How to use a Traveler’s Notebook Passport as a wallet

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I do lots of my creative journaling in my Hobonichi, but I also love all other things stationery. That includes the Midori branded Traveler’s Notebooks (TN for short). My first traveler’s notebook was a full size to utilize inserts when I travel. I would fill it with sketches and journaling while on a trip such as this Tokyo flip through. However, I was inspired by many friends at meet ups to use the passport size traveler’s notebook as a portable journal/wallet!

In May I visited Tokyo just in time to catch Traveler’s notebooks’ current release: the Camel traveler’s notebooks! It’s a color like caramel and a brown beige. I think it’s just the right color to carry for the summer.

So, i’m temporarily retiring my black traveler’s notebook until winter rolls around again. Here’s the unboxing of the set up I’ve prepared to turn my new Camel TN into a personal wallet!

  1. Passport Size Midori Traveler’s Notebook in Camel
  2. 004 Passport size plastic Zipper Case
  3. 010 Passport size Craft File

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To have the traveler’s notebook function as wallets, the most important part is to have compartments. My old black traveler’s notebook only uses the plastic zipper case, but I decide to customize this new one with a Craft file as well.

Unboxing the Camel Traveler’s Notebook.

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I’m so happy they included the green string to go with the Camel color (just like the Red string that pops on a black TN). They included extra rubber strings for the purpose of securing multiple inserts and accessories. I’ll only be using one in this case. Each new Traveler’s notebook set also comes with a blank insert (not shown in picture). I’ll be using that as my portable sketchbook when I finish with my latest insert.  Continue reading →

Welcome to Penguins Creative!

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A Stationery addict and lover of all things colorful. At Penguins Creative we celebrate Hobonichi, planners, writing tools, stickers, washi tapes, watercolor, and creative journaling. Put those all together to create memorable pages of your life each day!

“The starting point of discovering who you are, your gifts, your talents, your dreams, is being comfortable with yourself. Spend time alone. Write in a journal. Take long walks in the woods.”

– Robin S. Sharma

2016 Hobonichi Techo Avec review

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It’s that time to buy new planner again! Or is it?

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(image from 1101 website)

Well, Hobonichi is definitely a smart company, and they came out with the half year Avec Hobonichi Techo this June to entice people to try out and use their planners. I willingly fall for it every time. I fell into this rabbit hole from an A6 Hobonichi Techo, to the English planner, then to the A5 Cousin size, and finally to the A5 Cousin Avec Hobonichi Techo I’m using this year.

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(image from 1101 website)

During the normal planner sale season, you have to buy the Hobonichi Avec versions as a set: The January – June, and July – December booklets. As we are approaching the half of 2016, you are now able to purchase only the July – December Hobonichi techo planner (or Avec, as they named it) for the second half of the year. You can find information about how to purchase it in Hobonichi’s online webshop.

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I’m a big advocate for the Avec, because if you are a decorative girl like me, your Hobonichi tend to bulk up before the year is over. Continue reading →

Traveler’s Notebook Caravan in Taiwan

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I’m BEYOND envious of everyone in Taiwan right now. Midair’s Traveler’s Notebook is holding a special exhibition in Taiwan along with the celebration of their 10th anniversary. Traveler’s Company Caravan designed a series of items that are inspired by local features of Taiwan! For a stationery addict like me, it definitely evoked a serious sense of nostalgia and excitement. I NEED TO OWN THEM ALL!

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In Taiwan, there are a lot of shops that treat TRAVELER’S notebook with care and respect, and there are a lot of good foods and heartwarming people, making it an attractive place to travel.

They collaborated with Eslite Bookstore for this special event. Unfortunately, this collaboration also allowed them to kick up the price of the items a bit. Eslite, why are you taking all of my money.

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Daily Hobonichi: April 06 – 09

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I decided to start sharing some of my Hobonichi pages here along with some anecdotes that goes on in my world filled with stationery. Let’s start this series of post with my adventure to New York over the weekend for a company tour hosted by AMA Emerson.

(Since this is late night impulse post, please excuse the grayish, scanned version of my pages. Guys, daylight is definitely the ONLY time to take pictures)

The Hobonichi challenge for April 6th was peppers, so I decided to draw both variety that dominates my life: chili pepper and bell peppers. Before you ask, this was done in very saturated watercolor to achieve that marker effect!

Stressin’ out on the day before the company tour at Tumblr, Thinx, and PSFK at New York. You know you’re stressed when you start using “stress” too much in a single sentence. As always, I took a 5 hour ride on the Megabus to New York immediately after work. The journey was slow and excruciating. I feel sorry for the guy sitting next to me though, he is so tall, he literally have to contort his legs in a weird position to get his whole self into the seat. Then he stayed in that weird position for hours…

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NYC Urban Sketchers Portrait Party

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I’m in New York City again! A spontaneous decision brought me to this bustling city for the long weekend (and away from freezing Boston and its -16F temperature…). Since I’ll be missing my weekly meet with fellow urban sketcher (USK) friends in Boston, I immediately check to see if there are any drawing sessions with the NYC group.

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Boy, am I in luck! This weekend the USK meet up in New York City is holding a portrait party. To sum it up, everyone take turns being the live model for 10 minutes, and at the end of the session, we will each have created tons of portrait drawings of all the participants.

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I’ve always been daunted by drawing portraits and people because I’m not very skilled with proportions. My biggest problem is to even get the ‘creatures’ to look ‘human-like’ LOL. However, this portrait party is just too big of an opportunity to miss, so I signed up for it anyway. Continue reading →

How to Journal Everyday – Build a Hobonichi Habit

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I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I’ve embarked on this journaling adventure with my Hobonichi. Every single page of my A6 English Planner was filled to the brim with doodles and writing. I couldn’t be happier.

How does she do it? 

Many of you might wonder how much time I spend each day journaling? How do I go about writing in each page and fitting in illustrations? In this post I’ll be breaking down my journaling process for you, and hopefuly it’ll be a motivation for you to start writing in your Hobonichi today!

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The size of the Hobonichi Techo may seem small (A6), but on days when you don’t have the time or motivation to write, that gridded space could be pretty daunting. This realization is more apparent this year since I’ve switched to the A5 Cousin size Hobonichi. Moreover, I’ve challenged myself to make time and journal in those pages EVERY SINGLE DAY, because I know how lazy impulses can turn into two days or even weeks very fast. With the larger space of the Cousin, I would feel more guilty if I have to flip through blank pages. Then again, I don’t want to turn this into an assignment. Journaling is fun! This is definitely a time I look forward each day to play with my ‘toys’ (stationery, art supplies). The most important thing is to enjoy the journaling process and eventually it’ll become a habit.

Journaling is a time of reflection and enjoyment. It’s not a timed task where you’re rushing toward the deadline. 

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Step 1: Setting up your journaling space

There’s a Chinese proverb that says: A workman must first sharpen his tools if he wishes to do his work well. I guess this speaks dearly to all of us stationery addicts’ heart (turns to look at my hoard of stationery items). You’ve bought all those stickers and pens and decorative washi tapes over the holiday, now put them to use!

Continue reading →

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 →