Thursday, December 31, 2009

Compliants by Holiday Makers

These ridiculous complaints by holiday makers make for some very entertaining reading.
  • A tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate"
  • "The beach was too sandy."
  • "Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women."
  • "We bought 'Ray-Ban' sunglasses for five euros (£3.50) from a street trader, only to find out they were fake."
  • "No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."
  • "It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It only took the Americans three hours to get home."
  • "My fiancĂ© and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."
  • "I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller."
  • "The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation'. We're trainee hairdressers - will we be OK staying here?"
  • "There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners."
  • "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white."
  • "We had to queue outside with no air conditioning."
  • "It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."
  • "I was bitten by a mosquito - no-one said they could bite."
  • "I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."
  • "It's lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time - this should be banned."
  • "On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all."
  • "We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."
Sources: ABTA, Thomas Cook, AAP
(Link)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

I received this in the mail today ...

and someone has even underlined some parts for emphasis!!  LOL!  Click on the image below and read on for a good laugh.


Sunday, November 22, 2009

This is my best angle!

This news report had me laughing out loud!! Narcissist to the point of stupidity or the most *devil-may-care* attitude ever!?!

A British man on the run from police sent a picture of himself to his local paper because he disliked the mugshot they had printed of him as part of a public appeal to track him down. South Wales Police had issued media with the photo of Matthew Maynard, wanted by officers investigating a house burglary, as part of a crackdown on crime in Swansea.

When it appeared in the South Wales Evening Post, the 23-year-old sent the newspaper a replacement photo of himself standing in front of a police van. They obligingly printed it on the front page. The police thanked him for helping them in their appeal, saying: "Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now."

Seriously Gross!

This is like some B-Grade horror flick come to life!! Cosmetics!?!
Peruvian police said on Thursday they had broken up a gang that allegedly killed dozens of people and sold their fat to buyers who used it to make cosmetics. The group stored the fat it collected in used soda and water bottles, which police showed reporters. Police said they were investigating 60 disappearances in the area that might be linked to the gang.
if you must read more ... Link

Friday, November 20, 2009

Extreme Jealousy!! LOL!

Miss Gay Brazil was just giving an interview when the green eyed monster got the better of a contestant. check out what she did ... LOL!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Taking animal smuggling to a different level!

The Norwegian customs caught this guy who had 14 snakes in stockings taped to his torso, geckos in cans taped to his leg and a tarantula in his bag. Apparently while they were searching his bag they realised that his body seemed to be in constant motion!!! OMG! Right now my imagination is in overdrive trying to imagine the sensation of squirmy creatures undulating against your body constantly ... UGH!!!


A man was caught by Norwegian customs carrying a tarantula in his bag, and a further 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos taped to his body, media reported Monday. The 22-year-old Norwegian was stopped in a routine check by Kristiansand customs after arriving on a ferry from Denmark, newspaper Faedrelandsvennen reported.

Customs found the tarantula, before deciding to give him a full body search that revealed 14 stockings -- one for each snake -- taped around his torso, top selling tabloid VG said.

Reptile smuggling is not uncommon in Norway, which prohibits people holding many reptile species as pets, but office manager Helge Breilid at Kristiansand customs was quoted by VG as saying customs officers had been "horrified" by Sunday's catch.

"Customs officers quickly realized the man was smuggling animals, because his whole body was in constant motion," Breilid told VG. When the man dropped his pants, the officers found 10 cans taped to his legs, each containing a lizard, he said.

The man was still being held by police Monday, Kristiansand police attorney Johann Martin Kile told VG, adding he would be released upon agreeing to pay a 12,500 Norwegian crowns ($2,256) fine. The reptiles were handed over to a security firm until Norwegian authorities decide what to do with them, Breilid said.
(Link)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

International Peace Day - 21st September

I missed it by a day ... it was yesterday! But the idea in the following video is so nice, we should apply it every day!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Clock winding dangerous to health!

Everything is being regulated now - rules, rules, rules!! Very soon there will be a day when someone will figure out a rule on how to take a poop because what we do now is too dangerous or something ... LOL!! Already because of rules we are loosing some of the very traditional foods in Europe (yup ... I am a foodie and this makes me sad mad!) - because they do not meet new EU health regulations. Never mind that EU folks have been eating them for centuries to no detriment!

The clock at St Michael's Church in Helston, Cornwall, has been wound manually by a warden perched just eight feet up a ladder since it was installed in 1793.

Generations of church wardens - known as 'captains of the tower' - have kept the clock ticking and it must now be wound three times a week. However, the current captain, Roger Nott, has now been told he can no longer use a ladder to reach the mechanism even though he only climbs around 8ft.

Because he leans forward to reach the cogs his duty has been deemed a health and safety risk and the tradition is now being scrapped after 216 years. Mr Nott said: ''To wind the clock is a simple operation carried out up a ladder and involves reaching out from the top in order to reach the winding mechanism. ''This is now considered to be a health and safety risk. We must conserve the clock mechanism and fit an automatic winding system which complies with the guidelines.''

The church is now desperately trying to raise £5,000 form its limited funds for an automated clock winding machine.
(Link)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Cow ... an essay

Click on image below to be better able to read an essay on the COW!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Moving Sand Drawing

Some people have it all ... check out this young Ukrainian girl. Not only is she beautiful to look at, she is an incredibly talented artist too - and she did not open her mouth. If she did maybe we would find out that she sings like a nightingale, or orates like Obama. Oh well ... I have my theories about the way Mother Nature decides to distribute her gifts ... :D

Using only a giant lightbox, sand to draw and music to set the mood, she is able to make grown people cry! What I love about her art is how dynamic it is - she hardly gives you time to register what she has drawn when she is already moving onto the next bit. For the first time in my life I regret that cannot understand Ukrainian (long story there ... LOL!) A must watch!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Canvas Art

This is the last article I will be writing for S.S. Reflections. Sadly the current global economic downturn has taken its toll on us, too. I shall miss the challenge of actually doing something interesting enough to write about every month. These articles also helped me to stay in touch with my scrapbooking – something that had become increasingly difficult as my work got more time consuming!

A coincidence – my last project for SSR is a name plaque that I made to hang on my desk in the office where I started a full time job in February.

Start with a blank mounted canvas. Using a sponge brush, cover the whole canvas with an acrylic colour of your choice. I used poppy with a very few drops of sage green. I made sure to brush only in one direction so the canvas had horizontal strokes. I also coloured the outside edges so that when the finished canvas is hung on the wall, no white is visible.



The letters are Tim Holtz grungeboard. I coloured them using the same poppy acrylic paint.




Using brown dye ink and a sponge tip, colour the edges of the letters.



Slightly smudge the brown colour onto the front of the letters.Place all the letters close together, and using a large background stamp and distress ink, stamp the image onto the letters. Because this grungeboard has a pattern, I had to press down quite hard with my stamp to get a clear image.



Emboss with distress embossing powder.



This is how the image will look on the letters after stamping and embossing.



Mist the letters with water.



I found my finger the best tool for this next step. I put some Interference green acrylic ink on the Teflon sheet and then lightly rubbed the paint onto the letters.



Next, I stamped and embossed some swirly patterns onto the canvas. I used regular embossing ink and EP, but I had to take some care when applying the stamp because not all parts of the canvas are wood backed and I need to apply even pressure to the whole image. Do a few dry runs (without inking your stamp) to see how you can best get even pressure onto all parts of the canvas on which you wish to stamp.

An alternative to this is drawing a design freehand using an embossing ink pen and then embossing with EP. I used this method to touch up the parts of the stamped design that did not get transferred onto the canvas.



Take a cream coloured piece of shrink plastic and sand one surface well.



Use an ink that can be heat set and rub lightly all over the sanded surface. Use a tissue, or something similar, to blend the ink as evenly as possible all over the surface. Use a light ink and a light hand. Keep in mind that when the plastic shrinks the colours will intensify.



Stamp the image onto the shrink plastic using a sepia toned ink. Again, do not use a very dark ink because the colour will intensify when the image shrinks. Cut out the image, if necessary.



Heat plastic to shrink it!



Do not worry if the shrink plastic gets all twisty – keep heating from both sides and you will find that it automatically straightens out when it has shrunk to its minimum.



Cut out a frame for your shrink plastic image from grungeboard. Colour it with an acrylic paint. I used an interference silver.



I applied a second layer of green sage gel paint to give the frame a greenish tinge.



A thin line of pearl mica flakes around the edge makes an interesting border.



I tried some Distress crackle ink in Tea Dye but did not like the effect – too opaque and it did not look good with the poppy. So I wiped it off, but a few streaks of the paint remained. I liked the look of it.



Using a tissue, wipe off any paint on the embossed design.



Use a background stamp like a script or maybe music score stamp and emboss on the opposite corner. Use an ink similar to the acrylic background and clear embossing powder.



I applied a thick layer of glossy stuff on the letters and left them to dry overnight. Then, using tacky glue, I stuck the letters onto the canvas.



I then stuck the shrink plastic image onto the oval frame and then onto the side of the canvas.



Then I turned the canvas over and weighed it down and left to dry for a while so that the letters and the oval image are fixed well onto the background.



Using the same tacky glue I applied some flowers. The same pearl mica flakes in small dots made for sparkly flower centres.



A little bit of dark grey liquid pearl to create a shadow effect on the letters.



I used a Japanese paper punch to make a few holes in the canvas. Take care if you need to make the hole where the canvas has no wood backing. Prick it with a needle to indicate the position and then use the punch from the reverse. There is less possibility of the canvas tearing.



If there is wood behind you may need to pound the metal a bit harder. In any case, I used glue to help stick the metal well onto the canvas.


And here it is – for my desk – my name, a little shrine to the Hindu God Ganesha and some words to keep me motivated at work!





Friday, March 06, 2009

The Lie Detector

John was a salesman's delight when it came to any kind of unusual gimmick. His wife Marsha had long ago given up trying to get him to change.

One day John came home with another one of his unusual purchases.

It was a robot that John claimed was actually a lie detector
.
It was about 5:30 that afternoon when Tommy, their 11 year old son, returned home from school. Tommy was over 2 hours late.

"Where have you been? Why are you over 2 hours late getting home?" asked John.

"Several of us went to the library to work on an extra credit project," said Tommy.

The robot then walked around the table and slapped Tommy , knocking him completely out of his chair.

"Son," said John, "this robot is a lie detector, now tell us where you really were after school."

"We went to Bobby's house and watched a movie." said Tommy.

"What did you watch?" asked Marsha.

"The Ten Commandments." answered Tommy.

The robot went around to Tommy and once again slapped him, knocking him off his chair once more.

With his lip quivering, Tommy got up, sat down and said,

"I am sorry I lied. We really watched a tape called Sex Queen."

"I am ashamed of you son," said John. "When I was your age, I never lied to my parents."


The robot then walked around to John and delivered a whack that nearly knocked him out of his chair.

Marsha doubled over in laughter, almost in tears and said,
"Boy, did you ever ask for that one! You can't be too mad with Tommy. After all, he is your son!"

With that the robot immediately walked around to Marsha and knocked her out of her chair.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Noel

One more Christmas layout. Design copied from a digital layout. I am enjoying the challenge of trying to create with paper something similar to these cool layouts! The three sides are gold mesh, stapled down. While I was messing around with the mesh I was wondering why no one has come up with self adhesive mesh - or have they? I am a bit out of the loop these days.



Now - am not so good with supply lists and stuff but I just wanted to point out that the curvy white rectangle under the photos is handmade - with French curves. The thin red border is hand drawn with an embossing marker and then embossed with red EP. The frame around the round sticker is done with the Basic Grey tool.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Christmas 2007

This layout is for my son’s album. I love the look of excitement mixed with sleepiness on his face. I used the same bow stamp from Onyx Expression but here I de-constructed the image after embossing and used it as a corner embellishment. The word "Christmas" is actually a whole sentiment but I used a marker to ink only the word I needed.



  • Paper - Tell your story by Collage Press; Roxbury by Sarah Milne for Scenic Route
  • Big Bow & Swirl Stamps by (Onyx Impressions)
  • Bottle Green EP
  • '2007' - Thickers Alphabets
  • 'Christmas' - Stamp by PSX
  • Tuesday, February 10, 2009

    Remember Today

    This Christmas holiday I sat and worked on the photographs from last Christmas! Felt nice too to use all the holiday colours and relive the excitement that all of us experience when opening up our gifts. The following layout is for my daughters’ album. Her expression, first wondering what the little package held and then on discovering a completely unexpected iphone in the package, is wonderful.
    Layout design copied from a CK magazine. The bow, which is an Onyx Expressions stamp is stamped and embossed in multiple holiday pigment inks and embossing powders.



  • Paper Designed by Sarah Milne for Scenic Route.
  • Coaster - Mixed Dates White by Imagination Project.
  • Big Bow - Stamp by (Onyx Impressions)
  • Holiday Red & Bottle Green EP
  • Chipboard swirl - Cherry Arte
  • Cardstock sticker - Designed Nisa Finn for Fontwerks
  • Monday, February 09, 2009

    Christmas Cards

    The following cards were inspired by Tim Holtz’ 12 tags for Christmas. The first tag uses a mask, so I decided I had to make it. But I did not have distress inks, grungeboard, stickles glitter and all the other little doo dads that Tim loves to use. I guess the following is an example in improvisation. Making do with what one has on hand.



    I lined up three pieces of cardstock and laid the mask on all three. This way I would do everything just once and get three cards. I had no distress inks so I used my dye ink pads and tried some DTP. That did not please me very much so I switched to my trusted stippling method. Then I took off the mask, and because the negative image was so sharp, I stippled in some more colour to give the masked area a more blended in look. I stamped the music background.

    For the letters, I used the negative of a chipboard alphabet as a stencil and cut out the letters from regular cardstock. I did not have any red stickles glue, so I used children’s glitter glue instead. The holly leaves are done with a punch. Since I had no grungeboard, the lamp post is stamped on handmade paper, the thickest ‘cardstock’ I could find.

  • Cardstock by Club Scrap
  • Street lamp stamp by Club Scrap
  • 'JOY' letters traced from the negative of FooFaLa chipboard alphabet
  • Musical mask by Tim Holtz
  • Inks used: Ranger Adirondacks Cranberry, Mushroom, Bottle & Lettuce
  • Letters coloured with Pinta Perla 'rouge' paint and then covered with Crayola red glitter glue.
  • Punched Holly leaves painted with leaf green 'Silk' paints from Stampa Rosa
  • Background musical stamp from Stampington
  • Yellow of street lamp coloured in with galaxy marker
  • Tuesday, January 20, 2009

    Let's go for a drink

    What goes through your mind when someone says "Let's go for a drink"?
    Click on the images for a better view :-D





    Sunday, January 18, 2009

    A Good Year

    Continuing with the masks - This layout has only a tiny detail done with a mask – the number “7.” I used a brown ink and a dense background stamp on the apricot paper. Then I placed the 7 mask on it and used a fantastix brush from Tsukineko to make a dark outline using the same brown. Then I cut out the 7, leaving a thin border of brown around the stamped design.

    This same effect can be created with a stencil, but with the mask, the stamped part of the image is done first and you can get a crisper image because the stamp is applied directly to paper without a stencil in the middle. The result is much better with a mask than with a stencil.



  • Cardstock by Club Scrap from the Poetic Kit.
  • 'Year' chipboard alpahbet by Heidi Swapp
  • '7' done with Tim Holtz mask
  • Jornaling block traced from a stencil I created
  • Hinge is Tim Holtz grungeboard painted white acrylic, silver & gold
  • Silver & Gold paint from Golden acrylics
  • Round sentiment coaster from Imagination Project
  • Font: 2Peas Magic Forest
  • A couple of fonts

    First site offers free download of a font called 'The Village Font' which is a derivative of Albertus.


    Second site offers free download of the 'Planet of the Apes' font



    (via BB)

    Hero of the Hudson

    Hats off to Chesley B Sully Sullenberger III, of California. Mr Sullenberger landed the Airbus A320 into the river shortly after taking off from La Guardia airport in New York. Both of the plane's engines were damaged after it hit a flock of geese. Of the 150 passengers and five crew on board Flight 1549, one person suffered two broken legs, but there were no other reports of serious injuries.

    Why spelling is important

    Indian version of the Frog Prince fairy tale

    Here we have the Indian version of the Frog Prince fairy tale. Fortunately for my breakfast, the heroines in this tale did not have to kiss their froggys. They all went back to their original lives and lived happily ever after! or at least ... so I hope.



    In a bizarre ritual, two minor girls, both seven, from the remote Pallipudupet village in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district were married off to frogs on Friday night. The ceremony, an annual feature during the Pongal (harvest) festival, is conducted "to prevent the outbreak of mysterious diseases in the village''.

    The girls, Vigneswari and Masiakanni, dressed up in traditional bridal finery - gilded sarees and gold jewellery - married the frog 'princes' in separate, elaborate ceremonies at two different temples in the presence of hundreds of villagers.

    Amidst chanting of vedic hymns, the temple priests garlanded the brides and tied the magalsutras on behalf of the frogs pronouncing the two as wives of the amphibians before the sacred fire at the auspicious hour. The villagers threw themselves into the ceremonies with gusto. While residents living in the western part of the village acted as relatives of the brides and those from the eastern part play-acted as relatives of the grooms The ceremonies had all the usual elements of a traditional marriage including a sumptuous feast.

    However, unlike the fairy tale `Frog Prince', where the ugly toad turns into a handsome prince when the princess kisses it, the Villupuram village belles bid their amphibian grooms goodbye and lead a normal life thereafter. As for the terrified frogs, they are thrown back into the temple ponds after the ceremony.
    (Link)

    Saturday, January 17, 2009

    Tips for a better life

    These tips were shared by Dawn of SSR (Thanks Dawn!) and I really liked reading them - lots of sensible and positive thoughts which are always welcome. As Nettie said, some of them are easier to apply than others. But there is something in these for everyone!

    1. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
    2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
    3. Sleep for 7 hours.
    4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
    5. Play more games.
    6. Read more books than you did the previous year.
    7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
    8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
    9. Dream more while you are awake.
    10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
    11. Drink plenty of water.
    12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
    13. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
    14. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
    15. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
    16. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
    17. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
    18. Smile and laugh more.
    19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
    20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
    21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
    22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
    23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don't compare your partner with others.
    24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
    25. Forgive everyone for everything.
    26. What other people think of you is none of your business.
    27. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
    28. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
    29. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
    30. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
    31. The best is yet to come.
    32. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
    33. Do the right thing!
    34. Call your family often.
    35. Your inner most is always happy. So be happy.
    36. Each day give something good to others.
    37. Don't over do. Keep your limits.

    The Best Job in the World!

    You have just over a month to apply for this job: The caretaker of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef! Checkout the website: The Best Job in the World

    Basically you get paid to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, to swim, snorkel, and blog. And even if you are not interested in the job because yours is better - take a look at the website - browsing through the photographs is like taking a mini holiday.


    Tuesday, January 13, 2009

    Beach Babes

    I used the wavy edge of a 12X12 stencil to draw the waves that the photographs follow. Once I matted the photos onto the speckled brown cardstock, I lightly pencilled onto the background cardstock exactly where I wanted the photo wave. Then I printed the title (only the word “beach”), the journalling and the sentiment. The lightly pencilled wave also helped me to determine where the flourish mask would go. I had to keep the stippling extremely light so as not to overpower the printing. Also, the background cardstock has some beachy print, and I wanted that to show a bit. After I glued the photo wave, I placed the “babes” part of the title to finish the layout.

    Monday, January 12, 2009

    Would you be able to walk across this?

    Japan's scariest suspension bridge - and boy is it long! The video is a bit long too and there are bits towards the end that really scared the poop out of me! You can also hear the wind and the creaking ... which makes it nightmarish!


    Via BB

    You make me smile

    For this layout, I used a border mask on the inner quadrangle. I used a stippling brush and a blue dye ink as close to the main cardstock colour as possible. I kept the colour light because I did not want a very prominent border. The stubs / tickets with the sentiments are handmade. The border on the left hand side is a pre-cut paper frill that I coloured using the same blue ink.



  • Cardstock by Club Scrap mostly from the Friendship kit.
  • Border masks by Tim Holtz
  • Tickets handmade - stamped with Club Scrap sentiment stamps
  • Blueberry dye ink by Ranger Industries
  • Masks stippled using stippling brushes from Toy Box
  • Paper frill by Doodlebug Design
  • Journaling block manufacturer unknown
  • Fastenator