Year of the Horse

Today is the start of the Lunar New Year. As the Snake slithers away at the end of its reign of the old year, the Horse gallops in to start ruling the New Year. Chinese all over the world celebrated the first day yesterday and it will last for 15 days.

Curious to know which zodiac sign you belong to?  Check out the chinese calendar conversion here.

On today's card, it's all about purple which is the cue card at CASology.

I am using one of my favourite background stamps from MFT.  All the stamps are stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Purple which gives the silky look.

Have a lovely weekend!

Chinese New Year - Year of the Snake

Tomorrow is the first day of Chinese New Year and we will be welcoming the year of the Snake. The New Year's Eve dinner is the most important dinner for the Chinese whereby all families meet together to have a sumptuous dinner. With me leaving so far away from my family, I miss this tradition every year and I guess I would have to do with skype again!

Maurice and Claire were asking if they will be getting their red packets with money?  As they do not speak cantonese which is my mother tongue and I make it an effort to teach them this phrase "Kong Hei Fatt Choy" which means " Wishing you a Prosperous New Year". They need to greet me with this phrase before they get their red packets and I always chuckled when they say it as their dutch accent is so strong on this cantonese phrase!   The tradition of giving this red envelope was practised as it was believed that the money in the red packet will suppress the evil from the children, keep the children healthy, and long living.  

Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of the 12 animals of the chinese zodiac.  Do you know which zodiac year do you belong to?  You could use this tool to check it out.   

Have you checked out the Chinese New Year Blog Hop organised by Emily - Art from the Heart?  During this hop, you will be able to get some free digis and I have chosen two to create the red packets for the children.

I have chosen cherry blossoms to make the envelope and the insert I used the snake. The sentiment "the year of the snake 2013" is a computer generated. Red is an auspicious colour in the chinese tradition.

Added stickles to the red lanterns

the insert

I know it is a long mail today and thank you for your patience.  Have a lovely weekend!

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (Chinese: 春節, 春节, Chūnjíe; 農曆新年, 农历新年, Nónglì Xīnnián; or 過年, 过年, Guònián), also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. This year is the year of the dragon and it falls on 23 January 2012.

In Chinese calendar, one of the scheme for counting years is a 12-year cycle. One counts from Year 1,2,3,... up to 12. Then starts over from Year 1. (In modern mathematics, this is modulo 12.) Instead of inventing 12 special symbols for this purpose, 12 animals are used to represent these 12 years. Rabbit (hare), for example, is the 4-th year of the cycle.


Here are the 12 animals :

Rat   Ox   Tiger   Hare   Dragon   Snake   Horse   Sheep   Monkey Rooster   Dog   Pig



What year were you born in the Chinese zodiac calendar? To find out more, please check it out here.


The Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.
 
Thank you for dropping by!

Kuih Bangkit

Since Chinese New Year is coming up soon which is on 3 February 2011, I thought I should start preparing some cookies for this occasion.  Besides, Marcel is travelling again for this whole week and with this rainy, dark weather, I might as well spend some time baking.

I know this is not a typical chinese cookies but it's origin is from Malaysia/ Singapore.

The basic ingredients are : tapioca flour, egg yolks, coconut milk, sugar and a spoonful of oil.

The dough 

using a cookie cutter to cut out the dough

getting ready to go into the oven of 170 degrees celcius for 20 minutes 

ready to be attacked

Verdict : Hmm, it melts in the mouth!!!!  As I've not been baking this cookie for 3 years, I'm pleased with the result of it.  Next time, I will minus the quantity of sugar (never never follow the recipe from the book - haven't I learn my lesson yet!)

Slanted Tree - white embossed

Another take on the slanted tree from Hero Arts, I've white embossed the image on a vellum and stick it on a white cardstock so that the white is more prominent. 

This is the first time that I'm using the technique of cross-stitch on a card and I'm happy with the result of this mixture.

Chinese New Year - Fire crackers

Simple card just by using the fire crackers.

Chinese New Year - Dragon

Cheerful children doing the dragon dance!

Chinese New Year - Slanted Tree Gold

Another card from Slanted Tree but this time I used gold embossing powder on the tree and around the border.  This is inspired from the HA catalogue 2011 on pg. 58.

Chinese New Year - Lanterns

Using the Arigato stamp from Hero Arts, I've applied the technique of masking on this card.

Chinese New Year - Slanted Tree Pearls

Chinese New Year (Chinese: 春節, 春节, Chūnjíe; 農曆新年, 农历新年, Nónglì Xīnnián; or 過年, 过年, Guònián), also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. This year is the year of the rabbit and it falls on 3 February 2011.  What year were you born in the Chinese zodiac calendar?  To find out more, please check it out here.


The Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

With the holiday coming up, I've made a few chinese new year cards by using this slanted tree from Hero Arts. 

I've put some glitters on the flowers and used pearl pen on the edges of the card.