http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/hobbies/accessorizing-your-gifts-in-a-jar.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/hobbies/accessorizing-your-gifts-in-a-jar.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Are you helping a child to make the gift? If the gift is from a child for a grandparent, parent or teacher, decoupage the child's photo on the outside of the jar, then trim the edges of the photo with lace or some other finishing type of ribbon. The child could even paint a little something on the opposite side of the jar or his or her little handprint with paint.

One common way to decorate a jar is take some fabric and cut a circle, square or heart shape out of the fabric that is 6 - 8 inches across. You can use pinking shears or other decorative type scissors to edge the fabric. Lace can also be sewn as a trim to the fabric. Place the inner round section of the jar's lid on the jar and center the fabric on that. Screw the other section of the lid in place to hold the fabric. Fluff out the fabric where it comes out from under the lid.

You can use already decorated type jars, or standard canning jars. The most common sizes are the pint and quart sized jars, but baby jars are also great for smaller portion drink or spice type mix gifts.

Hang tags can be made either by hand, computer graphics or a label glued to the jar itself, but these can be customized to a central theme if desired. However you choose to do this, they will need the recipe’s final instructions. Try your hand at calligraphy!

There are many wonderful recipes that can be made specifically designed for jars. These include soup mixes, spice mixes, cookie and other baked goods recipes, coffee and creamer recipes and so many more. These can be quite easy to make ahead of time, so you always have a gift you can grab whenever you need one, especially great for those last minute gift needs, or for the person who seems to have everything and is difficult to buy for.

You can paint the jar before filling it. Buy paint that is specially designed for glass and follow the specific directions. Can't paint? Try finding a card or picture or something you'd like to put on the jar, and get it on paper. Place the paper inside the jar, and then simply let your painting basically be tracing the design and adding your own personal touches to it. Again, this can really be used for a theme and the jar itself will remain a keepsake long after the recipe has been used.


Layer the ingredients for a beautiful effect. Put at the bottom layers the finest ingredients, like flour but be sure to mix in the baking sodas, salt, etc that's called for in the recipes. You can use a funnel to help keep things orderly. If the flour dusts the rest of the jar, let it settle a while then gently wipe the jar with a paper towel before adding the rest of the layers. Brown sugar can be packed down to save a bit of space.

You can accessorize your jar gifts by either gluing dried flowers, pinecones, beads, shells or whatever to the top of the jars as well. Or tie small items with ribbon or raffia to the jars. Common items that work well are measuring spoons, tiny whisks, cookie cutter, ornaments, cinnamon bark, vanilla beans or any other small whimsical item you may find.

There are many beautiful ribbons out there and different styles and sizes of bows can be made and simply glued on to the lid. Lace can also be hot glued around the rim of the jar.

For a holiday themed jar try a luscious hot cocoa mix or other goodie recipe, gluing some wrapping paper decor around various sides of the jar, or you can use some glitter paint for a snow type theme. For a Wild West theme, try perhaps a bean soup recipe, wrap your jar in a bandana, or use the bandana itself as tied around the lid. Perhaps you can find a cowboy boot or hat graphic to decoupage on the jar itself, or paint one on.

Get creative in how you want to present your jar gift. This might mean a gift basket filled with several jar gifts, or simply one with other components making up the whole gift basket

What about the tea lover you know? Try some small baby jars filled with different flavored teas, cocoas and coffee mixes and put in a basket with a coffee mug and muffin or scone. Paint the jar lids coordinating colors to match the mug. Perhaps adding some gourmet tea bags and cinnamon sticks would be a nice touch as well. Let your creativity guide your senses.


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By Valerie Garner who likes to explore issues of
creativity in various forms. Check out her site as well for some quick and wonderful tasting
jar gift recipes


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/career/realistic-time-budgeting-tips.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/career/realistic-time-budgeting-tips.html Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Many of the frustrations of this are due to our expectations of what we can accomplish in that amount of time too high, and unrealistic. When we can look at it more objectively, it can reduce stress in our lives, and give more of a sense of accomplishment when we do reach our goals.

Say you have 6 hours available to do a certain project. Prioritize the tasks you want to tackle, with number one being the top priority. Now figure in your typical day, what percentage of that time is typically going to “putting out fires” If approximately 1/3 of your time is this type of work / situation, deduct that amount of time and your original 6 hours minus 2 hours of putting out fires, will give you 4 working hours.

Now, consider the average interruption will take about 8 minutes to deal with before mentally you’re back where you were before the interruption. How many interruptions are typical in your day? Let’s say you get 10 interruptions, 80 minutes. Now subtract those 80 minutes from your 4 hours, now you’ve got a little over 2 hours left to try to accomplish what you thought you actually had 6 hours to do. Is it any wonder why we didn’t get as much done as we had hoped? I believe this will reduce frustration just knowing this, and will allow us to plan our day with much more realistic goals. If something is added to our to-do list, then something else must give to make room.

There are some things that can be done to help however. Just looking at this may help you pin point sources of time wasters. Is there anything that can be done to minimize the need to “put out the fires”? Are there any types of preventative actions that can be taken to at least reduce it?

What about interruptions? Can a phone voice mail be used instead of answering the phone? Then when you do need to return calls, do them as a group, one right after another. What about email? Do you have to respond to emails during this time frame? Again, try to lump like tasks together, when you do need to email, handle it all at once instead of the second they hit your inbox.

Then realize, what you thought was your 6 hours, in reality were perhaps a little over 2. Attack your to-do list with your highest priority, then give yourself a pat on the back for working your best with those 2 hours you had, and that in reality, you did fill 6 hours, and perhaps have a better understanding of where it went. Knowing this will help reduce the stress and frustration of trying to accomplish what may not be possible, and give your planning a more realistic approach.


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By Valerie Garner - Exploring work life balance issues to find that right fit! The Comfortable Life

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/pets/pet-chinchillas.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/pets/pet-chinchillas.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500
You may wish to consider a chinchilla as a possible pet. They are of the rodent family, (but it doesn't seem that way).

I got my first pair of chinchillas, as adults, a proven breeding pair. They were nice enough but they never really did bond with us. We ended up having 3 litters total. They usually have 1-3 babies (also known as kits), and their pregnancy is 111 days (about 4 months), which is a very long gestation period for an animal that size.

The babies are born fully formed, "ready to go" you might say. Fully furred, eyes opened, running around. They can even eat adult food almost from day 1, although they prefer to nurse.

Chinchillas eat prepared chinchilla food that comes in a pellet form. They also need 1 raisin a day (which they LOVE!). Every few days it's a good idea to give them a dust bath. You can purchase "chinchilla dust" at a pet store. You put it in a bowl and they dive in, roll and kick up a fuss, and is a pure delight to watch. Company always loves to watch "Ittle bittle" take her bath.

The real joy for us came as we kept one of the babies. She bonded really well with us, as she was handled a lot from birth on. She has been one of the BEST pets I've ever had (of any kind of animal). She is playful, friendly, never bites, when she "barks" it’s a quiet, cute kind of bark. A whole lot of personality and character she is.

Chins are a more playful active type pet, versus a sit down lap animal. I would recommend getting a baby if you decide to get a chinchilla. They usually run about $100. in the US for a pet, but that price can vary a lot.

Another very nice quality about chins as pets, is they have no claws or fingernails. They have these little soft pads on the bottom of their feet, so you don't get scratched. I wouldn't recommend them with small children however, as young children could easily hurt a chinchilla.

I found when I was trying to sell the babies that most people had no idea of what a chinchilla was, or had even seen them. That made it a bit difficult to find good homes at times, although with such few babies, this wasn't a problem. The people who did come to purchase a chin had one thing in common: all of them had either owned a chinchilla previously, or had a close friend who did and had been around them before. That really says something about this type of animal for a pet.

They have a life span of about 10-15 years. They do need to live indoors, or a climate type controlled setting. Chins come in a variety of colors but the standard gray color is the most common, and the other, more rare colors will cost more usually. Because of their long life span, be sure you’re ready for that commitment before getting one however.

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By Valerie Garner - Owner and candlemaker of highly scented, quality soy candles, with hundreds of scents offered! Joyful Designs in Soy Candles

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/health/lifestyle/the-effect-of-scent-on-moods.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/lifestyle/the-effect-of-scent-on-moods.html Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Some scents are tied to certain memories, and if those memories were good or bad, will probably have a huge influence on whether the scent is liked or not. For instance, if mom made a great apple pie and there were lots of good memories of that apple pie, odds are you would find the scent of apple pie comforting and homey. Many people have fond memories of a lilac bush in grandma’s yard. The list goes on and on. You may want to ask yourself what scents you typically tie to good memories, those could be a good place to start.

There are categories of scents that are commonly known to have certain affects on people’s moods. These are listed below:

1. Romantic scents: jasmine, patchouli, freesia, gardenia, rose, sandalwood, cinnamon.
2. Energizers: tangerine, eucalyptus, mint, lemon, bergamot, ginger.
3. Calming: lavender, frankincense & myrrh, cedar, almond, heliotrope, marjoram, hyacinth, vanilla.
4. Refreshing: eucalyptus, grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, mint, tangerine, rosemary.

This also helps to explain why we tend to prefer different scents based on our moods. I know mine vary quite a lot, as does my taste in candle scents. I think that’s true with most of us. Perhaps it’s time to try another type of scent that you wouldn’t naturally gravitate to, you may find you discover a new favorite when the "mood" hits you.


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By Valerie Garner. Discover beautifully scented, lovingly hand poured candles made from the wax of soybeans. Clean and long burning, with hundreds of gorgeous scents to choose from. Joyful Designs in Soy Candles.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/self-improvement/success/overcoming-burn-out.html http://www.articletrader.com/self-improvement/success/overcoming-burn-out.html Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500
It is vital the steps be done to overcome burn out before it causes major impact to your life’s goals and directions.

There are many things that can be done to help deal with burn out. If at all possible, take a vacation. For those that it’s not possible, or at least in the time frame you need, let’s look at some other things that can be implemented.

1. Try to clear your calendar of everything for a while that is not a total necessity.
2. Do some things on the physical level to help, get extra sleep, try eating only organic foods for a while, take some good quality vitamins, and get some exercise that especially will get you some fresh air.
3. Spend some time trying to pinpoint tasks / situations in life that are both draining, and giving. Once you’ve done that, perhaps ask for help or delegate those things that are a draining force. Increase activities that are refreshing.
4. Talk to someone else, outside of the situation, could be a friend, family, life coach, counseling, etc. They may be able to offer insights and suggestions you can’t see. Sometimes it’s tough to see the trees through the forest.
5. After a period of doing some of these suggestions, see if the burnout is on the way out. If not, it may be a time to really evaluate your life’s paths, career, etc. Perhaps it’s a bad match to who you are as a person and it would be best to make a change, but it’s better to do that from a position of strength, and not of desperation to make a change just for change’s sake.

Sometimes, burn out can be a reality check that our life is out of balance in some way and adjustments are good and very healthy and necessary to our lives. I believe there are very real seasons in each person’s lives’ and perhaps it can be a changing of one season to another new one. It is important however, to step back and see what our bodies are telling us when we experience burn out. Who knows, perhaps it may even be one of those “hidden blessings” that we look back on years later and think, “you know, that was the beginning of a real, positive change in my life.”

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By Valerie Garner. Discover beautifully scented, lovingly hand poured candles made from the wax of soybeans. Clean and long burning, with hundreds of gorgeous scents to choose from. Joyful Designs in Soy Candles

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>