I could not think of anything to post for a start-up, so I hunted down a service which emails me stuff like this: Farmhouse Country Style Would you like to display the farmhouse country style in your home? You can achieve it by first painting your walls earthtones and pastels or with small floral wallpaper or stenciling. At your windows hang tab - top curtains in a "ticking" stripe or small plaid patterned fabric such as cotton. On the floors use area rugs such as rag rugs; nothing plush. Keep your furniture primitive with bare wood or painted for the simple look. Again, use pastels on your upholstery with simple but charming patterns. You don't need a lot of accessories, but whatever you choose make it functional, and fresh flowers are a must.

No More Damaged Brushes If you've invested a lot of money in good-quality brushes, you probably want to keep them in the best shape possible. To do that, you can use the little green plastic tubes that you often get on rose stems or other cut flowers at your local florist. (Depending on the florist, they cost about 10 to 25 cents each.) To protect the bristles of your brushes while transporting them to and from art class or painting expeditions, you could slide your brushes, bristle-end first, into the tubes. You could throw your brushes in a travel case without worrying about damaging them. Art Tip provided by Passion4Art.com

and i see marcia hard at work in here! *grin*

Yeah...I found great wallpaper and it just would not show up so I borrowed the food broadloom for the while and let the dividers on - love the color but open to your suggestions, my dear! Geez, Hard at work is about it. I did about 3 hours before I had breakfast - not a smart thing for me to do since I tend to run on thin air, anyway. Any suggestions for the wallpaper?n This is what I chose originally which tiles beautifully (but not as purty as this stuff which I helped choose for the tv conference so long ago...

Crayon Stain Removal For those of you with young children, here is a way to try to get crayon � either fresh or dried in � out of fabric. You will need: WD-40 (lubricant) Liquid dishwashing detergent Laundry detergent Color-safe bleach Paper towels Holding the fabric over the paper towels, spray WD-40 on one side of the stain, and let it sit for a few minutes. Do the same on the other side. Next, rub laundry detergent into the stained area, and then wash with laundry detergent and color-safe bleach in water as hot as the fabric can stand for about 12 minutes. Rinse in warm water. If your stain was from a crayon melting in your dryer, you may need to clean your dryer drum. Run a load of dry rags through a drying cycle to clean the drum.

Masking Fluid How-To Here are some handy tips to make using masking fluid easy and economical: 1. Prepare a very small container for transferring the appropriate quantity of masking fluid you'll need for your work. 2. Use a tiny spoon to transfer the masking fluid from its original receptacle into the smaller container. 3. Don't leave the masking fluid bottle open for too long. Wipe the cap and brim of the container with a tissue immediately after use. Here's an extra tip: It's possible to draw very precise, fine lines with the masking fluid when using a slender knife. Art Tip provided by Passion4Art.com

Sure looks purty! Guess the hard work paid off.

Yup! But still not sure of the wallpaper. I had the pearly gray version on here before but thought the blue might be nicer. Thoughts?

I actually like the blue, goes with the border nicely. It's quite restful. (I picked some up earlier - sort of celtic - want to look, not for here but maybe elsewhere sometime?)

go to this site to look at a slide show on African pottery techniques. it's fascinating. http://www.uiowa.edu/~intl/links/rft/pottery.html#arrow

I'd like to see what Caltic stuff you found...yes! Please tell me the url - even in email if you want to save it - or send the file. I chose this knotwork because it resembled handsewing. I agree with the blue background. I found it for the TV conference make-over and it is gorgeous in there with the most spectacular horizontal bars ever! Ok on the url for pottery...

I found some great African stuff too, but I seem to have misplaced it! The other is on it's way.

Ok...Love the heavy Celtic stone-looking bars but wonder if they are not too massive to go in Spring's format... There was an interesting pale blue one but when tiled it was not very celtic nor was it better than what is here now. I have gotten very attached to my blue broadloom and thread knotwork...

Yes, I looked at the pale blue one too. Didn't really think it would go here. I like the knotwork too. Let you know if I come up with anything else. I'm looking for African ones (*being mysterious!*). If I scan in my own cloth how do i make it into background? (Is that possible?)

Can I have a glass painting and or greetings cards topic please, and that will spur me into geting some done!