MTangDesigns

       I didn't get to do this November memory page until the Christmas weekend.  Since my baby turned 15 years old, I really wanted to capture this moment in my bullet journal.  The truth is....every mom would always want to capture every birthday of their babies.     I cut some of the wrapping paper from the Christmas gifts I received.  This is a simple and fun page for me.  Most of all, I love my daughter's baby picture!  She made the most funny face ever!  I still have a hard time believing that she's growing into this beautiful young lady.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

    I don't like to buy wrapping paper because it takes me a long time to use them up.  Sometimes, I just don't want to use the same wrapping paper again and again.  I decided not to buy any new wrapping paper. I drew my own wrapping paper instead.     I reused Trade Joe's bags.  I have tons of them since I love shopping there.  I used the bag to draw one design at the time.  If decided that if I didn't like it, I could throw it out and make another one again.  :)  I saw at it as a way for me to practice my drawing.     The first wrapping paper is for Ashley's piano teacher.  Her piano teacher loves Bach.  I found one piece from Bach which I love.  I drew the score as part of the design.     I got invited to a Christmas/Hanukkah party.  I decided to do a Happy Hanukkah wrapping paper.    When I wrapped the gift up, I realized that the paper was a bit too thick. ...

Sorry! I did not post anything for last week.  I was resting and trying to get over a cold.  I am feeling a bit better now. For the first layout, I just do some simple pattern design.  Personally, I really like the color!     For the second layout, I drew some Christmas ornaments since I was in a festival mood!  After all, Christmas is coming!

    This is the first time I am drawing a Chinese brush painting on a watercolor paper instead of the rice paper.  Since the watercolor paper is a lot thicker than the rice paper, it gives a different feel.  I am very happy how my painting comes out.  I especially like Buddha's hair.  In addition, this is the first time I am using a Chinese brush to write English.  It takes a little bit to get used to it.  The writing comes out okay.  I will work hard to improve!

Recently, my job has been busy.  Sometimes, I come home exhausted.  Instead of doing something fancy, I just want to doodle to relax my mind. This is what happen.  I started off drawing the snow flakes and then doodles the swirls with different colors.  It looks pretty good!     Once the background design is done, I started drawing the lines for my December monthly layout.     This is a close up of my December habit tracker.  The habit tracker is a easy way to help me establishing good habits.  :)  To be honest, I have not been very good at sleeping early.

For November, I added memory pages in my bullet journal. Ashley and I went to the school play.  Everyone did a fabulous job!  The school play was great!  The high school kids really worked hard and the play was a success!  I can't wait to see the next play! I went to my parents' place for Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm very fortunate that I live in the same town as my parents so it's just a short ride.  My mom is a great cook and she loves to cook.  She made a lot of food.  The turkey and stuffings are delicious!  What I liked the most about Thanksgiving is everyone gets together to enjoy each other's company.  I took a picture of my daughter showing grandpa her new phone.   During the Thanksgiving weekend, I finally got to watch the Fantastic Beasts with Ashley.  I love the movie so much that I had to draw one of the magical creatures -- Niffler.  He is so cute!  What a little trouble maker!   ...

I had a wonderful dinner with my family yesterday. Food was great.  On top of that, I have Friday off!  Yay! After last night's Thanksgiving dinner, I was full, happy and felt very creative!  I picked up the paint brush and started doodling. Once I finished the background, I used sumi ink to write "Thanksgiving" in Chinese.  I am very grateful for my family, friends, my job, my co-workers, my gift of drawing, health and my good  neighbors... just to name a few things.  Also, many thanks for people who have been supporting me through internet.  Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy the time with your friends and family!

Let me first share my experience with my time wheels from last week before showing my weekly layouts.  Since I added time trackers in November, I was a lot more conscious of what was I doing with my time and how long each task would take.  It also made me more aware where my black holes for time are.  For me, the time suckers are internet games.  I had been pretty good at dodging the black holes lately.  Lol!  I was very productive in term of drawings for these two days.  Not to mention, I love filling in colors every night.  I find it very relaxing!     The time tracker is especially helpful during weekend.  Since I don't work on the weekend, the weekend is less structured.  It also helps me to keep the memories of having fun and spending time with my family.  I love being able to write down what I have done with my daughter and how I felt. For the 4th week of November, I am sticking with the same layout. ...

I have posted this painting on my Instagram but I totally forgot to do a blog for it!  I don't know how I can forget about it.  Anyway, I am just glad that I remembered to write about this painting.  I am very proud of this creation.  I really love it! This is an ancient word for Dragon.  This type of writing is called bird-worm seal script.  It first appeared in the middle of the Spring and Autumn period and was most popular during the Warring States period.  It is often seen on bronze and iron weapons. I love ancient Chinese words.  They're the embodiment of writing and painting in one.  I love how the lines are trying to tell us what the dragon looks like.  Somehow, the word also carries a very pure and primitive energy! Please visit my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mtangdesigns

Sorry! I didn't post much last week.  I was under the weather and my child was also sick.  Anyway, both of us are feeling much better now.  Let's get back to creating, designing and drawing! For the 3rd week of November, my layout pretty much looks the same as last week.  However, I have added daily meditation prompts from Deepak Chopra. Each day I have different prompts to mediate and practice.  This is the daily practices for peacemakers.  If you're interested, please read the sentences I wrote in green. If you want to know more about the daily practices for peacemakers, please check out the following website: https://chopracentermeditation.com/article/10-daily_practices_for_peacemakers

Hey friends! For last week's layout, I added the time log. I like the linear design but sometimes it's hard to write everything down in a tight space.  Since I don't have to work on the weekend, I am running errands, doing housework and creating artwork.  It's a lot to track. For the 2nd week of November, I decided to try out the circular time log.  The inner circle is to track the time in the morning and the outer circle is for the afternoon hours.  Personally, I also think the circular design looks prettier.  Let me know what you think.  Don't forget to come back next week and see how it works out for me.       

    Happy Sunday!!     When I was on my way to work about 2 weeks ago, an image came through.  When I got to work, I quickly sketched out the design.  I finally got to draw it out this week and I'm really happy that I was able to capture the essence that came through me that day!  Thank you universe!  :)     This is the word Tao in Chinese.  Since Chinese is an iconographic language, I really like the cloud design as part of the word.  I really like the ancient Chinese word because it's a word and a picture at the same time.     Please also check out my Etsy store if you are interested to acquire this painting: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mtangdesigns

When I first saw a tracker from other bullet journalists, I am very intrigued.  Once I tried it out, I was hooked.  I started trying out the tracker as part of the October weekly spreads.  By the second week of October, I realized that it would be a good idea to do a monthly tracking. For the month of November, I decided to combine the tracking with monthly calendar together.   It's the most simple way to remind myself or keep track of what I get done or not.  Not to mention, I enjoyed filling in the color. For the weekly spread, I added the time log tracker with each day.  This is a new design I came up with.  I want to try out for the first week and see how it works out.  Then, I will decide whether to continue on using the same format for next week or not. Since my daughter is a November baby, I decided to use a birthday or festival theme for November!  :)

    When I woke up this morning, I was so excited to go my chinese brush painting class because I was really looking forward to coloring my Tibetan Prasol (Umbrella) from last week.  Unfortunately, my teacher wanted me to stick with his plan, which was to paint the squashes and autumn leaves.   Anyway, I did want he wanted.  Sigh!!  I guess I have to wait till next week then.     I got to pick the leaves and squashes I wanted.       I arranged the leaves and squashes a couple of times and found out which arrangement I liked the most.     This is how my chinese brush painting came out.  I didn't draw the yellow leaves because I didn't have enough time.

  My daughter and I went out to get her friend a birthday gift at the last minute.  We picked this cute Mickey Mouse.  The truth is... we picked Captain America.  When we got home, we couldn't find Captain America in the shopping bag.  I checked my receipt and saw the item was bought.  I went back to the store hoping that the cashier had it.  Luckily, the cashier was very nice.  She let me take another one after I had showed her the receipt and told her what happened.    I decided to upcycle a Trader Joe's brown bag.  I just measured how much material I need, cut the bag and folded it in half.  I drew the Mickey Mouse's face at the front and tail on the other side of the bag.  Then, I used washi tape to tape the sides.  A cute handmade gift bag was born!!

    I'm so inspired by all the creative souls from Instagram.  I woke up early on Saturday morning and decided to visit my Chinese brush painting teacher whom I have not seen for 2 years or so.  The truth is.. I feel like I need to improve my brushing painting skills.  During the class, I drew two pictures.  One is inspired by a kimono and other one is Tibetan Buddhist art.     I saw a belt for a kimono from the Fumika.Ikemoto website.  The pattern is so beautiful that I couldn't resist and had to draw it.     This is one of the Eight Auspicious symbols in Buddhism.   It is the Tibetan Parasol (Umbrella).  I can't wait till my next chinese brush painting class to fill in the color.

This is a picture I did awhile back but I never got a chance to post my painting.  I used a picture from the original Brothers Grimm's Little Mermaid.  If anyone knows who is the artist, please let me know.  I would like to give the artist credit.  I feel my version of the  Little Mermaid has more of a Disney influence.  I am pretty sure my influence comes from watching a lot of Disney movies.      I love work-in-progress pictures.  It is like watching a child growing up.       I love the Little Mermaid's hair.  It took me some time to sketch out the hair the way I wanted it.      I used soft pastel for the sky and the clouds.  I am very happy how the clouds come out.     I used color pencil to fill in details of the hair.       I used acrylic for the flowers.       Needless to say, I am very happy with my paint...