Incredible sand sculptures

The Daily Mail has a feature on the sand sculpture festival in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Twelve experts in the medium are turning 360 tonnes of sand into iconic images. My favorite is the sleeping lion.

Tiki Totem

I think my patio needs one of these!



Jungle King Tiki
By Chris Magnotta
height: 32"
width: 12"

$180 at Tiki Hedz - Tiki Totem Poles

Creative grooming

Because of a story at Mail Online, I've just discovered a brand new world!

It's an entirely different universe - one that has dogs which come in all colors and dogs that don't look like dogs.

In this world, people actually hold contests and win prizes to see what bizarre things they can do to the dogs.

Have a look:

Myra Macias transformed her standard poodle, Peach Cobbler, into a motorcycle with the theme "Poodle Rider." (via)

Katherine Ray sculpted a depiction of a horse into the side of her poodle. (via)

Christy Van Cleave turned her dog Jack into a "Poodles Under The Sea" theme. (via)

Deanise Stoops turned her dog Jada into the character Jack Sparrow including a peg leg, a beaded goatee, hat and more. Nice coordinating outfit, Deanise! (via)

Dawn Omboy has also turned a poodle into a pirate. I don't think Dawn's outfit is as good as Deanise's. At least she tried though. (gr8grmr)

Sandy Hartness turned this poodle into a Ninja Turtle named Leonardoodle. Hey, Sandy, where's your costume? (via)

Carmon Baker and her dog Missy chose the theme of Hoochy Poochy Parlor. Next year Missy will select the theme and will turn Carmon into a white poodle. (via)

Sandy Hartness has disguised Cindy the poodle as a chicken. (via)

Then, poof, Sandy turned Cindy into a peacock! (via)

Here's Odin, another poodle, as a rare dragon dog. (via)

This must be poodle camouflage of some sort. (white dog)

***

We've seen a lot of altered poodles so far, but they're not the only breed subjected to all these artistic efforts.

Sarah Reynolds turned her dog into the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas." (via)

Angela Kumpe has managed to turn her dog into a dragonfly. (via)

This is Bailey. He must be a Dolphins fan. (via)

Here is Susan Tyner with Ralph. Are they twins? (via)

***

Video: Creative grooming for dogs
Some dog shows have "creative grooming" competitions, where groomers create unusual cuts for pooches. NBC's Brian Balthazar reports. TODAY's Maria Menounos talks with Dawn Omboy, a master groomer.

Sources:
oc register, Pantagraph.com, Groomer to Groomer, petgroomer.com, Detroit Free Press

Oh no!
Look what else these people are doing ...

(via)

Playing with food

More at omg owned.

(via Cynical-C blog)

A pine-y bear

Artist Richard Carpenter made this bear from "hundreds of thousands of pine needles. The pine needles were gathered off the ground, sorted, washed, trimmed and hand woven, over 8 months, in making the life size bear."


From Cellar Image of the Day
via Scribal Terror

The perfect pet?

Mary Holstad creates realistic dogs and cats out of mohair.

Each creation is made with thick lush premium imported faux fur that is so soft to the touch. They have hand-embroidered lacquered noses, and premium hand-painted dark brown glass eyes. The face and feet are meticulously hand-trimmed, have hand-embroidered claws and hand-apliqued felt toes and pads. They are fully 5 way jointed, have sturdy armatures for posing and are stuffed with polyfill and plastic pellets for a nice weight.

via: neatorama

Build your own birdhouse

Andy's Free Birdhouse Plans contains instructions on how to make a bird house suitable for the different kinds of birds known to use them or likely to do so. It is designed to encourage the protection and study of birds in all sections of the United States.

Build your own Wanky

Wanky the Safety Cat
Signal cars behind you!
Winky's eyes light up when brakes are applied, flash on and off when turning signals are used.