Inspired by my boyfriend

My boyfriend was over here in Scotland for 6 months from the USA and he LOVES cooking out on the grill/barbecue. Even when it was cold or raining, we'd eat from the grill 2-3 times a week. So when he'd gone back home and I got back to designing for my zazzle store, I suddenly became inspired to create a couple of barbecue designs.

The first was a little cartoon back yard BBQ scene that I then used as a 4th July invitation and in another of my stores as a cute children's party invite:

The second design was more of a cheeky little dig at my bf since whenever he cooked for anyone over here they went crazy about how good his food was - even the fussiest of eaters enjoyed and devoured his food! Of course on the product the text can be changed so no-one has to work around with my bf's name on their shirt, lol. I'm not sure if he's managed to see the design yet but he was flattered when I told him about it on messenger.

Not really, but .....

It is not very widely know that Scottish Bagpipes are actually animals. In fact, they are a form of cat that make a vey high-pitched wailing noise when angry. The animal has a very unusual pelt, ofetn brightly colored and featuring a number of stripes in a grid-like pattern. As it's such a ferocious beastie, many Scotsmen like to catch Bagpipes and exhibit them in a manner akin to lion tamers in order to show off their own machismo however the bagpipes take serious offense to this and let their feelings be known very vocally indeed! On rare occasions some Scotswomen also tame Bagpipes. In order to prevent the captured bagpipes from making an escape, three of their legs are often tethered with a tassled rope.

Bagpipe Tamer Funny Cartoon Vector T-Shirt
by ArtformTheHeart

Do you love Vampires?

Ever since I was a kid I loved horror movies. Way back when I was around 5 years old, my sister and I used to get up in the middle of the night to watch the 'Hammer House of Horror' double bills and anything else horror related. As I grew up, 'The Lost Boys' was one of my favourite movies - I developed a crush on the late Corey Haim whilst my older sister fell for Jason Patric. 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' the 1992 movie was a bit of a let down on the acting front, it could have been so great with a slightly different cast. The movie of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' was completely cringeworthy, but embarassingly, I became hooked on the television series and was also a devout follower of the spin-off series 'Angel'. Interview with a Vampire' (the movie) came out the year after I graduated University and that got me started on reading all of the Anne Rice novels. I watched the first Twilight movie and skipped the rest - I guess I'm too old for that teenage stuff nowadays, lol, but I am hooked on 'True Blood' (it could do with a little less on the explicit sexual content though; yes, I am a prude).

'Say it... Vampire' Shirt by everOctober	Victoria the Vampire by ButtermilkBiscuits
Vampire Love by clonecire	Vampires Coffin T Shirt by HalloweenTees
"Hunger Pains" Mousepad by strangeling	Home Sweet Home Vampire Fantasy by gothictoggs
Vampire Army gothic Bumper Sticker by gothictoggs	Halloween Vampire Panda Bear Cartoon by Animatastic
Halloween Vampire Panda Bear by Animatastic	Nosferatu! by HeydayGraphix

You may also be interested in the article The Origins of Vampires in Gothic Horror Fiction.

Zombie Invasion

I came across this somewhere online, a paper detailing the mathematical modelling of a zombie invasion by Jarett Diamond.  Very amusing (in my mind at least), here's an extract:

"The Zombie Invasion scenario has been a common trope in American popular culture for
decades. In one version, the outbreak begins with a mutant virus introduced to a small
population of humans. The virus kills those whom it infects, and after a period of time, causes
them to rise from the dead with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Decaying mockeries of
human life, these walking undead are insensible to cold, heat, fatigue, or fear. Mindless, they
possess only the most basic instinct to feed upon the living."

Read the whole paper here.

Considering my recent sleeping problems, I kinda feel like a zombie myself, lol.

IN THE EVENT OF ZOMBIE ATTACK	ZOMBIE MUG $12.95	greenzombie - Customized
Zombie Dance Crew T-Shirt	Zombie Apostles Motivational	Zombie Hunter T-Shirt

The 4th July and some funny questions I have been asked.

I have been lucky enough to spend the last two 4th July's in the USA with my fiance, unfortunately circumstances this year may mean that I can't manage, time will tell. But thinking back on the memories causes me to smile, and sometimes have a giggle at questions I have been asked as a Scottish visitor to the US of A. Here are some of the questions (honestly!! and I have been asked them more than once!):

Q    "Do you have 4th July where you are from?"
A     Yes, and we also have 5th July, 6th July,.......

Q    "Do you celebrate 4th July in Holland?"
A     Well, Independance Day is actually a celebration of the United States of America gaining their  independance from rule by Great Britain (of which Scotland, where I come from, is a part) so no, we don't celebrate 4th July and I'm pretty sure that Holland don't celebrate it either.

Q     "So Scotland is part of England right?"
A     ~silence~

Q     "Do you have hillbillies/rednecks in Scotland?"
A1    Yes, we call them Aberdonians.
A2    Yes, we call them 'neds'.
(note, I may have to change my answer to this after reading up on the origins of the terms 'hillbilly' and 'redneck', see two posts down for more info.)

Q    "Do you have Christmas in Scotland?"
A     When I stop laughing, I usually point out that Christmas is (or should be) a Christian celebration and that Christianity is an almost worldwide religion, so yes, we celebrate Christmas too.

Anyway, I hope that gave you a giggle. Here are some fantastic zazzle products that celebrate 4th July for you to browse:

Happy 4th of July	Happy 4th July	Puppy and Flag
Fife and Drum Corps	Sweeping American Flag T-Shirt	Baby's First 4th of July
4th of July Postage Stamps	Liberty Postage Stamp	Eagle 4th July Postage
Red, white and denim Invitation	Stars & Stripes Angel	4th of July Party Invitations

So the World Cup Starts on the 11th June......

Although I'm not really into football (soccer) anymore, there seems absolutely no way that I can avoid the World Cup. It's going to be all over tv, newspapers and the internet for pretty much 2 months. So with that in mind, and considering that my home Country of Scotland did NOT qualify (big surprise huh?) I wondered who I should support. "Easy," say some of you, "support England." I could well support England but am I being unfaithful to Scotland if I support England? For years I've failed to understand why in some endeavours we compete as the UK, whilst in others we are still separated into Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. I could support Brazil, the favourites to win (at least then I'd know I was backing a good team - not that England aren't a good team, just my knowledge on the subject is so poor). Or I could support my fiance's team, USA, though he is as much of a football (soccer) fan as I am. Maybe I should pick the team with the prettiest flag? That may be as good a selection criteria as any. If your National team didn't make it to the World Cup, who will you support and why?

England by ArtformTheHeart Create a personalized t shirt using zazzle	American Flags Shirt by ArtformTheHeart Browse other America T-Shirts	BRAZIL SOCCER by raylau Make custom t shirts at zazzle
France World Soccer American Apparel T-Shirt by artshirt Many more t-shirts online at zazzle.com	Espana Soccer by magarmor More Espana T-Shirts	Portugal Football Panda by cuteunion Browse more Portugal T-Shirts

Retro Memories - Part 1

I grew up in the UK in the 1970's-1980's, these are a few of the things (good and bad) I remember from the 'old days'.

THE GOOD

1. Chelsea Whoppers. A delicious chocolately fudge-type confectionary dusted with cocoa powder. They came in 'sheets' that you could tear into strips of 10 and cost a penny a strip. I was addicted to them, but sadly they disappeared. A couple of years ago though I went to my local corner shop and there were Chelsea Whoppers!!! Apparently someone had re-discovered the old recipe and was producing them again, and travelling around selling them to small retail stores. Chelsea Whoppers can now be found on a number of online retro sweets stores but sadly they are no longer 1p, infact, I have read several forum posts of people having to pay £12.20 (inc. postage) for 60 whoppers!! They were good, but not THAT good. If you remember Chelsea Whoppers, you may also remember Cremola Foam, a frothy sherberty type drink mix that may also be making a comeback soon after an original can of product was discovered and the recipe recreated.

2. Why Don't You...? A kids television show who's full title was: "Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set And Go Out And Do Something Less Boring Instead?" I loved it, my sister hated it. The show started in the early 1970's and actually ran up until the 1990's. It featured groups of kids from different UK regions giving suggestions on hobbies and crafts, jokes etc and initially ran during school summer holidays. It was always kind of ironic that a tv show was telling us to switch off our tv, lol. Along the same lines, I used to love 'Rainy Day Cards', a box of cards of different colours with craft and games suggestions on them, but, I always seemed to find that there was something required for a particular project that we just didn't have in the house, ah well.

THE BAD

1. 'Tartan' denim. I remember around about 1980 or so having a pair of jeans that were a pale, pastel tartan colour. Pinks and yellows and faded denim blue. I guess that I liked them at the time because I sure wore them a lot with a pair of pastel pink shoes, but I cringe at the memory of them now. As if the naff 'tartan' wasn't bad enough, my particular pair of jeans had tapering legs with zippers at the bottom and were about an inch above my ankle (by design). Thankfully, no photographs survive of me this horrendous fashion faux pas :)

2. Deputy Dawg. Although it ended in 1972 (the year I was born) it was shown for many years after in the UK at least and it's one of the shows I grew up with. I guess it wasnt all that bad since I watched it, but it sure wasn't Hong Kong Phooey!

I Love the 70's by magarmor See other Retro T-Shirts

1970 Funky Retro Birthday by birthdaypresent Shop for a card on Zazzle

Coffee Tree by ArtformTheHeart

A Funny T-shirt I just had to share.

Just in case you ever wondered where rainbows come from, here's the answer:

Where rainbows come from t-shirts