Month: November 2011

Fest of Cultures – Day 4: Europe

Published by Sula H.

Finally, Europe Day has arrived! This means playing on home turf for me. Except that it’s basically looking at Europe from an American perspective since as the only European around, I’m just a tiny minority! So, I’m never really sure whether I should be amused or annoyed at all the medieval artifacts my American colleagues dig up to represent Europe. It’s not quite what Europe is like, and it’s certainly not the way the Chinese perceive Europe, in whose eyes the European continent is highly developed, modern and sophisticated. But I’ve given up hope trying to convince my American colleagues to point out some of Europe’s modern accomplishments (such as soccer, European cars, developments in renewable energies/environmental protection, tourism, etc. to mention just a few). And so I’m puttering around between medieval castles, Viking ships, and the guillotine, thinking to myself: “I’m sure I’ve ran into one of those Vikings in Europe before … just can’t quite remember where exactly … but certainly, they must be out there somewhere …!” Anyways, I still had fun …

Enable Me: Autumn Words

Published by Sula H.

If you’ve seen my home-page today, then you’ll know that we’ve got a reason to celebrate. MistyHilltops.com is turning one! And that means, it’s time for a little party. But what’s a birthday without presents? So I prepared this little pack of word strips perfect for your autumn pages. Here’s the layout that inspired those word strips, and maybe it’ll inspire you to play around with word strips yourself! By the way, if you haven’t seen the summer word strips that I created a while back, you can still find the download link in this post HERE. Note: Please do not re-distribute these word strips in any way (you may share the link to this post), and when you use these word strips, please make sure to credit them to Misty Hilltops Designs.

Happy Birthday Misty Hilltops!!!

Published by Sula H.

I can’t believe that it’s been so long, but exactly one year ago I launched my blog for the first time. Happy Birthday to MistyHilltops.com! Didn’t really have a clue what I’d let myself in on when I started, but it’s been quite the journey and a lot of fun. When I first started blogging, I was afraid that I’d be either running out of things to say within a week (I’m glad that didn’t happen), or that whatever I’d have to say would really bore the world (you’d have to decide on that one!). But 365 days later, I’ve come to realize that my blogging-worries were in vain: NUMBER 1 I’ve got topics I want to talk about lined up all the way through the middle of December already, and new ideas are coming every day! So stay put to see what’s coming! NUMBER 2 I have anywhere between 50 and 100-something visitors a day, and that number’s growing. And while I know that compared to the most popular blogs in the world this …

Culture Fest – Day Two: Asia

Published by Sula H.

I was having fun at culture week again, today. This time, I took some of my students to the main square, and I had a blast just watching them. Seeing their faces light with excitement at all the things they could try or play – it was almost like Christmas! We took lots of pictures, tried some Indian tea (chai tea), and  some snacks from Bangladesh. They were eager to fill their (fake) passports with (fake) stamps from various countries, and took part in making origami frogs that they’d have to race afterwards. And I? I got to be the celebrated celebrity once more (whether I like it or not). Just being out there, surrounded by my group of students, made other students assume that I was part of the fairground attractions – ergo: a constant flow of requests to pose for pictures with them. So, my pointer for you today: If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, just come to China, and you can be sure to get lots of attention, I …

30 Days of Thanks (1)

Published by Sula H.

Last month, I participated in a photo challenge, taking pictures (almost every day), and posting (most of) them here. November has just begun, and it’s time to start another project. This month is Thanksgiving – of course most of you know that – and so some people around the world are getting involved in a project called 30 Days of Thanks. Every day, you stop for a moment to think about something you are thankful for, and I think that’s a beautiful thing to do. So, I’m going to start off my 30 days of thanks by saying that … … learning that my  dad (who is thousands of miles away in far away Europe) was submitted to the hospital on Sunday, I realized once more how thankful I am for having parents who are loving and so very supportive of what I’m doing. Thanks, mom and dad, for helping me become who I am today!

Behind the Scenes: Creating Ribbons from Patterned Papers

Published by Sula H.

I have another really simple and quick tutorial for you today. When working on one of my CT pages for Libby the other day, I really wanted to use another one of those pretty papers she and Meghan had put together in their new release “Fullness of Life,” but I already had lots of papers in use, and couldn’t find how to add another one without messing up the entire page. Then a light went off! Using a template, there was still one ribbon that needed to be replaced, and I thought: Why not use that patterned paper for that ribbon? But I still wanted to make it look realistic, and really like a ribbon. Well, I thought, that’s easy peasy, just clip and apply a blending mode and that’ll do the trick. Here, take a look at my finished page: See that ribbon with the hearts behind the photo? This is what we are going to recreate today. In this tutorial you will learn how to … … clip a paper to a ribbon …