Tuesday, December 31, 2013

How to make this simple Chinese Auspicious Knot 吉祥结 in only 3 minutes!

When you look at some Chinese New Year Ornaments that were for sale, do you notice as I do, besides using simple tassels, there were also those very pretty Chinese knots on the Chinese New Year Lanterns.

If you are getting bored with using simple tassels to make your Chinese New Year Lantern, here is a very simple to make Chinese Knot called the "Auspicious Knot" or "吉祥结" (Ji Xiang Jie) that you can make for yourself.


I have done the above this one myself in only 3 minutes! Just by following the steps in the video below that I have found on YouTube, it's really simple.


What you need:

1. A thick coloured string of 1 metre long
2. Just follow the steps in the above video
3. If you want to make cuter, smaller knot, you might want to teach your kid to do it. They have smaller hands! Probably can give your kid the coloured string at about 90cm long.

Here are more Auspicious knots that I've made.

These Auspicious Chinese Knots make pretty nice ornaments. You can make them as gifts to friends and relatives during Chinese New Year, or during other auspicious occasions like birthday, as a simple gift to your classmates.




Below is another picture of my Chinese Auspicious Knot that I have just made and the Red Tassel that I usually use for making my Chinese New Year Lantern.



Friday, December 20, 2013

STRAWBERRY LANTERN

In my previous post, I have shown you a picture of different colour packets. Now I felt so blessed to have different coloured packets in Singapore.

Well, I was trying to make a heart-shaped CNY lantern but somehow, I was quite disheartened when it end up out of shaped. Somehow, I see it look like a strawberry fruit. So I made use of the green packets to make leaves. And now I have got a Strawberry Lantern!

The moral I learnt from the process is: "Don't be disheartened. Be creative and positive, you will get a surprise!"

I wish you would also enjoy the lantern making process with my blog.

Do share with me if you have other good ideas to make use of the different colour packets to make Chinese New Year decorations.








Sunday, December 15, 2013

USES OF "ANG POW" AMONG DIFFERENT RACES IN SINGAPORE

Among the Chinese in Singapore, there is this culture that red packet, which inside contain money, is given during auspicious occasions such as Chinese New Year, weddings, baby first month and even birthdays.
As most of us would have known, RED symbolises auspicious and celebrations for the Chinese.

Probably taking the cue from the Chinese, nowadays, the Malays also place money in colourful envelopes, usually green packets, and give to the children when they go visiting during Hari Raya Puasa. I used to hear from a malay friend who told me that in the past, the adult would simply give money notes or coins to the kids without the envelope. Why is it usually GREEN packets, perhaps is because of this Hari Raya festive delights called "Ketupat" (rice cake wrapped with green leaves), a popular food among the Malay Muslims.

These days, when the Chinese visit our Malay friend's wedding, would also place money in green packets to give to our Malay friend to express our well wishes.

In a multi-racial country like ours, I think giving money in colourful packets is very convenient as we don't have to crack our brains to consider what might be the best gifts to our friends of different races, because our friends could buy whatever they like with the money. Different colours have their symbolism in different cultural.

I'm also surprised to find in a shop, yellow packets for our Indian friends. And we can see from the printed picture on the yellow packets, for wedding occasions. YELLOW is considered auspicious and sacred for Indians. As for the picture of the elephant god "Ganesha", it should be popular among the Indian Hindus when they celebrate Deepavali festive.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Ang Pow Baskets at Yio Chu Kang CC

I'm so happy to find this video on YouTube on the making of Ang Pow Basket at Yio Chu Kang CC, taught to her students by Tai Chi teacher, Gladys Tan.

I used to learn Tai Chi from Gladys. She is a passionate lady. From this video, I know that Gladys' lessons always interactive and interesting.

This Ang Pow Basket is really beautiful. I would want to try to make one when I have the time.






Sunday, February 10, 2013

Welcome the Year of the Snake 2013

Wishing Everyone a Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year. May all be blessed with Good Luck and Good Health!
祝大家蛇年行好运!恭喜发财!万事如意!身体健康!

We just went to Esplanade Drive, Singapore, and we had taken some photos of the Ang Pow River's countdown fireworks.




Thursday, February 7, 2013

Mix & Match - Spaceship & Diamond

We can add varieties in the making of Ang Pow Lanterns for Chinese New Year.

I combined my Spaceship Ang Pow Lantern & Diamond Ang Pow Lantern to make a Chinese New Year Lantern as shown in the picture on the left.

You may click on the following links to find out how to make the

Spaceship Ang Pow Lantern

Diamond Ang Pow Lantern

Enjoy and have fun!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

How to Make a Diamond Ang Pow Lantern


This Diamond Chinese New Year Ang Pow Lantern is very simple to make and it uses 4 Red Packets


Materials you need:
1) 4 red packets
2) Super Glue
3) A tassel
4) Estimated 30 cm red string ( you can decide the length you want)
5) beads (optional, I didn't use it in my video here)

Here is the video that I have created to show you how it is made. Enjoy and have fun!

Monday, January 28, 2013

2013 Chinese New Year Lantern Decoration along South Bridge Road, Chinatown, Singapore

My hubby and I visited Chinatown few days ago to feel the atmosphere of Chinese New Year. Along South Bridge Road, we could see the road was decorated with a row of yellow lanterns.


We then followed the row of lanterns along road.


When we reached the junction of Upper Cross Street, Cross Street and South Bridge Road, we found this very cute snake head.


The following pictures show this long Snake from different views, which it is made of many yellow lanterns. We felt this is a very creative display to welcome 2013, the year of the Snake.






Sunday, January 6, 2013

How to make a Lamp-shaped Chinese New Year Lantern with 24 Red Packets

Chinese New Year (CNY) 2013 is round the corner. It's time for spring clean and make new decorations for our home.

My hubby does this "Lamp-shaped" Chinese New Year lantern. He made a pair and put them up at our door.

The lantern does give an oriental look to home decorations.




Now, you would want to get ready the following materials to make a lamp-shaped lantern:

- 24 red packets (also known as "Ang Bao", "Hong Bao" or red envelopes)

- Stapler

- A piece of red string estimated 30cm ( to attach the lantern for hanging

- A red tassel with a pearl bead.

Here's "How to make a Lamp-Shaped Chinese New Year Lanterns with 24 Ang Bao"