春节愉快 - Happy Spring Festival

Happy Chinese New Year!

Lest you be thinking "what's she talking about? Chinese New Year was TWO days ago," don't be alarmed! Spring Festival actually lasts for TWELVE days, so I've got plenty of time.

I swear, I had all good intentions of having a Chinese New Year, and New Year's Eve post. They were actually saved as drafts. My week got steamrolled halfway through, and I'm only just now starting to recover. Not that it was bad news, not at all; in fact, I'll be making happy announcements soon. For now, though, it's all wrapped up in shiny red paper to be cherished and savored, much like Chinese New Year!


Would you just look at this little peanut? This is the daughter of one of my awesome customers, who recently purchased the dragon papercut iron-on you see on Little Cutie's shirt. How cool is that? I used to always ask those who purchased supplies to send photos, but I gave that up after a while. So, this picture, left in my feedback, was a very pleasant surprise. A special thank you to her, for sending the pic and allowing me to post it here.

I think she looks perfectly prepared for some lion dancing and fire crackers!

So, Happy Spring Festival, all! The Year of the Rat is here!

More Mice for Spring Festival

Ready? Here are some more mice books for ya!

First up, (from comments - thank you!) is the Newbery Metal winner and kid favorite, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. Originally published in 1972, this young adult tale by Robert C. O'Brien tells the story of "Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, [who] must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma." (from Amazon.com)


Next we have a book that was also suggested in the comments section (thanks, Mom) by a children's lit lover and veteran preschool teacher: The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. She wrote: [this] is also a great story about some mice children who want to explore in spite of their grandfathers admonitions about what is at the top of the basement stairs (a cat!). A sweet story about courage, fears and exploration.


I wanted to recommend one of my favorite stories to tell and to give: The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big, Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood. Child's Play Ltd, 1991.

The Woods are among my favorite illustrators, with so many delightful and stunning books to their esteemed name, I don't know where to start. They bring to life this adorable story about a mouse who must eat his strawberry before the big, hungry bear comes to take it. It's a toddler and preschool age delight.


Finally, please do check out several mouse stories by Ellen Stoll, a few of which are Mouse Match, Mouse Paint, and Mouse Count. Those chubby critters are sure to please the babes and toddlers in your life.


I wanted to mention that, in looking for the graphics for this post, I came upon a great site that actually has an index of mouse tales! Here it is: Penn State Center for the Book. I'd still love your thoughts on mouse books, and any other crafty Chinese New Year ideas!

Whose Mouse are You?

As a huge fan of children's literature, I thought the lead-up to Chinese New Year on February 7th would be fun if I introduced some of my favorite books starring mice.

OK, I also have an ulterior motive - I've never been too pleased about my own Chinese astrology sign being the rat, so now that we're kicking off a new zodiac cycle, I figured it was time to celebrate my animal in style.

The first one is Whose Mouse Are You?, a delightfully-illustrated story of a little mouse's journey to save his family and become a big sibling mouse. It's one of the stories I remember most vividly from my early childhood.

Whose Mouse Are You, by Robert Kraus
Illustrated by Jose Aruego. Originally published 1970

"My brother's mouse - he's brand new."

Next up, we have my favorite illustrator, David Christiana, bringing us lovely mice in his interpretation of the classic folktale "Mouse Bride." If you're not familiar with this story, a mouse seeking her mate courts the sun, the wind, and others, before she discovers the most powerful one of all - another mouse.


Masterful writer and illustrator Ed Young also has a version of this tale, titled Mouse Match. His is executed in his typical cut paper and ink style, and is presented as a wonderful accordion book. The reverse of all the pages presents the tale in Chinese.


While we're talking about Ed Young, I shouldn't fail to mention his Caldecott Award-winning Seven Blind Mice. This gorgeous, boldly-illustrated book is an easy crowd pleaser, as the readers are led through the adventure of seven mice trying to piece together their individual interpretations of an elephant. A classic Asian folktale.


What are your favorite stories about mice? I'll be back to feature more, and I'd love to hear about yours.

新东西- New Stuff - sneak preview

It's all coming together - new items are almost finished for the shop, just as I'm on my last few Cricket and Ancient Compass moleskines. I'm being a little hush-hush about what this is all for, but fear not - I'll be coming out with the whole story on Saturday! For now, here's a little preview:

a new 2-color printed moleskine, here's the look of color one:


The second is a new Year of the Rat design, seen here on some gift tags. These will be great for 2008 gifts, not only for new Rat Year babies, but also for all of your friends bearing the rat as their Chinese zodiac sign.

Rat year dates:

• 31 January 1900 - 18 February 1901
• 18 February 1912 - 5 February 1913
• 5 February 1924 - 24 January 1925
• 24 January 1936 - 10 February 1937
• 10 February 1948 - 28 January 1949
• 28 January 1960 - 14 February 1961
• 15 February 1972 - 2 February 1973
• 2 February 1984 - 19 February 1985
• 19 February 1996 - 6 February 1997
• 7 February 2008 - 25 January 2009

Here's our 2008 masot:


Finally, inspired by Lupin, I'm trying for a little daily craft by joining Crafting 365. I certainly accomplished the goal today! ^_^

ps: Did you see Laurie's new design? gah, it melts mah heart every time I see it!!

新年好 - Happy New Year Prep

As all the holiday revelers attend Christmas parties and wrap their presents, the gals in this house are in full preparation mode for 2008. As such, in the weeks to come, you'll be seeing some ideas being kicked around and new products emerge from my harried mind, which hopefully will be the cause of some good hubbub! Just to make things extra fun, Chinese New Year falls on February 7th this year, which means that basically I have to launch all my Valentine's Day -and- Chinese New Year stuff simultaneously. Fun for Celeste, I tell you!

新闻- News

Laurie wrote about this last night, but I had some excitement yesterday when I was contacted by the wonderful Linda Woods, telling me that she'd featured Bamboo Village Press on her blog! Sisters Linda and Karen write the Rev It Up list, a blog that introduces art and ideas to fuel your life and imagination. It's a fantastic new space, and I was so thrilled that one of our products was spotlit by these very talented and accomplished women. Thanks, ladies! Squee!

In other news, it's been quite a whirlwind these past 2 weeks. Last week I negotiated my very first contract work and began doing some consulting in the area of my "professional" expertise: marketing. I should clarify, since now running BVEF and BVP are both online, that I am not an Internet marketing professional... oh, no... I'm having to learn all of that as I go. Rather, I've been working for an ad agency, specializing in print marketing, art direction, and planning. I'm sure you can imagine how thrilling it is to be in the process of building my career in this new direction - it's awesome!

买卖- Business

It's been such an intense 6 weeks! Seriously, I have been astounded by the number of sales that have come through the shop. I sold out of my Happiness Fish floursack cotton towels, which was amazing after thinking that design wasn't going to move. The two new gocco designs: the cricket moleskine and the ancient compass moleskine, are actually close to being sold out, which was also a wonderful surprise.

The thing about this apparent success is that it's very encouraging to me as a designer. Being a technical crafter is very different from actually having some reliable sense for design work, and I'm keenly aware of my status as a novice in this arena. I know some will argue with that assessment, but really, it's different to create something and give it as a gift and create something, make as many of them as I can afford, and offer them for sale.

研究 - Research

Finally, I've been doing a bit of information gathering of late. In thinking about products for Bamboo Village Press for 2008, I've realized that I'm going to need a constant influx of ideas from the Asian realm. I've kind of painted myself into a corner by tying all of the Bamboo Villages together in the sense that for branding purposes, my work for Bamboo Village Press is going to have to be predominantly of Asian flair. You do all know that I'm not actually Chinese, right? So, the task might be a little challenging.

Today I received the latest addition to my library: Symbols and Rebuses in Chinese Art. If you're like me, you have no idea what rebuses means, so here you go:

rebus: n., pl. -bus·es.
A representation of words in the form of pictures or symbols,
often presented as a puzzle.

Pretty spiffy, eh?

I've also been reading quite a lot about Chinese New Year, so that I can write you a wonderful post about this most beloved Asian festival. I'm particularly excited about 2008, since it's the Year of the Rat, which is my animal. I have major plans for the year, so watch out world!

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Well, there you have it! Another day, another blogger! Until next time, here's a happy dragon stack to make your day a little cheerier: