Free SVGS for Chinese New Year
If you’re looking for free SVGs for Chinese New Year, you’ve come to the right place!
If you’ve been crafting with me for a while, you’ll know that cardstock is my absolute favourite material, and a Cricut cutting machine makes it even more enjoyable to work with.
With their perfectly precise cuts and intricate layers, to bold shapes and delicate details, cardstock SVG projects are endlessly versatile – and ideal for decorations, gifts, and keepsakes for all occasions, including Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year (also known as Lunar New Year) falls on Tuesday 17th February in 2026.
It celebrates the beginning of the lunar calendar and is traditionally associated with family, good fortune, and fresh starts. Each year is represented by an animal from the Chinese zodiac, and this year is the Year of the Horse, a symbol of energy, strength, freedom, and determination.
In this post, I’ve rounded up our craft projects that are especially well suited to Chinese New Year crafting.
And once we’ve explored those, stay tuned – because I’ll also be sharing ideas and inspiration for horse-themed projects that you can use all year round (and how to make them suitable for the Year of the Horse). 🐎✨
Layered lanterns papercraft
We had to start the list with a layered cardstock project, as they are the most shared type of project on this website.
For this design, two intricate Chinese lanterns are hanging from a tree branch decorated with gorgeous pink blossom flowers.
This design has lots of bold, bright colours and it looks wonderful when made, especially with the pops of bright yellow in the lanterns and the contrast of the soft pink of the blossom flowers.
Hanging Chinese Lanterns
Learnhow to make these lovely slot-together lanterns for Chinese New Year.
You can add a little battery light inside so that your lantern glows as it hangs.
The finished lantern looks absolutely beautiful and it’s much easier to make than it first appears.
Add extra sparkles to the middle of the blossom sparkles with adhesive gems, Nuvo Drops or similar products, or leave them plain – it’s up to you!
Layered Chinese Dragon
This is one of my favourite projects of all time.
While it was originally created in 2024 for the Year of the Dragon, this glitter-filled Chinese dragon comes out year-after-year for Lunar New Year.
The intricate design captures the strength and power of the dragon, with bright, bold colours and lots of depth and layers to bring him to life.
Two separate versions are included: one smaller dragon to be cut from single sheets of cardstock and a giant off-the-mat version which comes in sections to make a huge dragon that’s 20 inches wide and 23 inches tall.
And when I say it’s big… it REALLY is big!!
SVGs for Year of the Horse
While I don’t specifically have any horse projects for Lunar New Year, there are lots of horse designs to choose from in my SVG shop.
The range from different horse breeds to horses being ridden, with cute cartoony style designs and more realistic horse SVGs.
Here is a small sample of the full range:
There is also a free horse SVG available, showing a pretty pony with a bold flower pattern in the body.
These might not be quite the “right” type of horses that you are looking for at this time of year – but a few quick tweaks and you might change your mind.
Changing the colours of a design can give a completely different vibe.
Here’s how some of the horses could look if cut in colours more suited to Chinese New Year:
If you haven’t changed the colours of a SVG before, don’t worry – it’s simpler than you might be thinking.
Here are some step-by-step videos on how to switch up the colour scheme in three different cutting machine software programs:
By following the steps in the above videos, you can turn an ordinary horse into one that’s perfect for Lunar New Year in just a few clicks.
Happy crafting,
Sarah x
