Latest Posts

The Thing with the Shoes

Published by Sula H.

130312aShoes are nasty affairs around here. Everyone knows that. It’s because the streets are pretty nasty since grown men love to spit and little children love to use them, the streets that is, as bathroom.

It is for this very reason that I’ve instated a rule for any visitors of mine, and for myself: the no-shoe-policy. A sign at my door promptly informs everyone endeavoring to enter my domain to please take off their shoes. And of course, I keep a bunch of my own shoes strewn right across my entrance so as to make people not miss the point. And yet, it fascinates me, how people still manage to be totally oblivious toward the fact that while persons are welcome to my home, their shoes certainly aren’t, because as much as I wonder how that happens, there are still plenty of times when I discover a pair of shoes that made it from the streets straight into my home.

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Behind the Scenes: 6 Ways of Re-using Templates

Published by Sula H.

I love drawing inspiration from templates. See, the good thing about templates is that they are so versatile. You don’t have to work with a template just once and then it’s kind of an old shoe. It’s not. Working on the creative team of a template designer (Cindy Schneider), I’m always amazed to see all the different ways my other team colleagues are using the same templates. The sky is the limit. So, in other words I’m saying: use your templates more than once to take full advantage of them.

 

6 Ways of Re-using Templates

Option #1 | Flipping & Rotating
Obviously, the easiest way to re-use a template is by flipping or rotating it. When you do that, you’ll be amazed at how differently the page will look, and unless someone studies the two layouts in question very hard, no one will be able to tell that you’ve used the same template twice.

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Rotated template

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Original template with an additional cluster in the top left corner

 

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Option #2 | Using Different Kits, Topics, Events
Another way of making sure no one realizes you’ve used a template again, is by simply using another kit, topic, or scrap about a different event (most likely you’ll do all of that).

 

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Option #3 | Adding Extra Element Clusters or Papers
You can further disguise the fact that you are re-using a template, by placing additional clusters on your layout. Or add another couple of layers of papers etc.

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I added more paper layers to the original template
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The original template from Sarah Gleason’s “Ambrosia Template Album” which I used for the layout above.

 

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Option #4 | Combining Templates
The next option is to actually combine two templates to make one. The effect can be interesting and really fun!

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On this layout, I combined two of Cindy’s templates (one with a list, and one with a simple cluster) for a stunning effect.

 

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Option #5 | Removing Elements

What about removing elements, paper layers and clusters to simplify your template and give it another, different look?

 

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Option#6 | Changing Placement of Clusters, Title, Journaling etc.
And lastly, you can change the positions of clusters, the title, or your journaling. Put these in a different corner of your layout, switch out the sides where to place your title. Place your main cluster off-center.

Play around with your options to see what you can do to make the most of the templates in your stash.

Early Sunday Morning Surprises

Published by Sula H.

130311-IMG_7482Sunday mornings. Not everywhere do they stand for sleep-ins and lazy mornings, for quiet and solitude. Here, they certainly don’t. The other day, I woke up to a surprise … a rather unpleasant one at that! I woke up to heavy banging, to voices shouting all over the place, and to the clanging of metal against metal, and it dawned on me that the workers were at it again. At it in ways I wish they weren’t. And when I looked outside, I knew what was going on. I guess, for the next couple of weeks I’ll have to deal with people talking on the other side of my walls, sounding as if they’re standing in the room with me just the same. Bye-bye lazy sleep-ins, bye bye quiet and peace.

The Dust Invasion

Published by Sula H.

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When your eyes start hurting and feel irritated, then you know something is wrong. And of course, when you hear the wind rattling around the corner of the house, you really know something’s wrong. And then, when you look out of the window, and you see how the sky has turned yellowish and everything is wrapped in a thick cloud of dust, that’s when you know: it’s a sand storm. And trust me, sand storms are no nice things. You know why when you see the layer of dust slowly descending onto every surface in your home, and when everything you touch feels a bit more slippery than usual, because it’s covered in tiny fine little grains of dust.

The Exciting Uses of a Hole Puncher

Published by Sula H.

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One of the fun things about living abroad is being able to witness the excitement simple everyday items can cause around here. Take a hole puncher, for example. Where I grew up, basically every member of a family would have their own hole puncher, simply because it’s needed for all sorts of things in school, work, home, etc. And believe me, a hole puncher is no reason to cause excitement there at all.

Here, however, things are quite different. Here, people can be fascinated at how a hole puncher works, how it’s able to – yes – punch holes perfectly into a paper! It makes me realize how much gratitude I owe to this little thing whenever it helps me punch holes. And it makes me realize what a lucky person  I am to be the proud owner of a hole puncher!