I\'m trying to do something like this for a client who has a blog.

Using the :before pseudo-element,
CSS3's border-radius,
and some transparency is quite easy:
LIVE DEMO

CSS:
.circle, .circle:before{
position:absolute;
border-radius:150px;
}
.circle{
width:200px;
height:200px;
z-index:0;
margin:11%;
padding:40px;
background: hsla(0, 100%, 100%, 0.6);
}
.circle:before{
content:'';
display:block;
z-index:-1;
width:200px;
height:200px;
padding:44px;
border: 6px solid hsla(0, 100%, 100%, 0.6);
/* 4px more padding + 6px border = 10 so... */
top:-10px;
left:-10px;
}
The :before attaches to our .circle another element which you only need to make (ok, block, absolute, etc...) transparent and play with the border opacity.