March = National Craft Month & Asian Heritage Month

This March is going to be a fun month.  My BFF is getting married in Puerto Rico and it's National Craft Month!  Sooooo....my goal is to post something new I've made every night this month.  I may not craft something each night, but my goal is to have crafted enough new projects to share each day this month.

So what to start with?  Well, one of my biggest pet peeve's about the Scrapbooking Industry is the lack of ethnic/cultural variety in terms of paper, embellishments, stamps, etc.  It's the very sole reason why I decided to launch my own custom scrapbook company.  I find that I am often having to create my own embellishments/prints that reflect specific cultures/ethnicities with what's currently available.  Sometimes that's easy to do, other times it's not.

Well, besides being National Craft Month, March is also the month in which we celebrate Asian Heritage.  As someone who is constantly being asked if I'm Asian (I am about 1/16 Chinese or less), and who is the proud ninang to some Filipino-Indian/Kazakhstani godkids, I often feel a sense of responsibility to try and represent them and their celebrations visually.

In honor of National Craft Month and Asian Heritage Month, I made a card that represents one of the many rich Asian cultures (the Chinese) using nothing but Cricut cartridges and some embroidery floss.  This was a relatively simple card to make with a powerful visual impact.  It would be great to give for Chinese New Year or for a Double Happiness wedding celebration.  I've submitted this card to the Cricut Magazine call out for their 2011 card idea book....keep your fingers crossed for me!

I added a string to hang from at the top as if this was a real paper lantern

Because this is a card, you can actually stand the lantern up too. 

See?!  The card opens up for your special message.

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
Yellow & Black Paper - Core Color Coredinations paper stack
Red Paper - Martha Stewart Crafts Craftstock Value Pack
Tim Holtz, Distress Ink - Fired Brick (lightly brushed on score lines)
Martha Stewart Scorer - scored every 1/4 inch
DMC embroidery floss - number 727

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Accent Essentials

Accnt48s - 4 3/4 inch

cut once in black (only used top and bottom 1/2 inch)

cut three times in red

Storybook
Florish1 - 1 inch (cut two times)

Ashlyn's Alphabet
Flourish - 1 inch (cut two times)
Flourish, block - 1 inch
Flourish, skinny - 1 inch