The Year of the Mouse started in a blur… or pretty much the entire January was a depressing one… Chinese New Year was especially since it was overshadowed with the novel coronavirus that has now gripped the world. A truly depressing one especially when this is the most important holiday for the Chinese. To be told not to go out, not to see relatives, not to travel, has been on the top of each government WeChat posts. No one could have known how this virus has impacted everyone and how serious it was. So yes, we have been in home quarantine for pretty much over 2 weeks. And work is…
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Part 2 of our Europe 2019 adventure was to Finland. After Russia, we took the train from St. Petersburg to Helsinki. The train was not full and we saw the wintry white landscape as we cross Russia into Finland. In a way we were excited to see what is in store for us in Finland where we have only a few days. Helsinki was full of snow when we arrived and we were fortunate that the AirBnB was not far from the train station although we took a taxi there. It was not difficult to wander around and find grocery nearby. The full day we had was spent with my…
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A long time coming, sharing here the travel journal I made for our trip to Russia. Actually this is part one of a series of 3 journals from our big trip to Europe last January-February of 2019. A big trip that took us to a lot of places in the dead of winter! Our first stop was Moscow. We flew in from Shanghai and arrived same day with heavy snow marking our arrival. We spent a couple days in the city and took in the important touristy sights, of course (!) like the Kremlin, the History Museum, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and more. Really cold and kids were pretty hyped to…
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Last Sunday, 25 August, 2019, was the Happy Little Moments and annual Postcrossing Shanghai meetup crossover event, held at the Shanghai Mass Art Center. The event was originally slated for 10 August, 2019, unfortunately, was postponed due to typhoon Lekima that hit Shanghai. As this was the third year running, the number of people coming to mingle, buy, browser, write postcards, listen to the talks and more has doubled since the first one was held 2 summers ago. What an amazing turnout that was! Feeling so grateful that some friends came to the event and I even managed to grab a chance to chat with old and new friends alike.…
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Our recent company trip to Nagoya, Japan, last June was a good quick escape for everyone. Before the trip, I have been dealing with deadlines and juggling kids’ activities and finals hence I was not even sure what I wanted to do in terms of documenting our trip. I had planned on bringing along a TN insert which I have been doing a lot on trips. At the last minute, I changed my mind and ended up bringing a watercolour sketchbook my friend Jessie has given to me late last year. This sketchbook along with my other sketchbook dedicated for #the100dayproject (2019) went into my backpack. This is the very…
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As I’m writing this post (albeit a late one), I am still feeling like it’s all surreal, to be having a solo exhibit… #documentinglife has become something of a mission after I discovered digital scrapbooking when I just had kids. It became a way for me to capture those every day little moments in Shanghai as a family that is fleeting yet too precious not to eternalize. Eventually, it grew into a hobby that drives me to find inspiration even from the simplest things in everyday life, and also an effective medium for me to soak in the unique aspects of a new place visited. In a blink of an…
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Cannot believe this is the 10th year that I have been doing December Daily! I need to also rearrange my bookshelf to accommodate this latest album. As always, this has been one of the “event” I look forward to every year. Putting all the Christmas-y goodies into an album has been fun. I just love the glittery magic of it all. Anyways, a few things I want to share on what I have found to what has worked for me to be able to finish this within December. I use handwriting as much as possible – I found that sometimes typing out and laying out texts takes more time and…
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To usher in December, I made some special printables to help you document this month of celebrations and magic. There are different sizes in PDF file format you can download below and hope you will like these. CHOOSE FROM THE DIFFERENT SIZES BELOW: (*DOWNLOADS ARE FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.) 6×8 Album | A5 Planner | Personal Planner | 3×8 Album | 3×4 Journal Cards I would love to see how you use these pages in your planners. Use the hashtag #arlynaplannerpages and tag me (@abshanghai) on Instagram. Enjoy. SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave
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The crazy work schedule has kept me away from my blog and posting updates on Instagram has been easier to do. Here’s a recap of the different creative stuff I’ve been doing the past couple months… SEPTEMBER: Typically the busiest time for me with birthdays and first day of school. So glad I managed to include some time to do some paintings, doodles and documenting. I joined at the last minute the #30daysoflist challenge and also an epiphany to combine this with a #30inks30days challenge. The last time I joined the 30 Days of List challenge was probably 4-5 years ago! This time I wanted to just simplify the process and…
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Super excited and honoured to be a guest at the Alila Anji for a series of weekends dedicated to artful explorations with kids. The program is called “Artist-in-Residence” which is part of the pop-up series of events. I’ve been asked to develop a series of art workshops for kids and adults who are guests at the resort (check out their website and you will see how amazing the resort is). While this is not something I do full-time (since I have company to run), I think this is something I can add to my bulging bag of experiences. Bucketlist ticked? Yes can be that esp since I have thought of creating…
