Month: February 2011

Around Town: Lantern Festival

Published by Sula H.

Of course, with the Lantern Festival being the day, the highlight of all the fire cracking – when for one night everyone is going berserk with lighting fireworks – I had to make a little more effort than on the Chinese New Year’s Eve to get some better shots of the fireworks. Now, the town’s official fireworks show had just been canceled, due to the drought around here and the town officials’ decision to invest the money in watering the fields instead of blowing it up with the fireworks. So, the best shot I would have to get some good pictures – I figured – was the roof of the teacher’s flat. So, I grabbed my camera, positioned myself alongside some of my colleagues, and then I watched. And pressed the shutter, of course! Take a look yourself:

Lantern Festival

Published by Sula H.

It marks the grand finale of the Spring Festival celebrations: the Lantern Festival. Each year on the fifteenth of the first month (according to the Chinese Calendar), the Spring Festival comes to an end with yet another day of fireworks, and special festivities. In fact, while the emphasis is on fire cracking in the beginning of Spring Festival, it is the great displays of fireworks and light-shows that characterize the Lantern Festival. Many towns organize big shows with glamorous fireworks and lantern parades (showing off uniquely shaped and decorated lanterns), while private citizens take advantage of the chance to fire up yet another array of fireworks in all shapes and sizes. The origins of the Lantern Festival are not quite certain, as there are numerous legends circulating with regards to how and why this festival first was implemented. Many of those legends commonly refer to events of where the setting up of lanterns and lighting of fireworks was done to prevent some destruction that was to come upon the people. In other instances, the day’s …

Enable Me: A Treasury of Tutorials

Published by Sula H.

Have you ever wanted to know how to curl photo corners? Have you ever wondered how to create text in a shape? Do you want to improve on your shadows? Would like to start creating your own elements and papers? Or do you simply want to know how to create your first digital scrapbook page ever? You need to wonder no more, for I’ve got the answers for you. That is, the Digital Scrapbook Place has the answers. They offer a whole big section of tutorials on their website. So, if you haven’t seen their collection yet, you should check it out, for they might have just the right answer to one of your questions!

Food Corner: The Ketchup Drama

Published by Sula H.

So, those of you who’ve been following my posts for a while now know that we get our food served in the foreign faculty dining hall. And there’s always a little battle going on. It’s because of the Ketchup. Usually, every table in the cafeteria is stocked with a bottle of Ketchup. The problem starts, when the bottles start to get empty. The dining hall staff won’t start handing out new bottles, unless all the Ketchup is gone (if they wouldn’t do that there would be a multitude of half empty bottles). So, when the bottles are about to get empty, people start collecting Ketchup from the other tables. Many times you can see one table with a collection of up to 10 empty bottles, all turned upside down to get the last little bit of Ketchup out. Otherwise, there will be no new Ketchup for us. Usually by that time the staff gets the message, and that’s when we start to get new Ketchup bottles from the staff. The other day, however, when I …

Places to Go: Zhujiajiao Water Town (Shanghai)

Published by Sula H.

Some call it the “Venice of Shanghai”: Zhujiajiao. Located on the outskirts of Shanghai, this ancient town is characterized by water. Several rivers and canals run through the center of the town, lined by ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 36 bridges span the waterways, the longest being Fangsheng Bridge where tourists can buy fish and release them into the stream for ‘good luck’. Probably the most featured bridge of Zhujiajiao is Lang Bridge; the only wooden bridge in town that spans the water like a narrow corridor. The town has been well developed for tourists. Visitors can tour the canals on little boats operated like the famous gondolas in Venice. Narrow alleys accommodate countless stores in which visitors can buy all sorts of souvenirs, handcrafted local pieces of art as well as the usual goods you can get anywhere else in China. Zhujiajiao is also known for its gardens, the largest one being Kezhi Garden, which is also open to the public. Kezhi Garden an extensive enclosure featuring ancient buildings, artificial landscaping, …

Behind the Scenes: Valentine’s Inspiration

Published by Sula H.

Valentine’s is still fresh in our minds, and I’m sure for many there are lots of nice memories to keep. So, I thought I’d bring you some Valentine’s inspiration from the galleries. I went on a search and found a couple of layouts that caught my eye. To start off with, I found this page by Diella, using “Just Love Me” – a collab from Sugarhill Co. I love the composition here and the mixed use of brushes/stamps and “real” elements such as flowers, etc. Of course, her title is too funny, too (you’ll get the joke when you look at the full size picture in the gallery)! Next, I found “Valentines” by oldvwblues, using “Be My Valentine” by Carole Créations. I’m sure, you can guess what caught my eye with this page … Right! It’s the photo treatment. How fun to turn the photo into a drawing. “Love You XOX” by MerylBartho is another page I fell in love with. She used a whole lot of different products, including “Time for Love.” On this …

Monday Highlight: J’Adore

Published by Sula H.

Happy Valentine’s, everyone! Though I have to admit that I don’t really like Valentine’s Day, (because it’s become so commercial and all – and I’m also of the opinion that you should always show your affection to your loved ones,  not just on one special day of the year) – I got the perfect Valentine’s kit for you today: J’Adore by Kristin Cronin-Barrow A little bit of red, a little bit of romance, a little bit of Paris, and a whole lot of love – this is J’Adore. I love how Kristin put this kit together so perfectly. J’Adore comes with bold, patterned papers as well as soft, subtle nuances. It has a beautiful color scheme of red black white and a hint of blue. The heart banner is too cute, the different pieces of word-art – some of them French – are the perfect start for your title work and journaling, and most of all the Eiffel Tower is the cherry on top! Here’s my page, using the kit:

Treasure Spotting: Soccer Champs

Published by Sula H.

I fell in love again – with yet another gallery treasure: “Soccer Champs” by Darla Vasquez I had narrowed things down to several layouts, but this one just struck me the most. Not only do I love Darla’s job with the shadows here, but I also think her composition is striking, the scattered stars are too cute, and that paint stroke on which she did the journaling – isn’t that the greatest idea of all?