It’s here! It’s finally here!
The sun was bright and the sky was clear as I happily skipped my way to the Post Office to pick up my Hobonichi order.
“Shoes?” The lady behind the counter asked as she processed my yellow box
“Um…yeah.”
“Girls and their shoes~” She replied
Girl, you have no idea. Sometimes it’s hard to explain one’s stationery obsession with someone who’s not interested in this hobby 😉 I was grinning from ear to ear as I carry my prize all the way home! Continue reading
In Late August, I embarked on a week long trip to Seattle to visit some friends. Of course I have to bring my Hobonichi along with me to journal and record the things I see and the places I’ve been. Although I’ve already built up a system or a habit of journaling in my Hobonichi, the hard part about doing it while you’re traveling is that your day schedule is so full, you’re usually exhausted at the end of the day. Fortunately, many of my plans in Seattle actually are stationery and planner meet ups with fellow journaling addicts, so we spent a lot of time in cafes writing in our Hobo or Traveler’s Notebook!
My simply set up consisted of a pen case with my favorite pens: Uni Pin fine line waterproof pigment ink pens for drawing, Uni Style fit for journaling, my TWSBI Eco fountain pen, washi samples, some sticker sheets, a small sticker book, and a portable watercolor palette! (For a more comprehensive read about how to keep a travel scrapbook, or you can check out a post about my traveler’s notebook!)
(This was taken at Sea-Tac airport while waiting for my flight back to Boston.)
I’m just going to jump right into it and show you my first fabulous meet up with three amazing girls in Seattle: Phyllis, Leah, and Sandra. They were kind enough to make time for me to meet and we all gawked and geeked over our Hobonichis. Of course we brought multiple journals, and there’s always the inevitable Planner Tower: Continue reading
A bit belated, but I still want to take the chance to show you guys a flip through of my January pages in the Hobonichi Cousin. January marks the second month I started using the larger size Hobonichi planner.
First I’ll do a quick review of the stationery tools I use mostly in my Hobonichi pages for my creative journaling! If you are impatient to get to the flip through portion, scroll down to the end of this post! Continue reading
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!
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.
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
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!
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.
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!
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!
(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!
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!
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~
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
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:
(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:
For many doodlers out there, there must be some discussion on what’s the best pen to draw with. Some people might want to use water-colour together in their drawings. In this video I share my favourite waterproof pigment ink pens I use in my Hobonichi Techo. They are Uni-pin fine line, Sakura Microns, and Unchida pens~
They have a harder nib than normal pens, and their waterproof nature makes it very convenient to paint over them without the lines smudging. Check out this video for some speed doodling using these pens!
Did another portrait practice sketch by drawing a model in the magazine. Again, I made a mistake of not using a pencil to sketch first, therefore I drew most of the lines by instinct and at-the-moment adjustment. In the end, the whole body proportion is not…quite..right…?
Plus the relaxed hand position in my drawing just looks as if the girl had a sore neck lol!
PENGUINS CREATIVE 