Decorating Your Home Gym

Homeowners are famous for renovating and redecorating. It theres a space in their home that needs a new look, out comes the color swatches and home decorating magazines. It doesnt matter which space you decided to decorate, a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen or even a home gym. Home decorating can make improvements to any area in your home. Decorating your home gym is probably not at the top of your list but why not add some life to the room which is meant to be motivating and full of energy. If thinking of decorating your home gym, you might first of all consider the purpose of this room. A home gym is a space used to exercise, work-out and recharge your batteries. This area is intended to be motivational and used by energetic people. With these factors in mind, decorating your home gym should enhance the space, add to the environment and improve the rooms appearance. Decorating your home gym may require some thought and imagination. This task could be difficult for you if the home gym is not one of your favourite rooms in the house. If youre not an active person or interested in using your home gym, finding ways to improve the space may not really interest you, at least not as much as decorating your kitchen would. If youre having trouble coming up with ideas for decorating your home gym, you may want to seek advice or flip through a few home decorating catalogues. Picking a theme for your home gym may be challenging. Its not exactly a spot to put a fancy, slip-covered country chair. Simple colors wont likely fit your home gym. Decorating your home gym ought to breathe life into the space. Using bright colors and lots of lighting might improve the atmosphere, adding energy to the room. When decorating your home gym you might want to choose a modern theme. Using vivid colors and trendy furniture would definitely make the room feel alive. Deciding on accessories for your home gym might be interesting. Pretty flowers and fancy ornaments wont bring anything to your home gym. This is a space created for working on your physical strength and appearance, not meant to be quiet and serene to work on your spiritual strength. When decorating your home gym remembering the rooms purpose should be able to help with ideas for accessories. Clocks make nice additions to home gyms. When working out people are constantly timing themselves and their progress. A good stereo system might be considered when decorating your home gym. Listening to music, loud lively music, helps set the mood when exercising. A television is a must in your home gym. Watching your favourite television program is a great distraction when you are using stationary exercise equipment. You get all caught up in the program and before you realize it, youve peddled the exercise bike for thirty-five minutes. Although initially you may have been a little apprehensive about the idea of decorating your home gym, once you get involved in the project and get your creative juices flowing, youll be surprised at what you can accomplish. With help from other sources like home decorating magazines, this project may be just the motivation needed to entice you to use your home gym on a regular basis.

Operating a Successful Candle Making Business

Making candles can be great fun. Some people choose to take their love of this art and make money doing what they enjoy spending their time on. There are many areas of the candle making business you need to consider before embarking on such an adventure. Knowing how to make quality candles isnt enough. You need to educate yourself on ways to promote your candles, ordering supplies, offering customer service, and determining a price for your candles. We all know candles are a very popular item, so the market for such products is out there. However, that market cant purchase your candles if they dont know about it. You will need to establish a plan including where you plan to sell your candles, and then come up with a handle of ways to get attention to them. There are many places to sell candles. You can do so from your own home or rent space at craft shows. Often word of mouth will result in orders. You can also choose to advertise on the internet. Advertising online can be expensive, but it doesnt have to be. Write about your business on a blog or purchase services from a web hosting company. They often offer excellent tools for setting up a web page and directing traffic to your site. In addition, they provide the shopping cart and even credit card processing for you. Most web hosting companies charge $20 per month, which isnt a bad investment. Placing your candles on Ebay or other online auction sites is a great way to generate sales. As you accumulate feedback for selling a quality product you will get more buyers. Before you can do any advertising, you will need to decide what types of candles to sell. You will generate more sells if you show pictures of your work with each type of candle you sell. People buying candles want to visualize the product they are purchasing. Once your business starts turning a profit, consider buying supplies in large quantities to get a discount. The secret to being a successful candle making business is selling the product at a fair enough price that the consumer will buy it. Yet you also need to cover the cost of your time and supplies, while making a reasonable profit. Dont be tempted to cut corners on the quality of your supplies as this can greatly alter the quality of your product. Once the word is out that your quality is poor, you will have a hard time maintaining sales. To generate business, offer promotions. You can offer free shipping for your candle products at the online auction sites to have an advantage over the competition. Many auction surfers will buy a product with free shipping over one with low shipping. You can also offer a free candle with the purchase of three or even to send a personalized card if the buyer is going to use the candle as a gift. Many successful candle making companies offer personalized service. This means customers can ask for a particular type of candle in a color and you will make it for them. This often costs the customer more, but they are likely willing to pay it. Make sure you communicate well with your customers and know exactly what they want before committing to such a project. Every business experiences issues that come up. This is to be expected. Customers are likely to be more forgiving of such issues if they are provided with quality customer service. Make sure customers have a way to get into contact with you. Work out a resolution to any issues that you will both be happy with. It is best to outline return policies on your website as well so that there is a place customers can review such information. Choosing to start your own business is a wonderful and exciting time. Selling your own candles gives you a business where you can be proud of the quality product you are making. Taking the time to learn the basics of the business before jumping in will help ensure this is a fun business venture for you and hopefully one that is going to be quite profitable. PPPPP Word Count 708

Making Votive Candles

Votive candles are simple, yet beautiful. These candles are often used to accent a center piece or design. Often it entails more than one votive candle, but not always. Votives are very cost effective because they burn for about fifteen hours. Votives must have a holder as they are not safe to use as a free standing candle. Many individuals choose to use votive candles in their jack-o-lanterns at Halloween because they burn for a long time and illuminate the entire face of the jack-o-lantern. They are also one of the easiest types of candles to make. For beginners in the area of candle making votives provide a great learning experience to learn the basics of the candle making process. To get started, you will need to gather your votive candle items. This includes wax, molds, a double boiler, and a thermometer. You will need to have wick and wick tabs for votive candles. The wick tabs serve as a base for the candle. You can choose to purchase dye and fragrance if you wish for your votive candles. To ensure your candles will form properly in the molds, consider investing in mold spray to keep them clean and lubricated. Once the wax has melted, add in any colors and fragrances. Immediately pour the melted wax into the molds, filling them to the lip of the mold. For easy clean up, place old newspaper under the wax molds before you pour the wax into them. You will need to save about 20% of the melted wax for the next pouring process. While the wax is cooling in the molds, prepare your wicks. Attack a wick several inches longer than the mold to a wick tab. Dip the wicks into the hot wax. Keep an eye on the votive molds as they wont take as long to cool as other types of candles. Once you can tell the wax is starting to harden, insert a wick with the tab into each mold through the bottom. As the wax continues to cool, it will meld to the metal tab, ensuring it stays in place at the base of the candle. As the candles cool, make sure your wick is staying in the center of the votive. Once the wax has completely cooled, you will notice a sink hole in it due to shrinkage. You will want to pour melted wax into the molds again to remedy this. Make the wax about fifteen degrees hotter than the original wax you used to fill the votives. After the candles have completely cooled again, they will slide out of the molds easily. Trim the wick to about an inch from the top of the candle. For safety, you will want to use a votive holder that is an inch or two taller than the candle itself. Votive candles add class and charm to any home or special occasion. They are fun and simple to make. You can add any color or scent to your votive candles to add a personal touch to them. Votive candles burn for a long time, making them a worth while candle to use. They also make excellent gifts. To make the process even less expensive, look for votive candle holders at thrift shops and yard sales. You can further personalize your votive candles by applying pretty ribbon with a hot glue gun around the rim of the votive candle holder. PPPPP Word Count 574

Decorating your Home for Christmas

Christmas is an extremely busy time of year. By the time you get you shopping done, gifts wrapped and your cookies and cakes baked, its likely you dont have the energy left to put into extravagant decorating. Although less than energetic, you still want your home decorated for Christmas. After all, Christmas is just not the same without lights and decorations. Decorating your home for Christmas doesnt have to be stressful. There are many things you can do and items you can use to dress up your home for this wonderful season. One suggestion when decorating your home for Christmas is using ribbon. If you have a decorating theme for Christmas, regarding color, choose ribbon to correspond with your theme. You can tie ribbons to all sorts of items in your home such as chair backs, wreathes, basket handles, stair railings and even doorknobs. Ribbons and bows are very festive. A good idea is to choose ribbon which can be easily untied and retied. This way you can reuse the ribbon another Christmas season. Using holiday tableware is nice when decorating your home for Christmas. Search your home for anything Christmas, plates, bowls, mugs, glasses, any piece of tableware that has a Christmas theme. Make sure to use these items each and every meal, every day throughout the Christmas season. Another good idea is to buy a few pieces each year. In time youll have enough tableware to serve the entire community. Lighting is important when decorating your home for Christmas. During the month of December turn off your lights. Make use of your candles in every room of your home. Place candles on the dining table, on the coffee and end tables in the living room and perhaps place a nice scented pillar candle in the bathroom. Dont just put them there for decorations but also make sure to light them each night. If you have a fireplace, make sure to light it and enjoy it. A fireplace creates a cozy atmosphere which is nice when guests are visiting. Decorating your home for Christmas should always include a Christmas tree. After decorating the tree with your homemade ornaments and strung popcorn, use the leftover branches to make arrangements for your home. Put the greens in a basket or bowl, add pinecones, bows and ornaments. Use the branches to make swags to hang over doors throughout your home. Take the evergreen sprigs and place them around your home, on windows, on a bookcase shelf or on a ledge. Evergreen branches and sprigs certainly reflect Christmas. Not only do they look nice but they spread a lovely aroma throughout the home. Christmas is a time for celebrating. Its a time to pull out all the stops. Snow is always nice for Christmas. When decorating your home for Christmas, why not use snow, artificial snow to add a sparkle to your home. Sprinkle it on the dining table, the hutch or the fireplace. Use ornaments which reflect light and hang them around your home, from doors or even indoor trees and plants. This will definitely look dazzling at night as the candle light flickers off the ornaments. Decorating your home for Christmas shouldnt be a dreadful task but a delightful experience. One thing to remember when decorating your home for Christmas is not to over-think your plan. Keep it simple because simplicity is elegant and beautiful.

Making Unity Candles

Unity candles are often a very important part of traditional wedding ceremonies. This candle is a symbol of the union both families. The ceremony involves the bride and groom each lighting a taper candle with a large column candle in the middle. Once they have lit their taper candles, the bride and groom light the column with the flames form the tapers. It is very simple to make these beautiful candles. By making them, you can personalize the message the message on the column candle for those getting married. The message can be a poem, Biblical scripture, or even a photo of the couple getting married. Making the taper candles is very simple. It involves the hand dipping process. You will dip the two wicks over and over again in the hot wax until the taper candles are the desired width. After they have completely cooled you can trim the wick to inch of the top of the candle. To make the column candle you will need to use a candle mold. Simply heat the wax and pour it into the mold until it completely cools. Prior to pouring the wax into the mold you will need to insert the wick from the bottom of the mold. Cut the wick several inches longer so that you can tie it to a pencil or other object. This will keep the wick centered while the candle is cooling. After the column candle has cooled, you can place a poem, saying, photo, or even a wedding invitation to the candle using double stick tape or a glue gun. For a beautiful effect, consider cutting the attachment in an oval shape using the scissors that will leave a ridge all the way around the attachment. To add beauty and appeal to the unity candles, you can make bows for them out of the wedding colors. For best results, use a piece of wire for each candle. Twist the wire in the front gently so you dont damage the candles but enough to hold it securely in place. Dont worry about the wire being seen as the beautiful bows will cover it up. You will want to find some very pretty taper candle holders for these precious unity candles. Generally, the column candle will sit on a matching flat candle holder, similar to a small plate. With the overall expense of a wedding, creating your own unity candles or allowing a friend or family member to do so as a gift will save you plenty. There are many great books available in craft stores and some bridal shops that provide step by step instructions for creating your own unity candles. The internet also offers great ideas and tips for making the process fun. Creating quality candles doesnt have to be expensive or difficult. The unity candle ceremony is an important part of many wedding ceremonies. You can provide the bride and groom with a wonderful trio of candles for their ceremony that they will treasure forever. The ability to add a personalized attachment to the column candle is a great incentive for making them yourself. Making additional column candles for the parents of the bride and groom or the wedding party is a great gift idea as well. You can place them in gift bags with bows that match the colors of the wedding. PPPPP Word Count 563

Decorating the Interior of your Home

Is it time again to consider decorating the interior of your home? Are you enthused about this possibility or are you frustrated? Does the thought decorating the interior or your home make you want to skip town or does it make you anxious and excited? There are certainly mixed feelings when it comes to decorating the interior of homes. Not everyone is creative or skilled. They might assume they are incapable of interior decorating. Some people simply do not like this sort of project. Then there are those individuals who cant wait to roll up their sleeves and get into the paint and plaster. There is plenty of help available for every single individual, no matter what their feelings are regarding decorating the interior of their home. If you absolutely hate the idea of decorating the interior of your home, a professional interior decorator might be the best solution for you. They will work with you to help you choose a decorating design including colors, flooring, furnishings and accessories. They will put the plan in motion but youll probably need to hire a painter or someone to install your flooring. This is a great option if you can afford it but many people do not have the funds to pay a professional interior decorator, a painter and a flooring installer. If you are an adventurous person, decorating the interior of your home could be seen as just one more exciting encounter. Youll have no problems finding information about decorating the interior of your home. There are many magazines published every month which provide information and instructions for decorating the interior of your home. There are books, do-it-yourself books that give specific step-by-step details for decorating the interior of your home. The Internet is a great resource base for interior decorating information. Hundreds of sites are filled with useful details to help you plan your decorating and help you through the process. The television is also a good source regarding decorating the interior of your home. There are several reality television programs that can instruct you and give you ideas for your home decorating project. When you decide to decorate the interior of your home, you must first decide which room or rooms you will be changing. Choosing a theme will help you make decisions regarding color, furnishings, fabric and accessories. There are many themes to choose from including Victorian, Cottage, Modern, English Country, French Country, Traditional, Medieval, Moroccan, Art Deco, Southwestern, etc. Once you decide on a theme, you can then pick materials based around this interior home design. Using the various resources available for decorating the interior of your home, you ought to be capable of picking a color palette that will enhance your room, choose fabric that will add warmth, select furnishings which are comfortable and accessories which will accent and compliment your space. With the many resources available to you, many of them offering free home decorating ideas, you should be able to make decorating the interior of your home an exciting adventure with little or no stress and frustration.