Easy Homemade Chun Lian Chinese New Year Greeting Cards

One of the most prominent Chinese New Year decorations every year are the traditional Chun Lian, or poetic couplets, used to decorate doorways or any entryway. The Chun Lian are meant to wish a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year to all who pass by them.

Each Chun Lian consists of strips of red paper with Chinese characters paired up in poetic expressions of peace and happiness. These strips are then placed on either side of a door or entryway where people pass. Using cutouts it is easy to create your own homemade Chun Lian Chinese New Year Greeting Cards.

Here are easy to follow instructions for making two different styles of Chun Lian Chinese New Year Greeting Cards to send out to family and friends.

Supplies Needed:

Red Cardstock or Glossy Paper

Gold Wrapping Paper

Scissors

Glitter Pen

Envelopes

X-Acto knife

Chinese calligraphy printout from Scholastic

How To Create the Chinese Greeting Card

Using red cardstock or other glassy red paper 8 ½ by 11" long, divide the cardstock in half the long way. This will give you material for two Chinese New Year greeting cards, that will be made to have three panels.

Place the strip of cardstock in front of you so that it is four inches high and eleven inches long. Determine where the center of the cardstock is and bring both ends of the cardstock to the center point so that you create a three panel card that opens with two panels on the face of the card. You now have the actual card ready to personalize and to decorate with your New Year message.

To make the first of the two greeting cards trace out the Chinese characters for the words Spring and Wealth available from Scholastic. Trace out one character on each of the two panels making that open out on the front of the greeting card. The couplet wishes the receiver a prosperous new year. After you have traced out each of the two characters use a glitter pen or metallic marker to create the characters over your tracing. Fill in the inside of the card with your own personal wishes for friends and family.

The second of two cards can be made using the same characters, but creating cutouts on the greeting card panels. Cut a piece of gold or silver wrapping paper to fit the inside panel of the greeting card where your personal message will go. Trace out the wide paint stroke designs of the characters with pencil and then cut out the characters using the X-Acto knife. Make sure you open up the card so that you do not cut the rest of the card. When done the gold or silver wrapping paper should be able to be seen through the character cutouts and message for a happy new year appears. Fill the inside of the card in as you would a regular greeting card.