new berrysprite blog design!

It's simple!  It's colorful!  It has flowers and mushrooms and red!  It took me some tinkering, but I was able to redesign my blog over Christmas... I'm super happy with it, and I hope you like it too!

thank you card tutorial

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

For those of you who would like to send out a thank you card, or (even just a greeting card) here is a tutorial for you! [Well, maybe this post is not so much a tutorial as it is an idea prompt to inspire you to make your own cards, since they are economical, beautiful and useful (who hasn't needed a nice card for emergencies)!]

The idea for these came from one of the girls in my fellowship cohort; we had needed to come up with gifts to give the speakers in our workshops, but we wanted them to reflect our native flora, fauna and landscapes of Hawaii... Luckily I have taken TONS of pictures of these kinds of things so we were able to make some really beautiful cards that reflected our islands!

I bought an off-white heavy cardstock pack of blank cards using a 40% off coupon at our local Ben Franklin (so they came out to around $4.00 for 50) and I got my pictures printed for free (I signed up with Sam's Club so I got 25 free photos... but you can also try Snapfish or a similar printing service... I think it runs around 8¢ for a photo print).  I used spray glue to create an even coat of adhesive on the back of the photo and then I just put them onto the card.  I had my sister (she has nicer handwriting) put a description of what was on the card and the place it was taken to make it a little more meaningful.

I think everyone has some nice photos of their hometowns: try pictures of moss, flowers, trees, mountains, snow etc that would make really nice greeting cards.  Have fun!

merry christmas!

leftover chickens

I made these little chickens using leftover pieces of yarn... each is exactly the size of the tiny ball of yarn I had leftover from my other creations.  Making chickens is my favorite, hee hee!

on my christmas list

Some of you may have seen these pochi purses... truth be told I was never really impressed with them.

However, they have recently come out with pochi purses in other designs and now they are irresistible. So,
one of the things on my Christmas wish list is this ADORABLE Silicone pochi purse shaped like a panda...

I've never been much of a change purse type of person, but when I saw this I knew that it was the perfect request for a Christmas present; at around $15 its not to expensive, pretty practical (I intend to keep my bus fare in it) and super cute; I mean bear ears for purse handles!  There is a Volume 1 and a Volume 2... so many to choose from! This website seems to have most of them (except the shiba inu... I checked!)

my trip to turkey in pictures

 Because pictures are worth a thousand words right?  Nah, I'm just lazy...  plus these pictures and my words could never suffice to explain the glory that is Turkey!  It was really really lovely.  For this trip I went with a tour group for twelve days, which can be good if you're visiting  a country for the first time and you want to see a bit of everything (its bad because you only get a little taste of what the country and the people are really like).  Our group was very nice and we had a lot of fun, but if/ when I go back to Turkey, I would love to do it on my own... the Turkish people are extremely hospitable, Turkish Airlines is the bomb, the food is EXCELLENT (no preservatives, everything is fresh and seasonal... honey and yogurt and lamb mmmmmm), the whole place is alive with deep history (the historian in me was SOOO excited) and the shopping is glorious.  Just blogging about it makes me want to go back ♥ But no.  My next international trip will be to Japan (in May/ June) which I'm very stoked about :)  Anyway, hope you enjoy my pictures!

The library room at Topkapi Palace (Istanbul, Turkey)

Pomegranate Juice Seller (Istanbul, Turkey)

 

Juicy pomegranate  (Istanbul, Turkey)

 Hippodrome (Istanbul, Turkey)

 Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)

 Lunch at the Pudding House: Lentil-stuffed eggplant, yogurt and Kebab (Istanbul, Turkey)

 Sultanahmet Camii/ Blue Mosque (Istanbul, Turkey)

 Sultanahmet Camii/ Blue Mosque (Istanbul, Turkey)

Grand Bazaar!  I spent way too little time here... (Istanbul, Turkey)

 Ataturk's Memorial (Ankara, Turkey)

 Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Ankara, Turkey)

 Iskender Kebab: yummmy!  Kebab meat over cubed pita with a tomato and butter sauce with fresh yogurt.

 Evil eye on a tree (Goreme Cappadocia, Turkey)

 View from my first balloon ride!  People were able to carve extensive homes/ tunnels into the mountains here because of the type of rock (tufa) its made of... inside these little places was much cooler than outside! (Goreme Cappadocia, Turkey)

 View from my first balloon ride! (Goreme Cappadocia, Turkey)

 View from my first balloon ride! (Goreme Cappadocia, Turkey)

 Lace Design on Turkish Ceramics at a Ceramic Factory  (Cappadocia, Turkey)

 Manti, Turkish ravioli with yogurt and garlic oil (Kayseri, Turkey)

 Goreme Open-Air Museum (Goreme, Neveshir, Turkey)

 Beautiful sunset (Goreme Cappadocia, Turkey)

 Mevlana Museum (Konya, Turkey)

 Pamukkale, Cotton Fortress  (Pamukkale, Turkey)

Ruins at Ephesus (Kusadasi, Ephesus, Turkey)

 Ruins at Ephesus (Kusadasi, Ephesus, Turkey)

 Charisma Hotel (Kusadasi, Turkey)

Ancient health spa Asclepion (Pergamon, Izmir, Turkey)

 Ancient health spa Asclepion (Pergamon, Izmir, Turkey)

Ancient health spa Asclepion (Pergamon, Izmir, Turkey)

 The ruins at Troy (Troy, Turkey)

Gallipoli Coast/ Anzac Cove (Turkey)

 Crossing the Dardenelles (Turkey)

 Spice Bazaar (Istanbul, Turkey)

Yeni Mosque, near the Spice Bazaar (Istanbul, Turkey)

i'm back!

I'm back!  It was a WONDERFUL trip to Turkey and I promise to share lots of pics and more details in a bit. Coming up (in January and May) trips to the Big Island of Hawaii and a trip to Japan; HUZZAH!!! In other news, I've redesigned my blog again!  It won't last long, probably just until the holidays are over.... I'm still trying to make it look cleaner and more professional; we'll see how it goes in the near future.

Also in other news, I've opened my shop again! It has been quite a while since its been open and its been even longer since it's had items for sale other than those that are already reserved for customers.  I am trying to sell things I already have on hand, and I'm also considering reopening my second etsy store (happyapplet... bet you guys didn't even know/remember I have an etsy supply store; it's been closed for years!)  because I think berrysprite is moving in a new direction... we'll see about that too.  Anyway, I might have some yarn and fabrics for sale... still considering parting with some of my stash!  If you're in the mood for some Christmas gifts, feel free to pop on over to berrysprite... I'll let you know if/ when happyapplet is opening again!

stanford

One part of the Stanford Campus from the Hoover Tower... the campus was huge (I think around 800 acres!)

I just got back  from my trip to San Francisco/ Palo Alto/ Stanford/ Monterey Bay.... It was so much fun but also a lot of work: we had class sessions from early morning to late evening everyday, including weekends, for two weeks straight! When I got home, I think I sleep for a straight day and a half :P. Anyway, I'm off to Turkey today... I'll see you guys in two weeks!

San Francisco from around Pier 1... it was so pretty and SO FUN!

The Alaskans we were with insisted that we get some oysters from Hog Island Oyster Company

I insisted I get some clam linguine... this is from the Stinking Rose and is made using black linguine noodles (made with squid ink); it was really good!

Kayaking Elk Horn Slough... It was the first time I've ever seen otters!

Monterey Bay Aquarium... one of the best places I visited!

A cow fish!

I looked at the jellyfish for hours... they were by far my favorite part of the aquarium!

A fancy seahorse/ seadragaon! The Seahorse exhibit was my second favorite part of the trip to the Aquarium.

An area just outside the aquarium... this reminded me of the tidepools at home and I almost wanted to go swimming except that I remembered that the water was super freezing!

Also a highlight... We got to play with horses!  They can sense your feelings and so as a leadership and team-building exercise we worked with them as a group... so nice!