Kung Hei Fat Choi!

This weekend sees the Chinese New Year, a festival that goes on for several days. I lived in Hong Kong for several years and it was my favourite time of year - the typhoon season was over and the weather was still pleasantly cool,  the fields were full of row upon row of plum blossom trees (under rows of electric lights to bring the blossom out at just the right time, especially if New Year fell early in the calendar year, as it does this year), shops and villages were adorned with huge red and gold signs, the children were given sweets and red packets in many of the shops and there was an atmosphere of joy everywhere, even extended to those of us who were not part of the celebrations.

Little wonder, then, that one of my favourite crafting themes is Oriental. Among crafters, the theme goes in and out of fashion but for me it's always in fashion.

While rummaging through my oriental themed stamps, I came across a sheet of clear stamps I hadn't used for years, one of several old favourites I got from the now-sadly-defunct Tanda Stamps. I love this depiction of a giant sea turtle. I'm sure it's based on a well known piece of art but I can't place the original.

I stamped it with distress ink then used a water brush to add more colour to the turtle, to make him stand out from the background a bit. The fish are the last two peel-offs from a sheet I bought in a kit from one of the shopping channels many, many years ago, and the borders are from the same set. Those borders have always irritated me because the corner pieces are designed in such a way that it is impossible to make the direction of the twists match up with that of the straight pieces!

I'm joining in with

Make My Monday - Eastern Promise
Craft Room Challenge - Age of Aquarius

Happy Chinese New Year - Kung hei fat choi!