Chinese New Year: Crafting mini {Red} envelopes with free printable

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Juliet Tiu

Crafting envelopes from old magazines and calendars

My obsession with making envelopes from old magazine and calendar pages

I’ve always had a love affair with paper, especially making envelopes from old magazine and calendar pages… even wallpaper scraps. And, I actually use them to mail letters! In college, I would take junk mail envelopes, open them up and use them for templates. Every envelope was different; I didn’t care if the picture was tilted, or if there was text. The envelopes were that much cooler.

Recycling / upcycling my Crate and Barrel and Anthropolgie catalogs into mini-envelopes

Since it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve, I pulled out red envelopes for the kids. I was inspired to make a few mini envelopes… from some favorite catalog mailers. (Crate&Barrel and Anthropologie, I love your layouts.)

Here, I’ve carefully opened up my red envelope to figure out the shape and to make a template on a blank piece of paper.

I also put together a Mini / Red Envelope template that can be downloaded here. Just print on cardstock, cut, and follow directions.

Sometimes you get cute envelopes from unexpected pages. It’s all template positioning – trial and error.

Before I cut out my envelope shapes, I used a silver marker to go around my template. It made a nice edge on the finished envelope. I also tried a colored permanent marker.

Like I said, I thought I would make a few envelopes, but I got carried away. (Yes, a die-cut machine would probably be more efficient but where’s the fun in that?) Guess I better figure out who to send these to.

Finished size is approximately 4 inches x 2-3/4 inches.

I wonder what else I could cut up to make envelopes? *grin*

Chinese New Year: Year of the Horse and Noodle Recipe

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Juliet Tiu

** My original article posted on patch.com a few years ago, but the links are presently broken. Imagine the horror when I thought all my articles were deleted! But, I got in touch with the engineers, and hopefully they will have it up and running in the near future. Until then, I’ve updated a few things.**

This Friday, January 31, marks Chinese New Year, 4712 by the Chinese calendar, which is also known as the Year of the Horse. It’s a special year in our house with my daughter, brother, father, father and mother-in-law all celebrating their year. To set the record straight, I am not Chinese by heritage, but my husband is, and almost everything I know about Chinese New Year, I’ve learned from him and his family.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Horse and Misua Recipe

On Chinese New Year’s Eve (and regular New Year’s Eve) we light a red candle

Chinese New Year is based on the date of the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice, so the date changes from year to year, but is usually sometime between late January to early February. Traditionally it is a fifteen-day celebration, so it is acceptable to celebrate anytime within two weeks of the beginning of the New Year.

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, we light a red tapered candle surrounded with coins… the candle symbolizes your parents’ lives, and coins for prosperity. Let the candle burn through the night for long life. (If you think I’m going to burn my house down, you won’t be the first one.)

My family typically has a wonderful brunch at my in-laws home to celebrate Chinese New Year, and sometimes, we wait until the weekend for more convenient scheduling. It’s not a particularly lavish brunch, but steeped in tradition and symbolism. And, we all wear red.

My husband and his mom making misua for New Year’s (2014)

Mom-in-law, hubby and me preparing misua (noodles) for New Year’s

The color red is used whether in clothing, tableware or dishes, and the color was believed to ward off evil spirits. The word for red in Mandarin also means “prosperous”, so lucky word, lucky color – lucky red! Round or circular shapes are found throughout the meal since circular shapes are considered to be good luck.

Red envelopes for Chinese New Year

Our kids will receive red envelopes (shown above, and first picture) from their grandparents and us, mom and dad. Again, it’s red symbolizing good luck, and to ward off evil spirits. The envelopes, ang pao (Fukinese) or hong bao (Mandarin), contain money – good fortune. Read on for the misua (noodle recipe)

Making mini cards and a printable template

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Juliet Tiu

I made some mini cards just in time for Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. (Well, almost in time for Chinese New Year – it’s Sunday and I want to mail a couple out.)

Making mini-cards

Mini Valentine Cards with scrap paper and stickers

Rubber stamping for Chinese New Year cards: Year of the Snake

For that old-fashioned handcrafted card, just use what you have around your home, stickers, ribbon, glue. To make mini-cards, I took an 8-1/2” x 11” sheet of cardstock (this is Bazzill Pomegranate) and cut it in this manner to make six little blank cards. Just click on the picture below to print your own. From one sheet you can make (2) 3″ x 3″ cards, (2) 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ cards and (2) 2-1/2″ x 3″ cards. There’s a little 1″ scrap if you want to keep that for tags or tiny, homemade “Moo cards” (not a sponsor, just letting you know about them).

You’ll need to make your own envelopes. I think I have some doilies somewhere around here. Or maybe just tuck your cards with your gift, in lunchboxes, on the dining table… I’ll try to post a picture of the finished cards!

Year of the Tiger Card

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Juliet Tiu

Not only is next Sunday Valentine’s Day, but it is also Chinese New Year. Year of the Tiger. Roar. There seems to be a little conflict on what year it is: 4707 or 4708. Check here for an explanation.

I found some handmade paper cards in red, stamped Chinese text in VersaMark watermark ink (VERY lightly seen), a few tigers and the Chinese characters for happiness and peace. Added a little joss paper for some shine and voila – three cards in about 20 minutes (after getting everything out and cleaning up). It’s definitely more simple than what I had intended to make, but they’re enough. I’m happy I had a few uninterrupted moments to make them. They will be in the mail to a few relatives today.

So This is Julie

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Tag Archives: chinese new year

Chinese New Year: Crafting mini {Red} envelopes with free printable

Chinese New Year: Year of the Horse and Noodle Recipe

Making mini cards and a printable template

Year of the Tiger Card