Front Yard, Grave Yard

Halloween decorating can be a lot of fun for both the creator and the neighborhood. There are a lot of options for those who like to decorate their yard for this be-a-kid day, uh, night. Many different people either go all out or simply hang a paper skeleton on their front window. For those that go all out, the neighbor kids will gravitate to your place, so there will not be a shortage of ghosts, goblins and ghouls stopping by on October 31st.

One extremely fun type of decor is to make your front-yard into a grave yard. One can go completely elaborate with lighting, sound, lots of head-stones and even a mausoleum. However, you can start simple and do lots of grave-stones with very little effort and creativity. Head stones, grave stones and grave markers have been around since the dawn of time and have always been markers for the buried. They also can form the creep affect which is paramount on Halloween. If youre semi-creative or very creative you can have lots of fun making head stones.

To start, head over to your favorite lumber yard or home improvement center. Locate the insulation isle and find the pink or blue sheets of foam insulation. Your best bet is to use either the 1 1/2 or 2 inch sheets. Either size will work and color is irrelevant as youll be painting over them anyway.

Once you have your trusty sheet of foam home and in the garage, youll need to find some stencils and/or pictures by perusing the web or just about any source where graves are displayed. There are tons of head-stone and grave yard sites that can tickle your idea and imagination bone. If you dont have a reference, your town probably has a cemetery near by. A digital camera and a nicely lit day work just as well. Of course, the other more creative approach, a favorite, is to completely make up the shapes from memory. Everyone has been to a grave yard at one time or another, so there are plenty of references. Each sheet should yield about 6 to 8 head stones which is usually plenty to get started.

Cutting extruded styrofoam can be very easy and while there are several ways to perform the cutting, a large kitchen knife usually reserved for that large watermelon during the summer will work just fine. Knives tend to leave rough edges and thats fine for when you want that very old look which is common in grave yards. Other cutting tools that can be used are special styrofoam electric cutters that you can find on the web as well as there are several sites that offer a How-To on making your own cutter with a soldering iron and some heavy copper wire.

Now that youve cut out your head stone shape, youll want to put some kind of writing, eulogy or some kind of markings. Here a wood burning tool works good, a sharp utility knife or a set of those craft knives with a variety of blades. For lettering you can either use some kind of stencil set and or print something from your favorite word processor. Either way, you can either go authentic or funny. Draw an outline of the wording, drawing or date onto the front of the head-stone and cut out the lettering causing an embossing affect. If you have a wood burner and are familiar with its use, you can simply melt out the letters. Embossing the wording, lettering or date give it a 3-D affect and an authentic look. Plus, at night, it adds a creepy affect if lighting is involved. For added interest, use a friend or neighbors name to add that extra touch. However, make sure theyre a good friend and not someone you really want to see buried. That could lead to a whole other set of problems.

After all of the prep work is done by cutting your shape, adding your wording or markings, youll need to prepare it for presentation. With any type of sandpaper, clean the entire surface and make sure the cut edges are void of any extra pieces hanging where your knife did the cut. Now that its clean and ready, you should use a latex paint to prime or cover the entire surface. Latex paint creates both a barrier and surface for the final coloring. Use a light or white latex that can be found on the Oops shelf at just about any home improvement center.

Let the prime paint dry before going onto the final coat. Once dry, you now have several fine finish choices to wrap up the project. One technique is to spray water on the primed surface and lightly spray a black or gray paint letting it drip down through the cracks and surface of the head-stone. You can also dry brush getting the same affect by taking a light gray or darker colored paint and lightly applying it on the corners, in the engraved writing or in cracks. Taking a dry paint brush, lightly swipe in a downward fashion the dark paint until it creates streaks on the lighter surface.

For added affects, you can also add moss found in any hobby shop or where ever dried flowers or model trains are sold. This takes a lot more patience and simply painting should do the trick. For that perfectionist, cracks, additional coloring and the moss affect can really take it to the next level.

Once your first one is done, repeat until you have enough to make your own yard of head-stones. Putting a grave yard in your own front yard for Halloween can be both fun and rewarding if you anticipate lots of trick-er-treaters. Typically, the kids love the added affect and will definitely stop by your house to relieve you of the enormous amount of candy you have at the ready.

Shane Cooper runs Haunting Your Yard and offers advice in HauntedYard Blog on the site. He and his wife have 10 plus years advice on successfully preparing an annual yard haunt.

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Front Yard, Grave Yard

Halloween decorating can be a lot of fun for both the creator and the neighborhood. There are a lot of options for those who like to decorate their yard for this be-a-kid day, uh, night. Many different people either go all out or simply hang a paper skeleton on their front window. For those that go all out, the neighbor kids will gravitate to your place, so there will not be a shortage of ghosts, goblins and ghouls stopping by on October 31st.

One extremely fun type of decor is to make your front-yard into a grave yard. One can go completely elaborate with lighting, sound, lots of head-stones and even a mausoleum. However, you can start simple and do lots of grave-stones with very little effort and creativity. Head stones, grave stones and grave markers have been around since the dawn of time and have always been markers for the buried. They also can form the creep affect which is paramount on Halloween. If youre semi-creative or very creative you can have lots of fun making head stones.

To start, head over to your favorite lumber yard or home improvement center. Locate the insulation isle and find the pink or blue sheets of foam insulation. Your best bet is to use either the 1 1/2 or 2 inch sheets. Either size will work and color is irrelevant as youll be painting over them anyway.

Once you have your trusty sheet of foam home and in the garage, youll need to find some stencils and/or pictures by perusing the web or just about any source where graves are displayed. There are tons of head-stone and grave yard sites that can tickle your idea and imagination bone. If you dont have a reference, your town probably has a cemetery near by. A digital camera and a nicely lit day work just as well. Of course, the other more creative approach, a favorite, is to completely make up the shapes from memory. Everyone has been to a grave yard at one time or another, so there are plenty of references. Each sheet should yield about 6 to 8 head stones which is usually plenty to get started.

Cutting extruded styrofoam can be very easy and while there are several ways to perform the cutting, a large kitchen knife usually reserved for that large watermelon during the summer will work just fine. Knives tend to leave rough edges and thats fine for when you want that very old look which is common in grave yards. Other cutting tools that can be used are special styrofoam electric cutters that you can find on the web as well as there are several sites that offer a How-To on making your own cutter with a soldering iron and some heavy copper wire.

Now that youve cut out your head stone shape, youll want to put some kind of writing, eulogy or some kind of markings. Here a wood burning tool works good, a sharp utility knife or a set of those craft knives with a variety of blades. For lettering you can either use some kind of stencil set and or print something from your favorite word processor. Either way, you can either go authentic or funny. Draw an outline of the wording, drawing or date onto the front of the head-stone and cut out the lettering causing an embossing affect. If you have a wood burner and are familiar with its use, you can simply melt out the letters. Embossing the wording, lettering or date give it a 3-D affect and an authentic look. Plus, at night, it adds a creepy affect if lighting is involved. For added interest, use a friend or neighbors name to add that extra touch. However, make sure theyre a good friend and not someone you really want to see buried. That could lead to a whole other set of problems.

After all of the prep work is done by cutting your shape, adding your wording or markings, youll need to prepare it for presentation. With any type of sandpaper, clean the entire surface and make sure the cut edges are void of any extra pieces hanging where your knife did the cut. Now that its clean and ready, you should use a latex paint to prime or cover the entire surface. Latex paint creates both a barrier and surface for the final coloring. Use a light or white latex that can be found on the Oops shelf at just about any home improvement center.

Let the prime paint dry before going onto the final coat. Once dry, you now have several fine finish choices to wrap up the project. One technique is to spray water on the primed surface and lightly spray a black or gray paint letting it drip down through the cracks and surface of the head-stone. You can also dry brush getting the same affect by taking a light gray or darker colored paint and lightly applying it on the corners, in the engraved writing or in cracks. Taking a dry paint brush, lightly swipe in a downward fashion the dark paint until it creates streaks on the lighter surface.

For added affects, you can also add moss found in any hobby shop or where ever dried flowers or model trains are sold. This takes a lot more patience and simply painting should do the trick. For that perfectionist, cracks, additional coloring and the moss affect can really take it to the next level.

Once your first one is done, repeat until you have enough to make your own yard of head-stones. Putting a grave yard in your own front yard for Halloween can be both fun and rewarding if you anticipate lots of trick-er-treaters. Typically, the kids love the added affect and will definitely stop by your house to relieve you of the enormous amount of candy you have at the ready.

Shane Cooper runs Haunting Your Yard and offers advice in HauntedYard Blog on the site. He and his wife have 10 plus years advice on successfully preparing an annual yard haunt.

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How Reading Magazines Can Help With Your Online Business Networking

Let's say your favorite hobby is toy trains or fitness. You might be a loyal subscriber to the monthly issues that those magazines publish. You read faithfully because it helps with your creative thinking process. Whatever the case may be, you'd be surprised to find out that the famous person you admire the most , who may be the article author or the founder of the publication potentially has a social networking profile.

MySpace is the perfect place for networking with your social profile. It gives you the ability to interact online for all positive reasons. People from all walks of life and careers most likely have a MySpace page. In fact, folk such as Def Jam CEO Russell Simmons, OmniMedia founder Martha Stewart, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, Jay-Z, The Governor of California, United States politicians, and fitness buffs who are professional bodybuilders openly network with new people all the time on social network websites. Another great place to find intellectual people that are more serious about networking online is Facebook. On that social website, folk such as T. Boone Pickens, Michael R. Bloomberg of Bloomberg L.P. , former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and more are on Facebook.

These great people of today's society are easily accessible for potential direct contact. Finding more valuable people in magazines is a good thing to do in looking them up on websites for social networking. To keep track, what I do is skim through each page of a magazine, circle the name of the individual I desire to see if they have a page online to socialize with, and then cross check MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. Linked In is a newly growing business professional network who has lots of famous people as well as small startup CEO's who made it big in what they do.

Whatever you love to read, it can be a valuable thing to you in the long run. Not only does it empower you in terms of strengthening your knowledge, but you can directly interact with them online. Who would ever think that Martha Stewart, Mike Bloomberg of Bloomberg Television and politicians have the time to converse with the "little people" on the world wide web? Believe it or not, they too were once little. It doesn't hurt to network with them. Perhaps they may share some helpful tips with you in business or otherwise.

Shawn Drewry is the CEO of
http://www.Drewryonline.net

offering personal, spontaneous insight, commentary on specific topics and world news updates. More information is available on:

http://www.Muscular-Minds-of-Fitness.Drewryonline.net
and
http://www.Model-Trains.Drewryonline.net

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Why Lionel Trains Continue To Grow

Despite Joshua Lion Cowen's belief in the value of his Lionel toy trains and the success that it will eventually enjoy, he most certainly would not have imagined that the popularity of his products continue to be strong today, especially given the revival in model train collecting in recent years. Lionel model trains were a pioneer in the model train and railroad business, and gained a strong foothold in the industry due to its impeccable attention to detail and quality, partly because of the large group of skilled toy train craftsmen that Cowen employed for his business. This attention to detail spawned countless Lionel trains set which were incredibly realistic and provided fans with endless hours of fun and pure joy. The popularity at its height resulted in a high percentage of Americans that owned at least one set of these toys. They were also a top choice for gifts for every occasion, from Christmas to the New Year.

An amazing fact that is not commonly known about the creator of Lionel trains is that Joshua Lionel Cowen was not originally an American. He moved to the country and settled down with his family, before falling in love with trains as well. These large locomotives were growing in popularity as a mode of transport at that time, and Cowen decided to translate his love for them into model toys which could be enjoyed by people all over the world. He also wanted Lionel trains to be a source of inspiration and learning for locomotive fans worldwide, and knew that they would become popular and sell like hot cakes due to their importance in many countries as a source of transport and a strong economic factor. Within a few years of starting his toy train business, Lionel trains quickly became successful, evidently through his move to bigger offices and the growing number of employees to cope with rising demand and popularity.

The durability of toy trains and model railways has proven itself over the last few decades. When Lionel trains first came out, they were a huge hit and many were fascinated by the detail and quality afforded to each train set. Building and setting up a railroad set with live trains were also a sight to behold, and they still are today. Despite the advent of cars and subsequently, planes, trains were also a necessary mode of transport in many countries, especially in those where financially it was more affordable to use these to transport various products within the country or across neighboring countries. Till today, trains can sometimes be more cost effective than using airborne transport, even if the cost of fuel for locomotives has risen considerably due to its increasing scarcity. With trains having an enduring presence even in the modern world, it is hard to imagine a dwindling interest in model Lionel trains.

While it is more difficult to get hold of a Lionel train model set nowadays due to decreasing production and the fact that other toy train producers are coming out with cheaper alternatives, there are still plenty of options for model train set collectors and aficionados. The Internet is definitely an option, with many fans and collectors going online to trade in their favorite sets and models, especially with Lionel prewar trains. If you look hard enough, there are bound to be bargains and a few gems to be found, with collectors all over the world. In fact, with a more specialized production of the train sets, Lionel trains have increased in value, especially for older vintage models which have become increasingly difficult to locate. There are many individuals who have grown rich as a result of their hobby and love for collecting toy trains, and Lionel trains are often a major factor in their success.

Greg Howard is a collector of Lionel trains set and often provides insights on making your Lionel trains purchase. For more info on Lionel model train sets, please visit Greg's site.

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Your Quick Guide To Model Railroad Layout Kits

Most people have some older train models in the attic whether they actually belonged to them a few years ago or whether they belonged to relatives that were alive before the 1950s dip in popularity. However, model railroads are well and truly back and more popular than ever. Adults and children alike love to build their own model railroads and there are millions of people all over the world that participate in this trend every day. If you are a beginner then it may be difficult to know where to start when it comes to building your own model railway and so model railroad layout kits may help you to get started.

You can build a model railroad to be as realistic to the actual landscape as you want. Most model railroad layout kits will actually include a locomotive and tracks for it as well as items that can be used for scenery, and this may include realistic vegetation or replicas of actual buildings. They generally have themes attached to them but you can find various model railroad layout kits to suit you. They can be on a small scale with very little in the way of content or they can contain an entire starter kit that you can then work on and upgrade whenever you like. The one disadvantage of these bigger model railroad layout kits is that they tend to be very expensive so you may want to start out small.

You can get hold of model railroad layout kits form specialist stores as well as larger toy stores. The latter is obviously designed for children but is perfect for those inexperienced in the craft and provides a base to work off of.

The track is one of the most important things within the model railroad layout starter kit. Without the track, the scenery, structures and locomotive itself would be absolutely useless. In model railroad layout kits the tracks often come in pieces so you will have to put them together yourself and, depending on the manufacturer, this can be quite tricky to do. However, if you take the time and the effort to gather a little bit of patience, you will learn more from doing it yourself than if it were already put together for you.

There are three types of track in the model railroad layout kits that are available: 1. Continuous loop This track goes around in a continuous circle and is the most basic of tracks. 2. Out and back This track is formed in a pear type of shape and generally has a station in order to reverse it when necessary. 3. Point to point This is a straight track with a train going from one end to the other and back again.

Model railroad layout kits can really help you to get your model up and running. It may look good, but the value is much more than the aesthetics. It will have taught you how to get your very own railroad up and running and you cannot put a price on that!

You can also find more info on Model Rail Road and Electric Model Trains. Modelrailroadshelp.com is a comprehensive resource to know more about model rail roads.

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