Trisha Leung is a digital photography enthusiast and regularly submits articles to http://www.picturecorrect.com/ which offers tips and news about digital photography, digital camera reviews, photoshop tutorials and computer wallpaper.
Bird watchers are rabid about bird watching, and rightfully so. If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas for bird watching presents, here are a few keepers.
As with practically anything in our modern society, there are all kinds of gadgets and unique gifts that make great Christmas gift ideas for bird watching presents.
1. Electronic Bird Identifier - The Electronic Bird Finder is a device that provides you with the ability to recognize bird sounds and appearances through a comparison with a database in the device. Bird appearances are shown on the device and an ear plug lets you listen to bird calls until you match what you are hearing in the wild with a specific bird in the database. About the size of a pager, the device comes in an easy to carry pouch and is built to take a pounding. You can expect to pay $25 to $50. Just search for “electronic bird finder” on the web to find cost options. .
2. Bird Watcher’s Digest - Bird Watcher’s Digest is “the” magazine for bird watchers. Great for beginners and avid birding fanatics, the magazine covers unique bird watching locations, birding tips and reviews of Big Day bird watching events to mention just a few items. A one-year subscription will set you back a whopping $19.95, money well spent when you see your friend or loved one hunkered down on the couch and reading away.
3. Trek Pod - This handy device is so cool it should be illegal. The Trek Pod is a multi-function device that acts as a hiking staff while you cruise around looking for optimal bird watching spots. Once you find the perfect location, the staff converts to a tripod you can mount binoculars, cameras and scopes onto. Oh, WHY didn’t I think of this?! You can expect to pay $135 for the Trek Pod.
4. Nomad Bird Watching Journals - A little self-promotion. Nomad Bird Watching Journals are great gifts for bird watching enthusiast. Whether they enjoy bird watching tours, backyard birding or bird watching vacations, these journals let bird watchers keep track of sightings, conditions, locations, people met and impressions of the birding experience. A great Christmas gift, you can see the journal by clicking the link in the byline of this article and expect to pay $25 for the journal with case.
Bird watching is sweeping the world. Now you know what to buy bird watching enthusiasts for the holidays.
About The Author
Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com/bird_watchers.cfm - makers of bird watching journals. Bird watching journals make great Christmas gifts for him or her.
Taking Up Beading? An Amazing Variety Of Books And Beading Kits Will Help You Get Started.
by: Aldene Fredenburg
Beading looms, Russian coraling techniques, crocheted bead jewelry, beading incorporated into purses and quilts there are so many ways to create beaded items that it’s hard to know where to start. Luckily, the Internet can bring an entire world of beading information, materials and supplies into your home. A quick search using the keyword “beading” results in hundreds of websites offering beading materials and supplies, free beading patterns, and a wealth of books for students of beading, both beginning and advanced.
For the beginner, the book Simply Beautiful Beading: 53 Quick and Easy Projects, by Heidi Boyd, offers a variety of attractive designs for jewelry and accessories, as well as projects for home décor. She teaches thirteen basic beading techniques, all easy to do and all of which result in beautifully made items for personal use. Another book, Bead Fantasies, by Takako Samejima, teaches easy techniques which result in wonderfully delicate and feminine jewelry and other crafted items.
If you’re interested in the intricate designs possible with the use of a bead weaving loom, explore the Dover Needlework series volume, Big Book of Indian Beadwork Designs, by Kay Doherty Bennett. One of many excellent beading books with a Native American theme, this particular book has a wealth of authentic Native American designs to copy or adapt to your own projects, for jewelry and to add to clothing, bags, and other crafted items.
You can also find information, both in these books and on the Internet, about the materials and supplies you need to start beading: bead boards, bead crimping tools, stringing wire, tweezers, a variety of beading looms - and, of course, beads and findings, thousands of them, from all around the world. From the tiniest seed beads to large, colorful ceramic or glass beads, to intricately designed silver beads, bells, and pendants, they are available from virtually anywhere in the world. If you want to make it easy on yourself, order a beading kit: many are available for all skill levels, and will get you set up with the basic tools needed for the craft, in addition to supplying you with the beads necessary for the specific project.
Beaders are a passionate lot, and many websites available on the Internet offer galleries of personal work for your inspiration; many also offer free beading patterns, as well as free instruction, even free online courses in beading. Pick a project that attracts you, and try to copy it using the techniques you know. Play with it; choose different color combinations, incorporate the design into a different application from the one shown, explore using beads of different sizes and shapes to see what results. Pick up a book on color or basic design and incorporate those principles into your work. You may find that you move very quickly from simply copying the designs of other artists to creating your own designs, and from there you’ll very quickly develop your own personal style.
amfredenburg@yahoo.com.
articles@tipsandtopics.com
How to Build a Simple Potting Bench
by: Michael McGroarty
The potting bench that you are about to read about is not fancy, but very functional. It is also very easy to build and use. Except it doesn’t have any legs! Don’t panic, having a legless potting bench is actually a benefit. I’ll get to that a little later.
The potting bench described in this article is actually identical to the potting bench that we have been using for years in our backyard nursery, and it has served us well, potting up tens of thousands of plants. I like it because it is large enough to pot up around ten small plants at a time, and it holds a significant amount of soil.
However, since I originally wrote this article, I designed and built a potting bench for home gardeners that you may like better. There are lots of photos and step by step plans for building it on this page: http://www.freeplants.com/free-potting-bench-plans.htm
On the above page you will also find a photo of one of my other potting bench designs, an outhouse with a flip out potting bench! It’s unique, that’s for sure.
Okay., back to my legless potting bench.
Here’s a short list of what you’ll need to build Mike’s rugged, but functional potting bench.
Tools: A screwdriver, a small box wrench or crescent wrench, or if you have a 1/4″ drive socket set that’s even better. A tape measure, a small square, a drill, and a power saw.
Materials: One full sheet (4′ by 8′) of 3/4″ treated plywood. Make sure it is treated so it will last a long time. Untreated plywood does not hold up well at all outdoors.
15 dohickeys (you know, those little metal angle brackets, or corner brackets used to connect two boards together at a right angle.) These metal brackets are bent in a 90 degree angle and have two holes drilled in them.
30 bolts with nuts 1-¼” long, and the correct size to fit the angle brackets you buy.
60 flat washers that fit the bolts.
To see the potting bench you are going to build, go to http://gardening-articles.com/28-potting%20bench.htm
“Mike’s Legless Potting Bench”
If you use this article you can use the photos that accompany the article, as long as you leave the reference to http://www.freeplants.com on the photos.
Notice in the above referenced photo that one end of the bench is resting on the potting soil pile, and the other on concrete blocks. Not having legs is really an advantage because you can get the potting bench much closer to your potting soil pile.
Before you start, draw this out on paper so you know exactly what each piece of wood is supposed to look like before make any cuts. This way you won’t make a mistake that will ruin your piece of plywood.
Lay the plywood on a flat surface, like your garage floor. From one end measure in 16″ and draw a line across the sheet of plywood. With your saw, cut along this line. The piece that you are cutting off is 16″ by 48″.
Now draw a diagonal line across the smaller piece of plywood. (The one you just removed from the sheet.) Cut along this line. You should now have two triangular pieces that measure 48″ on one side and 16″ on one side.
These pieces should be in the shape of a right triangle. Now you are going to remove a small piece from the pointed end of the triangular pieces. To do this, measure 24″ from the right angle, along the 48″ side and make a mark. Using a small square draw a line from this mark across the pointed end of the plywood. This line should be at a right angle to the 48″ side of the board. This line should only be about 4″ long. Cut along this line, removing the small piece from the pointed end. Discard the small piece you cut off. The piece you have left should be 16″ on one end, 24″ on one side, and about 4″ where you made the cut to remove the pointed end.
The two smaller boards you have left should be identical. These are the sides for your potting bench.
Now back to the larger piece of wood. This piece should now measure 80″ by 48″. From the long side measure over 16″ and draw a line from one end to the other. Cut along this line. The piece you are removing should be 16″ by 80″, leaving a piece 32″ by 80″.
These two pieces will serve as the bottom and the back of your potting bench. Take the back piece and stand it on edge, on top of the piece that will serve as the bottom of the bench to get an idea of how your potting bench is going to fit together. Make five marks where you will mount the angle brackets that will hold these two pieces together. Just space the five brackets along the two boards, making sure not to put any too close to the end so they don’t interfere when you install the two end pieces. Just keep the brackets about 1-½” from each end.
Note: Once you have the brackets installed and the bolts all tight you might want to cut off the ends of the bolts and file them smooth if they are sticking out so far as to be a hazard when you are handling the potting bench.
Once you have all five brackets installed and the back of the potting bench mounted to the bottom, you can then install the two side pieces. With the two side pieces installed you are now the proud owner of a legless potting bench. You can install legs if you’d like to, but I like mine without legs because I can get it much closer to my pile of potting soil.
What I do is rest one end of the bench right on the pile of potting soil, and then support the other end with a saw horse, concrete blocks, or milk crates. By placing one end right on the soil pile, it is very easy to shovel the soil onto the bench. Not having legs also makes the bench easier to store and move around.
When I want to use it as a table for making cuttings, I just put a saw horse under each end.
There you have it. Mike’s famous legless potting bench. It ain’t pretty, but it’s very functional.
You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm
