Asian challenges for the new year

I must have been in tune with someone over the weekend, as after trying to reorganise my craft room I found these stamps I'd not used in a while and decided to play a little, only to find that the corrosive challenge has an asian theme and that just happened to be the catergory my stamp falls into. The image is of a heron which apparently is a symbol of longevity so I was told by a person of oriental descent. The reason is they mate for life so whether its longevity of a partnership or life I'm not sure but it sounds a nice sentiment whichever, well I think so. I made 2 different cards using the same image so I guess you get 2 for the price of one, both images are powder embossed  the first in black and then painted with moonglow powders, simply mounted and I added a tassel I made a while ago when I was experimenting. I think the tassel is just the finishing tough and it would make a fab card for a man.

The second card I made I used moonglow embossing powder madonna blue/gold, although it does look more silver, and I love the effect. I stamped onto vellum which I am always a little wary of doing for some reason.

The base card is spritzed with moonglow mist and then I used pearl blue embossing powder on the little text symbols which I dotted around the background and then repeated inside the card. The whole thing is again finished with homemade tassels in complementing colours. This I think could double as a mans card or an anniversary card, see what you think.

I must have known there would be more than one asian theme as Sophisticats also has an oriental themed challenge this time, hope they don't mind sharing the same post.