Some More Articles

Make these lovely mood lights for your bar or dining room; make them for gifts; or make them to sell. I sell mine for $30.

Materials:

Empty wine bottle and cork

Square cardboard jewelry box (to form base for lamp)

String of battery pack Christmas lights + batteries

Plastic grape cluster

Raffia

Black spray paint

Multi-purpose strong glue like Household Goop or E-6000

Directions:

The base will be made from the cardboard jewelry box. Normally the top fits over the bottom of the box and forms an overhang. To create a smooth profile for your base, measure and cut off a strip from two of the top’s sides so that the top fits snuggly inside the base.

The bottom of the jewelry box becomes the top of your lamp’s base. Position the battery pack in the corner you have just cut two strips from. The side of the battery pack with the on/off switch will be flush with the edge of the lamp base so that the light can be easily turned on and off.

Trace the outline of the battery pack onto the other part of the box and cut the opening. Refer to the picture above. In front is the cut box ready for assembly. In back is an assembled lamp base with the on/off switch accessible through the opening.

Spray the outsides of the two box parts with matte black paint. Allow to dry. Glue the battery pack in place and let dry. Then snap the lamp base together.

Glue the wine bottle on top of the base. Snake the light string into the neck of the bottle. Try to get the lights to spread out as evenly as possible. It helps to turn the lights on when you do this.

Take several strips of raffia and tie them around the top of the grape cluster. Then tie the raffia and grapes tightly around the neck of the bottle (making sure to go under the light string). Tie raffia in a bow and arrange the raffia strands. Trim the ends to desired lengths.

Leave a little slack on the wire to make changing batteries easier. Insert cork.

[Photos available at http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/mood-light.html]

Weaning your baby from the bottle can be a very stressful time for both your and your child. If you’re fortunate enough to be reading this before its time to wean your baby, you’ll hopefully have an easier time of taking away the bottle and moving to solid foods exclusively.

I learned this tip from my own mother, and it worked so well that it took the stress and frustration right out of weaning. In fact, I hadn’t even realized that my daughter wasn’t drinking from a bottle until two days after she was fully weaned. She never fussed or asked for her bottle once during the transition from formula to solid food.

So, without further adieu, here’s my number one tip. Starting today, don’t let your baby hold the bottle. That’s it - that’s the magic formula. It worked wonders for me and if you start early enough, I know it can work wonders for you too, and here’s why.

By letting your baby hold and play with their own bottle, they associate it with things other than feeding. This isn’t a bad thing, but once you try and wean your baby from the bottle, they’ll miss it as a toy or source of comfort.

During the period from 6-12 months of age, your baby will gradually be eating more solids and drinking less formula or breastmilk. If they only use the bottle as a source of food, they won’t miss it once its time to wean because they’ll be eating plenty of solid foods to satisfy them.

I held my daughter’s bottle for her since day one. I had been dreading her first birthday because I assumed she would turn ornery every time she expected her bottle instead of solid food. To my surprise, she had transitioned from formula to solids so easy that I wasn’t even aware the weaning process was over. By using this tip, I hope you will have the same experience as well.

Ah, bottle shock. Some people know it for its true definition; others imagine it’s what a bottle of red feels whenever a bottle of white is chosen instead. Whatever meaning you lean towards, one thing is certain: bottle shock isn’t a term with which many wines hope to be labeled.

In the scientific sense of the word, bottle shock, also called bottle sickness, is when wine adopts strange, disordered flavors. These strange flavors make the wine taste less fruity, make the presence of the alcohol more noticeable, and cause bottles of Cabernet to repeatedly call in sick for work.

Bottle shock is often a result of the wine bottle being - in James Bond fashion - shaken…not stirred. In a suitcase, through the mail, on an airplane, or in the trunk of the car, continuous vibrations can upset the elements of the wine, throwing the VINO into some sort of PTSD. A frequent change in temperature and variations of lighting - such as when a bottle boards a plane in Alaska and lands in Hawaii - may also play a role.

Its tendency to occur during times of vacationing lead many people to refer to bottle shock as what it truly is: travel shock.

Not all well traveled wines get bottle shock - some can sail the seven seas without the tiniest sense of unrest (or sea sickness) - but it’s possible for most wines to get it; fragile wines are particularly susceptible.

There is no true way to avoid bottle shock, other than to not allow any part of your wine cellar to accompany you on vacations. Going to great lengths to make sure your bottle of wine vibrates as little as possible may decrease the risk of it, but there are no guarantees: sometimes a bottle of wine will bust a move without you even knowing.

The bright side, however, is that bottle shock is a temporary condition: put down the antibiotics and quit giving your bottle of Riesling mouth to mouth, it will heal itself.

Whether you’ve shipped a bottle of Pinot Noir to yourself from Oregon or traveled to Napa Valley only to return with a car full of wine cases, the surest way to make sure bottle shock won’t ruin your inventory it to wait. Give your bottles a few months to get over their shock, then drink up your stock.

Invitations are some of the most difficult things to perfect when it comes to parties. The biggest thing that some people don’t realize when they get invited to parties is how much the kind of invitations used tells about the celebrators. One look at an invitation will tell the potential guests what kind of party they’re being invited to, what kind of people are inviting them (social class, creativity, personality traits), and how well-planned that specific party is. So now I guess you won’t take that invitation planning lightly, will you?

So how should you go about planning your invitations for the upcoming baby shower you’re about to be having? Of course with the perfect invitation. So what item of all best brings us thoughts of new life into the world and marital bliss? Why the baby bottle of course! One of the best symbols that you can have is the baby bottle. So what can you do with the baby bottle that’s definitely going to make an impression on your guests? Why turn them into invitations of course!

First what you have to do is buy several bottles, equal to the amount of guests on your list. And then what you do is take strips of paper with the names of your guests and the party details contained in them. After this, you can roll them up with a ribbon and insert them in the bottles. And when you’ve done all that, you can get some adhesive paper, where you’ll write down the name of the recipient and stick it one the bottle in the best place you can. And voila! You have yourself a very artistic and unique invitation.

The late, great comedian, George Carlin, used to do a comedy bit about how he saw people, everywhere he turned, carrying a water bottle. He punctuated this hilarious routine with an exasperated question: “Just when did everyone get so thirsty?” As funny as this was, his keen observation about the increase of people carrying their own drinking water containers points to a more serious problem: plastic water bottles have become one of the biggest sources of pollution in the U.S. Plastic bottles have got to go!

In recent years bottled water has become one of the giants of the beverage industry. As Americans continue to demand clean drinking water, this industry has gone full-throttle to ensure that each and every person is able to have their own drinking water container, when and where they want it. Unfortunately, “full-throttle” means that over 60,000,000 plastic bottles are produced, transported and disposed of EVERY DAY in the U.S. alone!

Don’t get me wrong. I like having the convenience of drinking clean water from my own drinking water container. However, there is no evidence that bottled water is any cleaner than most tap water. The government doesn’t even require bottled water be any safer or purer than tap water. So what you’re buying (and I’ve been guilty of it too) is a slick advertising concept that makes it seem as if this bottled water just bubbled up from a mountain spring. And then you’re stuck with having to dispose of this polluting plastic.

So does this mean that personal drinking water containers are a bad idea? Absolutely not! You can still drink clean, filtered water conveniently from your own personal drinking water container. All you have to do is use drinking water containers that have been designed to be used over and over again. The best reusable containers are made from glass.

Besides being 100% recyclable, glass containers have other advantages. Glass preserves the taste and purity of filtered water. Water stored in plastic bottles risks becoming contaminated from plastic byproducts, like BPA and phthalate. As these substances leach from the plastic, the water loses its taste and purity. Glass doesn’t have this problem.

And let’s not forget that refilling and reusing these drinking water containers is going to mean more money in your pocket. If you are buying bottled water on a regular basis, it can get expensive.

There is also a psychological advantage to using glass drinking water containers When you’re thirsty and looking in the fridge for something good to drink, and you spot a crystal-clear, cold glass container of water, you’re going to instinctively reach for it. Drinking more clean, healthy water is one of the best ways to promote good health.

These non-polluting, drinking water containers are readily available from most reputable water filtration system providers. You can find these providers, like I did, with just some simple research. When you’re drinking filtered water, conveniently, from your own reusable drinking water container you will be doing yourself and our planet a big favor.

Most of the antique collectors are confused about how to determine antique bottle values. If you are an antique collector, this comprehensive guide helps you to know how to determine the antique bottle value. Let us check this topic in detail.

According to antique colleting experts, one can determine the antique bottle value by checking the following factors. All these factors are not sufficient always to make an antique bottle valuable. Antique bottle value is determined by checking whether the bottles have one or more of these value factors.

Given below are the main factors which determine the antique bottle value:

o Demand and supply

o Age

o Condition

o Rarity

o Size

o Color

o Category

o Design and embossing

o Esthetic appeal

o Historic significance

o Individuality

o Locale

Demand and supply of the antique bottle

Demand and supply of antique bottle is the first factor which determines the antique bottle value. For example, milk bottles as well as soda bottles with beautiful labels, mostly built after the turn of the century, has become a favorite collectible antique item recently. The main reason for the increase in the antique bottle value is the demand and excellent supply of these items antique bottles of different types.

Age of the antique bottle

Age of the bottle is an important factor which determines the antique bottle value. Collectible antique bottles are mainly divided into different periods to determine the value. The ‘Open Pontil’ bottles are considered as the earliest in America, which are made between 1600 and 1850. The ‘Iron Pontil’ bottles are generally built from 1840 to 1865. ‘Smooth Based’ bottles are those which were created after the American Civil War and before the World War I. While all those bottles which were created ahead of the turn of the century are completely or partly hand made and shaped. Generally after 1914, the bottles were made by machines.

Condition

Just like any other hobbies, antique bottle collectors also need items in the original condition. Bottles which are in their original condition have good antique values. Generally chips and cracks will decrease the antique bottle value. Bottles with wrappers, original labels, and boxes will help to raise the antique bottle value.

Rarity

Rarity also determines the antique bottles value. Rarity alone will not make an antique bottle valuable - it is seen that there are numerous rare bottles which are not as expensive as there is no demand for them. So if you are a novice antique collector, it is better to consult antique specialists or other collectors to know about the rarity and demand of the antique bottles.

Size

Size is another factor which determines the antique bottle value. Even though the size is less important when compared with the other factors, it influences the price of the bottle. Large sized antique bottles bring more money when compared with small antique bottles. For example, large cathedral pickles, large sized Pontil medicines, large bitters, and half gallon jars have high antique bottle value.

Color

The color of the bottle also determines the antique bottle value in various ways. Antique bottles boast a wide variety of colors for which attracts the collectors. Antique bottle value will be high for those bottles with rare and remarkable colors. Some of the popular antique bottle colors include amber, aqua and a wide range of greens (such as olive green, blue green, teal, and emerald). One of the rare colors for antique bottle is cobalt (blue). Hence antique bottles of cobalt color are highly expensive.

Design and Embossing

Without beautiful embossing and design, a bottle with common color will not get any demand. That is, the antique bottle value will be less for these types of bottles. But there are some exceptions - if the bottle is very old, rare or have any historic value, then it will have high antique bottle value. Embossing will add valued to antique bottles. The place where embossing is done is also significant. For example, if the embossing is on the center and can be seen from the front view, then the antique bottle value will be high.

Esthetic Appeal

Esthetic appeal of an antique bottle is entirely subjective. Generally antique bottles which are beautiful in shape, design, or color will yield more demand. Labels with eye-catching graphics or color, neural fancy panels, and crudity can increase the demand of a bottle which results in the antique bottle value.

Historical Significance

The historical significance of a bottle can increase the antique bottle value. That is the combination of age, rarity, color and historical significance can increase the antique bottle value.

Individuality

As antique bottles are generally hand made, most of them have less uniformity when compared to modern bottles. For example, some antique bottles are crudely made, while others feature numerous bubbles on it, some have ‘whittle marks’ etc. These types of individuality can increase the antique bottle value.

Locale

The geographical area of origin of a bottle can increase the antique bottle value. For example, Hawaiian and Alaskan bottles have more antique bottle value than similar bottles from other areas.

Even though these are major factors which affect the antique bottle value, antique bottle collectors from various parts of the country shows varying interests. For example, Western state collectors are much interested in early whiskey bottles, Hawaiian sodas are popular antique bottles in Hawaii. That is, the interests of the collectors tend to change in different places. Therefore, the antique bottles value can also change in different places.

I recently received a question from one of my readers about
the safety of drinking water from clear plastic water
bottles. These bottles, made from Lexan polycarbonate resin
(a plastic polymer), are widely used for single-serving
sales to one-gallon of water in stores and home-delivery
bottles.

Theee bottles appear to be safe because they do not impart
any taste or odor to the water. Lexan polycarbonate is also
used to make compact discs and DVDs, bulletproof windows,
mobile phones, and computers.

The water delivery company sent my reader a notice saying
that their Lexan polycarbonate bottles are perfectly safe to
use. They suggested their customers visit a website that was
designed to portray this plastic in a positive light.

But, actually, a toxic chemical is lurking in these bottles
that does end up in the water you drink. Lexan used to be
used to make baby bottles, but these are no longer sold.
Hmmmmm…

STAY AWAY FROM BPA

In 1998, Dr. Patricia Hunt of Case Western University in
Ohio discovered that one of the components of Lexan
polycarbonate resin–bisphenol-A (BPA)–can leach into water
from water bottles. BPA is a potent hormone disruptor. It
can impair the reproductive organs and have adverse effects
on ****** tissue and prostate development.

Who do we believe? The water delivery company or Dr. Hunt?

I’m inclined to go with Dr. Hunt. I went to a website
maintained by the authors of Our Stolen Future: How We Are
Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival, who
are continuously searching the scientific literature for
information on endochrine disruptors. The Our Stolen Future
([http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/oncompounds/bisp]
page on bisphenol-a henola/bpauses.htm#recentimportant)
gives a whole page of links to scientific studies that show
that BPA damages the endocrine system in a variety of ways.

BPA can leach from water bottles when exposed to heat and
cleaning agents, but detectable levels of BPA can also leach
into water from bottles just sitting at room temperature,
according to a 2003 study conducted by the University of
Missouri published in the journal Environmental Health
Perspectives.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

Is there is a level of BPA that may be acceptable? To answer
that question we have to ask: acceptable to who? A healthy
male? A woman? A child? The elderly? And how would you know
how much leaching has occurred in the water? It could easily
vary from day to day depending on how long the water had
been in the bottle, whether or not the sun was shining on
the bottle in the delivery truck, and a variety of other
factors.

I’m concerned enough about the possible danger of BPA that I
am no longer purchasing bottled water in plastic bottles.

Health concerns aside, plastic is also not good for the
environment. Americans use about 10 million tons of plastic
every year, but recycle only about two percent of it. A
plastic milk jug takes about one million years to
biodegrade. And, getting back to health concerns, the
manufacture of plastics produces toxic wastes that return to
us indirectly through polluted air, water, and soil.

But we also have to use common sense and choose the greatest
benefit at any given time. If your choice was to drink
spring water in the polycarbonate bottle or drink tap water
or drink no water at all on a hot summer day, I would say
drink the purer spring water in the polycarbonate bottle.
Once in a while, a single exposure will not do much harm.
But you don’t want to be using water contained in a Lexan
polycarbonate resin bottle as your everyday source of water
supply, or drink from these bottles all day long, every
day.

There are other options.

BETTER OPTIONS

My best recommendation is to get a good water filter that is
right for your water and filter your water at home. That way
there is no questionable leaching at all. Even though this
may be expensive, it is one of the best investments you can
make in your health and will save thousands of dollars in
medical expenses in the long run.

For those of you who carry or purchase water in the small,
single-serving Lexan polycarbonate bottles, you can purchase
plastic-free refillable bottles in various sizes to suit
your needs. They are lightweight and much more attractive
than the disposable plastic bottles.

It’s a good idea, particularly in the summertime, to carry
clean water with you, as your body needs water throughout
the day for good health. The Mayo Clinic suggests you divide
your weight in half and drink that many ounces of water
every day. So if you weigh 128 pounds, that would be 64
ounces or 8 8-ounce glasses of water per day. It’s better to
carry your own clean water in a safe container than drink
tap water or water in a plastic bottle.

For sources of water filters and reusable plastic-free
refillable bottles, visit
http://www.debraslist.com/water/index.html.

To some people they call it text messaging and to the techie guy it is called SMS which stands for short message service. More people now called it text messaging. SMS friendship funny is just like a norm in todays world. Now you do not just see them or read them on your cell phone, but in an online social utility network sites. To some people and friends, they use the chat, forums, blogs, events and instant messages they convey to their friends and classmates.

SMS friendship funny is the term because of the notoriety of how younger people integrate words and numbers to make sense of what they are trying to convey. For instance, they would be saying the test of friendship comes when U R 2gether. It is really funny and fun when you read this notes. Most of the time they will replace the word to, to 2. Another SMS friendship funny is when they say L8 which means light. There are so many stuffs the goes around these days in funny SMS for friendship.

Connect and communicating with people, classmates and friends in an online social utility is actually normal. You should not expect to send you messages in plain literal words. It is almost always in abbreviated SMS friendship funny text. It is so amazing that only a few years a student will be scolded or branded wrong for misspell. But nowadays you cannot just tell your classmates that he or she is wrong when using these humorous text messages.

If you are not used to it you will be surprise and will not even understand what they are trying to tell you. Things like this sentence; how can U tell the tornado not 2 touchdown. These are quite easy to understand but for those who has never seen this lines or phrases will definitely think first and decipher the message. The easy ones are like; I met U, I want U 2 know. But problem start for a newbie in these forms of text messaging when they put capital letters in the word to make it funny.

Most of these hilarious and humorous text messages are always seen in most online social utility networks. In forums, blog, pictures and video tags and online chats are mostly filled with friendly fun text messages. It started with cell phone text messages, but in poorer countries, buying air time is too expensive. So if you have computers or have access to computers they do it through instant message on their network of friends and classmates.

Misspelled, words integrated with numbers and all those jokes and friendly attachments to words make SMS friendship funny instant messages real fun. And these instant messages are very prominently seen and read in an online social utility network sites like online chatting, forums and friendly blog posts. So keep in touch in what world has to offer.

The giving of wedding favors is a long established custom. For many years it has been traditional for a small, personalized gift to be given to each of the wedding guests as a token of thanks from the bride and groom. This also serves as a memento of the happy occasion and can be kept as a keepsake by the guests. In the past one of the more usual wedding favors has been a small and elegantly wrapped gift of sugared nuts. More popular these days is to give wine bottle wedding favors.

Many companies have established an agreement with the bottlers of wines, and sometimes spirits, to purchase individual serving bottles without labels. They can then print their own labels according to the bride and grooms request and provide these wine bottles as wedding favors. The type of wine can be specified by the couple and the labels chosen from a selection and then personalized.

Although it may sound like a very expensive gift when you bear in mind the number of guests that may be attending the wedding reception, they are actually quite affordable, especially if you would be supplying wine to accompany the meal anyway. If you give wine bottles as wedding favors the guests will have an individual bottle of wine to drink and then will be able to keep the personalized bottle as a keepsake and reminder of the day.

Most companies will give you a reasonable wine list to choose from. Take into consideration the menu that you will be serving and try to tailor your choice of wine to the meal. You may want to give people a choice of red or white wine or perhaps you will allow two bottles, one of each, per person. If you do decide to give both red and white to each guest it will mean that they can have one with their meal and take a full bottle home with them to keep.

Companies who produce wine bottle wedding favors will often also supply individual serving bottles of champagne. These make wonderful favors and can be used to toast the happy couple. The sound of a champagne bottle being opened is such a wonderful sound at a wedding; imagine lots of them being opened at the same time!

The labels for your bottles can be either designed by yourselves or, more often, chosen from a selection of templates and then personalized. As a rule you will have your names and the date of the marriage included and then a choice of other elements. Some will have space to include a photograph so you could use a photograph of your engagement for example. Another idea is to have the groom’s family crest printed on the label. Companies that offer this usually offer the service of researching the heraldic crest and arranging the artwork for it. You would be wise to check what the crest looks like before agreeing to this. If you have never seen it before you may not want to wait until the day of the wedding to discover that you do not like your new heraldic emblem! Wine bottles as wedding favors do give tremendous scope when it comes to the labelling. Some people take a more humorous approach and have a comical logo on the bottle. Remember, however, something that you find amusing now may not be so funny in years to come when you look at your keepsakes. Often it is better to stick with a more traditional choice.

Whichever wine you choose and however you word the label, you can be sure that having wine bottles as wedding favors will be a hit with your guests and will be a romantic keepsake for years to come.

Text messaging or SMS messaging has become a standard in on the fly communication over the last 10 years. People typing messages with their thumbs, and beaming them through the atmosphere instantly. Text messages these days can also include video and pictures as well.

Thanks to the wireless application protocol or (WAP) our options are limitless. But what if you don’t have a cell phone? Is it still possible to communicate via text messaging? Absolutely!

There are a number of sites on the internet that allow you to send free sms messages straight to some one’s cell phone. The first place to check is with the internet service provider. If you know which company your contact uses you may be able to simply log on to that companies website and send.

If you don’t know the specifics, many websites offer free internet to phone sms services. Log on, enter the phone number and your message and click send. The tricky part is finding a service that allows your contact to respond to you. Most internet to phone text messaging services are one way.

There are also download-able options, I know skype offers a SMS feature with their software. However, this is also a one way service. AOL instant messenger also allows you to two-way text your contacts via WAP, but only if they are signed up for the service themselves.

Communication methods as we know them are changing on a daily basis. Sending text messages is a cost effective and efficient way of communicating with anyone. Plus you don’t even need a cell phone. All that is needed is a computer , a contact, and the internet. Happy texting!