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Documenting life in Shanghai

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  • hello!
  • Online Courses
  • #the100dayprojects
  • Art Journal Projects
  • Creative Happenings
  • A Short Trip to Taipei
  • Relics of Nature: My First Art Retreat in Porto
  • Documenting Rome: A Travel Journal Filled with Memories
  • Travel Journal | Singapore
  • Embarking on the #100daysofmailcollage
  • Documenting Life,  Scrapbook,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Album | USA+CAN Summer 2017 (Part 2)

    November 10, 2017 / No Comments

    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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  • Documenting Life,  Scrapbook,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Album | USA+CAN Summer 2017 (Part 1)

    November 3, 2017 / No Comments

    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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    Postrip Part 3: Silk Road Travel Album

    September 22, 2017 / No Comments

    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…

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  • arlyna Philippines 2014
    Documenting Life,  Scrapbook,  Travel journals

    Postrip Part 2: Philippines Travel Album

    September 15, 2017 / 2 Comments

    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. This second post is about the our trip to the Philippines. Originally we were to go to my hometown Tacloban City, but Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda happened and we could only get to Manila. So this travel journal documents what we ended up doing during that year’s Winter Break during the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. This cover is made from acrylic which I ordered from a local online store, cut to a 6×6 inch…

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    Postrip Part 1: Europe Travel Album

    September 8, 2017 / No Comments

    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. This travel album (I can’t exactly call it a journal anymore as it’s so so so thick that I had to make and customize a new album as soon as we returned from the trip!) commemorates our – me and my 2 kids – first big trip together. Yes, this was made back in 2013 but still love leafing thru these pages every time I get a chance. I also just realized that I did…

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    Travel Journal | Australia

    March 31, 2017 / No Comments

    This travel journal has taken the longest to complete I think, out of the travel journals I’ve made. One of the reasons was I did not do any of the pages while on this trip because I ran out of batteries on my Instax Share just as I was about to start on it. And by the time we found the batteries, we were nearly at the end of our trip! So I only did this entire journal after returning to Shanghai in between the crazy work schedule. But it is finally done and glad to be sharing some of the pages. This notebook was actually done last year when…

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  • Crafting adventures

    DIY + Recycled Watercolour Set Tutorial

    November 18, 2016 / 2 Comments

    These days my head is filled with wanting to get more watercolours as part of my EDC (everyday carry) but haven’t been able to find the ‘right’ one apart from the Peerless watercolors I already have in my Traveler’s Notebook. Until I found these small clear containers on Taobao, but the coordinating case for it was still too thick to use. And then lightbulb idea (!) when the phone protective film that I purchased came with a very slim plastic case. Immediately I tried putting the containers inside and they fit perfectly inside! Yippee! It’s always great when you can combine a DIY and recycling something at the same time. This is the…

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    Travel Journal | Seoul

    November 7, 2016 / 2 Comments

    This post is supposed to be about Australia but at the last-minute our plans changed. We literally decided to go to Seoul the day after my visa to Australia was not released on time. Did not have much time to prepare for this trip and ended up using one of the 1/2 Trip notebook inserts I bought in Tokyo. Life took a turn for the hectic after the trip with new school term starting, kids’ activities and school events and work stress. Hence I actually did not finish up the last few pages of this journal until last week! But am so glad this is finally done! I had actually forgotten…

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    Me and my Traveler’s Notebooks

    September 17, 2016 / No Comments

    Me and my little collection of Midori Traveler’s Notebook – I only have 3 plus a mini – are well-used as you probably have seen in this blog and thru my IG feed. Yes, I started making my own about 5-6 years ago when I first saw one here in Shanghai, back before there was a big following. Then a little later, I decided to invest on the real deal and boy! it was definitely the right decision to go as these has become part of my everyday carry (EDC) for years now. I am still loving every bit of these notebooks! Here is  a few background story photos on how…

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  • Taipei 2016
    Documenting Life,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Journal | Taipei 2016

    June 20, 2016 / 7 Comments

    A few weeks ago, I made my way to Taipei again for a whirlwind 3-day trip to get some personal matters sorted out. As it was a short trip, I decided to make use of the unused  pages in my TN insert I used before. My entries this time is quite a contrast to my last year’s Taipei trip. Less images and texts but I quite love how they turned out. There was pre-planning on the pages to use, just went with the flow. The special edition TN stickers I managed to pick up went perfectly with my pages… That’s it… If you follow me on IG, you may have read…

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Blogposts

  • Oct 30, 2026 A Short Trip to Taipei
  • Oct 29, 2026 Relics of Nature: My First Art Retreat in Porto
  • Oct 15, 2026 Documenting Rome: A Travel Journal Filled with Memories
  • Jul 02, 2026 Travel Journal | Singapore
  • Feb 25, 2026 Embarking on the #100daysofmailcollage
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