2018 CNY Ang Pows

This year's CNY Ang Pows... fresh from the oven (printer actually!)：

I had an all dogs design - I've gotten the Chewzies to change into their hush puppies matching outfits (for the dog logos), took pictures of them with their dog plushies and even incorporated the popular Snapchat dog filters into this year's red packets! :)

The background was made of many colourful dogs. Look closely and you'll see that they are tangrams - puzzles put together to form different shape and sizes of dogs!

The Chinese words 狗年旺旺 meant "Prosperity in the Year of the Dog". I love the sound of the four Chinese words when put together... there is a wordplay for 旺 sounds like the bark of a dog. :)

Not forgetting the back of the red packet, I included the paw prints... May you have a Pawsperous Chinese New Year! :D

P.S.
Again, this year the ink ran out and we had to top up the ink! The printouts went orangey (lower quality for testing) ...to... perfect velvety red ...to... too dark ...to... one third red, one third yellow, one third blue ...to... all blue!

[Updated on 14 Feb 2018: This year DC also bought different types of paper to experiment... we test printed using the grossy n semi-grossy papers. The effect were different, the new papers were lighter and oh that shine on the grossy one! Maybe we could more of the grossy ones for next year’s red packets!

DC was a great help this year, not only he went places to replace the ink, searched for papers, he also helped to point out a mistake on the red packets, something that I overlooked! The word 旺 was written wrongly; there was a missing stroke! Being a perfectionist, he wouldn't allow me to fill in the missing stroke with any marker, golden pen or even stickers. I could do a good job designing something over easily but he insisted that I redo the wordings... which I obliged. :)]


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This year's CNY, which was on 28 Jan 2017 was way too early for any preparations to be made!

I didn't really have the time to explore new PS techniques and the creative juices didn't flow as well compared to last year (last year I had 2 designs!). So, this year's handmade ang pows was done pretty quick, with the aim to conserve time and energy for the bigger CNY to do things e.g. spring cleaning.

Introducing this year's red packet design for the Year of Rooster:

If you were to notice, the template was reused from last year's and I only had to fit in a photo in as the cover for the red packet. I made sure I chose one photo with enough gold (or red). I even removed the wordings this year!

Of course, like previous few years, I also added elements to allow the kids to participate in the making and to add their creativity strokes on the red packets. The balloons were to be turned into colorful roosters and the kiddos clothes to be tinted with sparking colors for the CNY! Each packet is still unique on its own! Haha, in the end the kiddos were more interested in watching their cartoons to help out...

Special thanks to DC who specially bought a special coated paper! He also got a new colour printer, haha come to think of it, the ink cartridge used to be replaced every year this time, it became a yearly thing to do before CNY unknowingly! Hopefully with the new colour printer, this step will not have to be repeated every year! :)


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There were 2 versions this year, the rectangular ones were for the adults, the monkey ones were for the kids!



Extending last year's idea, I wanted the kids to do some artwork on this year's ang pows to make them more personalized and original. There were some hiccups along the way e.g. yellow printer ink was running out causing the colour of the ang pow to be off, the flower plum cutter that I bought could not cut through felt cloth (wanted the kids to stick different shades of pink flowers on the ang pows) and the idea had to be abandoned, the gold paint did not settle well on the red packets, etc. Due to time constraints, this was what we came up or rather, made do with for this year, the year of the Monkey.

As for the monkey-faced red packets, I stumbled upon a YouTube videos on origami monkey and thought it would be fun to have origami monkey as ang pows. I took me a while to search for a folding method that could allow me to encase and slot money in. I then did a template with folding and cutting lines and filled in the colors I wanted. I created 2 versions of it - girl monkey with ribbon and boy without. I gave A the boy monkey ang pow and B the girl monkey ang pow as 压岁钱 on the eve of CNY! They both love it and the ang pows are still under their pillows! :)

The process was fun and B had been a great help this time round! :)


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 The 2015 handmade limited edition CNY ang pows are out! :)

This year, I had the fun experimenting with different PS techniques e.g. changing the colour of A's Polo shirt from grey to red, creating texture/ patterns for the background, embossing words, etc...

I did not want my ang pows to look too commercial, so this year, I involved my precious A and B in the making too! I got them to do finger painting on the ang pows... I guess it was not difficult to guess which paint colour was done by who. :)

I then did a few finishing touches on the ang pows such as outlining the "yellow" ingots, branching the "pink" flowers, adding smaller darker pink sparkling flowers and making the gold accessories that B had sparkle using gold pens.

For a change, I actually wanted to devise a couplet [金玉洋洋到、满堂喜气来] but DC preferred the old school greetings. So, I stick to the usual family greeting that I usually used for the ang pows.

Anyway, I think the results was good! The thought that each ang pow was unique and done by the little hands made me warm! :) Good job, kiddos!

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Merry X'mas 2014!

Just did quick collages of A and B to send greetings this joyful festive season! :)

Merry X'mas 2014 & Happy New Year 2015 to all! 

Boo!

Happy Halloween 2014!

It was so coincidental that A's room light was faulty since a few days ago... good to create some "spookiness" in darkness!

I switched on the night lights and placed the kiddos close to the lights. I took the chance to introduce Halloween to them, a holiday widely celebrated in the west... we also had treats, but no tricks...

They had fun with the lights. Kids are kids... no matter how you get them to pose, they will look cute, innocent and photogenic. More angels than devils I say! :)

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Here are my CNY ang pows for 2014:

This is my 5th set of ang pows and I'm still enjoying the process! :) As usual, I did a draft first, DC gave comments and then I worked on those comments to fine tune it until we both find the end product satisfactory.

It was no brainer that the design of the ang pow this year had to be the kids riding on a horse. The flowers were plum blossoms and the prints came from B and my new blouse -- these were ideas that just popped into my head during the process! ;)

There was also a hidden meaning to the design - it also means: 馬上有(金)錢花! Hehe...


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Just done with my latest creation - the ang pows for CNY 2013! :)

DC thinks that this year's red packets are the best. I like them too, esp my two little cuties and the mudan flowers! :)

Happy snake year, everyone!


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I managed to squeeze in some time while doing my confinement to make some CNY ang pows. :)

Here's this year's version:


Happy Dragon Year!


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Merry X'mas 2011

The inspiration came from the santa claus that was folded by a colleague from another department (her husband actually) for the upcoming company x'mas party. I thought that was cute (although a few of my colleagues thought it was a frog probably because she used green, blue and other colours instead of red paper) and decided to make a tag out of it.

Then, I found a guide for the x'mas tree and an idea struck. I decided to make a card instead, out of a doll house. One with A in a warm room with fireplace,

a paper x'mas tree and,


a paper santa claus!


I actually wanted to place the props in a light box, apply lighting and take a picture with DC's DSLR. Then, I decided just do an instant snap with my new iPhone 4S. :P

The card was printed out and tagged to the gifts, and we're all ready for the gift exchange! :)


Merry X'mas 2011 to all! :)


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We just collected Baby's photos n he was sooo cute in the photos! I see that two of the series could be used for the x'mas card. So, here they are!

Last year, he was both reindeer and Santa baby. This year, he is Eskimo and Angel :D





The third card was modified from an existing template - See our family in the reflection of the bell? :)



They were printed out to be given out as gift tags on the presents tomorrow... Merry X'mas 2010! :)


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Just as I was feeling bored and browsing through all the Xmas photos (Baby slept really early today, I suddenly became very free!), a bright idea (as bright as Rudolph's nose) flashed across my mind!

How about a Santa baby tugging his sleigh with Rudolph the cheeky red-nosed reindeer on it? Ho, ho ho! :P

What a twist! I hope you like it!

Merry Xmas 2009!


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As I was writing this post, baby was sleeping in my arms, DC was sleeping in the room and it was pouring outside. Lightning flashing and thunders roaring, the whole house was dark, quiet and eerie with dim lights from outside and there were shadows on the windows... just imagine walking into the study room and seeing a pale face me sitting in front of my mac in white shouting hallow(een)... spooky is the word! :P

Happy Halloween 2009!


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