Flying bra: some time ago someone suggested here to make a bra with part of ablisterpack. I made one, it went out to be a bit stiff and I think, that wouldjust be right for your flying bra and you could fix the bra on a piece of cord from a round cord needle, this cord would be quite stiff but also in a light curve and you had not a hanging, but a flying bra (I never tried, but I think that would go). If it's not in the archives I would try to explain the way to do a bra with a small part of a blisterpack.

Karola

Invisible thread. Take if from a guy who _knows_ invisible thread. Here's what you do...just take the next pair of pantyhose you run or ruin or whatever, and pull out one of the threads. Unravel that thread and you will have the invisible thread that's on the market. It's really quite strong, and it's elastic to boot!

Dave Pierce

Paint removal: I was at Wall-Mart the other day in the paint section looking for a drop cloth. I am in the middle of painting the interior of the real house. Since I am the messiest painter in the world a product called OOPS! caught my eye. The label says that it removes dried latex paint, tar, lipstick, crayons, gum, ink, adhesive residue, oil, magic marker, and grease. It does have a list of cautions almost a mile long but I can tell you it took light beige paint out of dark green carpet in my dining room before DH saw said paint very well. I have no idea how safe it would be in dh application but if you have paint on a favorite pair of jeans or a spill on something that is ruined with the paint it might be worth a shot. My carpet looks fine where I missed the drop cloth and DH is really picky (he is the kind that can spot the smallest flaw from across the room)

Joanne in Beavercreek Oregon

Tall acrylic boxes: I think those tall acrylic boxes could hold trees; say one tree in each with different scenes beneath the tree, or someone on a swing: a sandbox with children playing; a couple having a picnic; youngsters at a lemonade stand; maybe a headstone and a mourner; or do a palm tree and sun worshipers, with sand, towels and lotions.

Susan in Cool Green Asheville

Tall acrylic boxes: I think those tall acrylic boxes could hold

Those spray bottles of Fantastic and Windex. Do not discard them. I diluted some of my acrylic paint with water and put it in the spray container and used it to spray paint onto my steel wool trees (green of course).

Next thing I found out was that if I cleaned out the paint and put in Elmer's glue with water and shook it real good. I can spray a surface with the diluted glue and sprinkle what ever I want on to the surface and it sticks when things dry out.

I also found that if I am putting sand on a surface, I first spray with the diluted glue and drizzle the sand on and then I spray after that and the sand is rock hard bonded between the two layers of glue. When I tip the diorama no sand comes off. I then flush out the spray bottle for the next time. I am as happy as a pig in mud (or was it something else?)

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

I found a WONDERFUL mini-helper in the scrap wood heap last week. My hubby had used a piece of 2"x4" scrap lumber, cut to about 8" long for testing his settings when making borings for another project. It is full of various size holes which are just perfect for sitting glue and paint bottles into upside down. I drilled some smaller holes for paint brushes, meat skewers and toothpicks. It keeps everything right together and ready for use. I love it!

Reva in Loveland Ohio.

Legos: Please, don't get rid of all your Legos, for they can be of very good use. When you want to glue things in a right angle, just make a wall with a corner with your Lego, put the glue thing in it and use a rubber band to keep it in the corner and let dry. This works very well for me and it might work for you as well!

Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands)

Stair runners and stair rods. I think a trip to your fabric store would turn up a *lot* of decorative ribbon in various textures and designs, and the best part of it is--pre-finished edges! ::g:: As for the brass stair rods, on page 224 of the 2000-2001 Fire Mountain Gems catalog there are brass tube beads, gold-plated and silver-plated. The longest are a little short for stair rods, but if you strung a few and finished the ends with small brass beads I think they will work. (The number for ordering the catalog--which has much more stuff than their website--is 800-355-2137.)

Molly

Stair runners and stair rods. you can find nice "carpet runners" in the fabric shop -- look at the decorative embroidered braids and ribbons. Some look just like petitpoint, but they don't work well on curving stairs because they won't lie flat around the turn. For the brass rods, you can use brass tubing (if there's a train hobby shop around they should have it) and findings, or if you want to be really thrifty you can cut the cotton ends off plastic swabs, glue on beads, paint them metallic, and glue them in place over the runner.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Stair runners and stair rods. you should check out embroidered ribbon at a fabric store. The right width, good texture, and the nice finished edge. I suppose you could also take fabric and embroider or crochet edging. For the brass bars, I think a nice homemade solution might be bamboo skewers painted gold. I think toothpicks would be short enough the taper would still show so you would want to move up to the longer skewers.

Linda in Leroy, OH