by Gregg Hall
There are a wide variety of hobbies that people take up to fill their spare time. Hobbies can range from activities such as knitting or drawing to rebuilding computers and cars. One broad hobby that encompasses many walks of life is collecting. It is such a broad hobby because collections can be comprised of almost anything that pleases the collector. A popular collector item is cars, however, this is also a broad topic. Collectors may accumulate luxury cars, old cars to be restored, or even miniature car replicas. The latter being the most wallet friendly and easy to store makes it a very common collectible item.
If one's interest lies with miniature cars, diecast cars will certainly be visible on their radar. More specifically, NASCAR diecast cars are often sought after by collectors. However, for the novice collector, the cost of building up a NASCAR diecast collection can be quite pricey. Some collectors argue that spending a portion of their life savings to maintain their collection robs them of their enjoyment. One option these collectors have is to seek bargains on Ebay. While some sellers may hike their prices in order to turn a large profit on the mega internet trading website, others are in it for the love of collecting. Therefore, one stands a decent chance at finding NASCAR diecast at affordable prices so that their desire of owning a collection may be satiated. So how does an inexperienced collector differentiate good deals from rip-offs?
Firstly, one must consider the specifications and features of the car before determining its value. The main specification in determining the price of diecast cars is the size, and, as most things go, bigger size means bigger price tag.
For a few reasons the 1/64 scale is an excellent way to get started collecting diecast cars: they are low-priced and easy to store. A good way to get started is to buy in bulk lots. In this way one gets a good amount of cars for a reasonable price and they can then be displayed in a case or on shelving without looking bare. If you are on the opposite end of the collector spectrum and are considering selling some or all of your cars, selling in bulk lots is also a great option. Ebay is a great place to get started buying and/or selling lots, just remember to include ample pictures and thorough descriptions in order to get the most bidders.
There are options for more savvy collectors who desire a more advanced collection. The 1/24 and 1/8 scale cars are more expensive than the 1/64 scale, but they are bigger and often have movable hoods and doors which add a realistic aspect. There are different styles of 1/24 cars such as the Sprint, Nextel, and Craftsman series. All of these series boast quality detail, but the Craftsman series is harder to find because the demand is lower than those of the other series. The 1/8 scale cars are the most expensive and are much larger than the other scales. If space is an issue, consider where you will store these models before purchasing them.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Display your Scrapbook Layouts Out of an Album
By Christina VanGinkel
Framing layouts is nothing new, and I think it is a great way to show off layouts with special meaning or some significance beyond your more ordinary pages. However, what if you think that all of your layouts are worthy of some special recognition, at least for a while. Maybe you just like the way a layout turned out and putting it away in an album feels too final. Maybe you only get to share your albums with those who appreciate them once or twice a year, like when your mom or sister comes for a visit. So just finishing each layout and tucking it into a protective sleeve in an album might seem more like an ending than a feeling of satisfaction that you have created something unique and worthy of being shared.
Moreover, not every scrapbook layout belongs tucked away in an album, at least not right away! After you have worked hard and laboriously on some of them, they should be framed and hung on the wall for all to see, or if not framed, at least displayed for a while. This is actually a great way to share your work with some people that might not otherwise have an opportunity to see what you do. So how else can you display those layouts, other than lining your walls with frame after frame?
One way to temporarily display your pages, until you are ready to put them in an album, is to hang them from a clothesline, or should I call it a layout line. It can be fashioned from any lightweight line you have or pick up a roll of thin cording from the craft department or home wares department at your favorite store. Keep it thin though, otherwise you risk leaving a mark on your pages that you do not want. Pick up a pack of tiny craft clothes pines, big enough to clip your pages in place, small enough that they also will not leave a mark. Paperclips will also work. Ideally, insert your finished layouts in a protective sleeve, and attach the clips to the ends, and not to the layout itself. Even if the album you plan to put them in does not have a removable sleeve, pick up a pack of inexpensive ones just for your temporary line of display. (Our local dollar store carries them in packs of ten for a dollar. At ten cents apiece, that is a hard price to beat.)
String your line in a place that you can hang your finished pages for everyone to admire, but where they will not be damaged prematurely by the sun or prying fingers of small children. If you have a dedicated scrap space, that can be the best place to hang them. Not only will others get a chance to admire your work, you will be able to be inspired during future projects yourself. As the line becomes filled, move the end ones to your album, that way you never have to worry about which ones to put away next.
If your pages just seem too precious to leave out, but you still like the idea of displaying them, scan each finished page when completed, store the original way in the album of your choice, and print a copy of the page. The copies can be life-sized, if you have a printer capable of this, or in a smaller format. I actually prefer to print them smaller, as the finished display is easier to leave about. An 8" x 8" is a good size as you can find protective sleeves in that size. Assemble a group of them together and make a coffee table book. The book does not need a cover, just slide each page in a protective sleeve, pinch some holes along one edge with a three whole punch or a simple paper punch, if the sleeves you use are not already made for insertion in some sort of binder, and slide a keychain styled ring through one or all of the holes. Visitors can flip through your book of layouts while your originals are stored away safely, and the book itself will stay looking new in its protective sleeves for many visitors to come. If you are concerned about the pages sliding out, slide a decorative paper clip over the top of each page or even use a decorative stapler to staple each sleeve securely closed.
Framing layouts is nothing new, and I think it is a great way to show off layouts with special meaning or some significance beyond your more ordinary pages. However, what if you think that all of your layouts are worthy of some special recognition, at least for a while. Maybe you just like the way a layout turned out and putting it away in an album feels too final. Maybe you only get to share your albums with those who appreciate them once or twice a year, like when your mom or sister comes for a visit. So just finishing each layout and tucking it into a protective sleeve in an album might seem more like an ending than a feeling of satisfaction that you have created something unique and worthy of being shared.
Moreover, not every scrapbook layout belongs tucked away in an album, at least not right away! After you have worked hard and laboriously on some of them, they should be framed and hung on the wall for all to see, or if not framed, at least displayed for a while. This is actually a great way to share your work with some people that might not otherwise have an opportunity to see what you do. So how else can you display those layouts, other than lining your walls with frame after frame?
One way to temporarily display your pages, until you are ready to put them in an album, is to hang them from a clothesline, or should I call it a layout line. It can be fashioned from any lightweight line you have or pick up a roll of thin cording from the craft department or home wares department at your favorite store. Keep it thin though, otherwise you risk leaving a mark on your pages that you do not want. Pick up a pack of tiny craft clothes pines, big enough to clip your pages in place, small enough that they also will not leave a mark. Paperclips will also work. Ideally, insert your finished layouts in a protective sleeve, and attach the clips to the ends, and not to the layout itself. Even if the album you plan to put them in does not have a removable sleeve, pick up a pack of inexpensive ones just for your temporary line of display. (Our local dollar store carries them in packs of ten for a dollar. At ten cents apiece, that is a hard price to beat.)
String your line in a place that you can hang your finished pages for everyone to admire, but where they will not be damaged prematurely by the sun or prying fingers of small children. If you have a dedicated scrap space, that can be the best place to hang them. Not only will others get a chance to admire your work, you will be able to be inspired during future projects yourself. As the line becomes filled, move the end ones to your album, that way you never have to worry about which ones to put away next.
If your pages just seem too precious to leave out, but you still like the idea of displaying them, scan each finished page when completed, store the original way in the album of your choice, and print a copy of the page. The copies can be life-sized, if you have a printer capable of this, or in a smaller format. I actually prefer to print them smaller, as the finished display is easier to leave about. An 8" x 8" is a good size as you can find protective sleeves in that size. Assemble a group of them together and make a coffee table book. The book does not need a cover, just slide each page in a protective sleeve, pinch some holes along one edge with a three whole punch or a simple paper punch, if the sleeves you use are not already made for insertion in some sort of binder, and slide a keychain styled ring through one or all of the holes. Visitors can flip through your book of layouts while your originals are stored away safely, and the book itself will stay looking new in its protective sleeves for many visitors to come. If you are concerned about the pages sliding out, slide a decorative paper clip over the top of each page or even use a decorative stapler to staple each sleeve securely closed.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Stamp Collecting
Stamps have been around almost as long as letters have been sent out and collecting these little windows of the different countries has been a hobby for almost as long. Stamp collecting is a hobby that has been done by presidents, kings and other famous people to children and just about any average person. Also known as philately, stamp collecting can be a great hobby for learning about other countries. You can learn about their history, their geography and even receive a little snapshot of their countries. Children can also learn about the currency of the country by the amount of money that the stamp is worth.
While collecting stamps you can ask yourself, why is that picture on the stamp? Quite often it is a person of some significance to the history of the country or someone that did something remarkable in that particular country. Or perhaps it is a flower or fruit that is indigenous to that area. It is interesting to take collecting just that one step further and question why that picture is on the stamp and learn more about it and now with the Internet, that can be even easier to do.
Before you begin stamp collecting, you will want to look into purchasing a few basis supplies. One of the major necessities for stamp collecting is an album to hold and display your stamps. These can be purchased at specialty hobby stores and can come in a variety of styles and sizes. They can cover a specific area such as flowers; airplanes etc. or cover a specific country such as Great Britain. If you cannot afford to purchase a whole album you can consider purchasing separate sheets and mark each sheet accordingly to the country perhaps or the object that you want to collect stamps on (like bears perhaps). But whatever you do, you will want to make sure the sheets are acid free and will keep your stamps safe.
Next, I would suggest you purchase a magnifying glass. This will aid you in viewing your stamps. The smallest details on your stamps can mean the world of difference. The valuable of a stamp can depend on the smallest of detail.
Another suggestion would be to purchase tongs for moving around your stamps. By using tongs to pick up your stamps, the grease and other unpleasentries that are naturally on your skin will not rub off onto your stamp and thus damaging the surface and possibly affecting the value. You will not want to use house hold tweezers as these could damage the stamp. Look for tongs that have a flat head and thus make it easy to pick up stamps.
One thing that is quite important is stamp hinges or mounts. Horrors of horrors if you actually glue your stamp to the paper it is being displayed on. Hinges are little scraps of paper that have glue affixed to them. Hinges do disturb the back of the stamp somewhat, so they can be used for used stamps but mounts do not affect the back of the stamp at all. So, if you have a stamp that is worth quite a bit, consider purchasing mounts for your valuable stamps.
Stamp collecting can be an individual or a family thing. You can start by asking friends and families for stamps (I am lucky, I work at a company that gets mail from all over the world!) You can soak them off the envelopes and there you have it; an addition to your stamp collection. You can go to your local post office and choose some new (or mint) stamps or go to a coin and stamp store (some larger cities have such stores.) There are several places you can go to get stamps if you search.
Is stamp collecting a thing of the past? While stamp collecting is not currently as a popular hobby as it perhaps once was (it would seem the children and possibly adults are seen as nerds, geeks or kind of weird). I am here in defence of stamp collecting as it can teach you so much about different countries by the picture on the stamp. It can also teach children organizational skills (they have to sort and keep their stamps organized). But with letter writing quickly becoming a thing of the past because of emails and faxes which seems to be the way to send just about everything these days, I wonder if stamp collecting will soon go the way of the dinosaur.
While collecting stamps you can ask yourself, why is that picture on the stamp? Quite often it is a person of some significance to the history of the country or someone that did something remarkable in that particular country. Or perhaps it is a flower or fruit that is indigenous to that area. It is interesting to take collecting just that one step further and question why that picture is on the stamp and learn more about it and now with the Internet, that can be even easier to do.
Before you begin stamp collecting, you will want to look into purchasing a few basis supplies. One of the major necessities for stamp collecting is an album to hold and display your stamps. These can be purchased at specialty hobby stores and can come in a variety of styles and sizes. They can cover a specific area such as flowers; airplanes etc. or cover a specific country such as Great Britain. If you cannot afford to purchase a whole album you can consider purchasing separate sheets and mark each sheet accordingly to the country perhaps or the object that you want to collect stamps on (like bears perhaps). But whatever you do, you will want to make sure the sheets are acid free and will keep your stamps safe.
Next, I would suggest you purchase a magnifying glass. This will aid you in viewing your stamps. The smallest details on your stamps can mean the world of difference. The valuable of a stamp can depend on the smallest of detail.
Another suggestion would be to purchase tongs for moving around your stamps. By using tongs to pick up your stamps, the grease and other unpleasentries that are naturally on your skin will not rub off onto your stamp and thus damaging the surface and possibly affecting the value. You will not want to use house hold tweezers as these could damage the stamp. Look for tongs that have a flat head and thus make it easy to pick up stamps.
One thing that is quite important is stamp hinges or mounts. Horrors of horrors if you actually glue your stamp to the paper it is being displayed on. Hinges are little scraps of paper that have glue affixed to them. Hinges do disturb the back of the stamp somewhat, so they can be used for used stamps but mounts do not affect the back of the stamp at all. So, if you have a stamp that is worth quite a bit, consider purchasing mounts for your valuable stamps.
Stamp collecting can be an individual or a family thing. You can start by asking friends and families for stamps (I am lucky, I work at a company that gets mail from all over the world!) You can soak them off the envelopes and there you have it; an addition to your stamp collection. You can go to your local post office and choose some new (or mint) stamps or go to a coin and stamp store (some larger cities have such stores.) There are several places you can go to get stamps if you search.
Is stamp collecting a thing of the past? While stamp collecting is not currently as a popular hobby as it perhaps once was (it would seem the children and possibly adults are seen as nerds, geeks or kind of weird). I am here in defence of stamp collecting as it can teach you so much about different countries by the picture on the stamp. It can also teach children organizational skills (they have to sort and keep their stamps organized). But with letter writing quickly becoming a thing of the past because of emails and faxes which seems to be the way to send just about everything these days, I wonder if stamp collecting will soon go the way of the dinosaur.
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