Chinese Crafts

Fall Art and Musings

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The gifts of the Fall harvest in Maine have been delivered and now the biting air and heaps of brown leaves are moving us to the changes at our doorstep. But first, Halloween, a birthday, and eventually Thanksgiving. None of these occasions are amping me up this year, but I will give them each a bit of reverence, and my candy bowl is filled for all the little goblins.

I did participate in some lovely and fun Mid-Autumn Moon Festival activities. I partnered with my local library for some after-school crafts and we dished out lantern garlands and story puppets… easy, cozy and mellow. A good fit for me, right now.

Our CAFAM Moon Festival celebration was splendid, sharing the delicious food and full program of speakers and performers with old friends and new. We had attendees from teens to esteemed older CAFAM members in their 90’s. Celebrating with lanterns, mooncakes and song was a wonderful way to share community and friendship. And later on, the full moon was aglow with radiance in the nighttime sky.

Now I dive back into ongoing projects and more art making. I’ve been painting some new nautical works in gouache which I’ve been selling as notecards and prints. It pushes my boundaries; not only the very different painting challenges, but selling my art in the purest (reproduced) form to people who just…. like it. You artists understand. Part of a true creative life is always stretching and exploring with different art forms, mediums and subjects.

Soon it will be hunker-down time as we dance around the weather and shorter, darker days. I still love my Lucky Bamboo Crafts life, but like parenting a grown and flown child, I periodically focus attention on the crafts for kids and book events, but then redirect to the rest of life. A recent foliage view from a local mountain trail after a short hike was a great way to breath, reflect and take stock of all the great opportunities that lie ahead.

The Future

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Lucky Bamboo Crafts – The early years

Summer is coming to a close and I will not give in to a cooler season without a fight. I still scour the long-range forecast for days I can linger on the beach or at the lake. They glow like precious rare gems at this point. But what a summer it has been in all the best ways. Time with my grown daughter, family reunions, outdoor events, short getaways, lobster, and even a Neil Young concert. (I can still rock.)

My creative muses have expanded beyond Chinese crafts, and I have rolled up my sleeves with tubes of gouache and brush. Lighthouses! Let me back up. I permanently left my full-time employment several months ago for the virtue of personal freedom, flexible time in my days, and new horizons. I’m no spring chicken and there is so much to explore and savor while I still inhabit this earth. 

So, lately my creative outlet has been painting lighthouses and publishing and selling a small line of notecards and prints. I have always thought I could work for the Chamber of Commerce as I constantly ballyhoo all that is beautiful and unique about Maine. And lighthouses never, ever disappoint. 

But don’t get me wrong…. Chinese culture, history, and all things Asian still inform my life on every level. I am still active in CAFAM here in Maine. I’m also assisting my friend, Gary Libby with his soon-to-be-published book, Chinese in Maine – From Struggle to Success. He is a respected historian on the subject, and the story is fascinating and widely unknown. Until now.

And yes, I still make cultural crafts with kids and share my enthusiasm for Chinese history and culture as part of my array. And my book, Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts is still widely available. But it won’t be forever. I am considering sunsetting it in 2026 and liquidating my inventory. Sigh. But it’s probably time, so please buy now through me, Amazon, or Nataraj Books, and share my website with friends, educators, community, and family.

Since you are reading this, thank you. As we launch into a new season and school year, I hope your days include some hope, even if that can be challenging right now. Our kids and grandkids need to always be able to find a north star for their curiosity, learning, kindness, and creativity. I try and provide a little piece of that with both my everyday actions and creative pursuits…. and there are infinite ways you can, as well. But for now, I will enjoy a little more beach and ice cream as summer breezes are already giving way to cool wafts.

Year of the Snake; Celebrating, Sharing and Crafting

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The days are calm and quiet in Maine as we hunker down for snowstorm after snowstorm and do our best to stay protected from the frigid air. I look out the window with my coffee, and the bright sunshine streaming in seems like trickery from my warm perch. Lunar New Year festivities have now passed, and as you know by now, this is my favorite post of the year, recapping all of the events and special moments. 

This Year of the Snake 蛇年 was especially wonderful because my adult daughter attended every gathering. Sharing our traditions and being together takes me back to all the Lunar New Years and special Chinese cultural celebrations of her childhood and of course, all the years of making crafts. This being the snake year, some are also sharing the Legend of the White Snake as part of their cultural program. If you are inspired to take a deeper dive, look up this interesting piece of folklore; as with many ancient Chinese tales, it’s a wild ride.

Nothing can compare with having a few friends in my home for a festive evening of dinner and conversation. This year was no exception and my house was festooned with red and gold decorations and the dinner I prepared was (mostly) edible! Ginger beef and firecracker shrimp were my mains and I have to say so myself, my almond cookies from scratch were pretty good. The guests braved inclement weather, and there was much joy and laughter.

Our local library was the location for my first 2025 public event with Lucky Bamboo Crafts. We had a cozy nook right in the children’s area to make snake crafts and share the holiday traditions with preschoolers, homeschoolers, and the after-school crowd. Paiten, their fantastic librarian is always so enthusiastic and full of (craft-addicted) talent! We are a great collab.

On to Chinatown, Boston where I always know I need to level-up the make-and-takes, with both projects offered and quantity. We were hit with a New England heavy snowstorm the evening before, into the morning so I definitely felt like a Lunar New Year warrior to make it to the China Trade Center and get set up. But the people did come out, and it was a festive day to ring in the Snake. And as always, the couple of hours spent walking around Chinatown in the early evening after packing up the crafts were so very fun and delicious. 

Back to Maine for the local CAFAM Lunar New Year celebration. I spent the day in the Cultural Village overseeing the numerous craft tables I prepared and also sharing Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts with some new customers! I guess if you stick around long enough, kids grow up and new kids move in, looking for creativity and culture. Yay! The CAFAM Board did a tremendous job planning and carrying out the event, and I felt lucky to be a part of it, even as just a volunteer member. This year the program included numerous Bates College student performers offering everything from traditional dance and instrumental performances to Chinese rap! I have such a long history with CAFAM, I never want to miss being a part of the action each year with my many friends 朋友们.

I don’t feel compelled to do a Spring dance quite yet with the snow piled high and several weeks to go before the true thaw. But these mostly indoor days are good for introspection, planning, resetting, being with friends, enjoying time with my daughter, and starting to carve out my next creative inspiration and new venture. I have recently left my longtime project manager position so like the snake, I am shedding some skin. I try and lean into these cycles of life as an opportunity to realign my priorities while getting caught up on the essentials. I know there is always down time and up time and do have some really fun adventures planned. It all can be equally fulfilling. Let’s fill our cups.

Creativity, Culture and Looking Ahead

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Hello Friends,

I know it’s been a minute but Lucky Bamboo Crafts is still alive and well! I’ve just had several life pivots that have pulled me away from focusing on my maker side. The biggest of which is I am leaving my longtime project manager job at the end of the year. That will certainly shake things up and offer me a reset.

My mind is already popping with creative ideas and plans for the extra bandwidth I will have of time and energy. I can put many more events and workshops on my calendar, including visiting schools during the week. You know by now that teaching kids about Chinese culture is my jam! I can also create more Chinese craft designs. And I will freshen up this site for sure, with new content, media, tutorials, etc…. it’s an exciting shift.

Self-marketing has never been my strong suit, but my ask is to please help me celebrate this leap by continuing to share my book and website. You can still pick it up from this site or Amazon, and my fulfillment co., Nataraj Books is selling it at a huge discount! It’s a great holiday gift.

Lunar New Year falls on January 29th, 2025 and is the Year of the Snake. I look forward to slithering into lots of celebrations and hope you’ll watch my calendar and come along! 

Lucky Bamboo Crafts Celebrates 10 Years

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Dear Friends,

I am so pleased to share the news of reaching 10 years (young) with my book and Lucky Bamboo Crafts activities and events. Many told me when I first published it, that one of the attributes was being “evergreen” for the user with the projects and information between the covers. Of course, that also applies to the strength and longevity of bamboo. When I originally started gathering ideas and testing crafts, my daughter was a young child. Now she is a rising senior in college, which seems inconceivable, but here we are. She continues to be my biggest source of inspiration, even if as a young adult, her world is so much wider than Chinese culture. But my theme remains evergreen… learning about and experiencing all world cultures is a wonderful way to spend our time and allows us to be the best citizens and stewards of this planet we call home.

I hope you will continue to keep Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts in your thoughts and tell others about the book. It is still available on Amazon, Nataraj Books (my fulfillment partner), and of course directly from me off my website. I also continue to schedule crafting dates at events, educational settings, and workshops.

Most of all, I want to thank YOU for being on this publishing journey with me. The people I’ve met and the experiences I have had along the way have enriched my life. And seeing a child’s face light up as a little maker….. well, you know…. it constantly recharges my passion for crafting and teaching.

As I look to Fall, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival will be a busy time for events, friends, and celebrating the harvest season. Please check back to the calendar for details and remember to also keep Chinese crafts and culture on your radar for the upcoming school year.

For now, enjoy every drop of summer that you can. That’s certainly my game plan.

Pumpkins and Moon Cakes

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Hello to my crafty friends and Chinese culture devotees. The Maine foliage is turning golden brown, and the mornings are frosty. But the summer and autumn have been productive and pretty darn nice. I attended lots of fairs and festivals, saw many people at long last, and started shoring up plans for Lucky Bamboo Crafts 2023. Armed with my millionth covid vaccine, I’m enjoying a somewhat more normal life while being still saddened by the losses so many have encountered.

I participated in the CAFAM Mid-Autumn Moon Festival wearing both my board member hat and Lucky Bamboo Crafts hat. We gathered with friends old and new, sang, ate moon cakes, and enjoyed the stunning location overlooking the iconic Portland Headlight. I brought an array of make-and-take crafts including lanterns and chopstick cases.

I also exhibited with Lucky Bamboo Crafts at the Maine Chinese Conference in Bangor last week. I had not gathered with this robust Chinese culture org and language school since 2019 and they offered a day of language immersion lectures and strategy workshops to educators. It was lovely chatting about integrating craft projects with language learning, and there was a delicious chef-prepared lunch in the program. I was glad to get Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts into some new hands, and educators are my favorites!

Jing Zhang & Jen DeCristoforo

With the current tense climate between the US and China fueled by business interests, security, and the ongoing struggle regarding Taiwan, the conference was a lovely respite. It focused on collaboration, shared international interests, and strengthening our friendship and bond between the two countries. Bangor Chinese School also continues to send local American students to China on scholarship and runs a Dragon Camp every summer.

So where are my efforts pointing now? At these Fall events, I was reminded of how creativity and multiculturalism touch everything we do. There is so much that can be taught and so much to learn. I will of course start planning for Lunar New Year on January 22, 2023, as we welcome the Year of the Rabbit. But I’m also looking for smaller ways to connect with great people and exciting projects that promote Chinese culture and help my creative energies to flourish. That sounds vague, and it is. But the wide open space feels good right now.

Spring of Hope

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Spring has sprung! We are waking up in Maine as the weather gradually gets milder, the grass gets greener, and we look ahead to a busy summer. Lucky Bamboo Crafts has been waking up as well.

This was a big month for our local organization, Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine, especially after the two years of curtailed activity and events. We had a lovely Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) Potluck recently at Portland Headlight. It was a foggy, cool day but our site was perfect for old and new friends to gather, connect and take part in a delicious Chinese meal. We also had authentic zongzi (粽子) to celebrate the occasion which was a special treat.

For crafts, I brought dragon boats with paddles and also incense sachets which was a new design. I loved seeing crafters young and old wearing the sachets around their necks following the tradition of keeping evil away and protecting health. This was also my last CAFAM event as president which felt impactful, but I know it is time, and was lucky to have personal friends and family attend to share the day with me. My daughter is back home from college for the summer and I am giddy with happiness to have her underfoot.

I plan on bringing Lucky Bamboo Crafts to the Riverfront Recapture Dragon Boat and Asian Festival in August in Hartford which is always a wonderful cultural event. My crafts array at the recent Portland event gives me a good head start for coming up with some fun ideas for the Hartford festival which is on a much larger scale. And the races will be back. Paddles up!

Beyond daily life, I find myself looking for hope on a lot of fronts. Since I started penning this post, tragedy has been on all our minds as gun violence over and over robs us of peace and happiness and communities across this country are destroyed in the blink of an eye. As always, I am committed with intense determination to work toward common sense gun laws. Even when it feels hopeless I need to have hope. And other top-of-mind issues of our basic rights being stripped away weigh heavily. Having a 20-year old daughter starting her adulthood in this mess is painful.

Let’s all do what we can. There are so many ways to help, join an org, be a voice, or just pass along some kindness. Yes, the darkness takes over a lot these days but I try to let hope have the main stage. Wishing you a great season ahead, exploring your creativity, embracing many cultures, and don’t forget the fun.

Good Luck Arrives

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February can be a hard, icy month in the Northeast. But my heart and spirit (and stomach) were warmed on February 13th when I traveled to Boston to share crafts in Chinatown at the China Trade Center. The annual celebration was back with hundreds of excited visitors enjoying the street parade, firecrackers, traditional lion dances, and indoor activities.

How I had missed the collective energy of ringing in the Lunar New Year and being able to make crafts and “Fu” decorations with the kids to ensure good luck would arrive. The weather was fierce (as always, in mid-February) but we all braved the snow with the determination of the Tiger. And no trip to Chinatown would be complete without enjoying a delicious meal and soup dumplings at a local spot! It was perfect sustenance for the journey back to Maine.

Now that we are into our new year, I am mapping out my Chinese culture activities for the rest of 2022. I hope to bring Lucky Bamboo Crafts back to the Riverfront Recapture Dragon Boat Festival in Connecticut over the summer. I also continue to be active in CAFAM events and initiatives here in Maine, although I will be stepping down as president after being “in office” since 2018. I look forward to less leading and more doing!

Other than that, life is quiet again, but I’m amping up for an adventure to the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver BC. Oh, how I’ve dreamed of this road trip for years! Knowing me, it will basically be a food tour. I’ve never been big on acronyms but YOLO does seem to be chiming in my head. The pressures and violence around the globe are so disturbing, and I am mindful of how important it is that kindness and gratitude be a constant. Having the ability and resources to take a little vacation in April for myself feels like a real gift. Hopefully, I can pay it forward.

Mid-Autumn Moon and Maine Chronicles

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Hello friends,

Well, summer is winding down, although the September weather is pretty splendid so far! Did it feel “normal” in Maine despite pandemic woes? Pretty much. I did some great activities and had a few visitors, while enjoying Portland, Boothbay Harbor, Rockland, Camden, and beach, beach, beach!

One summer outing of note was visiting the brand new Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine. CAFAM board members got a private tour which gave us the opportunity to put on our thinking caps for future collaborations and events. CMTM has been a wonderful partner for years for both CAFAM and Lucky Bamboo Crafts and they are very committed to promoting cultural diversity education. And the museum itself? Wow. It is truly a gem for Portland.

I was in Hartford, CT in August for the Asian Festival and what a thrill to be back sharing crafts with kids and witnessing all the wonderful families enjoying themselves. The event was adjusted to be more festival, less dragon boats (for obvious potential close contact/ wet mask reasons) but it was a great day. Not even Ida on their doorstep could keep that festival phoenix from rising once again!

CAFAM is back in the game, as well with live events. We have our Mid-Autumn Moon Festival slated for later this month and will enjoy lots of delicious food, student performances, crafts, seeing old friends and making new ones. This year we will be overlooking the iconic Portland Headlight; talk about value-added!

One highlight of the Moon Festival will be offering homemade mooncakes prepared by local Chinese chef Chris Toy. And I can add to my brag book since he has given me a signed copy of his most recent book, Easy Chinese Cookbook: Restaurant Favorites Made Simple. I am pulling out all the Asian flavors from my cupboard (and will probably buy more) and plan to get cooking!

 

Chris Toy, Maine chef making magic

 

As I look ahead to the colder months, I continue to engage in causes I care about, and think about how I can be learning and growing. I think everyone has had their epiphany moments during 2020-21 and even though getting through the day has sometimes been all that could be achieved, the quiet stretches have allowed us to dig deep.

However, all this introspection and planning has not made me miss my college daughter any less. But I’m so relieved she is on campus and thriving, even though sophomore year probably has some freshman characteristics.

I’m also cautiously optimistic we will be able to have a full-on public Lunar New Year celebration for ‘Year of the Tiger’ like the old days. That is still TBD but CAFAM is moving in that direction.

Just another reminder that Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts is now being offered through Nataraj Books as my fulfillment partner. Of course, Amazon and other retailers still carry it or you can contact me directly! I love hearing from like-minded crafty folks that are interested in Chinese culture.

Be safe, be kind, celebrate the kids being back in school for in-person learning, get vaccinated, and enjoy this lovely time of year. I’ll catch up with you again soon!

Craftivism and Ice Cream

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Aaaaaah summer in Maine and this is the time I enjoy most to take part in all the gifts of the season. As much as I feel moments of wanderlust to get on a plane or take a long road trip (just because we CAN), I seem to remain hunkered down, gently encouraging my far-flung friends to travel in my direction, instead.

News! Lucky Bamboo Crafts book sales fulfillment has now officially been transitioned to a wonderful company in VA, Nataraj Books. IPG kept my book relevant and available and was a great partner for 8+ years and I now look forward to the next chapter (so to speak)! Nataraj Books is a South Asian-owned business, and they carry my book in their catalog in addition to now handling my warehouse and fulfillment needs. Lucky me!

Craftivism! I was excited to be able to join my creativity, interests, and causes in a recent event for gun safety. During the Wear Orange weekend in June, I brought together gun sense messaging, a craft kit and online tutorial, and leadership from an Asian community activism group in Maine, Unified Asian Communities.

It was such a natural fit for me, as I often feel my personal “buckets” are too far apart and “craftivism” is a concept I am going to continue to pursue. As we’ve all been forced to think about our lives in “hybrid” mode, I’m thinking of more ways I can join my passionate volunteer work with my skills in the Asian cultural craft arena.

CAFAM! I’ve been voted in as CAFAM President for another year, and am proud to continue to provide leadership to our largest Chinese culture organization in Maine. The previous months have been intense with lots of Asian community advocacy during this climate of targeted violence and racism. Along with that, we have started to flourish again with programs, resources, and planning events for summer and fall.

I’m also wearing my Lucky Bamboo Crafts hat again for getting out to events and sharing crafts with kids which is always an elixir for me. Keep an eye on my event calendar!

It certainly feels good to finally have some “news” and be more hopeful about the months ahead, rather than totally focused on what we can’t do, and just staying safe. I hope you are enjoying the same newfound freedom, and are fully vaccinated (oh my goodness please say you are). Life will never be what it was before the pandemic, but as we try and heal and step softly into the future, let’s hope that different can be good. Very good.