Americans have always loved a good Cape Cod home. In 1938 when Life magazine asked families to choose their ideal place to live, the Cape Cod design was among those few selected, even when compared to an original modern home by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The design visionary may have had great ideas and some very attractive sketches, but he didn’t have hundreds of years of building tradition and a classic form recognized by everyone. Cape Cod designs are just as popular today, and will likely continue as one of the nation’s most enduring building styles.

The Cape Cod style dates back to the earliest period in American and Atlantic Canadian colonial history. These first homes in the 1600s were un-adorned and practical, built for year-round comfort in the windy, cold Eastern Seaboard climate. Scarce natural resources for building also helped keep these homes simple and small, with little deviation in design, and typically rock or plaster exterior walls.

Early Cape Cod homes had a narrow rectangular shape, with a steep pitched roof to keep winter snow from accumulating. Rarely built with upper floor dormers, these homes tended to have a stark, impenetrable look, which became fashionable during the Gothic Revival period of the early 19th century. Cape Cod windows were generally double paned with wooden shutters, and placed symmetrically on either side of a central door, as well as in the gable on either side of the house. The first Cape Cods, also known as Colonial Capes, were usually one or two rooms deep at the most and just a single story with a large attic, contrasting with many 18th and 19th century styles that featured large two and three story designs. Colonial Cape floor plans tended to max out at 1-2,000 sq ft, and were typically furnished with all hardwood floors.

Cape Cod architecture was less common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as other styles predominated, but it enjoyed a widespread revival in the 1920s, when builders in other parts of the nation started using the style. The family awarded a new Cape Cod style home in the 1938 Life Magazine project chose to build in Edina, Minnesota, far from the coastal Massachusetts region for which the style is named. Colonial Revival Capes introduced a variety of new features to the classic form, including upper-floor dormers for extra light, bay and picture windows, front entrance pilasters, and more modern floor plans that sometimes included a kitchen extension at the back of the house. But revivalists were careful to remember the Cape Cod’s original appeal rooted in classic design, practicality, and affordability, and designed their new homes as traditionally as possible.



By: Mike Magner

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Homemade candle making has come a long way in the past decade. I remember when I was a child, we used to make candles using a 1/2 gallon milk container. We’d fill it up with ice and pour melted candle wax in. After it had set, we’d peel off the milk carton and you’d have a very interesting homemade candle. It kind of looked like, frozen colored ice.

Nowadays with places like Micheal’s Crafts, and other large craft stores, the home crafter has access to a plethora of tools. There are different types of candle wax so that homemade candle making has gotten to be much easier than in the past. You can purchase metal and poly molds or you could actually use any jar that you like. All you have to do is fill it with the candle wax and a wick.

A very inexpensive way to do your homemade candle making, is to go to your local dollar store and purchase different glass votive or glass jars, actually any glass container can be used as candle making jars. Here is a quick overview of how to make a glass jar candle. The main thing here is to use your imagination.

Almost any glass jar can be used to make candles. Tall , thin, short, fat whatever. If you are using various colored waxes the tall clear jars make a beautiful impression. Just make sure you have plenty of clearance between the burning wick and glass so it does not get to hot and break. For more information on this visit the web site at the bottom of this article.

So to do your own homemade candle making, you’ll need a crock pot or double boiler to melt the wax to 160 degrees. Then you can add scented oils and food coloring. Put a dot of glue on the bottom of the metal part of the wick and place it in the candle making jars. Then pour the melted wax into the candle making jars or glass containers that you’ve purchased. Let the wax cool to a semi-hardened crust and then you can straighten out the wicks and get it centered. Let the candle cool at room temperature completely, which will be about 6-8 hours.

You’ll see that the wax has sunken a little in the middle. Now you are going to re heat the leftover wax to about 185 degrees and pour some in to your jar to level it off. Let that cool again and trim your wick to about a quarter inch, and you now have your very own homemade jar candle.

The possibilities are endless; you can use any type of glass containers for your candle making jars that you like, so let your imagination go wild! Have fun with it!

By: Lee Martin     Resource:  http://www.EasyMadeCandles.com



By: Lee Martin

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Molds for making candles can be purchased easily on several web sites or in specialty craft stores. There are many types of candle making molds in hundreds of designs available.

One piece seamless molds are convenient. They are usually aluminum and have a hole in them to hold the wick in place while the wax is cooling and curing. These may be air cooled at room temperature, put in a refrigerator for faster cooling or in a cool water bath. The idea of the one piece candle making molds is that you don’t need to trim a seam when the candle is removed.

Tea light candle molds are made of a durable but flexible polyurethane material. They usually hold 12-16 candle making molds and look similar to a popsicle mold.

Designer polycarbonate candle making molds have a pin on the top to hold the wick in place, and come in a large array of shapes and sizes to choose from. The ability to create many odd and fascinating shapes make these types of molds very attractive. The pyramid is probably the best known of this mold.

Grubby molds are very unique. This type of candle making mold appears as if the wax has dripped down the sides leaving a very uneven finish to the candle. Beeswax molds are similar to grubby molds as the texture in rough and appears to be a bee honeycomb.

Animal candle molds are usually made out of polyurethane and have a slit on the side due to the uneven shapes and sizes. There are many molds available in this style for every occasion. Baby showers, florals, weddings, food, fruit and vegetables along with every holiday have molds of these types to create your own candles.

Anyone can make their own candle making molds out of practically anything. You can use a vegetable or soup can by piercing a small hole in the bottom in which to insert the wick and pouring the wax in. When it is cool, just open the bottom with a can opener and push the candle out. Glass vases make gorgeous molds, but remember that in order to remove the candle easily the top of the vase needs to be larger than the bottom. Paper milk cartons can be cut and formed to any shape you wish and either stapled together or hot glued. If they are stapled, you just remove the staples to get the candle out or if hot glued together, you can just tear the paper away from the finished candle. Well that’s just a few of the tips and tricks on candle molds. Have fun and enjoy.

By: Lee Martin Resource: http://www.EasyMadeCandles.com



By: Lee Martin

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1. Cats are much more mobile than dogs. They can leap up to elevations that range 6 times their own height, while dogs can only reach a distance that’s twice their height in one leap. And cats can restraint the fall better than dogs.

2. During a fall, a cat can position itself to ensure that it stays on its feet when hitting the ground. This is possible due to the unique design of its inner ear canal. Credit goes to the creator for this one!

3. Cats have better eyesight than dogs. They require only a small amount of light to locate things. As a result, they have big, glowing eyes, a treat for every cat lover! Dogs mostly navigate around by smelling.

4. A kitten, when only a week old, starts dreaming. However feline dreams are quite unlike the upsetting, far-fetched dreams that dogs experience.

5. Did u know that cats too were left handed or right handed? 30% of cats r left handed, while another 30% are left handed. The remaining 40% can use both their paws with equal ease. Isn’t that really cool?

6. Cats are more focussed than dogs, literally. It is often seen that cats who venture out alone, can return home on their own, unlike dogs who tend to get lost. Though it hasn’t been determined yet as to how cats do this, it has been long believed that cats sense the gravitational pull and understand their positing on earth.

7. Whoever thought dogs were better at keeping guard, ought to think again. Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees and therefore catch sound signals up to 10 times faster than dogs, who can not twist their ears.

8. A woman’s voice is usually more sharp than a man’s and that is why cats respond better to a female voice. This proves they are more intelligent than dogs and even perhaps men!

9. It was found that wealthy American families were most likely to keep a pet cat rather than a dog. Cats had, in 1987, replaces dogs from the top slot in the favorite pet category.

10. Science says that cuddling a cat helps control a person’s overall health. Cuddling up to a dog might have the same effect, but it is obviously easier to cuddle a cat that sits comfortable on your lap for hours.

I have both a cat and a dog, and would say I prefer the cat to the dog any day! Cats are just so incredibly lovable and always stick close to you, almost like filing a void in your life.



By: kim

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