Friday, December 14, 2012

DIY gift idea: make luxury arm party bracelets

arm party, diy gift idea, christmas diy,make bracelets, how to
DIY bracelets

arm party, diy gift idea, christmas diy,make bracelets, how to
Rope DIY bracelets


Building our arm party was so much fun I wanted to do it again. This bracelet is an updated version of one of the 5 bracelets I made this summer and this is what you get when you go bigger and bolder. A bigger rope gave to the bracelet a whole new look, a luxury feel to enlight your holidays parties. When you make one you cannot stop it, make them in different colors and wear them all together. You'll be tempted to keep the arm party for yourself but if your friends have been very nice this year you may be so generous to diy a bracelet for them too.



Thursday, December 13, 2012

Want to become an artist? Win your scholarship


Today I'm excited to share with you this amazing competition offered by The New School of New York.
I know that the word amazing is widely abused in the blogosphere but this is seriously a unique opportunity!
If you think you have the talent to make the difference as an artist this is your chance to win your dream education in New York City. The New school is seeking for talent and it's ready to reward it with a scolarship valued up to $160,000!


The challenge is to answer logical reasoning & The New School quizzes and solve a creative case by presenting a video.
The competition offers four full and four partial scholarships for Bachelor’s degree within art & design, liberal arts, fashion or music and it's open to high school and college students worldwide.  
Scholarship winners must be a high school graduate on or before June 2013

The following four divisions of The New School are participating:
•        Parsons The New School for Design
•        Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts
•        Mannes College The New School for Music
•        The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music


DEADLINE January 27, 2013 
READ MORE  @ http://www.thenewschoolcompetition.com/
 
Now, wasn't 'amazing' the right word to use?


Pensate di essere dei veri artisti o di avere le potenzialità per divertarlo? La New School of New York offre a tutti i diplomati e studenti universitari del mondo l'occasione di competere per aggiudicarsi una borsa di studio valutata 160,000 dollari! 
Per poter partecipare dovrete rispondere ai quiz e presentare un video.
Il premio in palio sono quattro borse di studio complete e quattro parziali per i corsi di studio di arte&design, studi umanistici,moda o musica.

Parteciperanno i seguenti dipartimenti della New School 
•        Parsons The New School for Design
•        Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts
•        Mannes College The New School for Music
•        The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music 

Che aspettate ad inoltrare la vostra domanda? Per saperne di più cliccate http://www.thenewschoolcompetition.com/

The Futility of Utopia

by Kristen Saunders

What is utopia? It is an ideal community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. The problem lies within humanity’s inability to agree on a single course of action that would create a desirable outcome.

Desire is such a dangerous thing especially when there is only a limited quantity of something. “Something” could be money, time, space, a job, resources, or even the thoughts of people. It then stands to reason that a utopia would be able to fulfill everyone’s desires.

There have been several different kinds of government systems to try and equalize our desires. It could easily be said communism is an even distribution of things so that people will always have the basics and occupation. No one is left to suffer or to have their mind wandering endlessly. However, they can dream of more and are often stuck in a role they are not happy with.

Republics and Democracies are a representation of the people. The people, or their representatives, find their own balance and have their voices heard. Essentially distributing roles and resources as needed in each area. However, the state does not guarantee anything. The people must work with those around them to obtain the resources they need. Those who are not of the majority often lose their say in how the distribution is done for the community.

Dictatorships and Kingdoms raise up a few who would ideally provide and protect those bellow them. Very often this works out poorly. Those at the top often become greedy and deprive the people below them of their basic needs.

Wars are always the result of governments, or on a smaller scale people, having a shared desire of a limited resource. The desire often stems from a need that must be met. Sadly in many cases there is no way to satisfy the needs of everyone and eventually conflict breaks out.

The balancing of desire is a tricky business with an entire society. So hard in fact it is almost impossible to imagine a true utopia where everyone is happy. I would venture to say it would be impossible if people are responsible for the making of that world.

I imagine if utopia actually existed it would be different than we would normally think. It would be a world without want and everyone would have their place. Not only that, but they would be content with their lot.

If utopia existed, the society would very closely mimic that of the Borg from Star Trek. Your personal desires would be gone; you would want for nothing. Your directive would be your life, but you would always be satisfied and taken care of. Utopia would lie in having no desire for more and never dreaming of anything greater. It would the pinnacle for everyone to achieve. There would be neither great happiness nor great sadness. Everything would be in balance, and eventually there would be peace because everyone would be a part of it. After all, resistance is futile.

Kristen Saunders is a recent addition to Penumbra EMag, serving as an editorial intern. She loves to write science fiction in her free time and recently started her blog The Musings of a Growing Writer.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

My Definition of Utopia

by Dianna L. Gunn

When we ran the Dystopia issue back in July, I wrote a post entitled Utopia Vs. Dystopia. As a final note I said that everyone's idea of utopia is different, so today I'd like to tell you about my vision of utopia.

In my utopia, we would have found an infinitely renewable source of electricity. This way, we could keep things like the internet functional without ruining our planet.

In my utopia, money wouldn't exist. Instead, regardless of what job they did, children, students and everyone employed would have shelter and food and other crucial items would be shared freely. What jobs people did would be based on their passion, rather than on what education they could afford or on race, age or gender. This would eliminate both poverty and hunger.

In my utopia, it would be easy and acceptable to plan your families, with birth control and contraception being freely provided. This way, nobody would have children they didn't want, meaning all children would be well loved.

In my utopia, sickness would never put someone into debt, but more importantly, terminally ill people would be able to choose when they die. Nobody would be forced to live in a hospital bed attached to twenty machines. People would instead choose the time and place of their death, so that they might die happy and with dignity.

In my utopia, there would be no 1%. Instead there would only be 100%, with all people on an equal footing, recognizing that everyone's contribution to society is important—after all, how well do you think teachers would teach if they had to clean the schools too? How well do you think scientists would do if they had nobody to teach them the periodic table? Every job is important to keep the system running, and in my utopia, they would acknowledge that.

My utopia would be a society that matched my values, focusing on the well being of its people rather than their efficiency or money. It is based upon my ideals. Some people's idea of utopia will be the same as mine. Others will have a slightly different or even completely different idea of utopia based on their own beliefs—and that variety of belief is just what makes humans so great.

So now I ask you to think: what does your utopia look like?

Dianna L. Gunn is a young Canadian fiction writer who specializes in dark fantasy. She also writes poetry, generally dark, which is her way of dealing with life. This insightful author hosts a website covering every aspect of fiction writing and interviews with noted guest authors.

Learn more about Dianna L. Gunn on her website and follow her on Twitter.

Monday, December 10, 2012

How to find great gift ideas for men


gift ideas for men, gift ideas for boyfriend, gift ideas 2012



gift ideas for men, gift ideas for boyfriend, gift ideas 2012
Gift ideas for men

Dad, boyfriend,your friends, buying gifts for men can be stressful. They don't point shopping windows to say they love something and they don't talk about that incredible pair of shoes they absolutely have to have.
Since we don't read minds it's hard to figure out what they may like. Researches tell that they wish to receive useful things but I still want to find something appealing to the eye so I look for the surprise factor.

These are my rules to find a gift for a man.

Investigate his interests.
Find a mysterious item, what it does must be not immediately clear, better if it looks like something else.
Must be something he wants to show to his friends.

When you do it right the reaction should be like this, let's take for example the pick punch.
He:  -What is this? (with curiosity)
       -Did you get me a stapler? (with disappointment)
You: -It's a pick punch, you can make you custom guitar picks out of everything.
He:  -No, I can't believe it, that's too cool!

How do you find great gifts for men? Share your advices!


Cosa regalare a lui quest'anno? Quel 'lui' racchiude il nocciolo del problema e cioè trovare il  regalo giusto per tutti gli uomini nella vostra vita, padre, fidanzato e amici. Biologicamente avversi allo shopping loro non parleranno mai di quel paio di scarpe che devono avere a tutti i costi né vi faranno intuire i loro desideri indicando qualcosa nelle vetrine. Non fatevi ingannare dalla loro richiesta di non ben definiti "regali utili" , cercate invece di stupirli con un oggetto inaspettato. Ma come si costruisce l'effetto sorpresa?
Indagate sui suoi interessi e trovate un gadget misterioso che riveli la sua funzione solo ad uno sguardo più attento. Se è un musicista il regalo per lui è la "stampa plettri", sembra una banale cucitrice ma al primo click si rivelerà un gadget irresistibile. L'appassionato di tecnologia apprezzerà i gemelli usb. Servirà il vino sempre alla temperatura giusta con il termometro adatto e farà foto pro anche con il cellulare  con le lenti aggiuntive per iphone Come capirete se il regalo è stato gradito? Beh vorrà mostrarlo agli amici.
E voi come trovate il regalo giusto per lui?

Sunday, December 9, 2012

8 handmade Christmas tree decoration ideas

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Mickey mouse decorations via Sweet Art

These Disney inspired decorations are really unusual and funny.

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Pomander flower ball tutorial via Pizzazzerie

This pomander looks so expensive but it's really easy to make. The technique can be used with real flowers or different shapes.

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Glue yarn ball tutorial via Makeandtakes

Just yarn, balloons and white glue...

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Donut decorations via SiteNYC

This is actually a product but inspires us to create sweets christmas decorations.

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Crochet Christmas balls tutorial via True blue me&you


Do these if you're keen on crochet...

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Yarn wrapped ornaments  Tutorial via MySparkle


or just cover Christmas balls with yarn for an ever easier decoration.

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Pom pom icecream decorations tutorial via LinesAcross


These are so fun!

christmas tree decorations,christmas, handmade decorations
Embroidered yarn ball via Etsy

Super clean embroidery over messy ball yarn.


You can customize your Christmas tree adding a new decoration every year. If you're afraid that the result can be messy choose two or three colors and stick to them.
Handmade Christmas decorations can also make a unique Christmas gift. Pick your favorite decoration and make a few for your friends.

Personalizzate il vostro albero di natale aggiungendo una nuova decorazione all'anno. Se avete paura che l'albero possa diventare caotico scegliete due o tre colori ed attenetevi ad essi per tutte le decorazioni.
Non dimenticate, le decorazioni confezionate da voi possono diventare un regalo di natale molto apprezzato. Scegliete un tutorial e realizzatene una serie per le vostre amiche.

Friday, December 7, 2012

DIY gift idea for your friends : transform a top into a bag

transform a top into a bag, top makeover, diy, fashion diy

transform a top into a bag, top makeover, diy, fashion diy

No spa treatment is relaxing like shopping with your friends. In order to continue this antistress therapy, your friends will need the latest fashion gadget: the fashionable shopper!
This 2.0 shopper hides at once all the ugly, not fashion-friendly plastic bags. 
Look in your closet, maybe a top you never had the chance to wear is waiting for a fashionable makeover.
We'll trasform a sequinned top into a shopper bag. It will hold all the things your friends will buy in a shopping rush. It only takes some quick folding and sewing and the bag will be ready to hit the streets.
This will be a perfect fashionable Christmas gift for your friends.


Altro che spa, non c'è niente di più rilassante di un pomeriggio di shopping passato con le amiche a chiacchierare e guardare le vetrine. Per continuare questa terapia antistress in tutta comodità le tue amiche avranno bisogno del supporto di un gadget di ultima generazione: la shopper alla moda che copre tutti gli inestetismi di quelle brutte buste in plastica non fashion-friendly. Pescate nell'armadio quel top troppo carino che non avete mai messo e trasformatelo nella shopper 2.0 che le vostre amiche ameranno come regalo di Natale!

Leggete il tutorial completo su Style.it