Author: Patty Radish

I’m Back In the Saddle Again…

~ Patty Radish ~ 5 Comments

So, right now you either have Gene Autry or Aerosmith stuck in your head, if not, just hit one of those links. That’ll fix it!

I have been searching my heart over the last four months as to whether or not having a business was the right fit for me. I knew some how that if I gave it enough time, said a few prayers, and was patient enough, the answer would  find me..and it did!

And, I thought it would be fun to share some of things I have been up to to get ready…

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Making gratis “Thank You” bags. One of the things I wanted to do differently was to have things made up ahead of time. I love tucking these goody bags into the packages with the invoice with a cute little paperclip!

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Punching tags out of the painted page remnants. Waste not, want not! A perfect way to use up small scraps of baker’s twine too!

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This was last night’s project in front of the television. I am amazed at how many of these I use up! What an awesome project to do while zoning in front of your favorite show. Speaking of which…

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This is something I whipped up the other night, Love! I have so many fabric scraps, and I love working with scraps of all kinds as you may well know. The problem with getting some of these into the shoppe is finding those chunky paperclips. I shall be hunting some down today!

So, there you have it! I will be getting some journals made this week and will be sure to let know when their in the shoppe.

I want to Thank Everyone that has supported my shoppe over the last couple of years, you are why I’m sticking with it! I love making journals, and all the stuff that goes with them.

 But most of all, I love the opportunity it has given me to  establish so many friendships along the way!

As always,

Thanks for the visit,

Have a wonderful week,

~Patty

Faith Journaling

~ Patty Radish ~ 12 Comments

It seems as though circumstances occurred around the same time to bring me to this place. A place where I feel comfortable and brave enough to share a part of my life that I usually keep private. The reason being that I didn’t want to come off as somebody that seemed pushy about their Faith.

I am not going to go into a lot of detail about my personal spiritual philosophies, I just wanted to share about something I have added, that makes me very happy.

IMG_2363Faith journaling! A place where I can journal about my thoughts on a book I’m reading, write down something I need to pray about, or just to create a beautiful space to enjoy.

I made a prayer journal years ago, but it sat on a shelf until I finally took it apart. Faith journaling happens to be one of the things in my vision/goal journal that I wanted to achieve this year. Luckily, there is an abundance of inspiration and ideas out there to encourage us.

IMG_2366Along with family keepsakes and a few store bought goodies, I was able to pull my pages together in the way that I had hoped to, vintage mixed with contemporary.

I am using adhesive photo pockets to put delicate family keepsakes in because they have prayers on the back, and I like to read them now and again.

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I’m sure you will notice that this journal does lean a bit towards the Catholic church, there’s a very good reason for that, our family of origin is Catholic, and over the years I have saved many of the Christmas and Prayer cards we’ve received.

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Of course, this style of art journaling will work for any Faith. I personally love having a place to keep some of my family memories along with having a beautiful place to journal.

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As you can see, I have finished quite a few pages that I can go to when I need to write something down. I have found that this is super helpful. There’s nothing like losing the thought because there was no place to put it!

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I have spent a lot of time combing the internet for ideas and inspiration. The best places I have found are Pinterest (of course), Instagram, Youtube, Illustrated Faith, and now The Reset Girl. Cori and Shanna both have channels on Youtube, so go check them out!

I’ll be taking a Faith journaling class in April with Cori and Shanna, I can’t wait!

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That lavender cross is something that has been stuffed in a closet for decades. It was lovingly placed in an Easter card from my dad and stepmom long, long ago. I kept it all these years knowing that someday it would find the right place. This makes me very happy! And, reinforces the belief to not throw things away just because they don’t have a home yet!

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A library pocket from that prayer journal that didn’t quite make it.

Now that I have a place for all those keepsakes from over the years, I will be starting on the journal that you can see at the top left in the first photo. It will have a distinctly different look to it with lots of retro kitschy-ness along with contemporary colors and embellishments, that should be fun!

I will be putting some Faith journals in my shoppe pretty soon, I’ll let you know as soon as that happens.

As always,

Thank you for your time,

Have a great weekend,

~Patty

My “Self Care” Planner

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

I thought I would share something that I have been working on for the past couple of months, my “Self Care Planner”. A place where I list, dream, plan and track my personal progress.

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I’ve written about this KikkiK planner before. You may recognize it as my business planner. Since my decision to take a step back from my shoppe to spend more time working on my personal, family and home life, I realized I didn’t need two business binders, go figure.

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When I first started working on this, I wondered what I was going to do with all those dividers, it didn’t take long to figure that out!  There are few more tabs labeled “Favorite Recipes”, “Health Care”, and “Lists” behind these.

I’m going to try and tackle those “Wish Lists” and “Fitness” sections asap!

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I wish it was more exciting looking, but the main point of writing this post was to share something that I had a heck of a time finding info on, planners that are all about taking better care of yourself!

I’m happy to say that since I have made taking better care of myself my #1 priority, I have a lot more energy to take care of all the other aspects of my life!

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I thought I would show you my weekly inserts before I write in all my lists and such. I start with decorating with washi, then add the dates.

FYI: these inserts are from Plan2Create on Etsy and that sweet page marker is from TheKiwiRose shop if your interested.

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Monday through Friday is  bit redundant, but that’s the point. This only takes about 20 minutes to write out, but very much worth it! Once the week is set up, ticking things off the lists, either throughout the day or in the evening, takes just a couple of minutes.

My self-care tasks are as follows:

Morning Routine, Breakfast, Reading, Planning

Stretch, Water log

Evening Routine, Gratitude Journal, Planners

The “Routines” consist of medications, vitamins, teeth care, that sort of thing. I’m sure most people do these things automatically, but if I don’t check it off a list, I’ll procrastinate until my next life, and I’m afraid my teeth won’t follow! I’m not exactly falling apart at the seams, but I am starting to feel life’s wear and tear! So, these things need to be a priority!

On the weekends, I’m a little more flexible about my tasks. Sundays have become my “Spa” days as of late. I soak in the tub, take care of my nails, all kinds of “me” stuff, it’s a great way to start the new week!

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My awesome little planner pocket care of TheKiwiRose shop, I adore it! I’m  stepping up the decorating in this planner because that seems the best way to get familiar with it. It’s still a work in progress, like I said, I haven’t found very much info on self care planners.

I hope to go into a bit more detail on the various dividers when I’m able to put more work into them, I’ll keep you posted. I hope you found this post helpful. If you have any suggestions or info you’d like to share, I would really appreciate your input!

Thank you once again for the visit,

Have a wonderful day,

~Patty

A Thrifty Finds Update

~ Patty Radish ~ 5 Comments

Although I am still working on de-cluttering my spaces, the occasional trip to my favorite thrift store is a must, because there are some things I can never have enough of…

IMG_2276IMG_2279…like awesome vintage children’s books!

Some of these have seen better days, so I will be happy to make journals out of them, but some I may have to hold on to, just too cute!IMG_2285My art room is slowly filling up with vintage wooden cigar boxes. I love how they look mixed in with my kooky, kitsch decor.

IMG_2282There is a chance that I will someday be able to pass up vintage playing cards for 25 cents, but not any time soon I imagine!

IMG_2263But this! Oh my goodness, I think I’m in love! To think I almost passed this up because of the color.

You see, over the years I have had too many vintage cases sit around empty, so making the decision to bring this home was a bit iffy…until I figured out what it would be perfect for…and I will be sharing that project next time!

Until then,

Thank you for stopping in,

Have a beautiful day,

~Patty

Throw Back Thursday 3.3

~ Patty Radish ~ 7 Comments

I have been wanting to do one of these TBT’s for a long time. But, because of the type of scheduling I do for my blog posts, this is the first Thursday I’ve landed on in a long time.

This is going to be a pretty photo heavy blog post, so I hope you have a beverage at hand!

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My first keepsake journal! I read some of my old journaling in it, I spend a lot of time talking about how much I love it!

The majority of it is sewn together, this was my “sewing” phase, and an excellent way to use up scraps! What you will see inside is the flotsam and jetsam that I pulled out of drawers and envelopes that I had collected over the years.

Let’s get started…

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My favorite postcard ever! It was sent to me back in the ’90s from my brother when he lived in Ireland. I made a pocket out of velum so that you could see the whole card.

On the left is a handmade postcard and a pocket made from a paint swatch with some journaling tucked inside.

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The page on the right is a piece of the freezer paper I use to protect my desk when I’m painting. I love the effect of an instant background. I made a pocket to store things too!

On the left is a postcard from my mother-in-law from Italy.

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Another postcard and a journaling pocket. If you look closely, you can see some of the stitching on the pages.

IMG_2228More journaling. That envelope on the right is one  I took apart and glued back together inside out. I stamped the word “safe” onto a piece of paper and glued it into the window.

If you’ve noticed the aqua rub ons and faux stamps, I thought the eclectic mix of colors and styles in this journal could use a little cohesiveness, so I added them throughout, and I needed to use them up!

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More postcards and journaling…with pockets…

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On the left, there is a photo of my first article in Art Journaling magazine and in the pocket is a friend’s doodle. She doodles a lot and I always keep them. I sewed some fabric onto it and journaled inside.

On the right is a pocket with an anniversary card from my husband and some journaling in an envelope.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, and I hope I gave you a few good ideas for using up some random crap! It all seems random until you put it all together in one place.

Once again,

Thank you for visiting,

Have a great day,

~Patty