Month: November 2010

Behind the Scenes: “Rejoice”

Published by Sula H.

Admitted: yesterday I promised that today I would tell you about what I recently did using all my Christmas kits, but at the time I didn’t realize that I actually confused the order of posts. So, instead I will take you “Behind the Scenes” again today and I hope you don’t mind waiting until tomorrow to find out more about my Christmas goodies! Let’s take a look at “Rejoice” today: Here’s what I did … The challenge for this layout actually was to use two digi-scrap kits and combine them (a challenge posted by Kristin Cronin-Barrow in the SSD thread for International Scrapbook Day). I used a template by Cindy Schneider (SSD), and took two kits, “Serenity” by Zoe Pearn and “Naturally You” by KCB to work with. Using a template of any kind always helps a lot, though I really like to make them my “own”! I do that by adding a few extra embellishments, changing the order of layers, etc. For this page in particular, I added a few scatters (one to the …

Places to Go: Kaifeng (Iron Pagoda)

Published by Sula H.

Kaifeng is not only famous for having once been the capital of China during its long history, it is also well-known for one of its cultural relics – the Iron Pagoda (or Iron Tower as it is usually referred to by locals). A name which – ironically – is quite misleading, as its structure has nothing to do with iron at all. Built in 1049, the Iron Pagoda is actually made from glazed bricks, which give it the appearance of iron, thus its nick name. 13 stories tall with a height of 55.63 meters and 168 steps leading to the top, the Iron Pagoda is richly decorated with ancient ornaments depicting flowers, figures of people and creatures. So far, it has survived over 40 earthquakes, 20 hail storms and was flooded by the nearby Yellow River six times. Nicely situated in a rather large and pretty well-kept garden, the Iron Tower should be on the list of sights to see for everyone visiting Kaifeng.

Check it out: Monday Highlight (11/29)

Published by Sula H.

Have you checked out today’s post in the Digi-Scrap-Corner? If not, hop on over, as it’s jam-packed with inspiration, layouts and some of the latest products in digi-land. You can find out a little more about Kristin Cronin-Barrow’s “Reach the Sky” in the feature, and here’s a glimpse of it, spotlighting my page: “Strand-Liebe”:

Monday Highlight (11/29)

Published by Sula H.

The end of November is quickly approaching, the Christmas season has already started, but I want to highlight a very non-Christmas themed digi-kit today: “Reach for the Sky.” (Will try to show you some more Christmas products and layouts in the weeks to come, so check back in for that.) Reach for the Sky by Kristin Chronin-Barrow This kit has a beautiful color palette of blues and browns, mixed with some pops of green and red, and though it seems to be made for more masculine layouts (color scheme wise), the flowers included will also work for beautiful feminine pages , which makes this kit quite versatile. Kristin also created some unique embellishments (kites, air balloons, and a fun pennant element) that look adorable on any page. Check out what I did using “Reach for the Sky”: I’ve recently gotten these great pictures that I h-a-v-e to scrap with, and though the pictures are all beach themed, I had to use Kristin’s kit with them and love how this page turned out. Admittedly, it’s basically …

In the Spotlight (11/28)

Published by Sula H.

I’m so excited to highlight “Happy Holidays” by Kjersti in this week’s “spotlight”. I saw it on the Sweetshoppe blog earlier last week and immediately knew it was going to make today’s post here in the Digi-Scrap Corner. I especially love the cluster behind the photo on this page – all the different elements arranged with the evergreens – so beautiful! The big title is so fun, and have you seen the button/bow combination which she used to “fix” the date tag? Adorable!

CT Spotlight

Published by Sula H.

Have you checked out Libby Pritchett’s new release this weekend? It’s a beautiful Christmas kit called “Jelly of the Month Club.” Darcy Baldwin also has several products that are new to the store: “A Script for What Ails Ya,” “DJB Writes A Lot” and “My Boys Stamped It” – another pretty cool alpha. Be sure to check out the Sweetshoppe, especially since they’re having their biggest sale of the year right now! You don’t wanna miss out on that!

Saturday Feature: My First Advent Wreath

Published by Sula H.

Christmas is fast approaching. Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent already, and this year I have my own very first: My first real advent wreath in China. Well, not a wreath, really. But it is this advent thingy that can hold four candles, so it counts as advent wreath, I guess. In the last couple of years, I always just arranged some candles with some simple Christmas decoration on my coffee table, but this year it’s the real deal! My mom brought it from Germany where she had bought it at the end of last year’s Christmas season at my request. (Yep, did I ever mention that you learn to become very patient here in China?) Well, anyway, I finally have one. And since I had no candles to go with it, this morning’s main project was to hop on the shopping bus to the city and find some (there are no real candles anywhere here in town; Chinese people don’t usually use candles.) However, finding them isn’t actually the challenge, since I had …

Thanksgiving – Round 2

Published by Sula H.

So, every year there is this competition going on for Thanksgiving: The department for the international affairs of our school organizes the big official dinner for the foreign faculty (I posted about that yesterday), but the staff of our international housing also wants to offer a nice dinner for us. It sometimes causes quite some confusion around here, as we often don’t really know what’s going on until the last minute! The options between the two always seem endless, like … Options: Lunch (international department) & dinner (international housing), both on Thursday (which would mean a lot of eating in one day – not a good option) Vice versa (also not good) Lunch (international department) Thursday, dinner (international housing) Friday (possible option) Vice versa (same) Dinners both Thursday & Friday (not a good option, as some of the faculty always travels over the holidays and would miss all the good meals) Lunch Thursday & Friday (kinda weird to have the big Thanksgiving meal at 12:00 noon, and then two days in a row) Anything else …