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Gong xi fa cai! Wishing you great happiness and prosperity!
The Chinese New Year is upon us, and if you haven’t already heard, 2020 is going to be The Year of the Rat. The rat is the first animal in the Chinese zodiac twelve year cycle, and signifies: spirit, wit, alertness, delicacy, flexibility and vitality.
Let’s get into the festive spirit by getting crafty and making a Chinese New Year bookmark commemorating the year of the rat.
This easy Chinese New Year craft project was inspired by the traditional folk art of Chinese Paper Cutting. Add a string of Chinese lucky coins to attract prosperity into your life.
To speed up this craft project, or make it suitable for a kids Chinese New Year craft project, you can omit the paper cutting step and embellish the bookmark with sparkly stickers or glitter instead.
Bookmark the Chinese New Year With a Paper cutting Craft Project
You will need:
- Pink A4 card (printer friendly)
- Red glitter paper
- Chinese coin charms (handful)
- 50cm red cord
- Red thread
- Art knife
- Cutting board
- Double sided tape
- Ruler
- Craft scissors
- Needle
- Hole punch
Note:
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- Use a new, sharp blade when cutting out the silhouette line art. Also, cut slowly, small sections at a time to avoid over-cutting.
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How to make a Bookmark for Chinese New Year:
1/ Print the template at 100% onto pink card, and cut out the template outline.
2/ Carefully cut out the Chinese calligraphy (which translates to Happy New Year., and the flower silhouettes with an art knife.
3/ Cut out a rectangle on the red sparkle paper, 11cm x 21cm. Then fold in half, along the width, and sealing closed with double-sided tape.
4/ Fold the Pink card piece in half, along the width. Glue the inside of the pink card. Slip the red sparkle paper inside the folded pink card, and seal closed.
5/ Punch a hole into the top of the bookmark.
6/ Fold the cord in half, and feed the loop through the bookmark hole. Slip the ends of the cord through the loop and gently pull to make a knot.
7/ Hand sew the coin charms into the two lengths of cord.
8/ Knot the cord ends and trim off any excess.
I hope you enjoyed this festive Chinese New Year craft project. You may also enjoy making a Chinese Dragon Puppet with your kids to celebrate this Chinese New Year.
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Melissa is a hyper creative artist, and content creator.
