Thursday, January 24, 2013

Tutorial: Faux Paper Lantern ~ Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year starts February 10, and it is the Year of the Snake this year.  In China, it is known as the Spring Festival, runs three days, and ends with the Lantern Festival.  As part of the celebration, it is traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone1.

This week's Mashup challenge is to create a Chinese New Year project.  You could incorporate Chinese symbols, image of a dragon or lion symbolizing traditional parade dance, a snake or two to symbolize the Year of the Snake, or a red envelope.  To mash it up, use the faux paper lantern technique (see below) on your project.

Image Source
So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:
  1. Make a project with a "Chinese New Year (Year of the Snake) Theme".
  2. Or Make a project using the "Paper Lantern Technique".
  3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project for the "Chinese New Year featuring the Paper Lantern Technique".

Faux Paper Lantern Technique

Stamp your image on neutral card stock; color in, if necessary.

Run the card stock through a crimper.

Rub a dark ink pad over the crimped card stock.  It is easier to use ink spots, if you have them, for more control.  I rubbed the ink spot in the same direction as the crimped ribs.

Notice the ink on the top of the ribs.

Add faux stitch lines to edges, if desired.  Since I am working with an oval, I opted for shading the edges with dark ink and a sponge.

Finish you card as desired.


For my card, I added a strip of faux snake skin, to represent the Year of the Snake.  There's another technique I'll have to touch on soon.  The Chinese symbols are from a personalized name stamp my sister- and brother-in-law brought back from Taiwan.

Stamps: Pretty Petals BG, Personalized name stamp from Taiwan; Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; Ink: Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, and Crumb Cake markers, Creamy Caramel ink spot, Versamark; Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Gold embossing powder, Crimper, Sponge, Ovals die, Big Shot, Paper towel, Dimensionals.

You can find a couple more samples of the faux paper lantern technique here and here.  Thanks for stopping by!

1Chinese New Year on Wikipedia

7 comments:

None None said...

Fantastic card - love how the lantern was created. Thanks for breaking it down for us! Looking forward to your snakeskin tutorial!

Tara Bourgoin said...

Great challenge this week, Heidi! Thanks for making me stretch my imagination - and for the great tutorial! Lovely card.

Sierra Crafter said...

Thank you for the faux lantern tutorial. I had the crimper in my mind but didn't get past that part. Your directions make it so easy!

Lili said...

Beautiful card Heidi! Thanks for the out of the box challenge. It is a fantastic challenge. Love it! Thanks for the tutorial.
Hugs ;)

Amy White said...

Fab card Heidi - all the little Oriental touches really coordinate well together! Thanks for making us think this week lol!

Lisa said...

This challenge was great, it really made me go outside my comfort zone! Your card is just lovely...it reminds me of the lanterns my grandparents used to bring home from Chinatown in San Francisco!

Amanda Corbet said...

I love your flowery lantern and background! This is just so pretty! Thanks for sharing!