One of the signs that newly were put up all over the campus: “Do not step into the lawn.” 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!
I have another thank you card for you today – one that I created last summer. For this one, I used Lliella Designs’ “Panda Zen” – an Asian-themed digiscrap kit. And the sentiment I “stamped” before printing, using Heather Roselli’s “Stampy Goodness Alpha” stamps. Creating this card was very easy, since it has a very simple design: for the background I simply used the striped paper that comes with the kit, and on top I added the two layers for the sentiment. Lastly, I arranged the two flowers at the bottom, bent them a little for a better 3d feel, and there is another simple card again.
Every year, by mid April, the university sports days take place on a Thursday and Friday. There are no classes these two days, and students get to participate in the competitions or have two days for fun and enjoyment. For the foreign faculty, attending the opening ceremony is mandatory, and usually we are asked to march into the stadium in a grand procession, together with selected representatives from all the different departments of our school. While the marching is quite fine-tuned with everyone else, the foreign teachers always stand out, because We don’t wear uniforms (coordinated clothes), We can’t march. Wearing the same shirt, probably wouldn’t be that big of a challenge. The marching on the other hand is. Not once in all my years, have we achieved the same uniformity as the other groups marching. Fortunately, the opening ceremony isn’t all about the marching, there are speeches, and the different vows by representatives of the referees and athletes; there is the torch run, and the lighting of the “olympic” flame; and last but not …
On April 14th and 15th, the annual sports days are taking place on campus. There are no classes on those days, though participation is only mandatory for freshman students.
Easter is around the corner, so I went on a search for what scrappers can do with the occasion, and I got quite some inspiration. Two of which I will share with you today. First, I stumbled upon a website, scrapbooksetc.com, that offers a lot of ideas for easter pages and projects. Though it addresses more the traditional paper scrappers, their ideas still are a great source of inspiration for digital scrappers as well. I especially like their ideas for easter cards (click on image above to get to the website) they have, which are very simple, and yet, quite pretty. Besides that, I found a website that offers cute and simple Paper Piecing Patterns, free to download. Now, if you combine those paper piecing patterns with the card projects I mentioned first, I’m sure you can get some rocking easter cards to send out to friends and family. I for one, intend to try my hand on some of those piecing patterns, and will let you know how my finished projects turned out!
Maybe not my personal favorite, but definitely very popular with my American colleagues is Macaroni & Cheese in our dining hall. It usually will be served on Monday nights, though we never know exactly, which Monday night of the month that happens. Macaroni and Cheese is part of the Western dishes that get served in our cafeteria along with many others.
It’s time for our monthly photography “class,” and today I thought, I’d stay rather simple. There are many tiny and very easy steps to improve our digital photos, though they can have a great impact on our images. One of these small, but effective tools in Photoshop is the “Smart Sharpen” filter. If you are anything like me, you already know about the process of saving your layouts for web, and that using the “Unsharp Mask” filter is part of that process. When working with photos, however, I discovered that the “Smart Sharpen” filter comes in very handy. With just a few clicks, you can improve the image significantly, and that can also make a difference on your digiscrap layout. Take this photo for example: I took this picture last weekend, and I didn’t make any adjustments. It’s a pleasant photo, but the edges of the little petals are a little blurry. Now take a look at the same image, after I applied the “Smart Sharpen” filter: I didn’t do anything else to this image. …
Located in the heart of Beijing, the zoo has two attractions worth visiting: the giant panda exhibit, and the aquarium, which is the largest in China. Both zoo and aquarium combined provide room for more than 900 species of land and marine animals, several of which are counted among endangered species of animals. Besides its display of animals, the Beijing Zoo also presents itself in the typical way of Chinese classical gardens. You will find small rivers and pools, wooded areas, flower beds, natural sceneries, and historical buildings.
Who of us doesn’t hate the flood of newsletters, advertisement and spam coming into your mail box everyday? I’m certainly annoyed by all the unwanted stuff I get on a day to day basis. Even some newsletters often end up in the trash can as soon as I open my inbox. Few of them make an exception. The Orchard Spotlight – a newsletter published by Scrap Orchard – is one of those exceptions. Every Tuesday, it sails into my mailbox, and usually, I look forward to that. The reason? Every month, a Scrap Orchard designer will be featured in the newsletter, and every newsletter contains a link to a free download – usually parts of a digital kit by the featured designer. By the end of the month – if you don’t miss any of the newsletters – you have collected a full kit, which usually hits the Scrap Orchard market in the following month. Digital products I was able to collect for free in the last couple of months for example were: Now, both …
