'Flower Collage' stamp

All three cards made with the Flower Collage stamp from River City Rubber Works.

The background on this card is made with Luna Lights paints and Hero Arts shadow stamps. I should have embossed the flower design with detail EP but I realised this only after I had already stamped the image with Black dye ink.

The card below has a ;oght background done with a Stampendous marbling cube stamp. The oval frame is made with a Quikutz die. The faint gold border is done with Luna Lights gold water colour. And the glitter is Golden Acrylics Mica gold flakes paint.

This last card has a chipboard domino applied to it. I stamped the image first in dye ink on the green cardstock. Then again with pigment ink on the domino. I heat set the ink because I was going to use watercolours to paint the flower and did not want the ink to run. Once the coloours were dry, I covered the domino with a layer of Ranger Glossy effects.

Kindered Spirits

Printed paper "Paisley & Petals' by s.e.i; Zany Fou stickers by 7 Gypsies; 'Z' punch-out by Autumn Leaves.

The new Citroen ad

I am just loving these transformer ads!

RIP Paul Newman

Calling all cell phone users

Watch this!

Pop Corn téléphone portable micro-ondes
Uploaded by sassiere

ETA: Luckily this is a hoax! Snopes.com ~ scroll down till the bottom of the page to read about how the popcorns were actually popped! ~ Thanks Esri Rose :-)

How to get to Heaven

I was testing the children in my Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven.

I asked them, 'If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?'



'NO!' the children answered.



'If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?'


Again, the answer was, 'NO!' By now I was starting to smile.


Hey, this was fun! 'Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?' I asked them again.


Again, they all answered, 'NO!'


I was just bursting with pride for them.



'Well,' I continued, 'then how can I get into Heaven?'



A five-year-old boy shouted out,





'YOU GOTTA BE DEAD.'

True Redneck Tank Top!!!

This is hysterical! Look at it closely......

Now I ask you...
Who sits and looks at a pair of men's briefs and says hmmmm... I can make a nice summer top from these!! On the other hand...$6 for a three pack is a good price!!

Thanks Michi!

Trust Condoms

This is one smart funny video!

FORREST GUMP GOES TO HEAVEN

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven. He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.



St. Peter said, 'Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone. The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven.'



Forrest responds, 'It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain't too hard.



Life was a big enough test as it was.' St. Peter continued, 'Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.



First:



What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second:



How many seconds are there in a year?



Third:



What is God's first name?' Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, 'Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers'

Forrest replied, 'Well, the first one -- which two days in the week begins with the letter 'T'?

Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow.' The Saint's eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, 'Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer. How about the next one?' asked St. Peter. 'How many seconds in a year?

Now that one is harder,' replied Forrest, but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.'



Astounded, St. Peter said, 'Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?'

Forrest replied, 'Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd... '

'Hold it,' interrupts St. Peter. 'I see where you are going with this, and I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind....but I will have to give you credit for that one, too. Let us go on with the third and final question.

Can you tell me God's first name'? 'Sure,' Forrest replied, 'it's Andy.'

'Andy?' exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St Peter.



'Ok, I can understand how you came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?'

'Shucks, that was the easiest one of all,' Forrest replied. 'I learnt it from the song, 'ANDY WALKS WITH ME, ANDY TALKS WITH ME, ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN.'


St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: 'Run Forrest, run.'

Animals stealing food

Indian pilots requently fail pre-flight alcohol tests

Goodness! Another reason for me to quake in my shoes when taking those internal flights! Flying on an airplane that had no life jackets was scary enough (reason: we do not fly over water so of what use is a life jacket) but the possibility of having an inebriated pilot at the helm is altogether a bit much.

Around 50 pilots each year in India are being grounded because they had consumed alcohol before taking a flight, the country's civil aviation authorities said Tuesday. The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a body controlling airline operations in India, said dozens of pilots are found to have consumed alcohol during routine pre-medical tests every year. Civil aviation rules specify that pilots and cabin crew cannot consume alcohol 12 hours before taking a flight.

"We do catch pilots who had taken alcohol routinely and so does the airlines," Kanu Gohain, a top DGCA official told Reuters Tuesday. "We have strict guidelines for alcohol intake and any operating crew is pulled up immediately, and the airlines too can punish crew members," he said by telephone from Mumbai.

A pilot can be grounded for three months and he can lose his license if he repeats the mistake again, Gohain added. A flight from India's capital to the eastern city of Patna was cancelled Saturday after a routine medical test on crew members revealed the pilot had consumed alcohol. (Link)

Bar Acrobatics

This is some cool stuff. These folks have amazing balance! And I was wondering just how tough the two guys on the sides are ... it must not be easy to keep that bar on their shoulders.

Dutch follow Orange ... just about anywhere!

Railway workers in Switzerland wear orange striped vests when working. The railway had to switch to yellow because a bunch of Dutch supporters followed a railway worker onto the tracks, thinking that the uniform was their traditional orange dress and the next game was to be held on the railway tracks! ummm?

This is a public service warning. If you know any Dutch people, you need to be very, very, careful not to confuse them.

This became obvious after a bunch of Dutch soccer fans at Euro 2008 followed a Swiss railway worker onto the tracks because they mistook his orange reflective vest for their traditional orange dress. I’m not making this up. It seems the idea that train tracks might be a wacky spot for a soccer match just didn’t occur to them.

The Swiss, not wanting a slaughter that would gum up their tracks with Dutch people and wooden shoes, have now given the railway workers yellow vests.

Meanwhile, if you do know some Dutch people, do NOT let them see you toss an orange shirt into a tank of killer sharks. Don’t even THINK about it! (Oddly Enough)

Save Zimbabwe from Mugabe

On Thursday, 27th June, Zimbabwe will hold a cruel sham of a vote for President. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has just withdrawn from the run-off -- not in a concession of victory, but rather in recognition that Mugabe's campaign of violence and terror has erased any hope for a democratic election.

But against the odds, hope survives. Amidst growing international pressure, Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition have entered private talks. A unity government may be possible yet.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously held on Monday that free and fair elections are now impossible in Zimbabwe. The UN Secretary-General spoke out. But it is African leaders, most of all Thabo Mbeki, who hold the key. Even Mugabe cannot cling to power without their cooperation. Today, Avvaz is launching an emergency campaign, petitioning these leaders to call an immediate summit, isolate Mugabe, and broker a legitimate government for Zimbabwe. Their call will be published in big newspaper advertisements in South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique this week.

Zimbabwe's neighbours supply its electricity and goods, and control the borders. Many Southern African leaders are already calling for the postponement of the election -- but there's a real danger that they will end up accepting this charade. This would be a grave miscalculation: if Mugabe succeeds in his de facto coup, Zimbabwe's implosion will accelerate, and chaos could spread throughout the region.

So the Avaaz campaign will publicly name those African leaders who hold Mugabe's last remaining lifeline. If these leaders step up strongly now, they can convince enough of Mugabe's officials that change is coming one way or another -- and set the stage for Morgan Tsvangirai to lead a unity government to pull Zimbabwe back together.

Robert Mugabe saved Zimbabwe from colonialism. Now it's time for African leaders to save Zimbabwe from him.

Help Avaaz raise 250,000 voices this week, including a great roar from every country in Africa, to be delivered in an immediate multi-country ad campaign.

Sign the Petition!

What would you look like after some cosmetic surgery?

If you have wondered about how some cosmetic surgery would help you but are scared to actually take the plunge, go under the knife, you could try the Lift Magic website. This site allows you to see an improved version of yourself with a few clicks of a mouse.

The 'Lift Magic' website offers a virtual makeover for prospective plastic surgery patients, so they can see how they might look after eye-bag removal, a nose job or a face-lift. But the website is also attracting those with time on their hands, and has proved a hit as an application on the social networking site Facebook.

Users load a digital photograph of themselves onto the screen and can try out up to 14 different treatments. Options include a cheek lift, lip augmentation, dermal filler injections and 'tear trough enhancement' which works on the area between the inner corner of the eye and the nose. Once they have chosen from the menu of alterations, users hit the 'show me' button to see an image of their surgically-enhanced face. It is then possible to scroll between the natural and retouched version to compare the differences. (Link)

Scrapbook croc style

Black Holes Have Simple Feeding Habits

At the centre of spiral galaxy M81 is a super massive black hole about 70 million times more massive than our sun. A new study using data from Chandra and ground-based telescopes, combined with detailed theoretical models, shows that the supermassive black hole in M81 feeds just like stellar mass black holes, with masses of only about ten times that of the sun. This discovery supports Einstein's relativity theory that states black holes of all sizes have similar properties. (NASA)

Transgender toilets in Thai school

A Thai school has created toilets for its transgender students with a sign that's half male, half female. The Kamphaeng School in Si Sa Ket, in northeastern Thailand opened separate toilet facilities to accommodate hundreds of transgender students who have always longed for their own restroom.

Helen Long reports.

Till 1913 - possible to ship children through mail

Posted by the Smithsonian Institute - a very interesting photograph taken about 1900. Some special delivery this was! No more waiting for the stork - the kids came through the mail ...

This city letter carrier posed for a humorous photograph with a young boy in his mailbag. After parcel post service was introduced in 1913, at least two children were sent by the service. With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples. (Link) via Boing Boing

77 y.o. Samurai Granny whips some Italian soldier butt!

OMG!! She is my new hero!! Can you imagine this little 77 year old granny kicking some serious Italian soldier butt? And she does it every day. Love love love it!

Martial arts expert Keiko Wakabayshi, nicknamed the "Samurai Granny", has been hired by the country's military to train recruits in hand-to-hand combat. Miss Wakabayshi, who stands exactly 5ft tall, looks tiny compared to her charges who are mostly over 6ft. But the pensioner is a trained master in an array of martial arts disciplines including jujitsu, jojitso, kenjitso, judo, kendo and karate. She wipes the floor with soldiers of the Folgore brigade at their barracks in Livorno on a daily basis. Miss Wakabayshi was born in Japan but now lives in Northern Italy.

She tells her students to look at her and believe that nothing is impossible. After flooring an opponent she tells them: "Don't think it's unbelievable. The physique doesn't matter." (Link)