Gong Si Fa Cai, Xin Nian Kuai Le!

(Second post today, please scroll down for my Lollipop Challenge #64 post)

"Wishing you prosperity, Happy New Year!"

Here's a Chinese New Year card featuring the Lion dancers from Sister Stamps.  It's the year of the Dragon so if I squint my eyes it will look like they are carrying a dragon, not a lion.  (lol)  I kept it CAS and gave the dragon/lion some really fun and bright colors.  (I actually saw a picture of a dragon with these colors on Google after I colored it up.)  I used two embossing folders (Cuttlebug-Asian themed) and circle Spellbinders for some awesome background and texture.  Added some orange glass beads to the corners making sure not to put 4, as 4 is unlucky in the Chinese culture.  Not sure if you can see it, but I stickled the red/yellow parts of the dragon/lion.  The sentiment is hand written and the translation I found also on Google.

Dragon/Lion Dancers

May this year bring you prosperity, joy and serenity.  Xie Xie for stopping by today!!  Have a great day!! 

Hugs,
Leanne

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Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Hello everyone!

Hope you're having a terrific weekend so far.  I'm back to help out Jenny & Debi with the Sister Stamps previews for Release #4.  Today I am going to share my project featuring the Lion Dancers.  Here is a fun fact about them :

The origin of the Lion Dance at Chinese New Year is thought to have started through a legend handed down through the generations. According to the legend a mythical beast called a Nian (meaning year in Chinese) would come and attack villagers at the same time every year. The villagers asked for the help of a great colourful lion spirit, who came and drove the Nian away with much noise. The following year the people were left defenseless as the lion was away defending the Emperor's Palace. The people improvised and created a false lion out of cloth and bamboo along with noisy firecrackers to drive the Nian away. This was so successful that every year since then the lion dance is performed to frighten away evil spirits and bring luck in with the New Year.

I have seen these dancers who usually travel in a troupe with drummers and other musicians.  They go from business to business warding off evil spirits.  It's a pretty cool thing to see, but can get very loud as they go through the entire facility to ward off the spirits.  The costumes are very elaborate and detailed.  A truly amazing site to see if you are ever fortunate to view one.  How cool that Jenny's sister illustrated a really awesome replica of a couple of Lion dancers all the way down to the Lion itself?  Pretty awesome!!

Here is what I created using the Lion dancers:

The red paper is embossed using a Cuttlebug folder.  I thought the lantern pattern was a perfect backdrop for the dancers.  I used some gold Pearl pen and smudged it over the paper to give it a gold sheen.  I then mounted it on to gold paper and then onto black cs.  The image is colored with Copics and the lion is glittered with Stickles.   Here is another view of the image:

In this picture you can see more of the glittery details of the lion's head.  If you look you can also see some of the gold smudges on the red background paper.  I made this into an easel card and here is the inside to the card, pretty bright with the gold embossed paper and handwritten message on the banner:

And here is the completed card:

Okay, don't forget to head on over to Jenny's & Debi's blogs for more fun and amazing previews as well as a chance to win Release #4.  Have a wonderful Sunday and stop back tomorrow for another preview using you guessed it, The Firecrackers.

Xie xie for stopping in!  :)

Hugs,

Leanne