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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Of all my December Daily projects, this one holds the record for taking the longest to complete! After 13 years of doing this, I usually finish by the end of December and proudly place the album on the shelf. However, this time, life sidetracked me—I only made it halfway to Day 12 before everything else took over. I’m sure many of you can relate to the challenges of finding time for our creative projects amidst the hustle and bustle of life. By November, I was finally determined to finish the album—and I did! The process was not just about documenting the days but also about navigating my emotions and finding…
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What can I say? December turned out so completely different from what I had envisioned to be and what I had hoped it to be. Things that were part of our everyday almost since 2020 like scanning QR codes, PCR testing at least every 72 hrs, checking of green codes in public places and other restrictions, were suddenly lifted. Suddenly, the COVID virus spread like wildfire and once again, Shanghai buckled down from COVID infections, everything (at least almost everything) went upside down fast. I was feeling like another lockdown (like what happened in March/April of 2022) was happening as the city suddenly went silent by mid-December. Schools had already…
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Literally I have to find a new space for the 2022 of December Daily because I have ran out! The only year I did not do any December Daily was 2019 because I decided to take a break and do art journaling instead. This album is actually handmade using leftover binder D-ring and chipboards I had in my stash. I bought these Tim Holtz fabric from the Yuletide collection from a local seller (which I cannot find on the FreeSpirit website anymore. When I flipped through the 2020 album, I noticed that a lot of the stories were mine and not as much of my kids. I think that time…
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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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Another year and another December Daily done! Cannot believe that this is my 9th year of documenting our December days. I love looking at these albums on the shelf in varying thickness… I’m actually running out of space now (LOL!). Anyways, this album was long done back in December, I just never got the chance to take photos and video due to the bad weather and not having the right setup. So I am finally sharing my album. I also made a video taking you through the entire album. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KLg6t7Z2s8&w=560&h=315%5D Thank you for looking. SaveSave SaveSave
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And now for part 2… This one takes more than half of the entire album and if full of postcards picked along the route during the road trip that spanned a few days. One of the page designs I made which is printed onto patterned paper. Will make this available for free download soon. These set of stamps from here were perfect for the trip. Postcards that double as photographic keepsake (above) and spot for journaling or photo (below) are my favourite. A lot of stitching on my sewing machine (above page) were added to give more tactile feel of the page. Thanks to my sis, Angie, for saving this…
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Here is another post about my travel album from this summer’s big trip to the US and Canada. This album is rather thick and have already limited the number of photos I have included in this post… and still I feel I need to create a 2-part blog post due to the amount of photos. The album cover is something I’ve had for years but just never got the chance to use. The inside has a painted pattern from a stencil using a thick layer of this medium. As with the travel albums I do, some pages have been pre-designed and patterned papers cut to size. I also designed a…
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This is a 3-part series showcasing the travel albums that are currently on exhibit at the Shanghai Mass Art Gallery (上海群众艺术馆) in Shanghai. You can also read more about this event at the Postcrossing blog. Finally, the last installment is a very mini travel journal. This was documenting our trip to the Silk Road, specifically Dunhuang. This destination has been in my bucket list for almost 20 years! Yes, I have been dreaming of visiting Dunhuang ever since I started studying Traditional Chinese Painting in Tianjin’s Nankai University back in 1994. My classmates showed me photos of when they went, the paintings on the caves, what they had painted and…
