The Fate of the Animal Kingdom: Balloon Animals?

Balloon animals to replace real animals? No way! Let's take some efforts to save animals instead of letting the mass animal deaths go on unchecked.

The photo shows a sheet from a comic calendar that I received many years ago. When I saw this page, I grinned because of the humor. The idea of balloon animals was creative but exaggerating. Looking at the very same page 12 years later, my grin disappeared. It reminded me many mass animal deaths that had been reported in 2011. Many familiar species are under critical threat of survival. And I can’t help wondering how many species extinct unknown every day.

The fate of the animal kingdom is getting worse over the years. This is a warning to humans. We are too busy in our daily life, exploiting the earth aggressively and are not sensitive enough to our surrounding. We overlook the negative impact of many changes and then feel shocked to hear reports about mass deaths in the animal kingdom. Terrible news broke out one after the other. Frankly, the alarm is on for a long while and tends to go on non-stop. We must forsake our passive or “not-my-business” attitude and take constructive actions to save other species on earth.

Don’t think animal preservation should be done by experts only. Humans at all ages can make contributions to improve the fate of the animal kingdom. Let’s start to protect the environment with a list of feasible measures to join in the saving force.

1)    Do not pollute the air, water and soil.
2)    Replace plastic bags with environmental bag that can be reused many times.
3)    Recycle the plastic, paper, tin can and glass.
4)    Recycle the residue of meals to minimize the refuse.
5)    Cut the use of disposable items such as paper dish and cups, drinking stalks.
6)    Write in both sides of a piece of paper.
7)    Use hand towel rather than tissue to dry your hands.
8)    Share with others, or donate seldom used / no longer used or never used items to the charity organization to extend the lifespan of those items.
9)    Don’t buy excess and let the things seat idle or deteriorate.
10)    Share usage rather than buy new ones, for example, books and toys.
11)    Don’t buy new cell phones, appliances to keep up with the trends and create a lot of refuses.
12)    Try to fix the appliances rather than buy new one.
13)    Change the use of an item to extend its lifespan. For example, make a bag from your worn blue jean.
14)    Report any pollution discovered to the government for a quick cleanup.
15)    Do dispose refuses to the countryside, mountains and lakes and report any illegal disposal.

Individuals can help in many aspects and the collective force will make significant changes. So, no more delays but get started to change our habits in daily life to cast a better future to the animal kingdom.

Author's note:

If you have no idea on how serious the mass animal deaths were, or you want to know more about this issue, please read the two articles below. Whenever you come across any heart-breaking news, share it with your acquaintances to enhance their alert on the hazardous impact to the earth. The more environmental-friendly we are, more animals can be saved.

Mass Animal Deaths: Who is The Killer?

Over 500,000 Seal Pups Drowned to Death



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My Happy Valentine’s Wish

Valentine is coming. Let’s make a wish. Pray that we find true love that lasts forever as the song said, “Can’t Stop Loving You.” Cheers and enjoy.

Valentine’s Day gives the couple an opportunity to highlight their love. But a true and long-lasting love demands deposits constantly. Therefore, do not express your love just on a single day in every year. Treat every day as sweet and loving as Valentine by showing your love and care to your beloved. The constant effort paid will consolidate the love relationship and bring forth tremendous happiness.

For those we are still single, don’t feel sad and give up. Do something positive to keep busy and cheer your heart. If you hate staying alone, have a gathering specially held for single people. Some people cherish private moments to enjoy their favorite book, music or movie alone. If so, have a good time. Valentine’s Day is about love, and loving yourself is also important.

Author’s note:

Phil Collins is my favorite singer. But I also listen to other songs and composed three recommended lists as below. Give them a try. You can find the songs in YouTube for trial hearing easily. Play according to the lists and hope you enjoy the music. Happy Always!
15 Best Movie Songs I Have Ever Heard

Ten Best Love Songs I Have Ever Heard

Ten Best Non-love Songs I Have Ever Heard

How to make a Valentine Card by Stamping and Embossing

(Say "Thank You" to your beloved with a handmade card, sample image extracted from a Japanese leaflet)

Valentine’s Day is coming. Do you want to express love in a unique way? You can make a card by stamping and embossing to hold your loving messages.

Benefits of making your own card:

Of course you can buy a card easily. Why bother to make one? It’s mainly for uniqueness and precision, with other benefits as well.

1)    You can have full control on the size, color, pattern, and message added.
2)    Handmade card conveys the personal feeling in a more precise manner.
3)    The DIY steps are simpler than you expected. You can let your creativity run wild.
4)    It saves time from shopping for the right card as this could be more time-consuming than buying the DIY materials directly.

Materials for the handmade card:

1)    A piece of drawing paper with thickness equivalent to the normal purchased card.
2)    Stamp (the numbers depend on how many messages you want to add)
3)    Embossing ink pad (the numbers depend on how many colors you want to use)
4)    A bottle of embossing powder
5)    A brush
6)    A dryer
7)    Color pencils or markers

DIY Steps for stamping and embossing:

1)    Cut and fold the drawing paper to your desired card size.
2)    Press the stamp on the embossing ink pad and then on the card.
3)    Cover the stamped mark with embossing powder thoroughly.
4)    Brush off the excessive powder.
5)    Adopt the hot mode of the dryer on the mark until it changes color.
6)    Fill up the space with color pencils or markers.

(Using drying on the mark, image extracted from a Japanese leaflet)

Tailor-made love messages:

If you can’t find a stamp that holds your loving message, you can replace the stamp with a stencil. Again, the DIY steps are simple.

1)    Write, draw, print or photocopy your messages with the desired fonts, sizes and thickness on a piece of drawing paper, whose size should be larger than the handmade card.
2)    Cut out the characters and patterns.
3)    Place this stencil on the card.
4)    Press the protruding embossing ink pad on the hollow area.
5)    If the embossing ink pad is not protruding, you can use a sponge to transfer the embossing ink from the pad to the hollow area.
6)    Apply the embossing power and complete the rest of the DIY steps.

Handmade a Valentine card and let your daring receive all your sweet love and blessings exclusively.

Author’s note:

Stamping and embossing are not the only ways to make a card unique. You can also try blow paint if you want to have more fun in the DIY process. Read the article below to see what you need and how to do it.

Play with Kids: Ten Reasons to Do Blow Paint and How