog. So all the Holiday stamps go in one spot, the Occasions stamps go in another, etc. This is the system I use, and it really helps me. In addition to keeping my stamps straight, it helps me orient to the catalog. Since I use my catalog a lot, not only for helping people place orders but also for my own design inspiration, I feel that I kill two birds with one stone.

Whatever stamp organization system you choose, get one going. When you can find what you are looking for, creating hand stamped projects is much more fun. Stamping is meant to be a time of creativity and enjoyment, not frustration. So organize your stamps and you will be stamping stress-free!

I’ve given you ways to organize your rubber stamps, but don’t stop there! You can organize your embellishments, ribbons, and more. And the more organized your supplies are, the more you will create, and the more fun you will have in the creative process.

There are the spools, and then there are the scraps…

You can organize your ribbons in purpose-made shelves for easy access. But then there are those little scraps. You know, the pieces you cut for a project and then didn’t use. I like to store my scraps and pieces in a ribbon “jar.” I call it a jar, but it’s actually a vase, because I don’t want to have to open a lid when I’m looking for/grabbing a piece of ribbon. Remember, you want your organization to work FOR you not against you. You want it to SAVE time not cost you time.

Ribbon is my go-to embellishment. It adds the perfect touch to most any project. I use ribbon on my hand-stamped cards, scrapbook pages, handmade gifts, and more. Of course, they also make for extra-special packaging. When wrapping up a gift, even a small or inexpensive one, I like to make it extra special with nice wrapping or even just some nice ribbon. Stampin’ Up! ribbon comes in all our core colors as well as “in” colors (trendy colors that keep everything fresh) and is very, very nice quality. I like wrap a stack of hand-stamped cards in a generous length of ribbon for gifting. Super simple, super easy, extra special!

Candy Rattray is an Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator. Her Sweet Stamper business encompasses teaching card and gift making as well as scrapbooking, and selling supplies for those endeavors. Hand stamped cards and gifts are mini works of art that bring delight to those making them as well as those receiving them. Her Sweet Stamper business is showcased on the world wide web at http://www.sweetstamper.com, and she can be contacted at candy@sweetstamper.com.

Regular ink-jet and laser printers use a different kind of ink, as thermal technology uses an ink that is made from either wax or resin, or a combination of both. There are different shelf lives for each variant so make sure to choose one that is appropriate for your printing purposes. The cheapest variant to purchase are ink ribbons made of wax, but will only last for about two years once they have been printed. In case they are important, receipts from point of sales terminals that use this kind of ink should be scanned or copied for safekeeping. If you are looking for a much more durable variant of ink ribbon, a combination of wax and resin is best, especially if printed on fine-toothed paper, as well as papers that are coated with a film coat. Still, the printed product should not be exposed to damp environments and strong chemicals. Resin ink ribbons are the most durable of all ink ribbons but are not made for use with conventional point of sale printers and are instead made for use with plastics.

Point-of-sale terminals and bar code printing for inventory tracking purposes are the most common application for printers that make use of thermal technology. When kept in storage, the ink ribbons of a thermal printer should be protected from both damp environments and strong chemicals. Ink ribbons should also be kept away from heat, light and moisture as they can be sensitive to such environments. While thermal printers make for efficient and cost-effective printing solutions in sales and inventory applications, the print quality falters when compared with ink-jet and laser printers. The inability of these printers to vary dot size or intensify the printed document results in a grainy product and is only recommended for specialty applications, even though colored inks are now available in newer thermal printing technologies in a segment that typically had only black inks.

Find out more about the best thermal printers on the market today the Prism Plus Printers and the overall best thermal printers [http://rimageprismplusprinters]

Littleford/Lodige Plow Mixer Technology:
The plow mixer offers a unique action created by the movement and geometry of the ingredients being mixed. The bed of the mixer is mechanically fluidized and the ingredients are mixed in a manner that is effective though soft enough not compromise the physical properties of the ingredients. The mixing elements are arranged at engineered intervals on the mixer shaft. Engineers specifically design their size, number, arrangement, and geometric shape. The proper units incorporate high-speed blending choppers, enhancing mixing action by controlling particle size and trace, or liquid ingredient dispersion. Blend times can run from one to five minutes.

Ribbon Blender Technology:
The Double Ribbon blender is prized in the contract packaging and tolling industry for its multiple uses. It consists of an inner and an outer ribbon providing counter-directional flow while keeping the product in constant motion throughout the chamber. The inside ribbons move materials toward the ends of the blender and the outside ribbons move material back toward the center discharge. Two hundred cubic feet is the unit size and campaigns can run 10 to 20 minutes. There is also a machine called the Paddle/Ribbon unit. This combines inner ribbons with outer paddles and is ideal for heat sensitive products, among other applications, because the outer paddles reduce heat-generating friction. It has the same capacity and blend times as the ribbon blender.

Paddle blender technology:
The Paddle Blender is best suited for products of uniform size and density. It can also manage odors in ways that other equipment can’t. Typical blend times are 10 to 20 minutes. Unit size is 120 cubic feet capacity.

Patterson Kelley technology:
The Patterson Kelley (also known colloquially as the “PK” or “V”) blender is specifically designed for fragile, heat, or shear sensitive ingredients. Its blend times are 10 to 20 minutes and its unit size is 30 cubic feet capacity. It is shaped like a V and splits the blend as it rotates. The blender has a polished 3B finish that makes it ideal for challenging ingredients. The Patterson Kelley also has an intensifier bar that helps break up lumps and liquid solids.

Chris Bekermeier writes for PacMoore Products ( http://www.pacmoore.com ), a leading provider of contract manufacturing contract blending, and turnkey solutions to the global food industry.

Use styles.

Styles are mandatory for book formatting for two reasons. Firstly, styles make it possible to keep your book’s formatting consistent. It is just not possible to keep a document over about ten pages consistently formatted without styles. Secondly, without proper use of styles, you cannot automatically generate a table of contents or index.

So, don’t bold, italicize, or change the font or color of a word or phrase. Just don’t. If you’ve already done this in your book, I recommend selecting the whole document (Control A) and clearing all the formatting. (From the Home tab in the ribbon, click on the little pop out button on the bottom right side of the styles section. Clear all should show up at the top of the list, just above normal.)

Manually bolding, italicizing, or changing fonts is bad. It is a last resort. Don’t do it unless you can justify it, and about the only time it is justifiable is if your document is two pages long or less, so if you’re writing a book, don’t do it.

Instead, use styles. If you don’t like something about a style (the color, font size, font, or something else), change the style. Don’t manually override the text. To change the style, go to the Home tab in the ribbon and scroll through the styles until you find the style you want to change. Right click on the style name and select Modify. Change the font and hit save. The text will change to match the new formatting for all instances of that style.

Use sections.

A book needs several sections. While you can do a book in one section, that will force you to use the same header and footer throughout the book. At a minimum, you should have three sections.

The first section will include the cover page, any preferences or pages that you want to number with small letters, and the table of contents.

The middle section will include the bulk of your document, including all your chapters.

The last section of the book is for the index, bibliography, about the author, and other things you might like at the end of the book.

Create headers and footers.

Create your headers and footers. Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and select Header or Footer from the Header and Footer section (which is to the right of Links and to the left of Text). Chose a header style and insert it. The document will go into Print Layout view and your mouse will be in the header.

Stop here for a minute. Before you modify the headers, go to the first page of your second section (or middle section.) While in the Header and Footer Design tab go to the Navigation section. Un-click “Link to Previous.” What this does is makes it so the headers of the first and section sections can be different. Repeat this procedure for the third section. Then, go to the first section, the section that houses your title page and table of contents, and select Different First Page in the Options section of the Header and Footer Design tab.

Stop again. Go back and repeat all those steps (unlink to the prior section and different first page for the first section) for the footer.

Select the correct paper size.

Go to the Page Layout tab in the ribbon. In the Page Setup section (just to the right of Themes), click on the pull out button at the bottom right of the screen. In the Page Setup dialog box that comes up, click the Paper tab. Choose the type of paper you want.

Generate a table of contents.

Put your cursor in the first section where you want your table of contents to go. Select Table of Contents from the References tab. Choose a style and insert it. If your table of contents is more than one page long, update it at some point so the page numbers are refreshed. If your table of contents is more than one page, consider including less levels of headings to make it smaller.

Create an index.

Go through your document and mark all the phrases that need to show up in the index. To do this, select the item to mark and go to the References tab in the ribbon. In the fifth section, Index, click on Mark Entry. Marking the entry might change Word into a mode where all characters are shown. If you want to turn this off when done marking entries, go to the Home tab in the ribbon and click on the little paragraph mark. Once all your entries are marked, insert your index. Go to the Index section under the References tab in the ribbon and click on Insert Index.

Create a bibliography.

Select the style of bibliography. Go to the References tab in the ribbon. The third section is Citations & Bibliography. In this section, choose the appropriate style. (I like The Chicago Manual of Style the best, but the other common choice is APA, although the sixth edition is much better than the fifth.)

Click on Manage Sources. Create an entry for each book, journal article, web page, or interview. Create an entry for anything that should be included in your bibliography. Then, make sure all the entries are on the right side of the citation manager so they show up in the current list. Close the citation manager dialog box when done.

Insert the bibliography. Click on the Bibliography drop down in the Citations and Bibliography section. Choose a format and click on it.

Compare your document to the specific rules of your publisher.

All publishers have slightly different rules, so compare what you have done with the rules set by your publisher.

If you’re making an eBook, select Save As from the File tab in the ribbon. Select PDF from the Save as type drop down menu. Click on the Options button. Under Include non-printing information, click on “Create bookmarks using” and then select headings. This will save you a lot of time because you will not have to manually create bookmarks in your PDF file.

Review other Word resources on my website, including a video on how to use styles effectively.

Gwen Nicodemus owns and operates Shiny Newts, LLC. Shiny Newts solves technical and documentation problems for its customers in a timely, professional manner–often going “above and beyond”–by providing custom services and pre-packaged services. Visit http://www.ShinyNewts.com to watch videos on how to use Joomla, Photoshop, and Word or to read Gwen’s ebook, “Write a Marketing Plan by Filling in the Blanks.”

©2010, Gwen Nicodemus

Below is an example on what you can do with your shell pasta to make a necklace. You can have your own alternate or substitute materials if you want to.

Materials:

1. Pink and green ribbons, ¼” wide; and length according to your desired need. You can choose also your ribbon colors.

2. Shell design pasta, white glue, and tempera paint of your desired colors

3. Glitter dust of your color choice and small wire loops

Directions:

1. First, bore a hole at the upper flat area of the shell pasta. Use sharp pointed small knives or anything that could not break your pasta. Then, attach the small wire loops in the holes.

2. Next, paint each shell pasta with your desired color/colors. The paint may not adhere to some areas but leave it as it is as part of the design. Let dry.

3. When dry, apply minimal glue on some areas you desire to have glitters. Sprinkle the glitter dust on those areas. Let dry.

4. Meanwhile, tie one end of the ribbons together, allowing it to hang loosely after the tied ends. Then, start threading the shell pasta through their loops using one of the ribbons only.

5. Start threading by knotting the threading ribbon once. Then, pass it through the loop of one shell. After a span of 1″, knot again. Attach another shell. Make another span of 1″ and make another knot then attach another shell.

6. Do this succession until you have achieved your desired number of pasta shells to hang on your ribbon.

7. Then, for the last shell pasta, tie a knot after it. Then, at the end of your ribbons, tie both ribbons together and let 4″ hang loosely after the ends. Attach hooks or clasp, but you can just tie both sides of the ribbons together to close your necklace.

Try this easy process in making a necklace. Children can help you do this, too, for fun and fashion.

Jewelries are not only a necessity for women. Men, too, would appreciate Tungsten rings as a gift. If you are planning to get married you can order a Tungsten wedding ring. It is the hottest item in town!

If you want your precious one to look like a princess once again, try using a hair bow to adorn her silky smooth hair. It will surely do the trick because hair bows come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes and you can choose those that suit her and let her smile like a princess ready to pose for a portrait.

Different kinds of bows

There are so many options for your baby girl in terms of shape and size of the bow. The following are some good examples:

• Bumble barrette bow- Newborns and toddlers can wear these bows. It is a French clip usually embellished with a flower pattern or a hair band decorated with a sequined strawberry or a flower or a bunny.
• Itty bows- These bows measure somewhere around 2 to 2 ½ inches and are made on alligator pinch clips. They are available in various prints and colors. These are made on such smooth ribbons that the baby hardly feels it’s there.
• Toddler Bows – These are made for the sweet older babies who are just learning the ways of the world. Especially made for them are hair bows which come in bolder colors of bright pink and fuchsia.
• Headband Bows – These can be worn by infants, toddlers and preschool girls alike. The bow is made of ruffle ribbon, is 3 inches wide and is carefully placed on the headband. It can be made with two layers of ribbon to have more loops or you can buy a korker headband so the bow looks fluffy but not frayed.
• Single Bows- They can be just simple or you can make them attractive by adding more loops or by attaching them to a headband. You may select from a wide variety of colors that would make them go with most of your baby’s dresses.
• Loopy Bows – Usually made of long ribbon, they require around 3/8″ of ribbon. Korkers can be added to them for a fuller look.
• School Team Cheer Bows- If your little girl acts as a cheer leader for the school team; you can buy for her a three color scheme hair bow. It can be made of korkers or ribbons or a combination of both. You may attach it to a French clip or alligator clip.
• Gymboree Bows- You can buy these as a single bow or a headband set. They look very cheerful in all rainbow colors. You can loop them in the pattern of Tiger Love or Sugar Cookie or Bubble Fun.
• Janie and Jack Bows- These bows are made in line with the Janie and Jack Flair line. It is made with 11/2″ of ribbon and only the two loops on the top are 7/8″. The combination of red and white looks really amazing.
• Holiday Bows -They are usually the ruffle ribbon hair bows that give a fluffy look for your baby. The satin and big bows will not encourage your kids to wear and play around.

Dressing up your little bundle of joy for a formal gathering is a treasured moment you can share with your kids. Make your little missy stand out from the crowd with baby dresses and hair bows. If you want to learn more of tips on baby hair bows visit www.AngelHeadbands.com.