Lunar New Year Content Ideas

Happy New Year! Xīn Nián Kuài Lè! 新年快乐! Make it a year of family, fortune and luck this Tuesday, February 1st. You will have the chance to celebrate Lunar New Year so go make a reservation at your favorite Asian restaurant to join in on the festivities (my go to is Din Tai Fung) Half the fun of Lunar New Year is reviving all the traditions around the holiday- it’s a time for family and friends to get together to ring in the new year. In this blog post, I will be sharing my Lunar New Year content and photo ideas along with some fun facts. I’m proud to share my culture with you all and gets you inspired to celebrate along with me!

Passing out red envelopes (紅包 / hóngbāo) is a classic tradition. These red envelopes are filled with money and symbolize good wishes and luck for the new year ahead. It’s every kid’s favorite part! For this photo, first have the camera focused on your face while you hold up a red envelope. The envelope should appear blurry giving you this effect. Next, throw around the rest of the red envelope to make it appear that it’s falling from the sky and ta da!

Easiest thing for you to participate in LNY? Wear new clothes, or at least something red. People believe wearing new clothes symbolize a fresh new start and a hopeful beginning. Avoid black and white. In my culture, the color red is associated with energy, happiness and good luck. Put on your favorite red lipstick and try on a traditional qípáo 旗袍, a traditional garment made with embroidered silk featuring a high collar and delicate buttons on the front. It comes in a variety of colors nowadays, but I prefer to stick to the traditional red. P.S The materials can be ordered through Amazon or better yet, head to your local Chinatown and you’ll be sure to get them for a steal!

The history of the Chinese fan dates back to over 3,000 years ago. The feather fan became popular among the aristocracy because it was extremely expensive to produce. Made of bird feathers, it was widely recognized as the symbol of wealth, authority, and wisdom.

I hope you’re hungry! It’s time for dumplings! Dumplings represent wealth because of their close appearance to Chinese gold ingots, which are oval, boat-shaped hunks of gold used as currency in imperial China. Some families will hide a coin in one of the dumplings, and whoever receives that dumpling is believed to have a prosperous year. Customizing my own dumplings is one of my favorite actives! Plus, you can pop them in ziplock bags in the freezer and they can last up to months! Super convenient for when you need a quick meal.

The Taiwanese have used lanterns not only as sources of light or simple paper decoration, but also they symbolize the wish for a bright future. You’ll find lanterns hanging in public spaces, shops, restaurants, and even used as street lights. Hanging lanterns are particularly common during festivals as they are said to bring good luck. During the Spring Festival, red lanterns are meant to scare the monster away.

Fun Fact: The 12 zodiac animals are, in order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each year is related to an animal sign according to a 12-year-cycle. This year, we have the chance to celebrate the Year of the Tiger. According to predictions, if you’re born in the year of the Ox and Goat, you will be the luckiest zodiac signs in the year of 2022. For those born in the years of the Rat, Snake, Monkey, Pig and Dog, you will need to make comparatively more effort in order to make achievements. Rabbit, Dragon, Horse, and Rooster people are destined to enjoy a smooth life and good luck in making money this year.

Indoor Fall Content Ideas

Fall is officially HERE! Fall brings so much nostalgia, moodiness and is the start of all the fun festivities. For those looking for some creative content ideas, this post is for you! I am going to show you how YOU can easily recreate these cozy feels in the comfort of your own HOME! I’m sure you’ve got your Fall/ Halloween decor sitting in a storage box somewhere, so go to your garage and bring them in to get started! If not, head over to your local Michaels, HomeGoods, Dollar Tree, Marshalls, Target, etc and invest in a couple items that you can reuse every single year. Let’s all get into the Fall spirit by lighting some pumpkin spice candles, baking warm apple pies, & creating Fall content together! Make sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see your recreations!

Oh My Gourd!

Grab all the pumpkins you have- fake or real (doesn’t matter) and pose with it! Tip: Best to use a variety of pumpkins- different shapes, sizes, colors & texture. First, you will take a picture of you with a pumpkin on your head and if that’s too difficult, just simply hold it! Next, take individual photos of just your arms holding out each pumpkin you want to feature- make sure you take them from different sides with both arms to get a variety of photos. Download the app PicArt (super useful for content creation) Next, go on PicsArt and select Cut Out. Use this to trace around your arm & pumpkins for each individual shot and save it as a Sticker on the App. After you’ve traced and saved all the individual arms, you want to open up the original photo of you in the center. Click on Sticker and find the arms and paste them around the image! And voila!

Pumpkin Spice And Everything Nice

We’ve all got a garland laying around somewhere. If not, head to your local Michaels and they’ve got tons at an affordable price! Tip: Go to Michaels after each holiday ends- everything will be on sale for at least 60%-80% and you can use it for the following year! Pick a garland that has some flexibility and wrap it around your body for a festive self portrait! Make sure the garland covers specific areas (if ya know what I mean haha) or you can wear a bralette underneath to not show too much skin.

My Blood Type Is Pumpkin Spice

I’m sure many of you have lined up your Autumn decor on the front porch already! Head out there with a warm cup of pumpkin spice latte and capture a shot from an aerial perspective! Feel free to wear Fall shades- orange, burgundy, red, any warm colors & preferably long sleeves (sweater, cardigan) so it can add an extra cozy element to the shot as you hold the cup of coffee out!

That Autumn Life

The colder weather usually has us spending more time indoor= more movie nights! Put on a pair of cozy socks, your favorite movie and bring in the warm and cozy feels. Fill a cup up with candy corn, light a yummy pumpkin scented candle, snack on butterscotch popcorn, turn on the fairy lights and set the perfect movie night mood! Fun fact: we watch the Harry Potter series every October to get us into the Halloween spirit! This scene on my laptop is from Harry Potter!

Leaves Are Falling, Autumn Is Calling

Grab a friend, partner, family member, pet and have them hold your hand! Use some autumn colored leaves (I used fake ones from Michaels because LA doesn’t have seasons… haha) Set up the leaves in a heart shape or whatever your preference is and snap a pic! As you take the picture, sprinkle some leaves down at the same time to create more dimension and depth in the photo! You don’t need a fancy camera or expensive products to create any of these shots- this was straight from the iPhone!

#SweaterWeather

Angles angles angles! This is an alternative shot you can take from your front porch set up! Go to the bottom of the steps and take it from a completely different angle! All you have to do is sit with the decorations and smile! Wear a sweater dress, overalls, or chunky knit sweater to make it look more “autumn like”. Easy peasy to shoot and you can leave the decorations out for the rest of the season for your neighbors to enjoy!

Creep It Real

I’m all a-BAT you! Ha, just ‘winging’ it with these puns 😉 For real, these are the cutest and most affordable Halloween decor and I had soooo much fun putting these bats up! $5 on Amazon, 2 day prime shipping and the easiest setup. The wings are bendable, which creates a 3D illusion and all you have to do is pop on a sticker. A really fun bonding activity to do with the kiddos and there’s no right or wrong way to do it!

Fall is my Second Favorite F Word

Not all of us has the luxury to travel and go leaf peeping up in the New England area, but we all have access to free photoshop apps and our imagination! Take a photo of you sitting in front of a mirror- any size will do! Google Fall foliage images, pick your FAV one and save the photo on your phone. Pull up the app PicsArt (I’m telling you, if you are aspiring to create/ a beginner, this app is a MUST!) Open up your self portrait of you sitting in front of the mirror, click on Add Photo, select the Fall Foliage image and make it fit directly into the mirror. You’ve just created your very own dreamy autumn scene!

ST. PATRICK’S DAY Content Ideas

Happy St Patrick’s Day everyone! Are you feeling extra lucky today? I will find any excuse to celebrate a holiday!

I want to start a new series both on my blog & IG & the theme is 1 Prop = 5 Shots. As a creator, you constantly have to purchase new props for photoshoot ideas. So I wanted to be resourceful, economical and squeeze the most content I can with only using 1 product. The prop for St. Patrick’s Day themed photoshoot was a box of Lucky Charms Cereal! If you’re stuck and don’t know what content to create, check out my ideas below and give it a try. Enjoy this lovely Wednesday & remember, don’t forget to wear green to avoid getting pinched 😉

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VALENTINE’S DAY PHOTOSHOOT IDEAS

Valentine’s Day is coming up and I know alot of us are still trapped indoors due to the pandemic. BUT, that shouldn’t stop you from celebrating and changing up the scenery at home for a fun filled weekend. Whether you’re hosting a galentines zoom party with your girlfriends or you want to surprise your partner, here are some photo inspiration for you to easily recreate them right at home!

BALLOON BATH

This photoshoot is probably one of the easiest I’ve ever done! Blow up a bunch of balloons ( you can find them at Michaels, 99cent store, Amazon, etc), tie them up, toss it into a bathtub and plop right in! I do want to kindly remind you to tie your balloons in a REUSABLE way to be more environmentally friendly. Here is a video you can watch to learn how. Now I know not everyone has a bathtub, so you can fill up your shower too or even buy a blow up kiddie pool! My tip is to not blow up the balloons too much to prevent it from popping when you get into the tub.

XOXO

Did you know tic tac toe can be traced all the way back to ancient Egypt? The game was found on roofing tiles dating back to 1300 BCE! Soooo historical right?! Well let’s modernize this game by drawing it on your mirror with a hot pink lipstick! This is perfect for a Valentine’s Day shoot to do with your partner!

CONVERSATION HEARTS

Conversation hearts are the symbol of Valentine’s Day here in the US. Growing up, I remember buying a bunch to pass out to all my classmates at school. So of course, I headed to the grocery store to buy some for myself! As I stared at the products trying to think of a creative way to use them, I began to find the sayings on there boring and plain. I wished the messages would change from just the basic phrases to more meaningful deeper messages. It inspired me to make DIY life size conversation hearts with personal messages that we should all preach and spread more of- from choose kindness, to goal digger, to my favorite, dream big! Check out my IG video here for a step by step guide!

VALENTINE BACKDROP

I wanted alllll things pink for Valentine’s Day so I flipped our entire living room completely! Hang up some banners, blow up a balloon that says “love” or “XOXO” or any lovey dove phrases and hang it up as a backdrop. Remember those balloons you blew up for another shoot? Well hopefully you saved them and reuse it for this shoot!

SWEET TOOTH

One of my biggest hobby is baking! I made some sugar cookies, decorated them with pink icing and thought why not use it as a prop! I filled a cup with sugary conversation hearts, laid down on the floor for a fun picture!