Credits: Jack Frost by Kristin Cronin-Barrow Alpha Dots by Shawna Clingerman Bundle Up Alpha by Danielle Young Cindy’s Layered Templates – Halfpack #7 & Cindy’s Layered Templates – Set #81 by Cindy Schneider Font: DJB Woke Up Late Full double page:
It’s time to talk about photography again. And since photography and photo editing these days go hand in hand, let me point you to one of my favorite photo-actions designers: Paint the Moon Photography. Check out her amazing photos on her personal blog. I admit, I “stole” her photos (above & below) from her blog, but only to give you an idea of her amazing work and because I want to make you curious enough to jump right over to check out her blog yourself. But Paint the Moon Photography isn’t just about an amazing photographer. It’s also about the services she offers on her business website. Annie (as I believe her actual name is), has some amazing photo actions she sells over there and she even has several sets of freebies that will take your photo editing to the next level. Check out her place, as she has tutorials, videos and her amazing photos to share on her websites.
Let me tell you about one of my favorite dishes around here: It’s called “Hongshao Qiezi” – eggplant braised in soy sauce, or you may also refer to it as “red-cooked eggplant”. You can order it in any of the restaurants around here, and it actually is quite a common dish. Usually, the eggplant is cooked together with tomatoes, some kind of onions and the sauce that gives it its special flavor. Combined with all the spices that Chinese cuisine is so famous for, this eggplant dish is quite a delicious affair, and very much liked among most of the foreigners around here!
“Qian Men” means “Front Gate” and refers to a tower right in front of the Forbidden City, just south of Tian AnMen Square. It used to be the main gate into the city and once was part of the city wall, when it still existed. Now, it stands isolated – an ancient tower (in fact there are two towers that together formed the “Front Gate”), a distant reminder of Beijing’s former days. Qian Men not only marks the southern boundary of Tian AnMen Square, it also stands for an old Beijing district that has been renovated and restored in recent years, and has become quite a tourist magnet. Famous for its ancient looking houses hosting countless stores, among which there are many international brands and labels, Qian Men is especially beautiful at night, when all the fronts of the buildings are illuminated with all sorts of lights. There are lots of hotels and hostels in the area and the later it gets in the day, the more crowded the streets get with Chinese as well …
I’m so excited to present you one of my favorite tricks on how to turn fonts and elements into a sticker. It’s very easy and I use this technique over and over on my pages. The most common way I use it for is to turn fonts into an alpha (for better visibility on the page), but I use this same technique with brushes, stamps and other elements to get an even more interesting look. I picked two of my older layouts (you can tell by the different page format I used) to show you what I mean. Here’s what I do … I start by choosing the text tool and a font, and write the desired text anywhere on my canvas (placement will come last). I re-size and change the color of everything until it’s exactly as I need it for my page. (On the second image above I actually clipped a paper to my font – the one I used for the big fat title). Now, I pick a paper from the kit …
Credits: Kitschy Kitchen (full Bundle) by Jenn Barrette & Sahlin Studio Cindy’s Layered Templates – Set #82 by Cindy Schneider Cindy’s Layered Templates – Halfpack #5 by Cindy Schneider Font: DJB Heather 1, DJB Elegant Full double page:
I got a new favorite for you today: Not only do I love that this is a photo-less page, but it’s got a great composition, I love the color scheme and how she makes use of all those gorgeous papers. And isn’t her clustering is superb?
If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it. Chinese Proverb
The designers have been busy this last week, and I’m excited to present you their new releases: Libby came up with a beautiful girly kit that definitely went straight into my stash of favorites, and Cindy has done it again: three additional full sets of P365/P52/Super Seven templates that are versatile enough to use for any multi-photo layouts. Darcy has a new font, too, and Stephanie from Nani’s Designs hasn’t slowed down to get another three sets of templates out. Look what I did with their releases:
