Author: Patty Radish

Wilhold Keepsake Journal Love

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

In a previous post, I spoke at length about finding a Wilhold sewing box just like my mother used to have, which you can read here.

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Isn’t she lovely!

It didn’t take long to figure out the perfect project for her to hold.

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My Keepsake Stitched Journal project!

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A tray of stitchery goodness!

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With plenty of room for embellishments at the bottom!

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My journal is made up of projects collected through the years made by my great grandmother, myself, and my daughter, with trims and embellishments from my mother and grandmother. Five generations of stitching love in one place!

In this photo, from bottom left going clockwise, an embroidery my daughter did when she was about 10, an embroidery I started when she was a baby, handkerchiefs from my mom, and lastly, the cover made from a quilt by my great grandmother. My grandmother’s contribution will be in the form of bits of jewelry, she was a bit of a glam girl, maybe some photos of her too!

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My first finished page. I made the pages from linen sandwiched with thin quilt batting. Then closed it off with a blanket stitch all around. The linen is gorgeous to work with and makes a beautiful background for lots of stitching.

The above is an embroidery that I made many years ago that has had too many incarnations to remember. It’s nice to finally have a home for it.

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A page in progress.

I have no intentions of rushing through this project, I want it to be just so. I hope to pass it along to my daughter some day, because I know she will love it.

I’ll be sharing my progress over the next few months. I’m open to any suggestions on resources or ideas, so be sure to let me know of any you might have in the comments. They will be very much appreciated!

As always,

Thanks for dropping by,

Have a great day,

~Patty

My Quote/Collage Journal

~ Patty Radish ~ 12 Comments

Lately, I have been seeing quite a few art journaling pages on instagram that have been using favorite quotes as journal prompts. So, when I found this half finished list journal on my shelf a couple of weeks back, I thought it would be a perfect choice for my newest collage journal. And, since I was getting a late start for February, and having just received a Flow magazine filled with quote cards, I’d say it was providence that brought these elements together.

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Some of these pages already had the “bones” of the collage in place, all I had to do is find a quote thats spoke to me and decorate. How fun is that!

I haven’t used journaling prompts before, I hadn’t felt I needed them, but some of these Flow cards made me think outside of my own head a bit, which is great, because I need the vacation!

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This one may actually look familiar to some, just a reshuffle.

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There is a definite theme of “Home” and “Simplicity” in my quote choices. Even my images, that’s an image of a burrow from a vintage science book on the left.

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This tag is one of those things that floated around my room until it found a home. It’s made from the remnants of a painted page I cut down for a journal in my shoppe. With just a little cutting and decorating, it’s a great addition, and another excuse not to throw something away!

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Adding tags that stick up from the page is a new obsession. Truth be told, I have been including these tags in my journal kits for a while now, and am just now getting around to using them myself.

I have been taking a break from my shoppe for this very reason, I come up with what I think is a good idea, but then not take the time to try it out. It has really been fun spending more time in my journals finding the things I love again!

IMG_2145Because the quote cards are such a large part of the collage, just a line or two of journaling is needed, or none at all, not all the quotes need commentary.

The red piece on the left is another scrap piece from my journal makings. I like the balance of adding grunginess to the newish looking scrapbook paper and elements.

So, that’s it for now. I have shared many of the pages in this journal as a list journal, but I still have almost half of it to work on, so I share those when they are finished.

Until then,

 Thank you for stopping in,

Have a great weekend,

~Patty

Gratitude Travelers Notebook Update

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

This is one of those projects that, the more I work on it, the more I love it! I’ve not really used photos in my journals too much until now, and they really make a difference in my pages!

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Week five: Getting things done and preparing to visit my daughter. Gratitude list on the left and journaling on the right.

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A photo, washi tape, and a postage stamp. It’s nice keeping the decor simple, this is one project I don’t want to shove to the wayside because I over complicated it.

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Week six: The aftermath of traveling, and not washing my hands as much as I should…illness.

A couple of bright spots here and there, some happy mail arrivals. I’m rarely under the weather to the point of not wanting to do anything but stare at the TV…or the wall.

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As you can see, Wednesday was a bit rough.

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Ah, week seven: Feeling better and finally getting things done!

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Spring is in the air. The tree frogs are singing and the birds are hooking up and vying for the choice nesting spots. I’m getting back on the de-clutter/redecorating track at last! Yay!

I’m hoping that once I get my house in order I will start working on some journals for the shoppe. I’m on month four of taking a break, and I’m ready to get back to it. More on that later.

Once again, thank you for the visit,

Have a great day,

~Patty

Nothing Like A Good Tidy!

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

Admittedly, this is not going to be the most exciting blog post I’ve ever written. But, because the only thing I have been working on over the last week is giving my creative spaces a good tidy, I thought I’d share.

Now, I’d love to get all philosophical about the positive results of having things organized and tidy, goodness knows I have enough books on the subject, but I’d much rather share the fruits of my labor and leave the theories to the experts.

The Art Room:

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See what I mean, not too exciting, but boy does it feel good! The drawback is remembering where I put things!

Some before photos would have been nice, but this has been kind of a long drawn out process due to recent circumstances.

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I’ve been working on getting my spaces cleaned up and streamlined for a few months now, but this week I had fun with the decorating bits.

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One of my goals was to calm down some of the color with wood and natural elements, I may officially have enough cigar boxes!

The Sewing Room:

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Probably my favorite corner in the house.

Orange? Don’t mind if I do!

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Nothing like a Lazy-Susan or two…or four! Not the most practical, but really fun to use.

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My creative space will not make it into a decor magazine by any stretch of the imagination, but each piece is very much loved! A couple of those suitcases were sitting empty for months until I figured out what to use them for, vintage, thrifted lace! perfect!

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Add a couple of plants and your good to go! Again, nested, unused vintage tins until I figured out what to use them for.

It’s been an awesome experience to finally let go of some projects and supplies that were holding me back. There is more to do of course, but the sense of urgency has passed. Now it’s time to create!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Have a great day,

~Patty

My New Happy Mail Journal

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

Sometimes I feel as if I need an art journal for everything I do! Well, at least everything I want to remember or keepsake.

Over the last year or so, as I received more and more happy mail, in the form of envelopes stuffed with ephemera goodness, it became increasingly apparent I needed some organization. So, as I shuffled my treasures from basket to box to larger box, I began feeling a bit like a hoarder! Also, I realized that these were gifted  to me to use and have fun with, and that they have a very special meaning to me. The only idea I could come up with was to use them in my mail art, but that would mean sending them off. So, when I had my Aha! moment the other day to use them in a mail art journal, I couldn’t wait to get started. As you will see…

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…you may remember this photo from the other day. I chose the one with the owl on it to start.

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This is the first page I did. I worked on it later that day. Being Valentine’s Day, I ran with it. It’s a bit on the busy side, but I was a little excited!

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There were a few pages done in this journal, so I just restructured them a bit, added my gifted ephemera, and ink stamped here and there.

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This journal is filled with lots of wonderful illustrations and images that I would prefer not to cover, so there’s the occasional scrapbook paper work around.

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Another page re-do. I’m getting a “retro vacay” feeling from this one. Although, I rarely dress to the nines anymore, let alone on vacation!

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I had put together some pages with places to journal on. This page has enough to say, so I just decorated over it.

Again, I rarely dress to the nines when cleaning my bathroom anymore!

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One of my favorite pages right now! This is an envelope I received from my dear friend Iryna quite a while ago. It is perfect for storing handwritten letters in, it has kind of a vacation travel feel to it that I love! (Hmmm…that vacation word again!)

Last year, I had put together some small binders to keep my artist post cards and some of my gifted ephemera in, I can’t tell you how much I love having a permanent place for my letters too!

I hope to write about my happy mail ephemera organization sometime soon. I’m afraid it’s not too terribly exciting, but you may find it useful.

Till then,

Thanks for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty