Blue and white and no one has one except her

prom fashionista

BLUE and WHITE AND no one has one except her

Vera Wang probably didn't start this way. Consider: An Iowa teenager designed and made a one-of-a-kind high school prom dress from gum wrappers. Yes, Elizabeth Rasmuson of Garner, Iowa, made her dress — and matching vest for her date, Jordan Weaver — out of blue and white wrappers from Wrigley's "5 gum." The high school junior says she got the idea after hearing about someone making a dress out of duct tape. (She could have been referring to Amie Gerodimos and Tresson Canley, St. Petersburg Collegiate High School seniors in 2009 who built their prom outfits out of the sticky stuff.) Anyhow, Elizabeth and Jordan began collecting gum wrappers in August. To keep all the wrappers together, she finished her dress with a vinyl top coat. She didn't say who chewed all that gum.

WORLD OF PIERCING

Stick him again and again and ...

Ed Bruns had time on his hands and wanted a record of some kind to call his own, so he did what most of us would rather not think about. Bruns, who lives in Gillette, Wyo., underwent body piercings for nearly five hours to become the new recordholder. He was out to get 1,501 piercings Sunday and break the previous record for one session by 304. A piercing artist put the 16-gauge piercing needles in his arms, back and legs. Just in case anyone doubted him, two notary publics were on hand to certify the documentation that will be sent, along with a video, to Guinness World Records. Bruns, 46, says he was confident but felt a little tenderness at times. Just a little?

A flawed argument on kittens and kids

Holly Crawford of Ross Township, Pa., thought it would be neat to sell "gothic kittens" with ear and neck piercings on the Internet. A jury thought it was animal cruelty and convicted her of such. A judge agreed, so now Crawford, 35, is spending six months under house arrest. Prosecutors say she pierced three black kittens to sell on the Internet. The jury and the judge didn't buy her argument that parents allow children to get pierced ears at young ages, and it would be wrong to hold cat owners to a higher standard.

GOING FOR THE GREEN

Maybe they saw it working this time

When at first you don't succeed . . . get out of the robbery business. But Joseph "Jerry" Scalise, 73, and Arthur Rachel, 71, did not, and now they are in jail, according to federal officials in Chicago. In 1980, they robbed posh Graff Jewelers in London of $3.6 million worth of goods, including the big Marlborough diamond, and ended up in prison until 1993. Last week, they, along with Robert Pullia, 69, were arrested on charges of conspiring to rob a suburban Chicago bank. They were still wearing dark burglary clothes when they stood before a federal judge on Friday.

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources.