This year, after being separated from my computer for a ridiculous amount of time; I decided to go back to writing, in the pursuit of happiness. This year I decided to master keyboard composition. This has given me mixed results so far. For many years, I wrote long hand on paper first ...

Jonathan Levitt, an GM with a lot of chess experience under his belt, created what I believe is one of the most effective and simple, "self-tests" to determine chess aptitude. This test is discussed in his book, "Genius in Chess." To take the test, you first need to know how to underst ...

As a home gardener, fall should be a very special time for you. Fall is the best season of the year for plant propagation, especially for home gardeners who do not have the luxury of intermittent mist. The technique that I am going to describe here can be equally effective for evergreens ...

"Notation" is a method in chess strategy books that is used to describe the movement of pieces on the chess board, without needing a visual diagram of the chess board for each move. It greatly increases a chess author's ability to describe a large number of chess games in compact form, l ...

One of the most popular forms of art is that of a landscape painting. A landscape painting captures the feel and the beauty of a certain special place. A good landscape painting will make the viewer feel that they are right there in the painting. They feel as though they can breathe the ...

Paper used in printing is one of the considerations now that there are already many environmentalist taking strides to protect some of the natural resources that are already fast diminishing. For those who use these papers everyday in their lives, they would think that they are using nat ...

Wooden Batik Painting is an integration of craftsmanship and the art of batikking on wooden media. This kind of Indonesia handicraft highly valued Batik used to be applied on cloth. Then, in its development, the heredited Javanese work of art manually created by traditional batikkers has ...

Its a nice sunny afternoon. You decide to mow your lawn. Then you find yourself in hospital. What happened You had an argument with a lawn mower. Not only is it expensive and time consuming, its also very embarrassing. Imagine having to explain that a lawn mower got the better of you! ...

Dye sublimation allows you to transfer images onto products such as mugs, t-shirts or mouse mats. This is done using special dye, which needs to be heated to transfer. To perform this process, you will usually print your design onto special sublimation paper through an inkjet printer. M ...

Those colorful loops of rubber should be quite familiar to you by now. Yes, we are talking about rubber band bracelets. They have become ubiquitous in the last couple of years. You can see them on the wrists of Tsunami aid workers, citizens campaigning for a cause, and even the on wrists ...

Tools play an important role in gardening. Whether you use hand tools or power tools, it doesn't matter. The dance you have between your fingers and hands directly influences your work in creating a beautiful garden. The tools used to make possible your crafting of a garden are a mere ...

Here are some tips for herb gardening indoors that will simulate the conditions in an outside garden. For Herb gardening indoors the growing climates need to be pretty much the same as the conditions outside. Get your herb plants from a good garden center nursery who will have plenty of ...

I'm guilty of penning some of the most boring and uninspiring scrapbooking journaling that won't even excite my doggy. I had doled out my fair share of unembellished journaling with the usual Who, What, Where, When and Why a little far too often for my own comfort. Doesn't this simple, ...

You dont have to be a tailor or seamstress to create a Halloween costume. In fact, you dont even have to own a needle or thread. All you need is some creativity (or a friend whos creative), a closet with some clothes, and a nearby thrift shop. Dont take the lazy way out by tossing a sh ...

Azaleas can be either evergreen or deciduous. Deciduous Azaleas are known as Mollis or Exbury Azaleas. They bloom in the early spring with vivid orange and yellow colors. They can be grown from seed if the seeds are collected in the fall and sown on top of moist peat at about 70 degrees ...

Sports Memorabilia Collectors are flocking by the droves to buy Collectible Sports Memorabilia from CollectibleSport. They are taking advantage of the great selection and value found for most popular sports, including baseball, basketball, football, golf, NASCAR, die cast cars, sports bo ...

Once you have the basic stamping techniques mastered, you will likely want to move on to something more. By adding embellishments to your handcrafted cards, you will create cards that are more than just messages of greetings, but little pieces of art as well. When you think of embellishm ...

Taking Pictures The first thing a potential scrapbooker should know is how to take a good picture, as the vast majority of scrapbooks are centered around our photographs. Visit our photography page for specific tips on taking pictures. Photo Storage I have found that the system that w ...

Most Japanese Maple seeds ripen in the fall. Watch the tree and wait for the seeds to turn brown. The seeds are ready to be harvested when they are brown and can be easily removed from the tree. The seeds are attached to a wing, its best to break the wing off before storing or planting ...

Photographers have been trying to utilize the light of the moon in their landscape photography ever since the photographic process was invented. It was not until World War II, however, that technology had improved enough to make night photography possible. Today, despite technological ...