Updates at Smallhanded Adventures

It was high time to finally update my blog. The margins and all the spacings were off and have been really annoying me for a (very long) while. So here are the results, what do you think?

In addition, there are a few changes here in "smallhanded adventure"-land... I thought it would be fun to run a little experiment. I'm putting up a survey feature on the blog (upper right). I'd love to get to know my blog readers a little better (and perhaps this will help you get to know each other) and if I can do so with a question or two, why not? It could be fun! So starting now, once a month, I will put up a new question and see what you guys think. For all I know, no one will answer the poll and this will be a huge flop, but why not try? I won't know until I do...

Then on every first Friday of the month, I will announce the results here on the blog-o and think up a project of some sorts that will be inspired by your answers... What do you think? And if it becomes a fun & popular thing, I'll put up a challenge and we can all partake in it. It can be anything: a card, a photo, a layout, a recipe, a short story...whatever moves you with the answers from the survey.

Any thoughts on this? Do you like these kinds of questions? Do you love statistics? Would you participate? Would love to hear your opinions in the comments...!

Ta for now...

Happy Easter

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. We received a really fun digital e-greeting by Florian's brother, Philipp. He's a talented designer, who just finished his studies. I thought this cute little Easter greeting and his talent has to be shared with the world :)


I'm off to go craft. That's all for now...

[Giveaway] Naomi's Big One Year Blogaversary

One of my DYSU girl pals are having a giveaway after returning from Winter CHA 2012. Did I mention how jealous I am that she got to go? ;)

Well, for the girls like me who didn't get to go, there is a big prize pack up for grabs... Check out Naomi's post and wish her a happy One Year Blogaversary!

[Project 30] On Turning 30

Dear Family & Friends, it is true, I am turning another year older (or younger at heart) and it's a big milestone. It's a great time to reflect how blessed I have been to be surrounded by so many great people, who have been patient, kind, and sharing throughout so many years.

To remember this milestone I want to put together a special project for myself that I can share with my family & friends, who live near & afar. It's also the one time where family & friends from different spheres all come together, from high school to college, from work to crafting, from near to afar.

I am combining my two big loves in the kitchen and in the craft room to pull together a special recipe box.

Project 30: Recipe Box
Project 30 will be a collection of favorite recipes of my family & friends. My goal is to cook through these recipes before January 3, 2013, and capture these dishes in a little scrapbooking album and blog those pages on my little blog. @Elke, you'll teach me how to bind an album, right? :D

I would like to dearly invite you to send me your favorite dish's recipe. It can be anything: a cold dish, a salad, a dessert, a main dish, a dish that comforts you or invokes childhood memories. It can be a simple or complex dish. It is a way for you to share with me why it is special to you and why it has become special to me.

How does it work:
I'll send you a recipe card (similar to the one below) with a self-addressed envelope. All you have to do is pop it back into the mail with your favorite recipe. For domestic mailing, I will also post-mark the envelop. For international, I have not figured out a good way how to do this for you. Please respond by Jan 10, 2012, if you would like me to send you a recipe card. You can leave me a message in the comments field, or send me an email at renyi.lo [at] gmail.com with your physical mailing address. Thanks a bunch!



[Picture Credit: Anthroplogie.com]

I hope you will help me along with my project and I look forward to reading and trying out your favorite dishes. Cheers!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! I ran across this picture thanks to a friend that included it in her Happy New Year greetings. It was too good not to upload here. Here is to a great year filled with health, happiness, wealth, and lots of inspiration!

Reminder: TCM Little Frieda & Lulu Mischief...

to give away here. All you have to do is leave a comment, telling me which of the TCM stamps is your favorite by this Friday noon on this blog entry.

Happy Easter

I woke up today to realize that I sent my dad yesterday to the airport and that my mom was also still traveling. My brother lives in VA now, so I was all by my lone-some self for Easter. No family feast, no family stories. So when I woke up this Easter Sunday morning, I thought to myself "I know what I am going to do today!" (much like Phineas & Ferb, if you know which *awesome* TV show I am referring to ;)



I decided to dye some eggs - a fun childhood activity that I haven't done in a while. Except, let me just tell you, don't forget to add the vinegar. It's an integral part to making sure the egg shells can absorb color. Otherwise, the whole dyeing is kind of moot. I speak from experience...or rather from the lack of years of experience.



Anyways - so here is wishing you an egg-tra (*heehee*) special Easter. Hope it is colorful and fun. Methinks I will be having egg salad for the next few days...Wanna join em? :)

Thank You Shout Out's

I realize that two weeks have whizzed by when a new PaperPlay Challenge is coming out and it is our Team A's turn to inspire the players. Ooops! I was unable to touch my craft table for ten straight days and it has been driving me insane. Partly because I have new toys (yay my Waltzingmouse Stamps order came in and my Cutterpillar was dying to cut into some new paper) and partly because crafting is my work de-compressing mechanism.

However, even though I was not actively crafting, the crafting community was still there for me. I received some nods of approval from two of my all-time favorite challenge sites which sent me over the moon.

My little, whimsy plane card earned a Top Four. A big thank you to Jenny and the Wee Memories DT. They left such sweet comments!

And if that was not enough, I got a message from my crafting friend Laurie that said "Congrats on your Embellish spot" I was confused. A quick peek onto the Embellish Magazine's blog explained the mystery.

I always feel so humbled when throwing a card into the midst. Have you seen the many, amazing creations the rest of the participants bring? It's truly an honor to have been picked! Thanks to Ashley and the rest of the Embellish crew for making my week!

A little story...

Remember this card? I was going to gift this card to my mom to gift to my dad...



But alas, this is what I found when I went to go fetch it:



I placed the card on the dining room table and went off on my business trip, not thinking anything of it. With my forgetful brain, I thought it a brilliant idea for the card to sit and wait for me. But two sneaky little cats decided in the meantime to contribute to their fun of valentines day...



Simmi looking calm and collected when I asked him if he saw the missing heart.



Jojo avoiding the question by pretending to be busy...I say that's one guilty little cat ;)

Hope your Valentines Day was sweet...

Blog Award

Belinda posted up an gorgeous card. Go check it out! I was over there reading her blog post and saw how she was given a fun blog award. Always wanted to learn eight fun things about your friend? If I didn't keep reading I may have also missed the shout out and passing of this awesome blog award if I didn't keep reading. I feel so honored and it was a fun surprise. Thanks, B!

Rules that accompany this award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this.
2. Share 8 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to bloggers that you have recently discovered.

8 things about me:
1. I am not a morning person - total morning grouch actually! Even my cats know better than to come bug me in the morning! So, unless you bring me a nice, big tall mug of coffee, go away for a few hours and check back later.
2. I am a total nerd. I love analogies that relate to science or math. They make so much sense in my head. If I get stuck describing something you might hear me spout "It's like a monotonically increasing function."
3. My important gadgets have names. Phineas is my laptop; the Kitchen Aid standmixer was baptized Perry; Lilo is the name to my sewing machine; and I just received a monster-sized food processor. I'm taking suggestions... (In case you are wondering, my car also has a name: Bloo) 
4. Which brings me to new cars ... I love the new car smell! If guys were to wear it as a cologne, I may just swoon or pick you up with a nerdy pick-up line.
5. If I go visit a place, I create a food schedule to make sure to hit all the must-try places. I'm still sad that I did not make it Hot Doug's or Kuma's Corner on my last trip to Chicago. And yes, my poor friends have to hop to all these eating places with me.
6. I also love to cook. I read cookbooks and food blogs for inspirations. If I try to make a recipe, I read it once, and go to town with it. Which means, whatever I remember gets executed and the rest made up on the fly, but it still turns out great :) Baking, however, is different. I follow it to a tee.
7. This blog actually started out as a random food blog with a collaboration with my other small-handed friends. Yes, my hands are really small - they often fit within the palm of some of my guys friends' hands. But I can reach an octave on the piano and was able to play most classical pieces. Except for Rachmaninoff - it was never meant to be...*le sigh*
8. My last fun fact for you, is that I am bi-lingual. Not unusual for many - except that my second language isn't Cantonese or Mandarin, like people would expect when they meet me for the first time. I am native fluent speaker in German. I still get double takes at work when we have visitors from Germany, since I don't have an accent. And as a last bonus fact, I spend four years studying the German Language and they gave me a degree. So ask me anything about Goethe, Nietzsche, or Hesse - most likely I have read something...

I'd like to pass this award on to the following people:
Janna Werner (aka Papiersalat) - I met Janna through the Waltzingmouse Stamps forum and we've been pen pals ever since. One of those kindred spirit fellow stampers who one day I would love to meet in person.
Vera Yates - I met her at CHA Chicago 2010 and we've been ever since in touch. She also held the Caring Hearts Drive project and I had a blast working with her. You are such an inspiration to me!
Ann - I met also at CHA Chicago 2010 but never thought anything more of it. But, Ann, you are an amazing source of inspiration and you've always been so sweet, supportive and encouraging!

Holiday Production Count Down...

So this year's holiday insanity status report currently looks like this...

• Glühwein Production - 33%
• Strip 12 bottles of their labels - check
• Brew Glühwein - not check
• Make bottle labels and packaging kits - check
• Re-fill & re-label - not check
• Find strong dude to re-cork - not check
• Re-cork - not check
• Confirm at least 11 bottles left to gift (one was to taste test and get through the holiday production madness ;) - not check

• Cookie Swap - 100%
• Bake 7 dozen Almond Thumb-print Cookies - check
• Make cookie packaging kits - check
• Pack cookies - check
• Attend Cookie Swap - check
• Swap cookies - check
• Win 2nd Place for Packaging - check

• Cards - 60%
• Write and address 55 cards - not check
• Run to the Post Office - not check

• Gifts - 90%
• Make nice list - check
• Make gift list - check
• Map nice list (domain) to gift list (codomain) - check (*extra credit to those that get this dorky reference)
• Revise nice and gift list mapping - check
• Order / Purchase gifts - check
• Wrap gifts - not check

• Tea-light Gift Package - 50%
• Create prototype - check
• Modify 90 tea-lights - check
• Wrap tea-lights - not check
• Create monogrammed tags - not check
• Create box & lids - not check
• Package each - not check
• Find extra slave elf labour to stay sane - not check

• Full-size Afghan - 40%
• Create three panels - almost check
• Join panels - not checked
• Crochet edging - not checked
• Pray that trans-atlantic flight is long enough to finish blanket - not checked

And last but not least...

• Be featured as a "hot" designer - 100%
• Create a wine bag for the Embellish Challenge - check
• Read Ann's comment - check
• Be really confused - check
• Hop over to the Embellish Magazine blog - check
• Pinch myself to make sure I'm awake - check
• Do a dorky, happy dance (in private) - check

Scrap Our Stash News

I have exciting news to share! Kathy, who runs a challenge blog "Scrap Out Stash," has invited me to stay on as a Design Team member! I'm thrilled, because 

• this was the first blog I submitted a challenge entry (and won ;) - thanks to a little pushing and shoving from Steph
• love the girls who are passionate about their craft
• the gals are extremely encouraging, especially when one starts out learning techniques and styles
• my two Swapping Sisters, Laurie & Steph are part of this fun gang
• this is a terribly useful group - they encourages you to use up your stash, have neat frugal tips & tricks up their sleeves, and throw out fun challenges

I'm just overjoyed and cannot wait to get to work! Kathy, I hope I make you proud!

I hope you'll join me on my adventures. August turns out to be half way over, but there are plenty of fun things going on:

• Check out the August Challenge - it's as simple as use flowers on your project. If they are hand-made, that's even better.
• A new & exciting type of challenge - "Pagerize This!" Wouldn't you like to be the first one to win one of these?! Winners get bragging rights and a chance to be the next "Pagerize This" Designer.

So, come on over and give it a go! I want to see what you have up your sleeves... I might even send you a little surprise if you enter both challenges...

The Best Business Trip - Ever

Business trips are generally short, stressful and rough. While I love meeting with my clients face-to-face (which some modern technologies cannot truly replace), it does throw a wrench into work-life balance. Some of my sudden whims can't be catered -- waking up to a brilliant asparagus idea, or crafting for sudden challenge deadlines. However, some things make it all the more worthwhile, such as finally meeting an online crafting buddy in real life!



Our mutual person that brought us together was actually her hubster. I had actually never seen this guy before in the office, and when I did meet him, the situation was as follows: he was describing punches & embossers to another dude in the office. So either Canada had a whole group of male stampers & scrapper (yeah right!), or I had just met the next Tim Holtz. To top it off, he had a Stamping Up! box -- maybe a surprise gift for a crafty wife or girlfriend? So the Nancy Drew that I am, I had to get to the bottom of this! Maybe this would lead to a "local" crafting buddy!

Our quick exchange resulted in him passing on his wife's super talented blog, which I have been diligently reading ever since then. She and Dana are quite the spit-fire Dynamic Duo! One comment on their blog, and a bunch of emails later, I had found myself an online crafting buddy. Unfortunately, our schedules never really aligned until recently, and after many weeks of patient waiting, we had agreed to meet. I was so excited, and to top it all off, I received this through her hubster:

Inside this cute, bottom-reinforced carry bag, there was a beautiful card and a chocolate bar. The chocolate bar made for a great emergency emotional booster, since I had some intense meetings lined up that day, and the card was absolutely the sweetest.

The card has a kraft-colored card stock base, and was watermarked with my favorites: flutterbies! The center piece is a cute vellum and pattern paper cut out of the same subject. What topped it off, was the cute gem brad, that held the flutterby on the card into place, and the flower onto the carry bag. The card was a quick note to express how much she was looking forward to our meeting. I, too, was equally excited about our meeting and was counting down the hours and minutes at work.

The funny thing was when we did meet for the first time, it felt like we had known each other for ages.

Isn't the crafting world just wonderful? It is such a great community to make new friends - close and afar!

Taking a Break

I've been swamped with business trips and work. Generally, back to back to back to back...business trips means I get to sleep on the weekend, do laundry, see family and do all those things that pile up when not being in town. 

I'm itching to play with my new toys that will open me up to new fun techniques and effects. Also dying to do some real baking and cooking, but instead, am eating out every day. Anyone else itching for cupcakes or home-made brownies? It's not helping that I am craving me some cupcakes...

I hope to be shortly back. 'Til then I will have to find material on my laptop to blog about...

Maybe I should just go make a crafty order to make myself feel better... ;)

Stamping Around Philly--Here I Come!

I just wanted to pop in to apologize for not posting. I have been traveling a lot for work lately and been spending many hours in a hotel room in the Great White North. Of course I didn't pack any fun things with me to work on, since I knew I was going to get owned by the late hours of work. So no fun new pictures of my lunch projects or otherwise crafty projects because, well, there isn't much to show & tell right now.

But this weekend I'm off to Stamping Around with Belinda. W00t.



I'm really excited, because it means hanging with one of my favorite chicks and crafting all weekend long...with exceptionally talented girls in the card-making field. I adore all of the stamp companies that are coming and really am looking forward to learning lots.

So, you'll be hearing of my stamping & cropping adventures, as this n00b (newbie) tries to keep up with these very experienced and talented ladies. I feel really intimidated...

Polycystic Kidney Disease

This deviates from the regular blog theme, but a friend of mine, staceyT, has something important to say about this disease, and I thought I would re-post some important facts here. There is not much awareness spread about this disease.

If you feel moved by what you read, please consider donating to StaceyT and the PKD Foundation here.

Polycystic Kidney Disease is one of the most common, life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people worldwide. PKD is more common than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and sickle cell anemia - combined. Polycystic Kidney Disease causes fluid filled cysts to form on both kidneys. Over time, these cysts grow and multiply, sometimes dramatically in size. For most patients, their PKD ultimately causes the kidneys to shut down. Once that happens, dialysis and transplant are their only options to prolong life. Parents with the dominant form of PKD have a 50% chance of passing the disease on to each of their children. For the recessive form, ARPKD, parents have usually never heard of PKD until their newborn is diagnosed with it. For 30% of newborns, ARPKD is fatal.

Although there is no treatment or cure for Polycystic Kidney Disease, there is hope… Stacey's dad has had 2 kidney transplants in the last year (the 2nd kidney is doing very well and as of June 30th he's past the 3 month post transplant mark!). But even though he now has a functioning kidney, the battle is far from over. He has other PKD related health issues to deal with on a daily basis. Plus, both Stacey and her sister each have a 50% chance of getting PKD. Please consider joining our fight — by donating to the cause, registering for the walk (and raising funds) — or both! Every little bit helps!

In other news, Bleu Bella Paperie has graciously decided to donate all card sales from her store to the PKD Foundation. In addition, Belinda and I are committed to donating a $1 for every comment on Bleu Bella Paperie's post, to StaceyT's cause. So head on over and leave a comment. To sweeten the deal, there is also a blog giveaway.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

A Big Thank You

I just wanted to give a big thanks to those that supported my 5k race. I had a few goals for the day of the race:

1. support a good cause
2. have fun
3. finish the race
4. finish it under 45min
5. not be dead last

I managed to achieve all of the goals with your great help. Yeehaw!

And on top of that, thanks to my generous supporters I managed to raise more than my 100$ goal.



So, to everyone that supported me in one way or another -- thanks for the words of encouragement, watching me race, and supporting my cause financially! You made this whole event worthwhile and fun for me.

[Project Lunch] Are you up for the Challenge?

I have hinted in my previous post that I am starting a lunch project. That's not entirely true, since I should really be saying "we are starting a Project Lunch." Two of my friends from work and I were having lunch as usual when we had a few revelations:

[Revelation #1]: The financial crisis. Funny enough, all the lunch places near work that we generally frequent did not "drop" their prices or offer any "recession-proof" lunches like some other chains have (e.g., TGIF).

[Revelation #2]: We easily spent $7-13 per person. That's an average of $10/person, or $30 for three. One work week makes $150. One month? A whopping 600$ on just lunch during work weeks.

[Revelation #3]: It's always the same stuff, isn't it? We cycle between pizza, sushi, chinese, burgers, and italian. Sometimes we throw in sandwiches or an Indian buffet to "mix it up." But generally, we each order the "same thing" on the menu too. Boring!

[Revelation #4]: Unhealthy portion sizes! Since portion sizes in the US have grown into monstrous servings, we know that any reasonable person needs only half of what comes on that plate. And besides, when it comes to "food coma vs greedy foodie"? Food coma always wins out and really inhibits that productivity in the office!

[Revelation #5]: I can make that...for less! I was sitting in a restaurant, eating a very delicious smoked salmon wrap, but the components were easy enough to reproduce for much less, so why not make it?

So, here is the weekly "Project Lunch" challenge:
Cook 3x a week for three people.
Each meal should be under $10.

It boils down to making lunch once a week -- ain't so bad, right? Are you up for the challenge?

Run a 5k in 1.5 weeks...?

Who knew we had invisible readership? A dear friend from Germany wrote me an email asking if everything was ok, since I haven't posted since June. It's nice that there was such a concerned email (Yes, shame, shame on me!) so I'd like to apologize for being so unreliable. So much of my goal for posting once a week... So here is what's new:

• I have switched from a PC to a Mac. Thank goodness for smb protocol, or else I would still be sitting here trying to transfer all my things from my two other PCs onto my lil, shiny, new Macbook Pro. (Yes, I'm writing this post from my Mac ;)
• Went traveling within the US and outside of the US to see friends get wed.
• Friends from afar came to visit and I got to hang out and see them (and stuff myself silly with them!)
• Went to see Dragonboat Racing and saw Sherry paddle with the Golden Dragons. It was fun to cheer them on and hang out at their race tent. Thank you, Golden Dragons, and see you next year!
• Had myself some girl time with Sherry and got to bake Banana Bread.
• Watched way too many movies, including "Cloudy...With a Chance of Meatballs" and "Julie and Julia." Word of warning: don't go see those movies unless you have eaten, unless you want those hunger pangs and growly stomach in the middle of the movie.
• Welcomed my new, sweet neighbors (with food of course ;)
• Starting a lunch project (more later)
• Been training like a crazy chick for the Susan G Komen Race

Susan G Komen's "Race for the Cure" was a last minute decision. Last Monday I realized that I haven't ran a 5k yet, although it was one of my goals since the beginning of the year (tsk, tsk on me!). So I looked up 5k runs in the area and found many up until November. Although there are many good causes, the cause I really wanted to run is for breast cancer. One reason is that I have family that survived breast cancer. Another reason is that I use to run this race in Pittbsburgh with Pudgeykins and I've been supporting this cause for years now.

The only catch? It is in exactly one week from now. And after my test run Thursday, I discovered to my dismay that I can't even run a mile right now. So wish me luck! I'm hoping to run the 5k in a reasonable time (and not be dead-last).

So I registered on Friday and have decided to raise $100 (suggested donations). I figured I can find 10 supportive friends that will donate $10 each, or 20 supportive friends that can throw in $5? And if I exceed, I'd be super ecstatic.

If you feel inclined to support the Susan G Komen foundation and/or me running, here it my race page

Let's go Pens...

There is really no excuse for not posting, but when it's NHL playoffs, there are no questions to my priorities! The Pens are playing their heart out on the ice and I've been doing my part on cheering them on. So you know where to find me -- my couch! So I hope you're secretly not missing any posts since you're rooting for the Steel City, too, right?

At least the playoffs have inspired my next crochet project. Check the pattern out. Isn't he cute? I think I'll name him Fleury.

After Stanley Cup playoffs are over, I have a goal of posting once a week. Maybe I will even make twice a week if I can get my act together. So look for more baking and cooking, and fun other projects. And if you don't hear from me, feel free to poke me.