I decided (once again) to change my names on Social Media.
Yes AGAIN, for goodness sake!
My new shoppe banner.
This a name I used several years ago and I’m going to be blunt here, someone opened up a shop on Instagram selling vintage ephemera and used a very close version of this name, and it pissed me off!
Now, I know that I should have been above such shenanigans, but clearly I was not, so I changed my name. But you know what, I liked that name! So, I’m claiming it back again!
My sidebar button that will take you to my IG account, which is getting pretty full right now. Many of the things I post on there goes here too, but not the other way round.
New shoppe button in case you need some new ephemera. No journals right now, I’m still pondering how I want to do that going forward.
Lastly, the link to my Pinterest boards. I went back and forth about this one, but in the end I decided it needed a change too. I know it may sound strange, but I feel a little more engaged with these accounts now, I really missed my old name.
I’m not changing the name of my blog though, this is the hub to all my other accounts. Kinda the home planet so to speak.
I’m still leaving Facebook in the dust, I don’t miss that one at all.
What are your thoughts about all this? I’d love to get your input or questions!
The reason I’m posting only one page spread today is because I wanted to go into a little more detail with it.
I wish I could say that these prompts are easy, but I’m struggling a bit. And that’s a big reason why I’m still so far behind, as of today the 20th!
Of course my first thought was a tag, those are easy to hide…ok, now what? I looked through my bits and pieces and found this little hibernating chipmunk. The tag is a leftover piece from a shoppe journal painted page. I added a plant frond, a piece of dyed cheese cloth, and he’s done.
I made this little envelope from some coffee dyed bakers parchment paper, (that’s a mouthful!). Please comment below if you would like a process post for the envelope, that might be fun. It was a bit fiddly to put together, but I love how it turned out. I decorated it with the words from the chipmunk’s book page, added a botanic image and some lace I inherited from my mom’s stash.
(Does anybody else feel like that chipmunk right now? We’re finally getting some sunshine today!)
This page was a little more difficult to figure out, but it finally came together. A piece of dictionary page with the definition of “hidden” tucked into some torn scrapbook paper with a floral image spanning into the little inclusion piece. As you may know, I usually have a collection of fussy cut florals on hand, so that saved a bit of time.
Full disclosure: I usually lift, tear, and shift pieces after glueing them down to get them positioned the way I want, that poor bug almost lost a limb or two in the process.
Hidden behind the envelope is a journaling spot and an owl…looks like a good reason for the chipmunk to hide!
That owl piece is a leftover from a previous art journaling project I abandoned. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, I do that quite often. Many people paint over journal pages they don’t like or want to hide their journaling, so it’s not unheard of (she keeps telling herself (3rd person self talk, eh)). I do mostly collage, so I tear things out and reuse them as embellishments, it’s actually quite convenient, I should make some more up on purpose.
Well, that’s it for today. I’m probably going to be back tomorrow, I’m actually up to Day 15 in real time…not page 20! Yikes I better get a move on!
…some winners, and some…Well, I’d prefer to give them “Participation Awards”.
Day 4 Prompt: “Decorated Tag”
This is definitely a favorite. I ticks all the boxes: tags, color, botanicals, a bee, a bird, and a pocket. I just looked through my stash and found some tags and started decorating.
Pretty sure I could have done this for hours…wait, I did!
Day 5 Prompt: “Routine”
This one was a struggle. I thought I was working on a different prompt and realized I was working on the wrong page, I had a whole thing in my mind. But, I regrouped and made it work for the correct prompt.
Very vintage…and very beige!
Day 6 Prompt: “Stitched”
I had zero plans when I started this, so it took quite a bit of time to plan and create. First I looked for paper that looked like fabric, I was pretty lucky there. I noticed a couple of papers that had lace printed on them and came up with the idea for layers of lace, both paper and fabric. You can’t really tell, but all those pieces are stitched down by hand, guess I should have let the stitching show…ooops!
On the righthand side, I poked around in my sewing ephemera box and found those little fabric tags that I received in some happy mail so long ago I can’t remember who sent them to me, I’m so glad they finally have a home. The floral image is a vintage embroidery transfer. I just did a running stitch onto a tag and glued it on.
Using up stash for the win!
Day 7 Prompt: “Shimmer”
This is way out of my usual style, and when I saw this prompt I almost skipped it. But, I watched a few videos for this day’s prompt and started getting some ideas and to think of some of my supplies in different ways. I got out some shimmery gelatos, looked through my sewing ephemera box again (I had remembered seeing those little mirrors, I’ve had them for yeeeeears…!), then pulled out these awesome little die cuts I received in some happy mail last year.
The shimmery paper pieces were made by coloring onto packing material with the gelatos, then spreading each color around with a wet paintbrush. When the paper dried, I tore the colored bits out and they came out shaped like leaves, so I layered them to look like a plant. Perfect for the shimmery little insects!
I’m learning so much right now, my head feels a little fuzzy…information overload. But it’s all so much fun!
I will continue to post my J.J.J. page spreads throughout January (and beyond if I don’t catch up!) and I hope this has been as much fun or you as it has been for me!
See you in a couple of days with the next batch of pages.
I’ve decided to jump into Junk Journal January, hosted by megsjournals and Get Messy Art on YouTube. I have really needed a jumpstart on art/junk journaling for quite a while, and I hesitated about joining a daily challenge, but I’m having so much fun watching all the videos and playing in my art journals again!
From right to left:
My mini art journal keeper, there are three more journals in there right now that need lots of work in. A little J.J.J. organizer, I saw Katheryn from Art Paper Joy mention her’s in one of her videos, I thought it was brilliant! I keep the prompts, ideas for page spreads, and I even paper clipped little envelopes with corresponding ephemera in it. Then the little journal I’m working in for this challenge. There is only enough room to up until day 20 in there, but it’s already getting puffy!
Day 1 Prompt: Resolutions
Decluttering, Downsizing, Organizing, and Decorating
Pretty much the same resolutions I’ve had for the last 5 years at least! I chose images of homes that I thought looked clean and organized, added some fussy cut vintage wallpaper, a couple of ephemera pieces (the blue and white sticker pealed off of our ancient kitchen cupboards), and those little scrapbook ephemera pieces are a few of my personal resolutions.
I have to say that it was fun to put resolutions to paper, I’ve not done that yet.
Day 2 Prompt: Starry
Scrapbook paper ephemera pieces, doilies, “starry” looking paper pieces, and dots of white glitter Stickles.
Because I jumped into this challenge about a week in, I didn’t have enough time to put a lot of thought into supplies. So, I’m pretty surprised at how I’ve been able to make things work. Maybe next time I’ll be a little more prepared.
Day 3 Prompt: Stained
What exactly is the difference between “Dyed” and “Stained”? One is on accident and the other is on purpose? That’s a lot of stained dyeing! I try to keep a good supply of coffee, tea, and food coloring dyed paper stuff on hand. I have a whole process I go through when supplies run low. I’ll try to share that some time soon. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty impressed that I actually did some page marks. I never do that because it never seems to come out the way I see other people do it, they make it look so easy…and cute! Maybe I just need more practice, and less self criticism.
So, these are the first three days. Not only have I been playing catchup on the days I missed, but I have been keeping up with the days we’re on also. I made a video of “Day 12” that didn’t upload to YouTube until “Day 14” because of our creaky, rusty internet, so that was kind of a fail. Oh well, if you are interested in seeing that, here’s the link: “Junk Journaling January: Day 12”
I’m going to try to post all my pages with corresponding drama until I’m caught up. You may ask if this sounds like it’s worth all the work and angst. If I’m dusting off olde art supplies, getting in some self care, and making a go of connecting with kindred spirits, I say YES! The best part of all this is watching videos, leaving comments and “likes”, and feeling like I’m a part of the online journaling community again.
So yes, I’m a bit frazzled right now, but I feel like I’m on a new/olde adventure again (with less energy) but I’m having fun, and that’s what counts, right!
This is something that I have been trying to keep up with for several years. I began this format of journaling in 2018 respectively, but didn’t really work it all out until about 2019. At first it was a way to organize photos and ephemera, but when I started using my Happy Planner as a journal it soon became the perfect place to document all my memories and ponderings.
I’m sharing some of the first half of 2022 with you to give you an idea of how I put this together. It’s still a work in progress and there are a few more tips and processes that I will be sharing in future blog posts.
Today’s post starts in March because January and February were journaling pages and I really wanted to share just the memory keeping pages today.
March: Two small pages of gratitude.
I keep my pages pretty simple because the point of this is to document what’s been going on so that when I finally get around to working in my pocket page albums, I have the thoughts and memories to write onto the journaling cards.
On the left is a memory of trying to cheer my grandson up, as you can see I was eventually successful. But on the previous page I was telling him not to smile “Whatever you do, don’t smile” while I was taking a photo of his grumpy face, when he started to smile I said “Stop smiling…” until he was laughing! So fun!
On the right, running Wes to school the next morning and then a screenshot of a text my son sent me of the bow he purchased with his birthday money. (He lives in South Korea, so he’s on his own with choosing his gifties) I use screenshots of texts quite a bit in my memory keeping, but I’ll share that in another blog post.
April: Wedding dress shopping.
We found the right dress, but it needs a lot of work.
Behind this photo you can see a gratitude list. After a while I figured out that this entire journal is a gratitude list, and that it isn’t necessary to write out a list everyday, but to just get the thoughts and memories down on paper.
A birthday memory, a car wash helper, and more wedding dress drama, it was not going to be ready for the wedding!
I wish I could say that all of the memories in this journal were positive, but that is just not realistic. One of the biggest reasons I’m slightly obsessed with documenting is because life seems to go by so fast, and I often wonder where the time went. Planning and journaling is a way for me to grasp where the day went…along with sweet photos of course!
May: Getting ready to leave for the wedding venue.
I got to spend a little time with Wesley before we left, actually a lot of time, we didn’t get on the road until 9:30pm and we got there at 1:am. Yikes that was a scary drive into the mountains in the middle of the night!
Chocolate bars on our pillows helped though. Pages of these journals may end up pulled out and put into a pocket page album later, so I’m not too worried about using any of my ephemera in these.
Wesley’s Birthday:
I don’t use all the photos I’ve taken in this journal, just the ones that I can tie into my journaling. I made a note on the left there to remind myself that there are a few more photos that go along with this memory. Sometimes I run out of time and space for documenting, so small notes work. I will be using a professional printer when I put my final album pages together, these are from my home printer.
This project is also a great way to use up years worth of stickers and memory keeping flotsam that will never make it into my albums. I have a lot of extras left over from scrapbook paper pad sets, I loved the paper, but the stickers…?
June: Taking walks and going to the park.
I’m happy to say that because my daughter was working, I was able to step in and help take care of my grandson quite a bit over the summer. At the time we didn’t know that by the end of the year they would be relocating, so I will be forever grateful that I had all this time with him!
Of course I wish I had taken more photos, but because this is also a journal, I was able to document small memories too. All of these things will eventually make it into our albums. That’s why I love the pocket page system so much, I plan on rewriting some of these memories onto journaling cards as keepsakes. Along with small collage art pieces and a few of my grandson’s (and children’s) masterpieces. There are so many ways to be creative with it!
I still love art journaling, I used to do all my memory keeping in them, but I really prefer this method more. For me, art journaling is more of a way to document my moods than memories, and I still have a lot of those!
So, until next time,
I hope you are looking forward to this new addition in content as much as I am,
Patty Radish 