California Redwood Birding Trail

Archive for September, 2011

Shoes are where fashion is at. A new trend across the world is to shop shoe up. From heels to flats, woman are shoe shopping their hearts out. But what are these shoes doing to your feet. High fashion is not so hot when your feet get injured. Here are some examples of popular shoes styles that may cause you to need podiatric medical treatment.

The Sling Back Heel: Usually a pointed toe with a strap around the back of the heel. These shoes often cause blisters and toe pain. They are also the most common heel to cause twisting in the ankle because of the lack of support around the rear of the foot. These shoes are in high fashion, especially in the spring and summer months, but can lead to significant injuries. Try to find a pair with lower heels, a square toe, and only wear when extending walking or standing is NOT expected.

Stilettos: Wedged high heel Nothing is sexier than a woman in stilettos. This is often said before one takes a good look at a lady’s foot after a day in high heels. High heel often cause blisters and other sores on your feet. These sore often subside over time but not always. Depending on the depth of the sore, it may leave scars, or if left untreated they could get infected. Even worse, you may develop a bunion. I don’t know about you, but that does not sound sexy! These shoes are also notorious for causing ankle sprains and pain on the balls of the feet. Some pads may relieve pressure, but may also cause the shoes to be more tight (watch for blisters). Make sure you buy the right size. Buy shoes in the afternoon or evening because your feet swell throughout the day. The size you wake up with is not the size you go to bed with. If possible, try to be sexy in shorter heels!

Flats: Slides, ballet, slippers

After a day in high heels, Flats are just what the doctor ordered… Wrong! Flats often have very poor arch support and will aggravate arch and heel pain or plantar fasciitis. It will also cause strain on the Achilles tendon and depending on your foot type or structure, this may cause severe pain. Do not wear these shoes for long periods of time because you could cause damage to your plantar fascia and get severe heel and arch pain. Though plantar fasciitis can be conservatively treated, it will impede on your daily activities. When shopping for flats, make sure they are not flexible. You should not be able to twist the shoe and it should only bend near the toes.

Fashion Sneakers: no laces, velcro laces, canvas material

A sneaker… this has got be okay for my feet right? Not quite. Fashionable sneakers are often made with no structural integrity. Like flats, they provide little to no arch support and may lead to plantar fasciitis. The most fashionable way to wear these type of shoes in sockless. This will cause increase foot odor and puts you at greater risk to get athletes foot. Always wear a cotton sock. There are low socks and even half socks that can be hidden in the shoe. Like with Flats, make sure you cannot twist the shoe and it only bends near the toes.

Platforms Strap up and get ready to walk on the moon. Actually, the moon is the only good place to wear platforms. These shoes have poor shock absorption, thus every step you take radiates up through your back. You may experience knee, hip, and lower back pain. These shoes add wanted height to the shorter population, but remember what goes up must come down. Because of their height, they are relatively unsteady. It is very easy to get off balanced and fall or roll an ankle. So if you must wear the 70′s comeback, try to stay away from uneven terrain.

With so many styles, colors, and designers, it is easy to get carried away with shoe fashion. Try to be sensible when shopping and when pick out shoes to wear. If you plan on doing a lot of walking or standing, be sure to wear a more conservative shoe. Also, if possible, try to bring an extra pair of shoes so if you begin to feel pain or discomfort you can switch into something more sensible.

If you have continued pain in your feet, you should see you podiatric physician to be appropriately treated and get more information on proper shoe gear for your foot type.

With Christmas around the corner, why not make a cute Christmas collar for your dog? Since this collar is made with an elastic band, you can also make it for a cat, ferret or rabbit. This tutorial will show you how to make a holiday pet collar with ribbons.

Tools and Supplies

The supplies needed for this project are pretty minimal. You will need any kind of fabric ribbon, some elastic (like the kind used on sweat pants), bells, a pair of pinking shears and a flexible measuring tape. You don’t really need the pinking shears, but they do scallop the edges of the ribbon to prevent them from fraying after they have been cut.

STEP 1 – Measuring Your Dog

Measure your dogs neck in a spot where you would like the collar to sit.

STEP 2 – Cutting The Elastic and Adding The Bells

Cut about three or four inches more elastic than you need. Now string the bells onto the collar, you can use as many as you want. Take your dogs neck measurement, subtract one inch, measure out the elastic and knot it closed. Trim the excess elastic.

STEP 3 – Cutting The Ribbon

Ten inches should be okay for a medium sized dog.. A smaller dogs collar will probably be fine with five inches. Cut the ribbon you have and place it into piles if you have different colours of ribbon.

STEP 4 – Knotting The Ribbon Onto The Collar

Secure the ribbon onto the collar with a very simple knot. Keep adding ribbons to the collar, using the colours randomly. Occasionally check the spacing of the ribbons and move them around if some spots on the collar are too sparsely decorated.

Karen Friesecke is the author of Bloggie Stylish a new blog dedicated to recipes and free projects for dogs. Please visit Christmas Dog Collar to see this tutorial, complete with pictures.

Unique, creative and easy to do gift wrapping ideas are searched by all especially during festival season. You must be wondering how to wrap your gifts this Christmas. What gift wrapping material can be used and in what style so that your gift wrapping looks unique and enchanting. Colored papers, satin ribbons, bows, laces and shiny fabric can be used in different ways to wrap your gift. Many accessories like cloth flowers, ribbon flowers, beads, are there that can be used above the wrapping paper and make the best gift wrapping idea.

Gift Wrapping Material
You can go for the varied kinds of material to wrap your gift. The most sought after gift wrapping material is colored paper also called gift wrapping paper. This is especially made to wrap the gifts and available in all sorts of colors and patterns. You can also get it in odd colors like metallic silver, golden, beige, crimson red and so on. Also there are velvet papers, crushed papers that look like velvet and crushed tissue fabric.

Then you can use the cellophane bag for wrapping your gift. You can simply put your gift inside this bag and tie it with ribbon or lace. Fabric pieces at your home can also make a good gift wrapping material. You can also fix some dry flowers or beads on the sides to make it look like gift.

Things you Require to Wrap Gift
You can pick any of the following items as you do not need all for one gift wrap.

• Scissors, tapes (regular as well as double), measuring tape or ruler, specialty scissor for scalloping, pen, wire cutter.
• For gift wrapping you need gift paper, cellophane bags, decorative fabric or gift bags.
• For decoration you need curling ribbons, embellishments, decorative items, confetti, misuhiki cords or glitters.
• For tags get stickers, greeting cards, colored papers or gift tags.

How to Wrap Gift this Christmas – Gift Wrapping Ideas

• You can pack the gift in a simple wrapping paper and write some very catchy lines on the tags evoking people to check and open the gift. This is the simplest of all the ideas.
• Secondly you can place the gift in a cellophane bag and tie the mouth of the bag with colored ribbon. Along with gift you can also place some confetti, spiral ribbons, glitters for enchanting look.
• Take a piece of cloth that is very shiny from one side. Glitters on that side will further enhance the look. Now place it on a flat surface with wrong side up. Put the gift just in the center of the cloth. Bring the two diagonally opposite corners to each other and make a knot. You can fix some small flowers or ribbons on these knots. Or you can fix the coiled ribbons in a bunch over it. This looks really nice and makes the unique Christmas gift ideas.
• Also you can get the set of misuhiki cords that make a very good decoration on the wrapped gift. You can do the gift wrapping in a velvet or tissue paper. Then make the knot of the misuhiki cords and fixed it at the corner of the wrapped gift for a perfect effect.
• To wrap the gift you can also pick the different holiday or greeting cards. Pick the cards having nice images. Glue them to make a bigger card. Use this as a gift wrapping paper. This looks very good and really a creative gift wrapping idea.
• Take the thick colored paper and wrap your gift in it like a normal wrapping is done. Now on the edges fix beads with glue. You can make the straight line or zig zags. Then at one corner fix tag with curled ribbon.
• You can give your gift a shape of candy as well. For this place the gift on the center of one edge of the paper and roll the paper around the gift. Hold each side and tie a ribbon or colored tape. This will give your gift a shape of the candy.

Use these gift wrapping ideas for this Christmas and enjoy the festival.
Merry Christmas

R Oberoi is associated with narrow Fabrics Manufacturers http://www.narrow-fabrics-manufacturers.com and read it for further information. Wholesale buyers, sellers, exporters, importers and manufacturers can check it for their business.

Women have been making lavender wands for centuries to perfume their linen closets, lingerie drawers, trunks and wardrobes. But they also make wonderfully scented lavender gifts! If you’d like to add a homemade touch to your gift-giving, here’s how to make a lavender wand. But be warned…you’ll probably want to keep it for yourself!

You need:

13 lavender branches with flowers

40 inches of 1/2 inch ribbon

Now Follow These five Simple steps

1. Let the 13 long stemmed lavender flowers wilt until they are flexible enough to bend without breaking. Hold the stems together, and make sure the flowers don’t bunch up too much. Tie the ribbon just beneath the flowers. Leave one end about 30 inches long, and the other about 10 inches long.

2. Take the shorter end of ribbon and tuck it up into the flowers, leaving a piece hanging out at the top. Then take all the stems, and bend them up and over the flowers (so the flowers are inside and the stems are like a cage), gathering them at the top.

3. Weave the longer end of the ribbon through the stems, over and under. You may need to keep fixing the stems to keep them evenly spaced from one another. As you get closer to the top, start winding it tighter. Push in any stray flowers or loose sections of ribbon.

4. Tie the two ends of the ribbon together to secure the wand.

5. Finish the wand by trimming any uneven stems, and tying a bow at the top. Or, you could tie it in a long loop for hanging (or add more ribbon).

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ribbon widths or lengths. With a longer ribbon, you could weave all the way to the top, secure it, and then wind the ribbon back down to the stem and tie it together there. Really, once you know the basics you can play around with tons of different ideas.

As lavender gifts, wands are versatile. You can make several and place them in a basket for home decor, or use them to decorate the outside of your other presents. If you’re giving clothing as a gift, slide a lavender wand inside the box for a sweetly scented surprise!

Want to Know More Fascinating Facts on Lavender? Just Click Here For lavender Gifts

http://www.lavenderessentialoils.com

Do you attending ribbon cuttings? Have you ever wondered where the tradition started? They date back to the 1900′s. Business owners tied the ceremonial ribbon at the entrance of the new business. The scissors for cutting the ribbon were often kept as a keepsake. The long-winded speech by dignitaries marked it officially open.

Today, ribbon cuttings are a great way to get free publicity. It is the opportunity to write a media release. When you post your media release online, it will aid in your search engine optimization. It can also be recycled and placed on your blog, in your newsletter and various social networking sites. These places also aid in your search engine optimization.

This is also an opportunity to meet new people. Your local Chamber of Commerce will promote your ribbon cutting for free. You can also use various event tools available online for free to promote your ribbon cutting. Following your event you will want to follow up with the people that attended your event. This is an opportunity to continue the rapport-building step. You can send an email or handwritten note thanking the person for attending. You will also want to invite the person to join you on your social networking sites.

Photos taken during your ribbon cutting provide you another avenue to promote your establishment. Using the free of the internet, you will want to post the photos on your website and your social networking sites. You may also get your photo published in the next issue of your Chamber newspaper.

I challenge you to address the fear and take advantage of having a ribbon cutting. It is a great way to promote your business for free or nearly free.

Jaynine Howard is the debt free business coach, who teaches business owners how to grow their business and increase their profits while remaining debt free.

To get your free e-course Networking Detox: My 5 Secrets to Networking Success visit http://www.networkingdetox.com.

Brides can remember their loved ones by given Pink Coloured DIY Wedding Favors in their loved ones memory, to their wedding guests after the speeches and wedding meal has finished.

In order to raise awareness of breast cancer several designers have come up with ideas for brides to say a thank you to their loved ones who are unable to attend their wedding. This will hopefully raise awareness for breast cancer in the form of the pink ribbon idea. Some companies offer a small percentage of the sale price of the pink goods to go to breast cancer charities to help them either in research or publishing leaflets to help prevent breast cancer.

Brides can perhaps order some wine as a wedding favor. They can decorate the wine bottle with some pink polka dot ribbon tied around the neck of the wine bottle. Or you can perhaps order some pink wine and attach some pink ribbons around the bottle as a wedding favour gesture.
The wine can be used for drinking during your meal or if you have ordered a miniature pink bottle of wine as a wedding favour , I am sure your guests will appreciate your goodwill sentiment.

You can also use the favor boxes as a wedding favor idea. Choose a pink square box and then tie a gold ribbon or silver ribbon bow and then attach to the outside of the box. Fill with pink candy and there you have a pink ribbon candy favor wedding box.

Brides can also order pink photograph frames as a wedding favour idea. This will also look fabulous on your table as pink ribbon decorations.

Perhaps brides would like to give a more everlasting wedding favor gift in the form of a seeds which can be planted from a packet in the shape of a ribbon which is pink in color.

Sometimes in local stores in certain times of the year you can purchase pink accessories on behalf of breast cancer. The accessories can be purchased a year in advance if you are sure of your date.
Some of the items purchased can also be used a table top decorations.

Kath Anderson is a writer for DIY Wedding Favors at http://www.mydiyweddingfavors.com.

The original of this article can be found on My DIY Wedding Favors
Copyright 2009 – Kath Anderson. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers.