After taking a bit of a pause from #The100DayProject (my last one was in 2023 — how did that happen?!), I’ve decided to jump back in this year and approach it differently — with the intention of actually finishing. If you’re curious about my previous projects, you can browse them on this page. This year’s idea is beautifully simple: I’ll be creating mini collages using ephemera from the happy mail I’ve received from swap partners, finishing each piece with a postage stamp. Click on the image below to see the cards or this link. It’s also my way of finally using up those old Project Life journal cards that have…
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My last post was on December 12; somehow, time just blurred—it’s already early May! I had many things I hoped to share, but life got busy, and priorities had to shift. Sadly, this blog ended up near the bottom of the list. The first few months of the year—January, February, and March—were packed. Most weekends, I doubled down on spending time at home recording and editing lessons for an upcoming class. More on that soon! It was an intense process, but once everything was completed, I felt a massive sense of relief—and excitement. I poured my heart into those lessons and can’t wait to see how students respond. Before I…
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I bought this fantastic kit from a Chinese indie seller I found on Red Book (Xiao Hong Shu). Fortunately, it arrived before the holidays. I figured this would be great to send to family and friends and include in my swap mails all year long. So before the Spring Festival, I printed a few of this stunning Qilin on delicate rice paper. 🐉✨ Qilin, a revered mythical creature in Chinese culture, is often depicted as a majestic blend of a deer, dragon, horse, and lion—a symbol of good fortune, prosperity, and wisdom. According to legend, it can tread grass without a trace and even breathe fire! 🔥 In Chinese mythology,…
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Do you make and exchange ATC or Artist Trading Cards? Have you made an ATC before? I’ve been making ATC since probably 2015. I learned about this via swap-bot.com when I joined in 2013. I’ve been curious about these and got the courage to sign up for some international swaps. These were quite fun, and I regret not making extras for each card I made for my collection. So, there are other variations for the standard ATC (2.5×3.5 inches). One is called inkbox cards, which are square 3×3 inches and have rounded corners, just like the Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads, hence the name. The lesser-known one is the ATC coin, which…
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The hustle and bustle of the holidays is here again! How are you documenting this last month of the year? I feel it is even more important at this current point of my family’s life to document our life in Shanghai. So I am doing this via the annual December Daily project by Ali Edwards. I’ve lost count on how many years I have been documenting and every year has been different. Excited to be using a handmade album I made after sensing that my order will not arrive on time. (I will share photos next as these days have been a bit crazy, to say the least.) And in…
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I know. I know. I seem to be in the wrong season. But I feel posting this during the hottest time of the Summer may well bring in some anticipation of the cooler weather (I hope) that is just around the corner. Here are some of my favourite pages/spreads from Care December 2021. I used an old book and just randomly added art journal in between. I did not tear out pages for this one, just thought of going with the flow and see where this leads me. This post is actually way overdue with a lot of things happening. Nevertheless, it is good to go back and look at…
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Sketchbook all filled up! I started the this class during my trip to Taipei, Taiwan, late last year. This was a really good class especially when I spent a lot of days in hotel quarantine. I continued filling up pages when I was in hotel quarantine again in Shanghai. And now, I finished as we are surpassing the 1-month point of this whole lockdown. For this project, I was excited to find out I can order on Tools to Liveby and they could deliver to the quarantine hotel. So I ordered the Midori Spiral Ring Notebook B6 (watercolor paper) along with a couple other stationery. The paper was just thick…
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Almost 6 weeks spent in quarantine has come and gone. And I can say, “I survived!” Here’s a sort of breakdown of the days: Day 1 – arriving in Taipei, Taiwan Day 2 counts as first of the 14-day quarantine in Taipei Day 16-17 – time spent getting COVID tests to be able to return to Shanghai plus errands and meeting with family and friends Day 18 – arriving in Shanghai, China and first day of quarantine Day 32 – left quarantine hotel to quarantine at home Day 40 – finished quarantine and back at work For the first part of my quarantine in Taipei, Taiwan, all went smoothly. The…
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With only a couple months left before Christmas, I thought I’d it would be good to look back at the junk journal pages/spreads I did on-&-off via the hashtag #junkjournalingthru2021. This is almost like a 100-day project but runs all through the year. Reflecting on what I’ve learned: My “style” seems to be evolving and it’s to do with the type of journal I am working on. I enjoyed playing on blank pages when I used TN notebook inserts I “struggled” when I transitioned to using journals that I have stitched and bound together using various papers. I don’t know whether it is because of the existing content already on…
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A mini tutorial for embellishing your projects.
