the one inch photo project

i have a lot of extra photos lying around that never made into a scrapbook. i don't like wasting things so i started a one inch photo project.

start with a pile of photos. look for interesting color combinations, textures, details, and other things that make you happy. get a good variety!

use a one inch square punch to cut out a section of the photo.

find a frame for your photos. i like ribba frames from ikea. this one is 9x11.

lay out your one inch photos and play with the rows and columns until you like your arrangement. i tried to make sure that all the colors, themes, and textures were distributed evenly throughout. i think it would look neat arranged by color too. cut a piece of cardstock for your background (i used white) and adhere it to the mat.

now here comes the hard part... line up your tiny photos as neatly as possible and adhere them to your cardstock background. i used a roll-on tape adhesive. if your corners curl up, just use a glue pen to make everything nice and flat. it takes some time to get everything even with perfect margins all around but you'll eventually get there. for future projects, i may try drawing a grid to help with placement but i need to figure out a way to draw an invisible grid that won't show on the final product.

here's the finished product. it was fascinating to see how much detail can be found in just one square inch and it helps you to see your photos in a different way. for each little photo, i can tell you where i was and what i was doing. all are from happy memories :)

tastespotting

in love with tastespotting. they call themselves a "community driven visual potluck" which to me just means a non-stop flow of beautiful photos and recipes for delicious foods <3

egg rolls + deep thoughts

last weekend, i finally got around to making a mountain of egg rolls. i rolled 50 of these babies. and then i ate a third of them. it's nice to make a big batch at once and freeze them in portions to fry up on a lazy day. i used this recipe from the steamy kitchen, substituting the chicken for the pork. super tasty! RT prefers egg rolls with lots of filling, i like lots of crunchy wrapper. next time i'll double the filling so that we're both happy. i got into a zen-like state rolling egg roll after egg roll and thought about life, the future, the decisions i've made in my life thus far, and things that i'm thankful for. apparently, egg rolls make me pensive.

hana yori dango

i love hana yori dango. i've seen the anime, the japanese mini-series, the movies, and the korean mini-series. the only one i haven't seen is the taiwanese version, meteor garden. so when miss sk asked me to make dango that looked like makino, domiyoji, and rui, of course i said yes. you can't tell in the photo but domiyoji's hair is hilarious, it's just as curly as the real domiyoji's! happy belated miss sk!

postcard #1

happy afternoon

last weekend, rt and i took a trip to jersey to visit his family and on the way back stopped by new york. we grabbed some soon tubu from seoul garden, ate rainbow rice cakes from woorijib, walked around the new york public library for the first time (they have an amazing special exhibit on the art of books with displays of inks, papers, and writing implements), marveled at m & j trimming, and splurged a bit at kinokuniya. what a happy afternoon <3

happy lunar new year!

gong xi fa cai! it's the year of the rabbit! according to proastro.com, it's going to be a great year. 

"The year of the Metal Rabbit promises to bring some much needed peace and tranquility. If you are like most people, you probably feel like you were on a roller coaster in 2010, the year of the Tiger. That will generally not be the case in 2011, as the Rabbit is everything the Tiger is not. Let there be peace, and let it begin with me is the Rabbit motto. The Tiger makes waves, but the Rabbit mends fences. Diplomacy reigns. If you want to improve your chances of success, you most often want to negotiate and cooperate rather than try to force your ideas and methods on others. It's also a time to kiss and make up. Forgive and forget. Let's all get along. Make love not war. If last year the emphasis was on excitement, it now is on harmony." - proastro

here is my (pig) horoscope for the year of the rabbit: 

"You have the privilege of being the luckiest animal during the Year of the Metal Rabbit. It’s about time! Last year might have been a bit hectic... 2011 should bring many things to be thankful for. I’ll bet you’re nice and settled in a fulfilling career, a satisfied relationship, and a happy home. If not, those things are probably on their way. Remember to share your successes with the ones you love. Keep striving for inner balance and self-acceptance. Internalize the goodness around you and know you deserve it."

what a beautiful prediction! i like things to be calm and quiet so i'm looking forward to this year. happy new year everyone! eat lots of long noodles and nian gao.