HowToDoThings.com Recent Hobbies Articles

How To Prepare Metal for Painting

3100 Caldera Blvd — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:51:53 -0500

How To Paint on Glass

3100 Caldera Blvd — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:07:59 -0500

How To Become Familiar with Children’s Literature

Susan Niz — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:23:01 -0500

What is your child reading and how can you help them pick out good books? There are so many books to choose from- much more than when we were kids. You don't need to be an expert; you just need to know enough to be able to navigate the local library or bookstore. The following steps will break it down for you.

How To Become A REAL Writer

dangoodwin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:37:47 -0500

So yes, you write words. Sometimes pages worth of creatively arranged, emotive and descriptive words. But do you consider yourself a "real" writer?

Or do you continually find a hundred and one reasons to convince yourself that you're not a real writer at all, it's just a nice little hobby, or you're just playing around?

What kind of effect do you think this dilettante attitude has on your writing? It certainly won't inspire you to commit more time to the writing you love, and to enjoy your writing without feelings of guilt or inadequacy.

So here are 5 reasons why you're already a real writer. Read and recognise them in yourself:

How To Read Guitar Music

Cassandra — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:17:06 -0500

Reading guitar music is different than music written for piano or other instruments. Guitar music is often written in a type of shorthand called chord boxes or tab. This article will get you started and sums up the basics, but if you want to learn to read guitar music with ease and play the guitar well, more than an article is necesary; I recommend a great online guitar program that you should check out - Jamorama.

Let's get you started with these basic steps to reading guitar music!

How To Read Music

Cassandra — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:37:00 -0500

Reading music notes is like reading another language. You cannot learn it overnight. You will need to learn the basics, the alphabet and structure of music, before you can learn to read music. For now you want to just read music notes so notice that the first step assumes you already know (or can find out) the basic structure. If that's not the case, or if you just want a complete grasp on sheet music and want it fast, I suggest the online program, "Learn to Read Music in One Evening" - it just takes one night and has helped many people.

How To Make a Cloud in a Bottle

teen — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:26:53 -0500

Looking up in the sky you can see clouds of various shapes and sizes. These ethereal shapes are often difficult to understand. Bring the mystery down to earth by creating your own cloud in a bottle. Just follow these simple steps to create clouds at home.

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How To Create Out Loud as an Artist

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:52:22 -0500

Does the world know you're an artist?

Do only your immediate family and closest friends know? Does ANYONE know you create?

There are many reasons why keeping our creative lights hidden and barely flickering in the darkness makes it harder to be creative. So here's how to stop whispering and create out loud! And the reasons why it's so important that you do:

How To Create Out Loud: Set aside specific creative time. Request that you not be disturbed. We all deserve time to ourselves, however many people we share our homes and our lives with. Many of us though put creative time at the bottom of our priority lists. In fact, it's not even ON most of our priority lists at all!

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How To Generate an Abundant Stream of Creative Writing Ideas

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:46:33 -0500

Ideas are the starting point for any creative venture. Without an initial idea to develop, your creativity has nothing to get its teeth into, no raw material to shape into beautiful creations.

Here's how to generate all the writing ideas you'll need, an abundant stream that freely flows!

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How To Use Creative Writing Exercises To Enrich Your Writing

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:08:05 -0500

If you've been struggling to write much lately, or if you're looking for ways to inject a bit of energy and freshness into your writing, then using creative writing exercises is a great option.

Here are 5 steps on how to get the most from using writing exercises:

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How To Find the Creative Treasures Waiting to be Discovered Within You

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:03:19 -0500

Each of us has a vast treasure trove within us, full of artistic creations yet to be discovered. But how many of these precious gifts ever see the light of day? Tragically, very few.

So, here are some tips to help you bring forth more of your unique creative riches:

Experiment in different media. We all have our favourite materials and forms of creating, it's part of knowing how you best express yourself as an artist. But all too often, this simply becomes an excuse to play it safe, and just reproduce almost identical versions of the same artwork over and over again. Hmm. How creative is that?

Experiment with different styles and materials from time to time and it has two key benefits. First, you may well find a new media you love creating in, but have never tried before. Second, you can't help but expand your experience in creating, taking back new ideas and perspectives to your more familiar and preferred creative forms.

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How To Politely Ask Your Inner Critic to Leave the Building

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:27:23 -0500

A creative friend of mine was telling me about when she is in full creative flow.

"I block out all around me, and one of the best things is it's like my inner critic has left the building!" she exclaimed.

So here are 5 of the key steps you need to politely ask (or forcibly eject!) your inner critic from the building that is your mind:

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How To Rediscover Your Love of Writing

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:19:09 -0500

How much do you enjoy writing these days? A major reason why many of us struggle to write more is because we simply don't enjoy it anymore. What was once a carefree creative adventure has become a painful slog, about as much fun as a wet weekend indoors with the in-laws...

So how can you begin to rediscover your almost forgotten love of writing again? Here are 7 steps to get you on your way:

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How To Dry Flowers in the Microwave

3100 Caldera Blvd — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:25:14 -0500

How To Naturally Dry Flowers and Herbs

3100 Caldera Blvd — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:15:21 -0500

How To Become a Fiction Writer

Susan Niz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:47:42 -0500

You have always enjoyed reading and writing, but another career path led you away from your dream. Perhaps you find the fulfillment of personal expression in writing or maybe you want to be the next millionaire novelist. Whatever your goals, there are practical suggestions for easing into the exciting, but sometimes intimidating world of fiction writing.

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How To Make Recycled Paper

3100 Caldera Blvd — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:22:14 -0500

How To Dye Clothing

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:06:11 -0500

How To Make Natural Dyes

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:40:31 -0500

How To Write

diatimb — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:29:49 -0500

Learning how to write is actually a very simple process. Through the course of these articles, I am going to share with you excercises and tips on how to get past the road blocks and brain freezes that affect most of us as soon as we sit in front of the computer. So sit back, have fun and enjoy the ride!

The Basics of Writing:

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How To Overcome Creative Constipation

dangoodwin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:53:56 -0500

Ever feel like you're full to bursting with creative ideas and aspirations, but you can never seem to get them out into the world in any useful form? So you mope around with a proverbial aching belly, wondering if you'll ever create freely again...

Help is at hand! Here are 5 steps to overcoming that feeling of creative constipation:

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How To Prepare Finished Wood for Folk Art Painting

3100 Caldera Blvd — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:47:41 -0500

How To Prepare Unfinished Wood For Folk Art Painting

3100 Caldera Blvd — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:45:51 -0500

How To Make Your Own "Snow" Globe

3100 Caldera Blvd — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:33:19 -0500

How To Make Melt and Pour Soaps

3100 Caldera Blvd — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:22:02 -0500

How To Make Your Own Finger Paints

3100 Caldera Blvd — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:11:55 -0500

How To Calculate the Distance from Lightning

niko — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:03:13 -0500

Thunder and lightning are fascinating phenomena, from time immemorial to the time Benjamin Franklin decided to conduct his experiments with a kite. Elementary studies let us know that light and sound travel through air or other media at different speeds, which is why you often hear the sound of thunder after you actually see the lightning. Lightning occurs on account of the creation and discharge of electrical energy between areas of opposite conductance. This can happen between clouds, within a cloud or from the cloud to the ground. Rapid heating and cooling of air during lightning cause shock waves which we hear as thunder.

How does one find out where exactly lightning is striking? How near or far from you is this happening? If you're interested in knowing, then read on...

CALCULATING THE DISTANCE

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How To Stop Sabotaging your Creativity with Subliminal Messages

dangoodwin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:27:32 -0500

Do you ever sabotage your creativity and your ability to create?

When you think of sabotage, you might think of obvious ways like not having your materials ready, or not keeping your workspace organised so it's easy to go to and start in creating right away, or not booking clear blocks of time with yourself to spend time creating.

But often the most dangerous and effective ways we sabotage ourselves are those that slip under the radar, the subliminal messages we continually send ourselves without even knowing.

Here are 3 of the most common subliminal messages you may be sending yourself that sabotage your creativity, and what to do instead:

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How To Play Rock, Paper, Scissors

NevTheGreat — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:16:17 -0500

How To Make a Pencil Pinwheel

moonglow — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:50:07 -0500

How To Save Yourself From Another Year Lost Without Creating

dangoodwin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:46:17 -0500

Remember when you were a child, Summer seemed to stretch out forever, and in the Winter the snow fell so deep you were almost up to your chest in its thick white blanket?

As you've got older, the seasons seem to be over so much more quickly. You're just building up anticipation for those long Summer days and suddenly it's Autumn again with chilly morning mists and dark evenings. Another year passes without much happening. Another year lost without any creating.

You begin to wonder if you'll ever regain any kind of creative consistency, or whether instead you're destined to spend the rest of your days wallowing in the nostalgia of those golden days of creativity that seem a lifetime away.

It needn't be like this. Here's how you can save yourself from another year lost without creating:

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How To Create Without the Fear of Repeating the Same Work Over and Over Again

dangoodwin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:30:48 -0500

Sometimes it feels like although you're producing a lot of art, there's not actually much creativity going on, because it all feels so similar.

Maybe you've just written the 12th poem this month about the gracefulness of horses, or the first kiss of a new relationship, or the way you're drawn to visit the ocean. There are many reasons why you've not just become a factory robot churning out identical poems time and time again.

Here are 3 of the most important ones to us artists:

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How To Create Everyday

dangoodwin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:05:22 -0500

The key to consistent creativity is to create everyday. So just go and do that and you'll be more creative than you've ever been before. Thanks for reading. The End.

Except it's not quite that simple, or you'd be doing it already, and wouldn't be reading this article for tips, right?

So here are 7 useful tips for helping you to embrace that daily creative habit, and start to see the tremendous benefits it brings:

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How To Make Sure You Never Have Any New Creative Ideas

dangoodwin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:08:10 -0500

Looking for a way to guarantee that you never have any good new ideas as an artist? Here are 5 top tips:

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How To Come Back to Creativity

dangoodwin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:05:17 -0500

If it's been a while since you last created consistently, it can feel like a huge challenge to return to creating anything at all, let alone completing a number of creative projects at once. In fact, you might feel you're so far from creativity, and so out of practice, you've lost the map and any hope of ever finding any kind of creative flow again.

However long it's been, and however far away you feel, there are ways we can all come back to creativity. Here's a simple 5-step plan to help:

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How To Be Your Own Best Friend

dangoodwin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:53:41 -0500

However much support you receive from others, being the most creative you can be begins with looking after yourself and being kind and supportive to yourself. Without doing this, you'll not only be locked in an internal mental battle, but you'll also be more likely to reject or dismiss the genuine encouragement of others.

Here then are 5 steps to being your own best friend.

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How To Have Hundreds of Fantastic Creative Ideas

dangoodwin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:32:08 -0500

Here’s a question. Where does all creativity begin? Where do all the greatest artworks, the most wonderful songs, the finest sculptures ever created come from?

OK, that’s two questions. The answer to both is the same. From an initial idea.

Everything we create as artists starts with a tiny seed of an idea that we then explore and expand upon, add other ideas too, edit and hone until we can release it into the world as our art.

So it follows that no ideas equals no creativity and no artwork. And a very unhappy artist.

If we don’t have that raw material to shape, it doesn’t matter how talented we are, it’s like the equivalent of asking a gourmet chef to conjure up a delicious banquet - without any food.

Here then are the crucial 3 steps for having a lifetime of fantastic creative ideas:

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How To Make Your Own Dry Erase Board From Aluminum Foil

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:27:50 -0500

How To Make Your Own Chalkboard

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:24:32 -0500

How To Make a Colored Chalkboard

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:20:03 -0500

How To Make Your Own White Board

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:16:18 -0500

How To Do Fabric Painting

3100 Caldera Blvd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:09:41 -0500

How To Make a No-Sew Pillow Cover

3100 Caldera Blvd — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:19:39 -0500

How To Convert Latitude and Longitude from Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds to Decimal Degrees

Mattheller — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:40:05 -0500

Many older reports and databases record latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds. These coordinates are now commonly required to be in decimal degree format in order to be used in GIS or other software or online programs. Converting is easy and only takes a few steps. Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program makes the process easy for a large number of coordinates.

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How To Stop the Shoulds and Create with Freedom

dangoodwin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:58:00 -0500

When you create, how often does the word "should" cross your mind?

I should be doing this perfectly, I should be doing as I was taught, I should be observing the rules, I should be doing what they want me to do...

It doesn't make for a very happy artist. In fact, whatever you create under these kind of conditions (that is if you manage to create at all) will be tainted by an underlying resentment that you haven't created what you heart truly desired.

Here are 3 of the most dangerous forms of "should" and how to shut them off.

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How To Create Without Feeling Completely Selfish

dangoodwin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:34:42 -0500

When you create, are you able to do so guilt-free, unconcerned with what else you could be doing with your time?

Most of us struggle to get close to this state, instead being racked with guilt that we're even contemplating spending time on our own doing something as self indulgent as creating when our partners are seeking our attention, our children approach us with some new "emergency" every 5 minutes and there's an ever expanding stack of domestic chores nagging at our conscience. Ever been there?

If you can put all these factors to one side for just a moment though, you'll see that creating is actually one of the best things you can be doing with your time. Not just for you, for everyone. Here are the 3 big reasons why creating is not completely selfish:

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How To Swim When You're Drowning in Creative Ideas

dangoodwin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:58:58 -0500

If I asked: "Do you struggle with creative ideas?", you'd probably think I was talking about not having enough ideas and the problems that can cause. Equally debilitating though - and often overlooked - is the dilemma of having TOO MANY creative ideas, and being so overwhelmed with possible creative projects that you COULD start, you end up doing none at all.

So here are 5 tips to help you learn to swim when it feels like you're drowning in creative ideas:

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How To Smoke a Cigar

rk12m — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:43:09 -0500

How To Release the Creative Writer Within You

dangoodwin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:01:32 -0500

We all have writing ability within us, just as we're all able to communicate in other ways, like speaking and listening. If you've been curious about how you can explore the writing talents within you, but haven't been sure how to get started, here's your chance.

Follow these 7 tips to release the creative writer within:

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How To Rediscover your Motivation to Create

dangoodwin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:07:09 -0500

Momentum is an important word in the life of a creative person. When you have momentum, when you create regularly and feel fully in the creative flow, then creating comes easily. There's no time to stop and think about the struggles and the blocks--you're too busy creating and having a great time!

Creating with momentum has a cumulative effect and once you're going, it's much easier to keep going.

The opposite state to this kind of momentum is inertia--when you can barely create a word, a stitch or a stroke, let alone a novel, tapestry or painting. And, like momentum, inertia breeds and builds. The longer you stay inert, and the longer you struggle to get creating, the harder that first step feels.

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