Category: Stationery & Journaling

Hobonichi Flip through 2015 December

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今年開始使用的是1101 Hobonichi的A5手帳分冊版，跟去年的A6比起來空間大好多～ 終於可以很盡情的大玩紙膠帶以及手繪！當然，消耗墨水的機會也在這極大的書寫空間 😀

Here’s a review of my first month in the Hobonichi A5 Cousin! 

十二月開始美國各處都充滿了過節氣氛～我忍不住也做了一個小手繪教學影片，主題就是冬季小插圖!

一開始還不太習慣A5的空間感，空空的位置就拿來填寫每天的晚餐食譜囉！


聖誕節就是要畫耶誕紅啦! 這次顏色下手很重，效果很棒～但是顏料抓皺紙張的悲劇也更明顯…

在台灣的朋友送給我一套企鵝的貼紙～ 好像是在台中一個以企鵝為主題的畫展所購得，整張貼紙的企鵝系列太可愛了，怎麼能不拿來用光光?

我和朋友在耶誕市集買了一些應景的小盆栽，但我才養他不到兩星期，竟然就乾枯死亡QQ (美國太乾了啦!) (絕對不是自己的錯…)


我很喜歡Unmistakable Creative他們所提出的 15 principles for living a creative life. 其中三項真的很貼切: It’s about showing up when you don’t feel like it. It’s about showing up when you’re uninspired. It’s about staying in something so far past where the average person would quit. 很多時候容易覺得這件事很煩躁就放棄他，雖然他們都是達成目標所必經的過程!

想不到要寫什麼的時候，填填歌詞也不錯

這些可愛的黃金獵犬都是工商雜誌封面剪下來的～美國人真的很愛黃金獵犬耶


  

我的牛角初體驗就這樣給波士頓了～雖然沒有像台灣一樣的吃到飽，但還是吃得很過癮

小狗團 (已融化

學期結束一定要和老師拍張照！這邊的每一位教授都很令人印象深刻，尤其是他們願意和你溝通互動這點，真的是大學很少體會到的~

終於實現在戶外溜冰的體驗了～ 尤其是當黃昏接近，一個人在冰上刷刷刷的成就感

自從九月開始加入波士頓的速寫小聚會，沒想到竟然能夠有將我們的作品展出的一天！我的畫廊處女作就在Salem女巫城這邊展開！
  

就像去首爾街頭要找卡拉OK加菲貓，來到波士頓一定要現場聽一下Keytar Bear的街頭演奏！

波士頓圖書館又大又乾淨，尤其喜歡他那舒適的座位及空間感，很適合讀書或打瞌睡…

我揪成功了！在波士頓第一次的Hobonichi手帳聚會！雖然大家都是第一次碰面，但將文具們大把大把拿出來的那一刻，我們彷彿是多年不見的好友～文具癮無國際!


聖誕夜那天我前進紐約過節囉！紐約不愧是耶誕城，每個角落都有不能錯過的聖誕裝飾!


文具狂到哪裡都要失心瘋，除了充滿日本文具用品的Kinokuniya，在西村有好多美術行及文具店！逛得不亦樂乎~~


就像在台北那樣的隨性悠閒，走累的就挑間順眼的咖啡店或是小餐館喝杯咖啡，吃個甜滋滋的甜甜圈～

我的朋友是福星，因為我們竟然抽到了中獎機率超低的Broadway Lottery Ticket~ Kinky Boots真的很好看！

這幾款星空紙膠帶在我的IG上詢問度超高，但我完全不記得是誰出的～去過太多次文具聚會，捲了一堆來路不明但每的要命的紙膠帶…

天阿～新年快樂！2015就這樣結束了! 畫下完美句點的那一刻我們正在Mckittrick Hotel與Sleep No More的劇組在舞池裡狂歡!

這個月下來A5的空間感實在令文具手作狂感到過癮～期待2016年將他寫得滿滿的!

喜歡以影片模式觀賞的人，請用這個Flipthrough影片

Winter Doodles for December

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It’s that time of the year again! Christmas wreaths are up on doorways and lamp posts, and Christmas decorations are everywhere. I feel that it is time to amp up my Hobonichi creativity and start decorating some December pages in advance!

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(Image source: Hobonichi Web store 2015)

Inspired by Hobonichi’s cover on cover from 2015, I decided to doodle some of the Christmas tree illustrations on my own. Here’s a video of my doodling. They comprised of simple lines and shapes that anyone can recreate. Draw some strings of lights hanging from the top of the page. You can also draw a snow man with candy canes growing out of snowy banks. Enjoy!

I’ll be sharing more of my Christmas doodles and sketches soon!

49th Sketch Crawl in Boston

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On October 24th was the national Sketch Crawl event! Urban sketchers from all over the world are united in this special event where they try to capture the beauty of their city through sketching, water-colour, or other artistic mediums~ It was especially inspiring to know that on that day, there are hundreds out there sharing the same passion of drawing and appreciating the city with our observant eyes!

Of course, I would never miss it for the world. Together with the Urban Sketcher group here in Boston, we set out to sketch and paint downtown Boston and later to Harvard Square!

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It was a chilly morning, and my first stop was at Copley square. After a brief visit to the Boston Book Fair that was organised at the location, I quickly retreat to the warmth of Finagle Bagel. Sitting by the window, I had an excellent view of the Trinity Church, and I captured it in my sketch book~

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This quick sketch is made with the Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen! The fine nib is perfect for sketching and the ink is waterproof, which makes painting it with water-colour easy and convenient.  Continue reading →

Puppy drawings for Inktober

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Yes! thanks to my friend Smita’s suggestion, I’ve discovered the fun project of Inktober! What a great opportunity to pick up my fountain pen and start using up all those bottles of inks (Remind me again why I brought over 4 bottles of ink to the States…)

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(Inktober day 9)

Inktober is definitely a great practice to draw something each day. The short time period of the month of October is also fun and stress-free. I decided on a theme, which is to draw all the cute puppies I’ve been following on various service dog organisation in the States, such as Warrior Canine Connection, Service Dog Project, and ECAD, Educated Canine assisting with Disabilities. (You can observe the cute puppies 24/7 here!)

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DIY portable watercolor palette

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七月去了東京與網友一起有了小小的文具聚，收穫除了認識更多文具品牌而且充分shopping之外，也向她學了一些彩繪方面的文具DIY! 這次最喜歡的就是她教我自製輕巧便利的攜帶式水彩盤!

In my Japanese stationery expedition in July, I visited my artistic friend Esther in Tokyo! We went shopping, stationery hunting, and sketching all over the city. She also showed me a few tips on how to make your own DIY portable palette! I thought I’d share it here with you guys~

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不久前介紹了自己使用的溫沙牛頓攜帶式水彩盤，搭配水筆就能夠很輕鬆的沾取並隨地作畫，尤其是我的Hobonichi裡充滿了一些隨性的手繪，攜帶型水彩盤勢我的文具必備之一！(歡迎到我的IG觀賞: @penguinscreative)

Before I made my own palette, I always used Winsor and Newton’s pocket palette as my go-to water-colour pan. If you use it with a water brush, it is easy to mix color and use when you take it on an outing! I use it excessively in my Hobonichi as my daily entries include random doodles and watercoloring! (Instagram: @penguinscreative)

今天要不藏私的和大家介紹自製水彩盤的方式，相信一定會捲起一陣大創或金興發掃購風…

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My To-Go Stationery Setup

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I tend to hoard stationery items. I love to see new things that comes out, and try to collect them all. As a result, I have with me a whole stack of wonderful pens and writing tools. However, today a friend asked me to show her my to-go stationery set up, and I realise that I ended up always going minimalist when taking my writing tools on the goal. In this post I will be sharing the items that I bring with me whenever I go out. It’s almost embarrassing to examine how simple the combination is, but here goes:

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(From Left to right: A portable watercolor palette, Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook, Tabiya leather pen case, and finally a Hobonichi Weeks (spring start) )

As you can probably guess, they are all super light and easy to carry. I want to eliminate the hassle of ruffling through my bag whenever I want to find something. Also, as an urban sketcher, it’s important to always have a small booklet that you can whip out and draw at the moment (hence the Weeks and the Moleskine)

Upon closer inspections are the contents inside the pen case and inside the pocket folder in my Weeks:

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2015 Hobonichi Review and 2016 Hobo Haul

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The contemplating Salary Man sitting on the bulk of my Hobonichi 2015

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I can’t believe that year 2015 is almost three quarters over! Looking at the picture of my Hobonichi Chunk, I can barely see the sliver of pages that are blank and waiting to be filled up. I would like to thank the Hobonichi User community on Facebook that had inspired me to start writing in a Hobonichi journal again, and what a wonderful journey.

I started out humbly in my English planner with diary entries, and gradually had courage to paint in water-colour, draw sketches and lots of doodling, and finally incorporating washi tape and stickers to create the style that is @Penguinscreative today.

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I started writing since November in 2014, and vigorously continued throughout this year. Continue reading →

Summer Tokyo Trip MTN flip through

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Many of you might have seen from previous posts that I had a super fun trip to Tokyo where I went on an amazing stationery shopping craze. Other than the “take my money” moments, I do have a lot of fun visiting different sights and meeting up with fellow stationery lovers in Tokyo.

Here’s a simple flip through video of how I use my stationery tools to make my travel diary so much more colourful and memorable! Enjoy~!

Stationery Haul from Japan Summer Trip

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This summer, I planned a special trip to Tokyo as a goodbye tour to Asia as I prepare to move to the US for the next two years (Goodbye, stationery heaven!). My friend Esther is nice enough to offer me a place to crash in Yokohama, so I had the opportunity to explore many places between the Kanagawa prefecture and Tokyo city!

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I compiled a detailed list of stationery stores I have to visit from reading various stationery related magazines in bookstores. Of course, with some help from google translation, I also found many local unique stationery stores that have interesting items. The random finds on this trip are also an intriguing experience, and you bet I definitely stock up on a lot of stationery items!

I’ll be sharing in this post my haul from my Tokyo trip. I like to get things that are practical for my journaling hobbies, pen pal exchange tools, and paints for my drawings and water-colour doodles. Another fashionable trend among stationery addicts are small toys they call Table Top Things (such as figurines from gashapon dispensers and paper weights), and I cannot resist getting some cute ones to put on my future reading desk.

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Mini Stationery Haul – Fountain pen and Inserts

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On April 25th, a few of us planner addicts got together to a Planner Meet-up, where we share our planner usages and materials we use to decorate daily pages. After the event, a few of us decide to continue the stationery-high we were in, and check out a famous fountain-pen boutique in Taipei: 小品雅集, and a cozy stationery store tucked inside a discreet alley: Vision Stationery.

小品雅集 ‘s owner is a fountain-pen lover and collector. He imported a variety of inks and fountain pens from all over the world, and sell them at very fair prices in his boutique. The collection of fountain pen range from beginner brands (Pilot Kakunos, Sailor Candy) to more costly and high-end products (Montblanc, limited edition Graf Von Faber-Castell).

As a fountain pen beginner, my objective was Pilot’s Penmanship Fountain pen. It is a introductory fountain pen with Continue reading →