My New Happy Mail Journal

February 17, 2016February 16, 2016 ~ 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…

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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

Incoming and Outgoing Happy Mail!

February 14, 2016February 16, 2016 ~ Patty Radish ~ 8 Comments

This blog post has been a long time coming. The more I put it off, the more mail I received, and the longer this post was starting to become!

I have made so many wonderful friends through this blog and my shoppe, and one or two on Instagram, and I am so, so grateful! The generosity of the people I have met astonishes me daily!

Incoming:

Gorgeousness all the way from New Zealand! So many awesome pieces and images! Absolutely amazing! This is just a small sampling of what Nanci sent to me, the entire package would require it’s own blog post!

Thank you sweet Nanci!

I have a new pen pal in Malaysia that sent me this wonderful letter and some Travelers Notebook stickers. Isn’t that envelope beautiful! We have already exchanged letters a couple of times now, so awesome!

Thank you Elison!

Then there’s this! A huge envelope with the coolest wallpaper scraps ever! Kristen emailed me for my address so she could send me a few goodies.

K, I want to be on her Christmas list! If this 10 lb. package was a few goodies, what does she consider large! I could paper a room with this lot!

Thank you so much Kristen!

Outgoing:

A smal RAK to my sweet friend Jenna of The Kiwi Rose Shop. She had admired those feather post-its in a Instagram post, I needed to de-stash, and there you have it! I had way too much fun working on this for her.

My lovely friend Iryna and I have ben exchanging mail for a couple of years now. I follow lots of Snail Mail folks on the web, so I’ve really been trying a little harder to step up my game. I have to say Iryna appreciated the effort! 🙂

The postcard at the top right was something I made for myself though. I mailed off another art journal to Art Journaling Magazine a week ago, and that was the “confirmation of receipt” card. It gets sent back to me, so I put a little extra effort into it.

Hmmm…random!

Actually, I have had the idea of trying to do something special with all my gorgeous Happy Mail ephemera for a while now. I thought about making post cards and such with them, but that idea never really jelled, a lot of it is too large. So, I have decided these two big journals would be the perfect size to use, my Happy Mail journals. They have a few pages done in them, but I’ll make them work . Sometimes all it takes is the perfect marriage of elements to launch a project off the pad.

I hope this is it! And if it is, you’ll be the first to know!

So, once again,

Thanks for stopping in,

Have a great rest of your day,

~Patty

Thrifty Finds

February 11, 2016June 12, 2018 ~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

It seems as that when I just pop into a thrift store to see what’s what, as opposed to hunting for something in particular, I find the most wonderful treasures!

Vintage phonics cards for 25 cents, HA!

Some of my favorite books to make journals out of, Yay!

But, surprise of all surprises, a blue Wilhold! Can you believe my luck finding 2 Wilhold sewing boxes twice in a row! I’m in awe! Isn’t she a beauty!

It’s missing it’s thread and notion holders, but that doesn’t matter to me, I always find a use for them. Like holding some of my trim collection! I was able to get rid of about 6 small boxes by throwing all this in here, sweet!

This is my new mission, to find nicer containers to hold my massive stockpile of vintage trim! I’d say my Wilhold obsession is going to payoff…not sure what my husband would say, but that’s another story.

Until next time,

Thanks for stopping in,

~Patty

My Latest Obsession, and My New Favorite Shop

February 8, 2016February 4, 2016 ~ Patty Radish ~ 6 Comments

Lately, I have been hearing a lot of talk about Dennison office supplies. I had never heard of these before, so I became curious. Vintage and office supplies…I’m in!

Luckily, it was about the same time I was cleaning out my mom’s place, and what do you think I discovered…

Oh my goodness gracious! Now, some of this is from my own stash, but most of it, including the Dennison, is from my mom! Score!

But, of course I couldn’t just leave it there. I had to go on a Dennison hunt to beef up the collection!

So, off to Ebay I went. Just so you know, I paid way more than I should have for these! It happens, I don’t regret it…much.

But, then I found The Art Floozy on Etsy! Goodness, what a shop she has! And the way she packaged all this up, with little gifties like the stickers at the top left and that candy, Love!

Some Dennison goodness.

Dennison stars with some awesome vintage Buffalo Bill Wild West Show tickets. I think the cool silvery thing is for stenciling, that was a gift too!

I can’t wait to use this little playing card stamp!

Vintage bingo cards and more tickets, all at very reasonable prices! I’m ordering again just because I love the way she packages things. Plus, her shop is really full of goodies, you have to go take a look!

Whether or not my Dennison obsession is satisfied with this lot or not is still up in the air, I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great day,

~Patty

Some Overseas Shopping (from home)

February 5, 2016February 4, 2016 ~ Patty Radish ~ 3 Comments

I have been wanting to add something new to my journals and collage work for quite awhile now. Luckily, I found just what I had been looking for on Instagram via #travelersnotebook! Most of the people I have started following are from Malaysia, and boy are they talented! Swoon!

Many of them are generous with information about where they get their supplies, Malaysia of course. Does that stop me? Ha!

Off I go…

The best washi ever!

So, I purchased from 2 shops, Tabiyo Shop and Pipit Zakka Store, and I’m not sure which item is from which store at this point, because I couldn’t wait to get them unwrapped, put away, and played with!

Very large binder clips! They come in gold too.

Assorted stickers. I haven’t used these much, but that’s okay, I’d like them to last a while.

These stickers are awesome! Again, I’m being very conservative in using them. It’s not that they are super expensive, I just want them to last. It takes a while to receive items from Malaysia.

Various ephemera pieces. The labels at top right were a gift. 🙂

This is an interesting stamp. I wasn’t sure what to do with it so I did this…

…I stamped onto a piece of a sticker paper. I’ll have to see how this works out. Something new…breathe!

This is something I ordered from Amazon. It came all the way from Japan, it took about a month, but I love it! If you search alphabet stamps, it will come up, I don’t remember the name of the company.

So there you have it! Another spending spree, but an international one, which makes it cool, right?

I hope you will visit these shops, the prices are well worth it, you just need patience for the delivery time.

Thanks once again for stopping in,

Have a great day,

~Patty