Month: January 2011

Saturday Feature: Christmas Presents

Published by Sula H.

Christmas is just behind us and as I was packing up all my Christmas decorations today, I thought I’d share with you the Christmas presents I got over the last couple of weeks. It usually turns out quite the interesting selection of gifts – some of which are rather useful, others …, well, you decide … Included in the list of things I got were: 1 stuffed animal 1 plush photo album 1 set of coasters (decorated with traditional Chinese art) 5 apples 2 calendars 1 bowl of American, home-made cookies & sweet treats (yum!) peanut cake 1 box of tea + soap & natural sponge 1 pair of mittens + 1 food container + 1 pencil case

CT Spotlight 01/08

Published by Sula H.

I had some pretty busy time scrapping for our designers this week, and today I’ve got lots of news to share. First, I’m … Honored to Join CT of Nanie’s Designs Stephanie is a brand new template designer who just launched her store at Scrap Orchard, and you should check out her designs, for they are gorgeous! I’ve known Stephanie for a while from working with her on Libby Pritchett’s CT, and honestly, I find that all her pages rock. It’s so exciting that she finally gets to turn her pages into templates and sell them in the digiscrap coummunity. For her grand opening debut, she whipped up no less than 6 template packs. And look what I’ve done with some of her products: SSD New Releases Over at SSD Sweetshoppe Saturday also served us some delicious new goodies. Cindy Schneider has three sets of templates out that are great for P365/P52, plus two half packs. Libby released some gorgeous shimmering background papers, plus a new alpha template set that makes for gorgeous, versatile alphas, …

Fun with Chinglish: Tourist Boat Safety Precautions

Published by Sula H.

After last week, I got another fun sign with instructions for tourists. Note, how during the stops at those various islands, the tour boat has to go with you if you are a child or someone with disabilities. I’m not quite sure how that works, but after reading all the lengthy instructions, we know exactly what to do, right!? Instructions read: Tourist boat safety precautions after the cruise ship parked on order from top to bottom. banning inflammable explosive and other dangerous goods by sea. minors or guardians of persons with disabilities should be accompanied by tour boat embarkation from the seat after the show put on their life jackets or not exposed at the bow and dangerous move. the ship No smoking. please do not smoke. Note: When posting anything in the Fun with Chinglish section, I don’t mean to criticize anything or anyone in any way. I’m simply sharing the fun we get to have with all those great signs!

Freebie Friday: In the Clouds

Published by Sula H.

Yes! It’s Freebie Friday again, and I’ve got a spankin’ brand new template for you, based on my layout “In the Clouds”: Click on the image to download. Comes in a layered psd file. Simply open in Photoshop and clip your papers to the template. Please don’t re-distribute this template in any way (you may share the link to this post) and when you use this template, please make sure to credit it to Misty Hilltops Designs. Enjoy!

Around Town: Time to Pack

Published by Sula H.

It’s time to pack. For the students the Fall Semester 2010 ends by tomorrow which means most of the 22.000 “residents” on campus are getting ready to leave. In fact, the first big wave of students heading out to their respective hometowns took place yesterday, and now seeing students with suitcases on their way out is quite a common sight around here. By the end of next week, most everyone is going to be gone, and then this part of town will turn into a ghost town – with most of the stores around shutting down and all the businesses closing their doors. Time to get ready for our (Chinese) New Year!

Food Corner: Chicken Parmesan

Published by Sula H.

It may not be a typical Chinese dish, but it certainly is one of the favorite meals in our foreign faculty dining hall for a lot of my colleagues: Chicken Parmesan. It’s one of the few times a week that our cafeteria is packed as everyone tries to get their share of Chicken Parmesan. I myself don’t care as much about the chicken, but I definitely go for the cheese that comes with it (though sometimes when I come to lunch too late the cheese might be gone already, as lots of people scrape it off the top of the chicken in an attempt to get as much of it as possible). Yes, cheese has become a treasured affair here, since it’s not part of any of the local cuisine and therefore isn’t readily available in the stores. It’s hard to come by and expensive when you purchase it, so yes – Chicken Parmesan Day is definitely “in” around here!

Inspire Me: 2011 Calendar

Published by Sula H.

2011 is still young and fresh, and of course – it being a new year – it’s the perfect timing to talk about calendars. For us digiscrappers, the easiest thing to do is create our own little calendars – making use of some of those wonderful pictures we took throughout the past year, and turning them into a monthly showcase. Wanting to use our digiscrap supplies, there are lots of tools the designers put out to help us with the task of creating our very own, personalized calendars. Let me highlight just a few of them: Cindy Schneider has quite a stash of them in her store, so you might want to check them out, especially since some of them come with a special price if you get them in a bundle. Zoe has a couple of goodies, and of course Libby Pritchett has her own template set. So, last week I sat down to create my own calendar inspired by Cindy’s template set. And here’s what I came up with:

Places to Go: Great Wall – Huang Hua

Published by Sula H.

Probably the most spectacular tourist attraction in China is the Great Wall. While there are many places where the wall can be accessed – it stretches from east coast all the way to the Gobi Desert in the West, after all – the most popular point from which to approach it certainly is Beijing. The most popular place for tourists is Badaling, without question. But I would like to take you to Huang Hua today. Huang Hua is a well-preserved section, where the wall was kept rather genuine (“Wild Wall”), with only little work of restoration being done – just enough, so visitors can climb it without risk. About 60 km north of Beijing, the Great Wall at Huang Hua clings to a high hillside bordering a reservoir. It perfectly portrays the Ming defense period with high and wide ramparts. Only few tourists find their way to Huang Hua, especially compared to famous Badaling where souvenir shops, restaurants and amusement park rides draw crowds of visitors, and vendors offer their goods every couple of steps …