Month: March 2011

greeting card

Hybrid Hub: Thank You Card No. 2

Published by Sula H.

I have a new hybrid project, I want to show you. It’s another Thank-You card. There are so many reasons to be thankful to those around us, so it’s hard to keep up with showing my appreciation. But cards are a great way to demonstrate your thankfulness, especially when they come handcrafted. For this particular card, I used “Just Breathe” by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Lauren Grier (available at sweetshoppedesigns.com). Creating this card was fairly simple, since the kit comes with beautiful papers that you really want to show off. I just sized everything on my computer, printed it off on cardstock and assembled it. Note that the sentiment (translated it means: “Wanna say thank you”) is printed directly on the background paper, which was possible, because I always fully design my cards before copying and pasting everything separately onto a new blank canvas for printing.

Around Town: Bike Ride Around Town

Published by Sula H.

Spring is certainly in the air, and that means the time for our bike-rides has started again. With some of my colleagues and friends, I like to get out, and usually we ride somewhere out to the fields just to get away from the hustle and bustle of town. In the recent two years, there has been a lot of construction going on out there – they have been building a lot of roads. But since there is hardly any traffic those roads are perfect for our bycicles, though we also love to go off road on one of the many trails that connect the fields with the villages.

Enable Me: P365/52 – Log Your Memory

Published by Sula H.

Project 365/52: for some of us that sounds like a huge challenge that can’t be mastered, others seem to come alive at the prospect of documenting every single day of the year, or at least every week in their lives. For those who shy away from the challenge, because it seems to overwhelming, I have to say that the task doesn’t have to be so intimidating as there are lots of resources that can help you document your lives. For those who are already involved with P365/52, but who are looking for new inspiration to bring new life into the P365/52 rut, I also have good news. The same: there is a ton of inspiration you can find to make your task easier. One of these great resources is a website, called: logyourmemory.com. When you go to this website, you can find lots of tools. The Memory Logbook is a book (hardcopy or downloadable) that provides lots of inspiration to document your life: ideas are based on seasons, holidays and events, and the book comes …

Food Corner: Sweet Corn Soup

Published by Sula H.

I think it’s time to start talking about soups in my little Food Corner. They are not to everyone’s liking, and especially foreigners might easily think there is not much taste to them. That, of course, is a vast generalization, as there are quite some delicious soups in Chinese cuisine. Today, I’d like to start with the Sweet Corn Soup, though it’s not on the strong-taste side of the spectrum. It’s rather bland. Usually, corn is the base of this soup, and sometimes eggs are added during the boiling process. It’s slightly sweet in taste. Generally speaking, soups in China come towards the end of the meal, and not (like usually in the West) at the beginning.

Behind the Scenes: Ideas for Photos in Spring

Published by Sula H.

Many of us love to take photos. It’s part of our memory keeping process. The problem starts, when you are tired of the same ol’ same ol’ kind of photos that you get every year – the ones where the only difference is, that it’s a different year, and the faces get older. If you are looking for some fresh ideas and inspiration for your spring photos, however, I might have just what you are looking for. I did some researching the last couple of days to come up with ideas to make your photos a little more fun and varied. And for your convenience I’m putting them together in a nice little list. Spring Cleaning What’s part of your spring cleaning? Your progress Before and after shots You accomplishments Spring – Season of Firsts First flowers in your garden First warm day First picnic First time playing in the park First bbq First time swimming Easter Your decoration this year Your decorating progress Egg dying Easter baskets Egg hunts Your Easter treats this year …

Places to Go: Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Palace)

Published by Sula H.

The Chinese pride themselves in the fact that it once was considered the greatest gardens in the world: Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness), the Old Summer Palace. Far more extensive than the Summer Palace, it held large garden and building architectures and first rate works of art. Due to all its splendor and vastness, Yuanming Yuan also was called the “Garden of Gardens.” In 1860, however, the majority of buildings and gardens were destroyed by British and French troops, and the Old Summer Palace was robbed of all its treasures, never to be rebuilt again. Today, the area basically is a vast natural reserve right in the vicinity of some of  China’s most famous universities, Qinghua and Beijing University. Only few sites have been reconstructed, but an exhibit shows the garden in its former glory, and ruins still bear witness of its once impressive grandeur. For those, tired of all the sightseeing and shopping in Beijing, Yuanming Yuan could be a welcome change of scene.

Golden Spring

Published by Sula H.

Can you tell I love spring? We had the most glorious weather over the weekend (though maybe a bit chilly at times), so I couldn’t help myself. I had to get my camera out yet once more. And I truly had a golden time …

Monday Highlight: Stitched by Anna

Published by Sula H.

Sorry, this is a day late. The internet over here was so slow last night that I gave up trying to post. But here it is: I’ve told you before that I really love it when pages look realistic. The more realistic, the better. One cool way to give our pages a little more realism (and add a touch of something extra, too) is to use extra elements such as stitches. Now, I know that there are tons of stitch-packs on the market – I do have some of them myself. But some of my favorite stitches are those by Anna Aspnes. She has a whole lot of stitch packs in her store over at designer digitals, and they come in all kinds of fashion – simply white, black, or colored, multi-stitched (black & white, red & white, etc.), straight lines of stitching, squares, corners, … you name it. All you need to do is check out her store, and you’ll have plenty of choice. Over time, I’ve invested in three of her stitch packs …