Month: March 2011

Food Corner: Kung Pao Chicken

Published by Sula H.

Originated in Sichuan Province (China), Kung Pao Chicken (gong bao ji ding) is a very classic dish even in our local area. Diced chicken is its primary ingredient. Vegetables (carrots, cucumber, leek) and peanuts are added during the cooking process. Everything is fried in oil and chili peppers, and a special marinade gives the kung pao chicken its characteristic flavor. It is said that this dish is named after Ding Baozhen, a late Qing Dynasty official of some political influence in both Shandong and Sichuan Province.

Behind the Scenes: Principles of Design – Static and Dynamic Composition

Published by Sula H.

Since (digital) scrapbooking is no less than another form of graphic design, I thought that once a month I’d start to share some insight into the principles and rules of graphic design. Lots of things can be learned in this area, and I’m sure that knowing a little about these rules and principles will help us create even better pages in the future. Now, keep in mind, I’m no artistic pro. All I know about this is self-taught with a few tips by professionals here and there, and I’m making no claim that what I have to say is exhaustive by any means. My goal is simply to share some insights with the hope that it will help us become better scrappers.  But if you are a pro and have something to add to what I’m going to talk about, feel free to do so. So, today I want to talk about a very basic principle of composition – the principle of static and dynamic composition. Static Composition In a nutshell, static composition means that …

Places to Go: Beijing National Stadium

Published by Sula H.

They call it the bird’s nest. Constructed to host the main events of the Summer 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Beijing National Stadium officially opened at a ceremony on June 28, 2008. Numerous steel beams, characterizing its outward appearance, quickly won this building its famous nick name: “Bird’s Nest.” In the summer of 2008 the main events of the Summer Olympic Games were held in this stadium: Opening and Closing Ceremony, athletic events and the soccer final. Today, the Beijing National Stadium occasionally hosts smaller events. It is, however, open to the public, and draws up to 30.000 visitors on an average day.

Monday Highlight: Magazine Stand

Published by Sula H.

Who of us digi-scrappers doesn’t aspire to make our scrapbook pages look as realistic as possible? Well, I found a great tool to give your page a fun slant that is a wee bit different than our typical scrapbook layouts. I’m talking about the Magazine Stand templates by Amanda Taylor (taylormade designs at Oscraps). She has two volumes out that are super-easy to work with, and yet highly editable, which means you can pretty much use them any way you want. Magazine Stand Vol. 1 by taylormade designs     True, those of you who digiscrap in order to print an album, probably won’t find much use in these templates. But if you simply are looking for a fun way to document your memories, and make them stand out in the galleries, too, these templates might be just what you are looking for. They come in two versions. One layered template that includes frames and guides (though you have to create your own textpaths), the other version is just a blank page template, which means …

Treasure Sunday: E-mote-ometer

Published by Sula H.

Finding this week’s treasure wasn’t hard at all, since I kept stumbling across some pretty gems out there. But as soon as I saw this layout, I knew I would be adding it to my treasure chest today: “E-mote-ometer” by susieq2u First, I love the concept of this page, and its entire idea! Look at the legend – isn’t it so much fun? Next, the shabbiness, grunginess, messiness of this page caught my eye. I love all the paint splats and torn up stitches. And aren’t her photos the greatest?

CT Spotlight (03/19)

Published by Sula H.

Alright, time to show off this week’s new releases, and that means some gorgeous new products that are available now: Libby created a real beauty with: “And Your Bird Can Sing.” Darcy has re-release that is bigger and better than ever: DJB Annalise 2011. Cindy couldn’t stop herself from producing a card template pack: All in One Card Templates: Set 1. And Stephanie, of course, has a new template set as well: Sassy Starters Blocked Volume 1. Here is some inspiration:  

Saturday Feature: Spring Storms

Published by Sula H.

They call autumn the season of storms in other places. Spring is supposed to be the nice, sunny season. And that is true here for the most part as well. But spring in these parts of China also means, lots of storms, too. As the seasons are changing and the temperatures shift back and forth between cold and warm – the result is lots of wind. We had one such a storm just the other day. All night long the winds swept through our building, playing havoc with the unoccupied upper floor of our house, slamming doors over and over again. There can be windy days like this until March, but the good news is, we still get some really beautiful weather in spring, too!

Freebie Friday: Woman

Published by Sula H.

Recently, I’ve been feeling a little tired of the same old same old of my scrapbook pages, so I’ve started exploring and experimenting a little. Here’s one of my latest uploads (“You Are Super-Woman“), and I thought I’d turn it into a template for you. Hope, you’ll enjoy it. Also, I searched the gallery again for another sample of a layout using my templates, and with success. I found … “BCG’s” by mhreen08 … and really liked how the template turned out. She used template No. 12: “Empty,” and I love her photo, choice of papers, the cluster, and the font she chose for the journaling. Great page! Lastly, for those of you who’ve been picking up my old templates, I just recently discovered that one of the freebies weren’t listed in the “freebie” tag. I’m talking about the “Celebrate Christmas” template that I released back in December. While I’ve started to take out some of the older templates, I decided to leave this one in a bit longer so you can still pick it …

Fun with Chinglish: Stars & Seeds

Published by Sula H.

More stationary wisdom: “Like there are many stars up in the sky, my words for you in this paper resemble tiny bits of seeds.” Note: When posting anything in the Fun with Chinglish section, I don’t mean to show disrespect towards anything or anyone in any way. I’m simply sharing the fun we get to have with all those great signs & documents!