Polaroid Gallery is a open source flash gallery developed by Christopher Einarsrud in 2006. Using a external xml file, the script loads images and image titles then processes the data and creates an interactive flash gallery.

You can view the live demo at my Perfect Polaroids website.

You can drag images around to get to the bottom of the pile and double click on the polaroids to zoom in. The background colour can easily be adjusted by following the instructions included in the package. A large photo background can also be used.

To download the original Polaroid Gallery package, visit: http://www.no3dfx.com/polaroid/

To download Polaroid Gallery for Picasa, visit: http://www.paulvanroekel.nl/picasa/polaroid/

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This my interpretation of a tutorial I came across on the Internet. I will be using Photoshop to create the watercolor effect using layers, masks and splatter brushes. You can find parchment paper texture from Google Image Search and download free splatter brushes from Brusheezy.

Open Adobe Photoshop and create a new document. I’m using 1400×1000.

Add a new layer and fill it with white. Make sure you have black and white for foreground and background. Then go to Filter → Texture → Texturize. Use Canvas for the Texture, 75% for Scaling, 3 for Relief and Top Right for the Light.

Add a nice parchment paper texture. Place the texture in the document on top of the other layers. After that, change the Opacity to 75% and Blending to Multiply.

Now let’s place a picture image in our document. I’m using a photo of us from our cruise in the Bahamas.

The image has to go beneath the texture layer. Then go to Layer → Group Layer. This places the image inside the folder. Select the folder and go to Layer → Layer Mask → Hide All. The image is now hidden because of the mask.

Now it’s time for some painting! Select a splatter brush, white for color, and paint on the layer mask of the group. You will notice that the image will start to appear.

Keep painting, using a variety of brushes, until you can see the image without losing the brush splatters.

Add a new layer under the Group folder. Using the splatter brushes, paint on the new layer with colors like pink, yellow, and blue. Your image should start to look like this:

To finish, select the image layer and go to Filter → Artistic → Smart Blur. This will blur your picture to look like brush strokes.

This is a really cool effect and really easy to achieve. Have fun creating your watercolor painting!

For more information about the Watercolor Effect, check out Abduzeedo’s Tutorial.

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I’ve been waking up with a sore throat for the past week. I’ve tried everything from taking cough drops to drinking chamomile tea, to gargling warm salt water to kill bacteria and infection. Nothing has helped sooth my throat irritations. Last night I made myself a sweet ginger drink that my boyfriend’s mom made when he had sore throat. I love how it coax my throat when I drink it really hot and it also relieves coughing. There are different ways in making ginger tea. Here is a simple formula that definitely works great!

You will need:

• 1 to 2 big pieces of ginger root
• Half gallon of water
• A strip of yellow sugar (found in Asian Markets) or honey will work as well.

To begin:

1. Boil the water in low to medium heat.
2. Peel the ginger and slice into pieces as shown above.
3. When the water starts to boil, add the ginger in the pot.
4. Drop a strip of yellow sugar (or honey) into the pot.
5. Boil for half an hour and the tea should start to turn yellow or tan. You can let it sit longer for more potency but it will be pretty overwhelming if you’re not a big fan of ginger flavor.
6. Scoop the contents, including ginger roots, into a cup and let it cool before sipping.

The tea gives a sharp tingle and I love how it gently clears your throat. I hope this helps!

For more cough and sore throat remedies, check out Health 911.

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Say hello to baby Zoey! She’s the sister to Jaxon and also the runt of the pack! She’s really observant, friendly and the most mellow one of them all! She loves to sleep all the time!

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I read an article from Yahoo!’s Shine.com and thought it was really neat to look into how different cultures eat and stay slim! These global tips will show you how to enjoying good food, in moderation, without guilt! Here are some of my favorites from that article.

Stop eating before you’re full. The Okinawans, whose average BMI is 21.5 for those who eat a traditional diet, call this hara hachi bu, or eating till you’re 80 percent full. Of course, we’re not suggesting that you leave the table hungry. But eating until the buttons pop stretches the stomach by about 20 percent each time you do it, so you inevitably need more food to feel satisfied, explains Bradley Willcox, MD, co-author of The Okinawa Diet Plan. He says that putting your fork down “when you feel that first twinge of fullness” gives your brain a chance to realize that you are full before you overdo it.

Drizzle on the healthy oils. Healthy fats like olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet, and canola oil, a staple of Okinawans, make vegetables tastier, so you’re likely to eat more of them. And, as we know, eating a diet rich in produce is key to maintaining a healthy weight.

Have a glass of wine. A staple of French and Mediterranean tables, wine adds joy to the meal, and because it contains potent antioxidants, is at least partly responsible for why these cultures traditionally have lower rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality despite their higher-fat diets. And while some studies show that we tend to eat more when we drink, a Finnish study actually found that male drinkers were leaner than abstainers.

To read more about Weight Loss Secrets from Around the World, check out Shine.com.

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