Owl Be Thinking of You

I’m still playing around with the Cricut, figuring out the different functions and basically just having fun. Above is a quick little card I made using the Storybook cartridge – isn’t that owl just fab? As soon as I saw it in the booklet I knew I had to make a card with it. I have to say, I’m really impressed with how easy this machine is to use, and I love how many options are on each cartridge.

I’ve also been (slooowly) figuring out how to do more things with Photoshop Elements. I really want to be able to do design-type stuff like making my own hybrid embellishments, note-pads, journal/planner pages, etc. Right before we left the States I picked up a copy of Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking 3, which has been really helpful in walking me through basic functions. I still have a LONG way to go, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually (fingers crossed!).

Card Recipe
Stamp: American Crafts “Large Sentiments”; Paper: Basic Grey Offbeat dp, Georgia Pacific white cs; Ink: ColorBox Pigment Chestnut; Accessories: Cricut/Storybook cartridge, Cuttlebug/Circles die, corner rounder punch (small), ribbon, button, embroidery floss, dimensionals.

Please Come In...

So here it is – my very first Cricut project! It was so easy, and I love how it turned out. It’s the perfect “something” for our front door. It’s the little touches like this that become so important when you live overseas; even the smallest personal touch can help make a new location feel like home. For this project, I used the black adhesive vinyl from ProvoCraft and the Home Accents cartridge. I don’t have the transfer tape that they recommend, so it was a smidge tricky getting it all lined up perfectly, but not impossible.

There are so many fun, mod graphic elements on this cartridge – right now I’m especially loving the quail and the pear; I’ve got some card ideas brewing for those two! And some of the graphic elements go hand in hand with Dawn McVey’s new stamp set, Mod Squad, over at Papertreyink (just a little FYI)!

Okay, I’m off to have some more Cricut fun!

A Very Long Day

Whew! We just spent 7 ½ hours riding the subway from one end of town to the other, back and forth, filling out paperwork and submitting forms at different offices to apply for our resident permits. It’s been a very long day, but in one week we should be official residents – not tourists, not students, not temporary businessmen - residents! It’s exciting, because ours are the first work visas/resident permits obtained through the company since it achieved mainland registration. It’s been a long time in the making, and we’re pretty psyched about it.

(Sort of) New Craft Toy

Man, who knew this was such a cool gadget? I know, I’m way behind the times, but I’m a Cricut newbie. My first ever die cutter was a Cuttlebug two years ago for Christmas; then last year for Christmas I was able to get the Making Memories Slice (back when Hobby Lobby still let you use 40% off coupons on the machine and design cards). I had always admired the Cricut from afar (anyone who’s ever visited Splitcoaststampers has heard OODLES about the Cricut love), but figured that 1) it wasn’t dual voltage, and 2) I’d never be able to take it overseas since we couldn’t send a crate. Well, it turns out I was wrong on both counts! We found out at the last minute that we could send a crate after all, so I did some quick internet searching and found a great deal on a Cricut Create. It arrived literally days before we had to pack our crate, so I only had time to turn it on and do one brief trial run just to make sure the parts were in working order. Now here I am almost three months later, and today is the first time I’ve really been able to use it. I am in love! This thing has so much potential. I will say there was a brief, heart-dropping moment when the machine wouldn’t turn on, but everything is running smoothly now. I think one of my first projects will be a vinyl “Welcome” decal for our front door. Hmm, I wonder if I can get it done before Seth gets home. There’s only one way to find out…

Travelingmama's Inspiration Challenge Card

One of the drawbacks of living where I do is that certain types of websites are deemed, shall we say, “inappropriate” by the powers that be, and therefore blocked. As a result, I can’t watch any videos, random images won’t load, and to access my own blog I have to use round-about means. When I do get to my blog, only the most basic functions are available, which means now I have to tinker around with html codes to try to get some functionality back. So if my blog appears a little wonky, now you know why!
I’m excited to finally be able to participate in Travelingmama’s Traveler’s Inspiration Challenge. You can view the inspiration picture at the link above. Here is my card (click on the pic for a full-size image):

I was struck by the geometric shapes that kept jumping out at me in the inspiration pic – the windows, doors, even the different levels of the building. And of course the phenomenal blue of that sky! I created my own geometric patterned paper using Versamark and a stamp from EK Success; the sentiment was created with my new Dymo labelmaker and awesome woodgrain label tape that I picked up in Hong Kong. It’s a simple little card, but I like the slightly retro feel of it. For some reason, it reminds me of childhood summers with grandparents.
Can’t wait to see what Travelingmama has in store next week!

Card Recipe:
Georgia Pacific White, American Crafts cs; ColorBox pigment “Chestnut,” Versamark ink; Dymo Embossing Labelmaker; dimensionals

On Cameras and Such

This is one of the goodies I picked up in Hong Kong. As a child, I spent a lot of time leafing through my mom’s art books, getting sucked in by the infinite questions each picture would raise: what was the subject feeling, thinking? Were they happy, sad, hopeful? What kind of life did they lead? What was going on in the world just beyond the parameters of the picture? This book does the exact same thing to me, and it’s even more intriguing on a photography level – not only am I captivated by the story each picture tells, but I’m intrigued by the techniques used to capture each image. It makes me want to run out and photograph anything and everything, in the hopes of getting that one unique shot.

And speaking of photography, Hong Kong had Lomos for sale everywhere! I was THIS CLOSE to grabbing a Fisheye, but in the end I decided it really wouldn’t be the most practical purchase. They even had the LC-A+, which I’ve wanted for years, but it wasn’t in the budget on this trip. However, I did come away with this little beauty:



It’s called the “Black Slim Devil,” otherwise known as “the poor man’s Lomo.” It takes super-vivid, wide-angle, vignetted pictures on 35mm film. The best part is it’s WAY cheaper than any of the Lomo cameras. I can’t wait to try it out!

Home Again

We flew back to Shanghai today; it feels SO GOOD to be home! We were saying on the plane that we couldn't wait to sleep on our own soft, non-pokey-spring mattress.

Hong Kong was... fun? Different, for sure. It was hard for me to remember I couldn't just automatically speak Mandarin to people and assume they'd understand me. And the whole driving on the left side of the road scenario turned something as simple as crossing the road into an extreme sport. They have more Western products available (like Kiehls, Body Shop, L'Occitane, Mrs. Fields' Cookies, to name a few), and there was definitely more openness to Western things, good and bad. We saw lots of women smoking (which you rarely see in mainland China), and our hotel turned out to be right in the middle of the (ahem) "hostess bar" district. (If you've ever been to Thailand you know exactly what I'm talking about.) Definitely a bit jarring - you would never find anything so blatant here. I did enjoy the shopping, and an old friend of ours took us out for a traditional dim-sum meal, which was a lot of fun.

It's been a full and interesting week, but we're home, work visas in hand, ready to get back to life in Shanghai. Let me tell you, we were really glad this guy let us off the plane -



Two of our fellow passengers weren't so lucky!