Bringing the Lunar New Year tradition home one DIY at a time. The Lunar New Year, aka the Spring Festival, is a big celebration in my culture. If you're unfamiliar with this holiday, you can read about it here. As an Asian parent, I feel responsible for teaching my child about our culture and heritage. For this reason, I like to decorate my house and partake in all the festive celebrations.

For Lunar New Year, I created a paper-cut lantern with the most popular Chinese greeting, "恭喜發財" (pronounced, Kong Hei Fat Choi). It translates literally to "Congratulations on getting rich", and is often used to wish someone a prosperous new year.

How to make this Lunar New Year Papercut Lantern

Supplies you'll need:

• Cutting machine (I use Cricut)
• My svg cutting file (link at bottom of page)
• Red cardstocks
• White tissue paper
• Glue or adhesive tape
• Tea light candle (battery-powered)

Instructions:

I made a mini-sized lantern that measures about 6 x 4"(only because I was testing it out and I wanted to save paper in case it didn't work out). From my template, you can choose between the large or small size you'd wish to create your lantern in. 

1. Upload the SVG file to your cutting machine and cut onto a red cardstock following the prompt on your machine. 
   
   
2. Weed out the designs carefully and fold along the score lines. 
   
   
3. Stick a white piece of tissue paper to the backside. 
   
   
4. Assemble the two lantern frame pieces by slotting the smaller frame into the empty area of the larger frame perpendicularly. 
   
   
5. Insert the design panel around the assembled frames by slotting them into the side slots. 
   
   
6. Glue the edges to secure them in place. 
   
   
7. Add a battery-powered tea light candle inside for a tabletop lantern or add a yarn tassel at the bottom as a hanging lantern.

I hope you like this DIY tutorial! If you give this a try, be sure to share your pictures with me on Instagram and tag @tingandthings_ or use hashtag #diywithting. I'd love to see your creation!

If you don't have time to make your own, you can also grab this card made for you in my shop as well! 

Have yourself a prosperous Year of Snake! 

Gung Hei Fat Choi! Hope y'all are enjoying 2019 so far!

With Chinese New Year just arrived yesterday, it's like I get to start my year on a good note again! If you're unfamiliar with this festivity, you could read it up here. I shared some of the things we do during the New Year and fun ways you could partake in this big festival!

What I've been up to?

As you may have noticed, traveling is a big part of my life. Every year, I try to visit different cities and cross off items from my bucket list. In 2018, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Europe, Hong Kong and Seoul (more on these later!). I've started my online shop on Etsy selling digital prints and icons. You could check them out here.

Besides these, I've actually been taking a short break from social media and the blogging world in the last quarter of 2018. Being an influencer and blogger is a lot of work. And unfortunately, not everyone realizes that. So, I've been questioning myself if the time and energy that I spent crafting a blog post and posting pictures on IG are really worth it. Or is it better use of my time to spend with my family and friends  and do things that are more meaningful than just to receive a few likes and comments? But with the removal of Google Plus and all of its related features, comments posted on my blog with this service would be lost permanently. I then realize that these comments still meant a great deal to me. They're my source of motivation to keep me continue on blogging. And, I'm so thankful to have you as my greatest supporter. Here's a recap of my blog posts and my most popular Instagram posts from 2018.

A Year in Review:

TRAVEL POSTS

1. Our 2-Day Guide of Things to Do and Eat in Montreal
2. 30 Feet Under the Great Barrier Reef - My First Scuba Diving Experience!
3. {Down Under Travel Guide} What You Can Eat and Do in Sydney

FOOD POSTS

1. A Perfect Brunch Spot for Chocolate Lovers {Cacao 70}
2. It's a Furniture store! It's a Restaurant! It's Restoration Hardware Cafe!

DIY/TUTORIAL POSTS

1. {DIY} Make Your Own Custom Doormat Without a Cricut Machine
2. Make Your Own Mother's Day Coupon Book Printable
3. {DIY} Spring Wreath For the Front Door
4. {DIY} Valentine's Day Love Coupon Printable

Lunar New Year is one of my favourite festivals of the year! Depending on where you live, chances are you'll probably notice that shopping malls and Asian supermarkets are all decked out in bright red of all sorts. The Lunar New Year or sometimes refer to as the Spring Festival is a big deal, almost as big or if not bigger than Christmas holidays for Asians. During the last week before the New Year, families are usually tied up with chores like house cleaning, shopping and decorating. On top of that, they also need to prepare for feasting and fill red envelopes with lucky money - all in anticipation to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

The date for Lunar New Year varies every year. To find out the date in which the New Year falls on,  families refer to the Lunar Calendar.

Here are some of the simplest ways that you could do to be a part of this special day.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

In our culture, cherry blossom is a symbolic representation of love, it is said to help boost your love life. During Chinese New Year or also known as the Spring Festival, the cherry blossom becomes one of the most popular flowers to bring good fortune and love. Today, I'm sharing you how to make felt cherry blossom with felt! Since it will never die, it should bring me good fortune forever... haha.. I wish all of you a good fortune and a prosperous love life in the year ahead!