House & Garden Magazine Feature

Hello friends, its been very busy lately now as we are into wedding and party season, and I haven't had any time for blogland :-(

I wanted to share this picture of our beautiful lanterns and ribbon featured in Australian House & Garden Magazine (November issue). I love it!! Did any of you see it???

Hope to see you all again soon!!
Cheers, Karen

Blog neglect!

Hello friends,
I'm sorry for my absence. First I was in China for 3 months, and now since I've been back I've been really, really busy. Its just been all business, no time for play - but hoping to change that soon!

I now have professionals helping me with the photography for the business - such bliss!! We even spent a half day at the beach working! Everyone was happy, as the hardworking assistants Patsy & Frankie came too!

What do you think of the photographs!! So fabulous, and taken at my local beach in Brisbane!





Hardworking assistants helping to find a suitable location to place the stock!!



I have been blogging on the business blog, but will be back on this one soon I hope!
See you all again in Spring! Only 3 weeks to go ......
Cheers, Karen

A step back in time

Have you seen any of these Chinese movies? Winter Jasmine, Lovers grief over the yellow river, Master of taichi, or Wordless love? I haven't yet, but I plan to.

I spent a day Cuan di xia, the historical and beautifully preserved Ming dynasty village where these movies were all shot. It was a beautiful day spent in the mountainous countryside, and was a really nice break from the craziness of Beijing. The village is located on the mountain, so it was actually a day of exercise as well, and of course, there was delicious fresh food to enjoy too!










Of course, I had to include a lantern pic!

I had such a great time in China, and took so many pics! I will post more as soon as I can!
Its been so busy since I've returned, and another container of lanterns is arriving next week for Lanternshop!

I hope you all have a lovely week!

I'm back!!!

Hello friends,
After 3 long months, I'm back from China!! I've missed so much in blogland as its not possible to access Blogger from China - so much catching up to do!!!

I had such an amazing time - a truly awesome experience.
The first few weeks were spent working (shopping for Lanternshop and organising the next shipment), then the rest of the time studying, immersing myself in the culture and food, and playing tourist!!

When I get over my tiredness in the next few days - I'll post more pics and details of my adventure!

Here I am in Zhejiang province with my friend Mary playing dressups!! So much fun :-)

China Visit

(image from blog.chinatraveldepot.com)

Hello Friends!
Its been ages since I've been here .... and it will be ages until I'm back again!!!

Soon, I'm heading back to China for a long trip, but this time (fingers crossed) I'll be having some fun and tourist time too!

I'll be doing work for the first couple of weeks, then spending a couple of months studying and immersing myself in Chinese culture. I'm planning to do some homestays and English teaching, and I'm expecting/hoping to improve my Chinese and enjoy myself at the same time!

Thankfully, Mr Lantern will be assisting with running Lanternshop while I'm gone so I won't have to worry too much about the day-to-day business stuff!

Will miss you all, but will be unable to visit you while I'm away as I cannot sign into my blogger account from China .....

See you all again in July!

Happy New Year

Hello Friends,
Happy New Year, Happy Chinese New Year .... and everything else in between that I've missed!!! Its been ages since I've blogged here, but time has been flying this year and I can't keep up!!
Patsy and Frankie are doing very well and working hard too! I'm still studying hard with my Mandarin and am planning my next buying trip in the next couple of months!
So, I probably won't be back on this blog for a little while, but plan to still keep blogging on my business blog Lanternshop.
Hope you are all healthy and happy :-)
Cheers, Karen

Happy Xmas!!!

Hello friends!!
Xmas has come early for me - I've just seen that we have been mentioned in Australian Home Beautiful Magazine (January 2011) edition! WOW!! What a nice surprise!




Patsy, Frankie and I would like to wish you all a very Happy Xmas and New Year!! We hope to be back to blog-land more frequently in 2011!!!! (this will be my resolution)!!

Cheers :-)