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Archive for January, 2012

Breast cancer ribbon tattoos have become a very popular way to show your support for those who have fought a cancer battle. While there are many different types of ribbons supporting many different causes, the pink ribbon is one that has taken on international significance representing breast cancer awareness.

With one in eight women and men fighting the breast cancer battle this year alone there is a good chance that you will know someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. As a tattoo enthusiast, I love seeing people who have chosen to honor and support someone with a breast cancer ribbon tattoo.

If you are thinking about getting a breast cancer tattoo for yourself that honors someone who is fighting this particular battle or someone whose has fought this battle and ultimately lost ~ then here are some tattoo tips that you will want to keep in mind.

* Choosing the Right Breast Cancer Ribbon Tattoo Design.

Take your time choosing the perfect breast cancer tattoo. Not only do you want the tattoo to be the right one for you, but you’ll want it to properly symbolize your love and support for your friend or loved one. Looking through online designs is a good place to start. Having a stencil in hand of your chosen artwork when you go to your favorite tattoo artist can also save you some time and money.

* Location, Location, Location

Just as in real estate, the location of your tattoo is important, especially with this type of tattoo. Display it in a prominent location. After all… you want the world to see this beautiful work of art that shows your love and support for those with breast cancer.

* If This is Your First Tattoo?

If this is your first tattoo then you must Think… Think… and Re-Think Before You Ink! Take your time choosing a design. Take your time choosing the right placement location.

Don’t get a tattoo while under pressure from someone else. Hopefully, you will be living with this tattoo for the rest of your life so choose wisely from the start. You will want to be happy not only today but for all the tomorrows to come.

* Consultation Please!

It is a very good idea to make an appointment for a consultation with the artist. Actually, you should consult with several artists before making a final decision on just which artist will ink your tattoo. Take all your ideas, sketches and stenciled artwork with you to your appointment so together you and the artist can come up with the best custom tattoo design that is just right for you.

Getting a tattoo is somewhat of an intimate experience so you will want to be comfortable with the person who is going to be making art with you.

* Don’t Shop for Price Alone!

Tattooing is an art form and great tattoos can be expensive. If you decide to go smaller in order to save money, you may regret it later. Sometimes waiting until you can afford to get the right tattoo will be worth it in the long run. Your tattoo should be unique and special to you so don’t scrimp on it.

Deciding to get a breast cancer ribbon tattoo is commendable and offers a special tribute to your loved one or friend. Take your time choosing the best design and the right application location. Only then will it truly show honor and respect for those who fight the breast cancer battle.

Visit Breast Cancer Tattoo Designs for more information or you may want to pickup a copy of Tattoos for Women – It’s packed with great tattoo advice and designs!

Mary Edison is a tattoo enthusiast, writer and entrepreneur. She loves tats with attitude and ones with special meaning! You might say she has “Tattootude” ~ Tats with Attitude!

When it comes to your wedding favors there is a wide choice available, but sometimes it is the simplest choices that work the best. So don’t spend hours agonizing over which favors are the best, follow our creative ideas and make your own pretty favor boxes to fill with chocolates.

1. Beautiful Butterflies: Use a simple cube style favor box and wrap with ribbon, present style. Top with a pretty fabric or feather butterfly to coordinate with your wedding colors.

2. Floral Double Act: Again use a cube style favor box and wrap with ribbon. Check out silk and paper flowers in your local craft store or online. Look for two flowers which you could layer one on top of the other, for instance, a flat daisy with a rose on the top. Make the bottom flower the width of the box and the top one the same width as the center of the bottom flower, so that they look in scale.

3. Plain and Simple: Choose a box which is symmetrical in design, such as a square, rectangle or round. Purchase a square punch (or one to match whatever shape your box is) in two sizes and card which matches the color of your favor boxes and one other coordinating color, for instance, cream and pink. Use the punches to cut two squares, one each from the two colors. The larger square should be cut from the coordinating color and a smaller square from the same color card as the box. Layer the two together – small on large and center on the top of your box. After sticking them in place glue a small flat backed gem or pearl in the center.

4. Classic Monograms: Design your wedding monogram on your computer or if your have nice handwriting or are artistic you could draw it freehand. Add your wedding date underneath and if there is room a small motif between the two. Cut these out to match the shape of your favor boxes, making them approximately 2mm smaller and stick onto the lid of your boxes. Use card which is the same color as your boxes and stick to just one color of ink.

5. Pretty as a Picture: Choose a medium width satin ribbon in a coordinating color and tie it around your favor box (square or rectangular work best) so it runs over the top. Bring the two ends together on the side and tie in a bow. Using some card in a coordinating color cut out a square and using a decorative punch cut a shape in the center. Take a small piece of craft wire and a bead, thread the bead on to the wire and affix behind the shape you have just cut out. You should have a pretty cut out shape with a bead in the center. Affix this to your box with some double sided padded tape making sure you attach it to the ribbon as well to hold it in place. Punches are available in a wide variety of shapes including hearts, flowers, butterflies and birds.

6. Glitz and Glam: This one is so easy, but looks a million dollars. Use a cube style box and wrap a piece of satin ribbon, firstly around one side of the bottom half of the box, gluing the ends inside. Then do the same for the lid of the box, matching the ribbon up with that on the bottom. Thread a crystal buckle on to the ribbon and position in the center of the lid, and then glue the ends of the ribbon inside.

Mae Andrea is a professional writer who collects wedding favors and wedding related articles. She is working with a wedding planning social networking company that caters to all the wedding needs of brides in almost every major center in America.

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Glass blocks, especially manufactured by Pittsburgh Corning, are extremely durable. After all, they use them to make walls, sometimes massive in size for office buildings on the interior and exterior. They also have other uses, including the one I prefer. How about a decorated lighted glass block, for example?

You purchase a glass block from a hardware store and drill a hole on the backside just the perfect size to slide in a strand of lights into the interior. They make light strands, such as Christmas light strands, with 20 or 25 lights and with only one plug on one end. This makes it easy to feed the lights inside the glass black, then all you do is plug it in and you have the perfect nightlight.

So how do you dress it up? My choice is to use wired ribbon and adornments to make it appear as a fancy, wrapped present. Some people like to use rub on decals to fancy up the glass and possibly add some adornments to make the glass block interesting.

Here is a list of ideas that you can use to make your own:

Christmas ribbon and fancy ornaments to make a festive nightlight
Weddings using white silky ribbon and lacy or feathery adornments
Valentine’s Day using heart ribbon and cute little animal figurines
St. Patrick’s Day using green and shamrocks
Spring using sunny yellow or bright polka dot ribbons
Easter using cute little bunnies and soft pastel ribbons
Mother’s Day using Mother’s favorites
Father’s Day prefers to keep it masculine
Fourth of July of course red, white, and blue
Halloween using anything scary, like black ribbon and ghosts
Thanksgiving using Tom Turkey here would be good. There’s tons of fall ribbons available.
Baby Night Lights anything pink, blue, or yellow. The dollar store sells cute, safe, plastic figurines.
Toddler/Small Children Night Lights using your child’s favorite color.
Nature using anything natural, such as dried flowers or potpourri
Victorian using vintage lace and roses, etc.
Team Spirit (High School & College)
Harley Davidson using leather and lace. Try putting a small replica of a Harley Motorcycle on top.

I’m sure there’s plenty of other themes you can think of. These are definitely safe for any room, including a newborn’s room. I have made these beautiful glass blocks for many years now, and sometimes I leave several of them plugged in around the house for several months. They do not get hot, provided you stick with a 20 or 35 light strand. They do not create any smell from the lights being on too long.

They are incredibly sturdy, and therefore will not break unless you intentionally take a sledgehammer to them. You can add fragrance to the adornments to make a nice atmosphere in a room. There are so many uses for them. Wondering exactly how to make them? I have created an EBook with full instructions and tips to help you along.

Kat Bush
Learn how I sold over 400+ crafts in my EBook Titled
How to Make Decorated Lighted Christmas Glass Blocks
Included is a full, step-by-step tutorial complete with pictures.
http://briteblocks.com

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Do you find yourself constantly asking what other people think about products? Are you one of those people that find yourself always double checking reviews before purchasing something? Well we going to review the Sharp UX P-100 Printer and discuss some of its features, price range, and general performance.

Perhaps one of the best places to start when reviewing something especially an electronic appliance is to consider space. How much space do you actually have to set up a new machine? Well this Sharp system happens to be able to fit even in the smallest of spaces due to its small size. So space here is definitely not an issue.

Some people like to fully understand how a product works before purchasing it. Well that is definitely encouraged in case something happens and the product needs to be fixed or replaced altogether. Well the Sharp UX-P100 Printer uses a ribbon for its printing purposes. This ribbon can be easily found within your printing machine.

Ribbon printing isn’t horrible the only main concern people have with it is whether or not it is completely functional. Well the answer here is yes and there are several little tricks that you can do as well to get more life out of your ribbon. The reason some people complain about this type of printing is because the ribbon initially costs around $20.00 to purchase.

Once the ribbon transfers spools completely most people throw them out. Well here is the secret. If you are careful you can rewind the ribbon back onto the starting spool. If done correctly you can actually get 2x the life out of the ribbon. The quality of printing stays roughly the same with maybe only slightly less sharpness here and there. Most people who have performed this step don’t usually have any noticeable problems.

Like most machines this one has some of the comparable features of others. It has the capability to store up to 30 numbers for fast and effective dialing. Also it can handle up to 24 pages of printing if you happen to need that many all at once. The printer itself only holds 10 pages so once page 9 is taken you have to restock the printer for it to continue efficiently.

The Sharp system does have the capacity to store up to 30 numbers as was said earlier. In order to access these numbers there are arrow keys located near the dialing mechanism. This allows for you to scroll through the numbers to find the one that you need. Also if you happen to have Caller ID activated on your service you can even review your call list.

The Sharp UX-P100 Printer is quite a reasonable buy for all of the above reasons. It isn’t really something that should be second guessed. If you decide that this system is the one for you then don’t forget to pick up the Sharp UX P100 toner to go along with your purchase. Purchasing the toner that correlates to the printer is always recommended.

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It is wonderful how creative some brides can be when it comes to things like wedding favors. Somehow they manage to take the plainest of items & turn it into something wonderful, a memorable keepsake that will be treasured for years to come.

So how is it they can stamp their own personality on to just about anything – wedding favors, stationery, even their wedding dress? Whilst many of us get lost in a sea of printed ribbon & paper roses, they are busy creating the most unique of items.

Actually all it takes is a little imagination, some confidence & a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Take an evening to look through magazines, browse the internet & put together montage of those wedding favors you like. From here you should be able to narrow it down to those that fit with your wedding style or theme. Remember colors & small details can be changed; it is really the overall look of the item that you should focus on.

For instance a plain favor box can look amazing with a band of patterned paper wrapped over top. This is a design that you may have seen time & time again, you just need to envisage it with a paper band that matches your wedding.

A lot can be achieved simply by adding a decorative tag to a box with ribbon. Look for die cut shaped tags – try Ebay; look for shapes that coordinate with your wedding theme or style i.e. hearts, leaves, flowers or bells.

Personalized stickers are another inexpensive way of jazzing up your favor boxes. You will find many online stores that offer customized stickers & just need to simply stick them in place.

With the rise in the popularity of scrap booking & card making, craft stores are full to bursting with beautiful stickers, toppers, die cut shapes, tags & a wealth of innovative decorations which could be applied to wedding favors. Choosing decorations such as these will lead to the creation of some truly unique favors, unlike any which could be found in the shops & which will take you no time at all to assemble.

For example, take a look at the rubber stamps. Choose one that matches your wedding theme or that has a wedding related image. Choose a colored ink pad – you will find colors range from solids to pearl scents, glitters & metallic. Next pick up some shaped tags for your favor boxes. It is them just a simple process of stamping your tags; once dry writing your message on the blank side & attaching to your boxes. Voila! Unique & stunning wedding favors! If you are feeling really brave then you could stamp the boxes instead before you assemble them. I would advise ordering a few more than you need though so you have some to practice on.

Here are a few other ideas for jazzing up your wedding favors:

o Ribbon a Deux. This stylish look is achieved by placing a thin ribbon over the top of a wider one. Try it with contrasting colors, patterns or fabrics for an eye catching effect. For a touch of glamor you could thread a rhinestone buckle on to sit on the top.
o Dainty Ribbons. Usually favor ribbon is about half inch in width but a wonderfully elegant look can be achieved with ultra thin ribbon which is wrapped twice around the box & finished in a bow (or just a simple knot with short tails if you’re no good at tying bows!). Two colors of ribbon works especially well as an alternative.
o Paper Bands. As mentioned earlier, a band of decorative paper is very elegant & stylish. Look for scrapbook papers, interesting handmade papers or origami papers. You could even trim the edges with decorative scissors for a pretty edge. Simply cut them to size (a guillotine is useful for this) & wrap over the top of the box, gluing in place on the bottom. A card tag, label or sticker looks particularly effect stuck on the top.

These are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing. The world of wedding favors is an ever evolving place with new designs & styles coming to life all the time. The trick is to keep it simple & to stay within your capabilities. Try to do something too technical & you may end up disappointed with the results.

Mae Andrea is a professional writer who collects wedding favors and wedding related articles. She is working with a wedding planning social networking company that caters to all the wedding needs of brides in almost every major center in America.

When one attends an orchid show, its easy to be dazzled by the blooms and confused by the many ribbons and awards that festoon the displays. This article will try to shed some light on the subject.

The standard American Orchid Society sanctioned show (as seen throughout the US and Canada – I’ve been to shows in Coban, Guatemala which follow similar procedures) consists of 3 levels of judging: Ribbon, Trophy (including Best-In-Show) and AOS awards.

Ribbons are the first level of awards and are given to plants based on the class they were registered into. Most show have a large number of classes (usually around 100) and each plant is entered into one of them. This way similar plants are grouped together so they can be reasonably compared. This prevents the proverbial “comparing apples to oranges”. There might be a class for red hybrid Phaleonopsis and another one for red species Phals. Or perhaps a class for Cattleya hybrids with pink lips and another for green. Within each class the judges will award a first, second and third place. Sometimes multiple ribbons can be given if the judges feel that it’s too hard to determine which plant is better.

Trophy judging comes next. This groups sections of classes together. Frequently this is by genera like “Best Pleruothalid”. These awards are usually larger ribbons (sometimes called “horse ribbons”) and may also have a prize attached like a bottle of wine or a decorative plate. This is also where “Best-in-Show” is decided. That prize is usually more extravagant. At the major shows (Tokyo Dome Show, Chelsea Garden Show) these can be significant cash prizes. At the local level, it usually a nice trophy.

The Third Level is AOS judging. After the other judging is done, the senior (accredited) judges will nominate plants from the show that they think may be worthy of an AOS award. The criteria by which they judge at this level is beyond the scope of this article. It can be arcane and mired in research to determine if the plant before them is better in some way than anything seen before.

In summary, Ribbon judging compares similar plants to each other. Trophy judging compares the best of these. AOS judging compares the present plant to everything that has been seen before – anywhere. It is a complex process, but it assures that quality growers are rewarded for their efforts and encourages an every improving quality of orchid show.

Max Wilson has been growing orchids for 15 years. He is webmaster for Ravenvision Photographic and the Southern Ontario Orchid Society. More details on orchid judging, information on orchid care and orchid photography can be found on his website http://www.ravenvision.ca