Author: Patty Radish

Dori Making, Faith Journaling, and Expectations

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

In the midst of getting ready to drive over the mountains to spend Easter with my daughter, I decided I needed to take on learning how to make a “Fabric Dori”, to keep my faith journaling inserts in. You see, I had ordered some Illustrated Faith inserts a couple of weeks ago, was expecting them any day, and I wanted to be ready!

Well, it may sound strange hearing this from me, but I have been questioning the amount of time I spend on my creative pursuits. Thinking about them, planning them, buying supplies, then talking about them on social media. You can imagine how patient my husband must be! But he fishes, a lot, so let’s not go there…

IMG_2583Anyway, the inserts of course arrived when I was gone, but I had printed up some freebie downloads, and glued them in an insert I already had. That was all I really needed.

IMG_2638

When I got home, there was a gorgeous pile of Happy Mail waiting for me! So, I set to filling this Dori with Faith Journaling goodies!

IMG_2639

The insert on the right is a plain kraft paper one I’m going to use to art journal in. The one on the left is an Illustrated Faith insert from the “Beautiful” devotional kit.

Now to the expectations…

or lack there of…

IMG_2629

The first page in my I.F, “Created to Create” insert. When I read through it the first time, I didn’t know what to say. You see, I’ve been referred to as an artist in the past, I just don’t see myself as one. Maybe I have a different idea of what an artist is. All I know is, I feel a lot more comfortable with the label “Creative”, so let’s stick with that.

The most wonderful thing I realized after working on this page spread is that I don’t have to feel guilty about the amount of time I spend creating! My creativity runs throughout my life, my cooking, decorating, gardening. In a nut shell, I live a creative life! It truly is a gift from God!

So, no more guilt! (I hope!)

Thank you once again for stopping by,

Have a great day,

~Patty

Washi Days

~ Patty Radish ~ 6 Comments

I have been on a bit of a washi tape buying binge lately. In my defense, I really use the heck out of it, and with Spring in the air, I needed some color!

IMG_2564

These are from Michaels craft store. I’ve been waiting for months for them to get some new varieties in. Very Spring-ish I would say!

I used a 30% off your entire purchase coupon for these. The two large rolls on the left are from the Heidi Swapp “Marquee Love” collection, the others are from the Michael’s “Recollections” brand. They’re all a bit pricey, but pretty good quality.

IMG_2567

Scotch brand is stepping up their game with some gorgeous color! I’m going to have to buy more of that pink floral soon, too cute!

IMG_2556

These are some skinny washis I bought on Amazon, made by MT Co. I just put “thin washi tape” in the search, then scrolled till I found some I liked. The florescent ones really add a nice punch of color to your work!

IMG_2559

I found these at “I luv Design” on Etsy while searching for that skinny washi by Amy Tangerine. If I’m going to pay shipping, I’m buying more, stands to reason! Some new faves! Great Shop!

IMG_2554

Hows that for cute! I bought these on Etsy from “Silent Poetry Arts“, isn’t that a lovely name! I love that woodland one, but that red and gold dotted one is super awesome!

I use the skinny washi to divide up my planner pages. It would be less expensive to draw a line, but definitely not as pretty! As you can see, finding skinny washi is getting much easier now I’m happy to say!

 I hope you will visit the Etsy shops I listed and check out their stock. Both are in the US and had a super fast turn around!

Until next time,

Thank you for stopping in,

Happy shopping,

~Patty

Thrifty Thursday Happy Mail Organization

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

Yep, I decided to bag “Throwback Thursday” and replace it with “Thrifty Thursday”. If I’m going to share about a bunch of old crap, I’d rather it was once somebody else’s old crap!

That being said, let’s move along…

IMG_2263At the beginning of March, I shared about some of my thrifted finds, and said I’d get back to you on this sweet, little overnight case.

IMG_2265When I first bought it, I had no idea what I was going to use it for, but I just had to have it. I didn’t take long to come up with a plan…

IMG_2267

…my new Happy Mail Organization case! Yay!

Up until now, all my happy mail was thrown into a box with no rhyme or reason. I love to use the ephemera that people send to me in my journals, and I like to keep track of who sent what, so organizing was a must!

Isn’t that rectangular case perfect for stamps?  I’ve been tearing stamps off letters as long as I can remember. There’s quite a few years worth in there!

IMG_2273

So, I went through my box of happy mail and gathered up all of the envelopes, put the pieces into these large plastic envelopes, and labeled them. There is a pocket on the backs of these envelopes for any larger pieces that don’t fit inside, perfect!

IMG_2259

Speaking of Happy Mail, here is the latest from my dear friend Iryna.

Some beautiful post cards.

IMG_2256

Stamps, journaling pieces, and educational floral cards.

IMG_2252

Bird cards, stickers, and hand written phrases.

Thank you Iryna!

IMG_2574

This is the page I put together from the ephemera in Iryna’s letter. There was even some gorgeous bird tape and stamps on the envelope that I carefully removed and used! My only addition was some colorful washi tape to pull the colors together.

I love the message on this page, “Time to Fly!”.

And so it is!

Thank you so much for the visit,

Have a great rest of your week,

~Patty

Vintage Supply Findings

~ Patty Radish ~ 7 Comments

This is what happens when you wait too long to share, it piles up! It’s been two months, to the day, since I last wrote about my vintage findings. And it seems I’ve been very busy!

IMG_2536

These are a few things I picked up while spending the day with one of my best friends. Milk caps and vintage Japanese postcards. I’m not sure what I will do with those postcards, I may have to come up with some kind of postcard album, just so I can look at them once in a while instead of poking them into a drawer.

IMG_2542

Dennison goodies from Ebay. I have since found a much less expensive alternative, I’ll share that in a bit.

Those Thanksgiving seals will be fun for journal decorating around the holidays, I have no explanation for the music dictionary.

IMG_2544

Books that have seen better days. There’s an antique mall in the next town that has loads of books that are in pretty bad shape, but for a decent price. I just love the covers on these, I don’t care if they’re falling apart, I think it adds to their character!

I have to say, I love taking something that other people might look at as hopeless and making something useful out of them!

IMG_2530

French Prayer cards from “French Vintage 4 You” on Etsy. Her shop is in France, but the shipping was very reasonable. This is just a portion of what I received, I just love them!

She has lots of great antiques and ephemera too, go check her out!

IMG_2538

Some super cute ephemera from “Feed the Birdies” on Etsy. Her shop is filled with so much cute, vintage ephemera, it was hard to choose. I love that she sent a report card from Moses Lake, WA. That’s where my daughter lives, how cool is that!

I’m considering writing my name at the top of these, I couldn’t bring home a report card like these in my wildest dreams!

IMG_2526

A treasure trove from “Saturday Morning Vintage“. I ordered this ephemera pack along with some Dennison labels. I had the hardest time getting all this into the photo, there was so much of it!

I have to admit, I didn’t pay very much attention to the shop photo when I purchased this because I was in such a hurry, so what a great surprise it was when I went through it and found so many awesome little goodies! There isn’t one thing I’m not in love with here! Swoon!

IMG_2523

Here are the Dennison labels from her shop. The rest of that, at the right, is the gratis pack she included with my order! Again, I love every bit of it. (I hope you can sense my excitement over all this!)

I don’t know where she finds all this awesomeness, the lucky duck, but you have to go check out her shop, its fantastic!

Well, thats it for now. I hope you will go check out the shops I mentioned.

Till next time,

Thank you for stopping in,

Have a great day,

~Patty

My Vision/Goals Planner

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

This all started with just wanting a cute faux-dori. I had been seeing them all around IG and in Facebook groups, so I had to try one out.

Am I glad I did!

IMG_2484

I purchased this KiwiDori from The Kiwi Rose shop. I love it!

I had to warm up to it a bit, never having used one before, so it sat on a shelf for a few months. But, when the new year rolled around, I knew exactly what I needed it for…

IMG_2483

A Vision/Goals Planner! Through the years, I had heard about people using vision boards, but I didn’t really give them too much credence…till now!

This is the first of 7 inserts, titled “Creative”. There is also “The Shoppe”, “Social”, “Personal”, “Our Home”, “Faith” and “Self Care/Fitness”.  This “Creative” insert is where I list projects that need finishing, some new ones I’d like to try, or just a place to journal and dream. As you will see, I use copious amounts of inspirational quotes throughout.

IMG_2494

I’ve started decorating up a few pages before I write on them. I didn’t do this in the beginning, so I went back and “fixed” those. I didn’t realize how much I had been using this until I started looking for undecorated pages!

IMG_2487

This is such an excellent place to put inspiring images and ideas! I had the magazines these came out of for years! I finally cut out the images I wanted, then donated the mostly intact magazines to the thrift store. What a space saver!

IMG_2489

My business insert. In my research on vision boards, cutting out images and quotes is a huge part of the process. It was fun finding the right home for each saying!

IMG_2491

I glued cool photos of inspiring craft spaces throughout my business section from my collection of “Where Women Create” magazines, then donated those too.

I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to get busy!

IMG_2496

This is my social insert. Where I put ideas, concerns, goals or just journal.

IMG_2500

This reading list in my personal goals section got pretty extensive, so I switched it over to my personal planner. This planner has become a great place to hash out ideas for my other planners! IMG_2499

Which brings me to the point of this post, vision journals work!

I tried this as an experiment, with low expectations, my mistake! It seems that this works very much the same way that planning does, if you write it down, you are more likely to do it! Go figure.

I am officially a true believer! There were a few inserts I didn’t share because of how long this post was getting, but it seems as though most of the sections of this planner have helped me make huge progress towards my goals, with the exception of the Health and Fitness. Every time I open that one I hear crickets! Time to correct that!

I hope this gave you some encouragement to try idea this out. I will be updating you on the progress of this little gem as the year progresses. Like I said, there are still a couple of areas I need to work on, and it’s never too late to get started!

Thanks once again for the visit,

Have a great weekend,

~Patty