• Currents - December Daily - Documenting Life - Project Life - Scrapbook - Shanghai living - Travel journals

    Happy Little Moments | The Exhibit

    July 25, 2019

    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…

  • Shanghai living

    Watercolor Adventures

    June 27, 2019

    These days, I’ve been trying to get out of my comfort zone and actually going out and meet new people! The fact that these are like-minded people makes it somehow easier to socialize… This weekend was one of the rare occasion where I actually showed up at 2 locations! 06.22 Sketching Jiangpin Road Draw Shanghai’s theme for these next 2 weekends is documenting through sketches this old street which used to be a flower-&-bird market. Now it’s all been cleaned up. Actually the street is getting a facelift, gone are the hawkers on the streets, facades of old houses have…

  • Shanghai living

    #oneweek100people2019

    April 18, 2019

    Another challenge done! The just-concluded #oneweek100people2019 initiated by Marc Taro Holmes, Liz Steel, and Suhita Shirodkar was a fantastic way to brush up on drawing people again. This year, my goal was to (1) understand more about gestural drawing and (2) be quicker with drawing people so I can incorporate into my urban sketches. These are my sketches this year… DAY 1: Was on a business trip so drew people at the railway station waiting area. Day 2: I tried (or planned) to do more but after my morning quick sketch at a nearby coffee shop, I didn’t get any chance…

  • December Daily - Documenting Life - Scrapbook

    December Daily 2018 | Year 10!

    December 31, 2018

    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…

  • Documenting Life - Downloads

    Printables | Christmas 2018

    November 28, 2018

    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  

  • Currents - Documenting Life - Scrapbook

    Currently…in October

    October 18, 2018

    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!…

  • Downloads

    Planner Pages

    August 21, 2018

    After a lot of consideration, I decided to turn back on the Downloads page of my blog so as to share the different printable pages I have offered before for different types of planner pages. A while back, I have disabled any downloads because my design has been plagiarized and been sold for profit! So once again, all these files are FREE FOR PERSONAL USE only. DO NOT RESELL OR PROVIDE DOWNLOADS WITHOUT MY CONSENT. THANK YOU.

  • Art Journals

    #the100daysofnumberedbits Part 4

    August 11, 2018

    This is it! The final installment! And here is how thick it has become! What’s next? catch up with Project Life colour in the sketches I made in Saigon do some more art journaling/collage finish the 30-day watercolour class from CreativeBug We’ll see… watch this space for more stuff. SaveSave  

  • Crafting adventures - Currents - Documenting Life - Shanghai living

    Artist-in-Residence at Alila Anji

    August 8, 2018

    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…

  • Documenting Life - Scrapbook - Travel journals - Travels

    Travel Journal | Saigon

    July 24, 2018

    My first “solo” trip in a long time without the kids. This year they decided to join their school trips and so I ended up going to Ho Chi Minh with my colleagues. Saigon is one of those places I’ve been wanting to go and it was great to have had this chance to explore places with the team and on my own. Definitely an adventure! On this trip I used a TN insert to document the trip and managed to get most pages done during the trip and added a couple full page photos when I returned. I did…