Hand Foot
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It's obvious that you'd probably like to have a trained massage therapist give you a massage than do it yourself. But if you're like most folks, you don't always have free time or money to go to a massage therapist. Giving yourself a massage is a great alternative, and saving some money at the same time. If you have insurance that covers massages, then you're lucky. But you can still do a simple self massage in between your appointments with your therapist, so you can relax your sore muscles.
The main idea behind a "do it yourself massage" is to rub the common painful areas on your body that a massage therapist would stroke. You probably do some self massing without even thinking about it, by stroking your shoulders after leaning over a keyboard for hours, rubbing your head when you have a headache, or massaging your feet after a long walk. Here are some massage ideas to help you get started.
Back massage: Get a tennis ball and sit in a straight back chair. Put the tennis ball on any sore areas on your back and lean into the chair. Lean your back into the ball. Take ten deep breaths and repeat the process at least two times.
Head massage: Place your hands on your scalp and start massaging in a clockwise motion.Start at your hairline and move back to the nape of your neck. Take deep breaths and massage as you breathe. Remember to change the direction.
Foot massage: Wash your feet and put some lotion or oil on them. Sit on a cozy chair and rest one foot on the thigh of your other leg. Thread the fingers of one hand through the toes of your foot, spreading out your toes. Place the palm of your hand against the bottom of your foot. Rotate the joints of your forefoot back and forth for one minute with the palm of your hand. Repeat with the other foot. Next, hold your ankle with one hand and slowly rotate your foot with the other hand. Make sure to start easy with small circles and make them larger. Switch directions. Repeat with the other foot.
Neck massage: Place your fingers behind your neck, pressing the heels of your palms into your neck on either side of your spinal column. Start moving the heels of your hands up and down gently. Place the fingers of your right hand on the muscle along the left side of your neck just below the base of your skull. Press that muscle, tilt your head to the left, and rub down toward your shoulder. Repeat two times and then switch sides.
Shoulder squeeze: Cross your arms over your chest and grab a shoulder with each hand. Squeeze the shoulders and release five times. Move your hands down your arms, squeeze and release.
Daniel has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specializes in travel, fitness and home improvement, you can also check out his new website on fax answering machine which reviews and lists the best fax answering products and guides.
How do you make homemade hand/foot print ornaments?
Looking for a simple homemade way to make a hand print/foot print ornament for my 12 week old son.
Is there any recipes for a playdough like substance? Thanks in advance.
There are many kits that can be purchased for making 3-D imprints of baby feet/hands, but here are some links with ways to make them yourself**:
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+make+baby+handprint+footprint+clay+plaster
You should be able to use various clay-like substances as well as plaster. Those would generally be divded up into water-based "air-dry" clays and oil-based "polymer clays."
There are many types of air-dry clay, some of which can be made at home. They range from poor quality (in terms of handling and smoothness, etc.) to very good quality, and are usually "paper" based or grain/flour based.
Purchased ones would range from PlayDoh at the low end, to Creative Paperclay or Crayola's Air Dry Clay at the higher end, as well as some "mineral" based air-dry clays that you may not often see in a craft or art supply store.
Homemade air-dry clays would be primarily grain-based ones like "salt dough" clay and "bread clay." (Salt dough would be a bit easier to make a lot of, but bread clay captures a bit more detail.
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+make+bread+clay
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+make+salt+dough+clay )
Keep in mind that all air-dry clays must be sealed to protect them from humidity, and the grain-based ones sealed against hungry bugs during storage as well. Air-dry clays will also shrink a bit (up to 30% depending on type, etc).
If desired, air-dry clays can be colored by mixing various pigments into them before shapin (acrylic paints are probably the most commonly used), or they can also be painted afterward.
Polymer clays on the other hand can't be made at home, and require a short bake in a low-heat home oven to cure. They won't shrink at all (except perhaps *thin* sheets that are really *long,* say 12" or so, if baked without a backing).
Polymer clays can be made much thinner than air-dry clays and still stay strong (except for the 3 lines of polymer clay called original Sculpey, SuperSculpey flesh, and Sculpey III, which should be backed with something strong after baking since they're more brittle than all the other lines of polymer clay).
** be careful though of some things you read... for example, there are inaccuracies in this paragraph from one of those links:
. . ."You can also purchase your own clay. Make sure it’s the kind that dries hard, such as polymer air-dry clay by makers such as Creative Paper Clay, La Doll or Premier. A company called Makins produces air-dry clay in an array of colors! You can also paint most clays after they dry. I’ve found that clay that air-dries doesn’t tend to shrink or shift like baked clay might. Popular brands such as Sculpey and Fimo are typically baked in an oven." . . .
One thing to think about though for making "ornaments" from these prints is that most of these clays would be heavy by the time you used enough of the clay to create a hand or foot print, and would tend to bend most xmas tree limbs.
Lighter-weight versions could be made these ways though:
...using a paper-based clay (Creative Paperclay, Celluclay, Crayola Air Dry Clay)
...using a thinner sheet of polymer clay
...using the polymer clay called "Ultralight"
...using a thinner sheet of any clay then backing it with something lightweight, rigid and strong
Or, you could do something else for the ornaments with your baby's prints, using 2-D versions instead of 3-D... e.g., "stamping" prints onto cardstock then hanging those (or make cards or bookmarks, etc, with them), stamping them onto fabric then using for aprons, t-shirts, placemats, etc.
For some of those, you wouldn't have to repeatedly stamp your baby's foot onto something. You could instead just photocopy (color or bw) the best ones onto cardstock, then use the copies as ornaments, bookmarks, cards, etc.
Also, if you *scanned* the print you'd made, you'd then have the option of reducing the image size (could then print or print then photocopy for permanence). If you reduced the image, you could even put many of images into one final image that you could then use as an ornament, background for a photo, etc.
Photocopying can also reduce the size of an image but is a bit more fiddly and more expensive (but it does use toner so is waterproof, where most inkjet inks aren't permanent... you'd want to give a couple of sprays of acrylic sealer to those, or cover with clear adhesive plastic from the office supply store or grocery store for shelving, etc.)
HTH,
Diane B.
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