Chinese New Year

For those who are not familiar with the Chinese New Year! This year is the year of the "Ox". Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, so it lands on a different date on the western calendar every year. Anyway, this year, January 26th, 2009 will be the day to celebrate. One of the greatest traditions that I like and most kids like are the "Red Envelopes" that we get from adults.

So what is Red Envelopes? They are red envelopes that hold money and are given to younger friends and family members. You only pass them out if you are married. The amount of money you put in is up to you. As for kids, they usually need to say some kinda good wishes or greetings before they received the envelope. Ex. "Wishing you a great fortune", "Wishing you a success and good health", etc. To better illustrate, see the picture that I found taken by Dave Yu.


Another tradition that is great, is the food. There are many food there are prepared only for New Year. I especially love the "Year Cake." If I remember correctly, it's made with brown sugar and green bean powder (it's like a corn starch), you mix them together with water and then steam it. The texture is kind of chewy and it harden after it cools off. My mom like to cut them up into square pieces when it's hard. Then, we beat some eggs and dip the year cake squares in them and pan fried them. They will soften up.

Since I had some time over Christmas, I decided to finish up my zodiac animal designs. The last 2 years, I had the piggy and rat done, but have gotten many requests for the rest of them. So, here they are. They are available as button pins, greeting cards, stickers or magnets. I hope you like them!

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Sales at Magpie Store

If you've never been to Magpie check it out. Magpie won in both categories in which we were nominated in this year's Boston Phoenix Readers Poll: Best Non-Gallery Art Space and Best Jewelry Store, so they are having a sale.

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Giveaway

Giveaway, originally uploaded by MAUstudio.

This is a Giveaway on Rarebird Finds. These are the items I'm giving away, sign up ends soon, so hurry!

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BeiBei

If you aren't a fan of Bei Bei, you will soon become one. I first fell in love with Bei Bei on Flickr. Bei Bei's owner takes awesome photographs. Anyway, I found this clip and thought to share with you all.

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Contest at Rare Bird Finds

Want to get receive goodies from MAUstudio? MAUstudio is sponsoring a contest and you can be a winner of $50 worth of goodies. Don't wait and sign up, see Rare Bird Finds for rules.

The winner will receive a pink cherry blossom cell phone charm, funny bunny stationery, magnets, a set of 3 wonderful nature greetings and a necklace. A prize package worth $50.

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E-message FREE from MAUstudio

I made some flash e-message, and put them in the freestuff section so you can send the links to your friends and family. I hope you like them.

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Cute Kitty!

, originally uploaded by NNBB_Alf.

I found this cute kitty on flickr, her name is coco. See more of her picture here.

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Sniff...Sniff....

It was so sad today to find out that my parakeet will probably be dieing soon. She has a tumor growing on her chest for a while now. In the beginning, we thought she ate too much and was getting fat, lately, it was growing at a rapid pace that it's starting to prevent her from moving around. It is so sad to see, so I took her to the vet this morning. The doctor say that she won't be able to remove it because there aren't enough skin to close the wound afterward. All we can to is to let it live happily for as long as she can and when it gets to the point that she can't eat, we have to put her to sleep. Sniff...sniff...I've been crying all morning.

We watched her grow ever since she was still an egg, and we hand fed her. Her mom was a sweetie too and passed away a few years ago, and now "BABY" will be leaving soon, so sad. "BABY" is such a cutie, she is pure yellow color with red eyes. She has one brother and sister which we gave away to friends. She loves getting pet on the head and cheek and make this cute little chirping noise to show me how she is enjoy being pet. I need to go back to work to get my mind off it, otherwise I'll start crying again.

Tomorrow is the DIY Trunk Show in Chicago, I'm so excited. I'm hoping for a big crowd and do lots of business and meet lots of you who live in the area and to meet other awesome artists/crafters. Don't forget to stop by and say "HI". For more information, you can look at my earlier blog post or go directly to DIY Trunk Show Website.

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DIY Trunk Show Chicago

Are you in the Chicago area? Don't forget to stop by the DIY Trunk show this saturday and Pulaski Park Auditorium, 1419 W. Blackhawk, Chicago from 10am - 6pm. Come see me and say "hi", I would love to meet you all awesome artists, designers and fans of my MauMau products.

If you are not sure where it is, here is a map!

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Comedy and Craft Show

I had a nice weekend meeting with some friends on Saturday. We went to a nice cozy Korean restaurant name "COZY" and had a nice dinner. I ve never really had a lot of Korean food before, and it was good to try them. We then head over to downtown and saw a Comedy Show, which was excellent. So that's my day well spent with friends, which I haven't had lately because I was busy getting ready for shows.

Sunday, bright and early, I head out for the Handmade Crafted Market at Durty Neilles restaurant. The place was nice and in a good neighborhood. There were so many talented designers/artists there, and the show was very different from the ones that I've been doing locally. Almost everyone there has an ETSY shop, yah, they know what I'm talking about! I had a chance to meet and had a nice talk with a few artists there and share our experiences. Hey, networking is an important part of the business, and it was fun doing it! So there goes my weekend with lots of excitement... and then now, back to work.

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Purple Pink and Orange

Another great blog is Purple Pink and Orange. They recently redesigned their blog, and the layout look amazing. Absolutely love the new look! And THANKS...MAUstudio was just recentely feature on there, isn't that awesome!

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Great read...

If you like to read blogs and love design, you will definitely like Design Sponge. Design Sponge got a new URL, they are now at designspongeonline.com with a new look. Design Sponge is a blog that dedicated to home and product design and was started by Grace Bonney, a writer from Brooklyn. They been featured in many major magazines, it's definitely a must read blog!

Congratulations on our giveaway #4 winner - Jessica Hood from Texas!

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Miniaturized book charms

Miniaturized book charms
Originally uploaded by Mikacreations - HELP BURMA NOW!

I can't help but love these miniature book charms from Mika Creations I just love miniatures, these are definitely amazingly small and cute!

Have you ever tried making something miniature? Several times, I have venture to make these tiny little origami crane. The result? A little crane that is less than 1 centimeter. I was very proud of myself. I think I will photograph one to show you later.

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Another Great Week!

Giveaway #2 finally ended last night. I hope you signed up for it already. If you didn't get a chance, no worry, make sure you sign up for the 3rd one, which started today. Winner of Giveaway #2 will be announced after confirmation with the winner. I will post the photo of Giveaway #3 tonight. I hope you all enjoy browsing the new MAUstudio. Feel free to send me an email to tell me what you think of it, how I can improve it.

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Halloween

Hey, Halloween is coming and for the little ones, of course, it's good news. All the yummy candies and chocolate bars are soooooo good. Wish I'm a kid again so I can go trick or treating. Anyway, it's okay if we are not a kid anymore, we can still love Halloween. Get this FREE wallpaper for your computer. It's free for personaly use, designed by me. More wallpaper availalbe at MAUstudio.

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Family Day

So a few weeks ago, a friend drove 2 hours here just to visit, I was really happy. Not many of my friends come visit me because I live a little out of the way. Anyway, we came up with this idea of going apple picking and I knew there was one not too far from where I live, so I decided to go with my parents and brother there to see if it's nice and I can later go apple picking with my friends again. It was a family day, haven't had one of those in a while ever since I started working, it was definitely fun. See all the yummy apple, and of course, can't forget those delcious apple donuts.

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Let's Party!

It's always nice to hang out with a group of friends and just chat and play some pool, card games, etc. Who would have thought of using pool ball to make jewelry? The thought has never occured to me, but it's definitely an awesome idea. See for yourself! These awesome rings are from Pool Pall Ring, they are hand carved from a used pool ball, so each one is one of a kind.

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Jewelry Display

Jewelry Display
Originally uploaded by MAUstudio

So I was at this local church show. I didn't know what to expect because this is the first time I'm doing this show. I was assigned to this table at the backroom right in the corner. It wasn't the best spot, but I did my best to display my work. I even moved the table diagonally so it will face the hallway where people come in. So here's a picture of how I display my jewelry.

Lately, I've been making a lot of rings, they are pretty fun to make. I haven't listed them yet, maybe I'll do that in 2 weeks after the Cidar and Cinnamon craft show. I packaged my hairclips and earrings on earring cards and cello bags. I think they turn out pretty well, what do you think? They are nice in a way to package them that way because, they are protected by dirt and perhaps dirty hands. Some people that I've encountered at the shows were eating while they look through your stuff. It's not easy to tell them not to touch your items. So I solve this problem and they look nice as gifts also.

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October Sampler Samples

So here they are...I've been working on these for the October sampler. I sent in 100+ samples this time, not the usual 25. I want October to be extra special for my shop 2nd year annivesary. I had a lot of fun putting these together, though they took a little while to package, but I think they turn out pretty well. What do you think?

If you have no idea what they sampler is, go visit Sampler. They are lots of fun. You can subscribe the sampler for a fee and in return get this amazing box full of samples from different indie shops. Cool!

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Getting Organized

small journals
Originally uploaded by Jhpapers

I was just browsing on flickr and found these journals from Jane Hancock Papers. They are just awesome.

Everyone needs some organizing, especially those who are busy like me.... a little journal like this can help keep track of my schedules or record my creative ideas when they come out of nowhere so I can go back to them. Check them out!

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