Chinese New Year tip-ins

These are my Chinese New Year tip-ins for a swap on ABC. The image on the left is the back side, the image on the right is the front. I started these on our play day at Kathy's, then finished them at home.

For the front (right side), I started with a black dabber, then stamped the swirls and Chinese woman image using embossing fluid. I then used clear embossing powder and embossed. Next I added red paint to the image, but found it didn't bring out the image like I wanted. So I left the image as it was, but decided to experiment when I got home. I used gold fluid acrylic over the embossing and this brought out the black much better than the red. To complete the front, I found a picture of a Chinese ox on the internet, printed it, and used clear UTEE to turn it transparent.

For the back (left image), I began by adding a piece of real oriental newspaper. Next, I swiped the paper using red and orange dabbers and stamped the images with an oriental stamp. I then used a damp rag to remove some of the stamped images, following a Tim Holtz technique. I added another Chinese ox image I also covered with clear UTEE, the phrase "Ji Chou," which is also what the Chinese call the year of the ox, and the date 4706, which is 2009 in the Chinese calendar. I like how the back turned out, but I'm not sure about the front. However, I can say I learned a new technique, which is one of my monthly goals in 2009, and it was only the first week of the month.