Year of the Snake

Woo Hoo!  We made it to Release #10!  Amazing!  This release is special since it kicks off our Chinese Zodiac collection.  As explained yesterday, we are releasing two of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac every couple of months.

Here's the release schedule:
12/01/12:  Snake, Horse
02/01/13:  Sheep, Monkey
04/01/13:  Rooster, Dog
06/01/13:  Pig, Rat
08/01/13:  Ox, Tiger
10/01/13:  Rabbit, Dragon

If you are not familiar with the Chinese Zodiac, you can read the history behind the legend here..  It describes the order in which the 12 animals fall in the zodiac. If you snoop around this site, you will also find characteristics about those who are born in the year of each animal.  It is quite interesting and entertaining.  If you are new to this, you will want to take a few minutes to find out what year you were born and see if your personality fits the description of the animal.

Along with each animal are the 5 different elements:  water, fire, earth, wood, and metal.  These elements give one additional traits that then separate those within a group of animal even further.  For example, a metal snake might behave differently from a wood snake.

Our family regularly analyzes the personalities in our family and how it correlates to their sign.  My sister and brother read up on this a lot and are constantly telling me what signs they are compatible with, if its going to be a good year for you, etc.  As for me, I take the whole zodiac thing with a grain of salt, but I do like the animals and the story behind it.

So we start off the release with the Snake since 2013 is the year of the water snake.  It just so happens to be my sister's year as well!  She tried her best to make the snake cute since she says that they are always ugly and evil looking.  I laugh because I feel like my sign is the ugliest, but I guess everyone feels that way about their own.  Luckily, it appears that my sister and I have compatible signs!  She is a snake and I am an ox, which are supposedly compatible.

Today I have a special project to share that I received from Aunty Jan.  She and I both had calendars on the brain when it came to projects for this release!  I'll share my project later this week.

Aunty started with a bamboo mon stencil used for the background.  It might be hard to see because she used a light yellow/brown color so that it created a subtle background.  The 2013 was cut from the Sizzix Endless Love alphabet/numbers set out of gold paper.  She printed "Year of the Snake" along with "Wise, Passionate, and Profound" on the computer and stamped the kanji for snake (Designs in Squares) next to it.  The mini calendar was mounted on lavendar cardstock, and then on gold.  She colored the snake and cut him out and popped him up using pop dots.  She used glitter for some sparkle on the snake.

I just love her design!  I think I'm going to be a little selfish and keep this one for my desk at work! Thank you Aunty!

Wow- this turned out to be a long post!  Now I know the real reason you're here right?  The chance to win some blog candy!?  OK here's how you can enter to win your very own snake stamp:

1.  Leave me a comment on THIS POST (amended to include deadline) by Friday, 11/30/12, 11:59pm HST.
2.  In your comment, tell me what your chinese zodiac sign is.
3.  Tell me if your sign is compatible with the snake!

See you tomorrow with our next introductory post!