Happy Mail

Incoming and Outgoing Happy Mail!

~ 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:

IMG_1712Gorgeousness 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!

IMG_1919I 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!

IMG_1924Then 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:

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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.

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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.

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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

Collage Journal Update

~ Patty Radish ~ 10 Comments

I’m happy, and a bit surprised, to say that I have ben keeping up right along with my collage journal! Some days I have to do a couple of pages to stay current, but not as often as I usually would be. I’m one of those people who are always drawn to shiny new objects. I set out to do one thing, and start on something else, but I digress…hmmm, see what I mean!

Onward…

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It may not seem super clear at first, but all of my pages actually do have memories attached. This photo was taken from a “Girl’s Night Out” flyer at my favorite vintage finds shop, Ella Bella. I didn’t attend unfortunately, but I kept the flyer of course.

The round sticker is from a washi tape purchase.

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I loved this image from an ad in Flow magazine. I spent an evening last week cutting out images for my “vision journal”. I am determined to either use my supplies or get rid of them. I took stacks of old magazines to the thrift store, but I still read back issues of Flow, so they stayed!

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A post card from a favorite art supplies shop. They handed these out to promote shopping small and locally at Christmas. I think it’s beautiful, and it’s never a bad time to promote shopping small!

 I bought a book on drawing that day, another bucket list item to check off!

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Yes, more shopping related ephemera. Kinda getting a 70’s vibe all around from this page, even the background. I’m really having fun collaging with the packaging from my purchases. And if your wondering if those binder clips are big…they’re Huge!

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Last but not least, todays page from the Happy Mail that arrived yesterday!

Hazel Bunny! She sailed the seas to find her forever home with me thanks to our Hettie Brown! I am in the process of helping put her house together, there’s so much to do, so I’ll be sharing that as soon as it’s finished.

In the meantime,

Thanks so much for visiting,

Have a great day,

~Patty

iHanna Postcard Swap Happy Mail

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

Well, most of the cards have arrived. With the Holidays pretty much upon us, I thought it was a good time to share some of the gorgeous cards I will be adding to my collection!

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The artistry this time around was quite surprising! So much love and care in each card! I loved reading the notes people wrote on their cards, lovely!

IMG_0794Bright beautiful colors all around! The card in the middle was an extra one sent by sweet Jenny, I wasn’t actually on her list, she put me on it though! Thank you Jenny!

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Like I’ve said before, I wish iHanna would do this swap more often! I absolutely love it!

Thank you for stopping by,

Have a great day,

~Patty

A Happy Mail Surprise!

~ Patty Radish ~ 5 Comments

I received this lovely Happy Mail last month, but it has been a crazy couple of months, so I’m just getting around to sharing it! I love getting things in the mail, especially when they are so wonderfully thought out, as to fit my style!

Vintage beauty and colorful kitsch, need I say more? Of course I do!

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These are from the wonderful Jenny. They were all lovingly wrapped in kraft paper with their sources written on them and accompanied by several thoughtful notes and letters! Treasures indeed! Thank you Jenny, I can’t wait to use them! That whole “Why didn’t somebody tell me 2 years ago, Pyrex ovenware is 30% to 50% off!” rocks my world! I totally feel her pain!

I may leave the children’s cookbook as is and use it as an art journal!

Those stickers already have a special place in a particular journal I plan to share very soon!

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These two groups are from my sweet friend Iryna in Belarus. She always sends me a beautifully eclectic collection of ephemera from her country along with a thoughtful handwritten letter! As I look through all of this loveliness, I think of where I might use each piece.

And because I have decided that I must stop hoarding my mail goodies, and start using them…

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…I made a sort of commemorative page in my “Big” journal! This was so much fun! I will definitely have to do this more often!

As you can see, I stayed with a red food theme, with the exception of the ladybug and the rose of course! See the radishes? Iryna usually tries to include them in her mailings, Love!

I love the little girl peeking from behind the strawberries!

Do you have a special way that you store your letters? I’m not sure how to go about it. If you have any ideas on the subject, I sure would like to know about it!

Once again, thanks so much for stopping by,

Have a great day, it’s Friday!

~Patty

iHanna Post Card Swap Makings

~ Patty Radish ~ 14 Comments

I think I look forward to the iHanna PCS more every time it comes around! It’s only twice a year, I wish it was at least four! But since I’m on the side of having fun, not running it, that’s easy for me to say.

I haven’t written a process post in a long time, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to share a little of mine.

Warning: this post is pretty photo heavy, so I’ll try to keep the text to a minimum.

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This is what I started out with, pages from a couple of journals that didn’t quite work out that I cut to size. This happens once in a while, I’ll over do it on the journal makings, then decide to move on.

These seemed a bit too bright, and needed a little strengthening up, so step two…

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Hoping these will do the trick! Tissue paper and napkins.

With the napkins you will want to pull the the layers apart, there are usually three, save the printed one to adhere with matte medium. (it’s a whole process I can cover in another post if you would like).

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I was concerned that the colors would fade too much, but as soon as they had dried, I was happy.

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I have had these snarky recipe cards clanking around for a few years. They are the perfect size for post cards with lines for writing to boot!

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The ephemera I have chosen to work with. I will collect things throughout the year that might work for making happy mail. I wanted to go all out “postal” themed with this swap.

IMG_9962The layering process goes as such: card base, tissue paper, main image, large stamps, washi tape, smaller stamps, die cut/punch out, and more washi. Apply a coat of satin varnish if you are so inclined. Let dry, then sand the edges smooth…my favorite part! See the rounded corners, Love!

After all the layering, varnishing, and sanding, they feel quite substantial!

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They look a bit like a mini journal page, no surprise there!

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And because I have received too many cards that look like the mail truck did a burnout on them, I make envelopes out of book pages (again, another process I can share if you would like). These were made from a 1970’s crafting book.

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So there you have it! I had so much fun making these, I decided to make more to send to some of my friends!

If I left out anything, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Once again, thank you for stopping by,

Have a great day,

~Patty