Scrap Journaling

Gratitude Journal Organization

~ Patty Radish ~ 6 Comments

Last week, I promised a post about my art journaling organizational process, and here it is a week later! I know, I can hardly believe it myself (insert surprised look!)

First, I’m going to show a little of the art journaling tote I’m using for this project.

 I purchased this tote from Hobby Lobby on a 50% off sale, which made it about $12. It’s got loads of pockets and such, but it’s the plastic photo cases I’m going to talk about today. As you can see I have labeled them, and this is where the “process” comes in. It really saves time on having a pile of ephemera to sort through. As I go through each layer, I know which case to grab. I’ve been using this technique over the last year or so, and it really works for me

First layer “Background” pieces: I like to use these on the scrapbook or painted pages to give them a vintage look. Sometimes, I’ll scrape a little paint over them so that they will “blend” into the background.

2nd layer “Paper pieces”: scrapbook paper, origami paper, photocopies of fabric, anything with color or pattern.

3rd layer “Medium ephemera”: these usually consist of the focal piece along with large die cuts or random images. As you can see, I’m building my layers from larger to smaller.

4th layer “Small ephemera”: tickets, small stickers, die cuts, images.

Finally, “Extra small ephemera”: the usual suspects, only smaller.

After all my layers are built, I go around most of the pieces with pencil for contrast. I use a “General” 8B pencil with a “Helix” cap eraser. I use the paint brush to brush off the eraser bits as not to smear the pencil lines. That pencil sharpener  is a Kum AS2, super awesome!

(I’m not paid for sharing links, I just want to be helpful)

Last but not least, the ink stamping. The date stamp of course, but using my decorative stamps kind of went to the wayside, so I’m trying to get back into the habit.

The finished product, a page of my daughter and I shopping before Christmas.

I hope you can see how I built the layers on this page. There is a video of my process here, I just wanted to share a little of the organizational aspects with you today.

I’ve made quite a few promises to myself this year, writing a weekly blog post being one, but also quality instead of quantity. Two to three art journal pages a week is quite enough, those daily challenges can be a bit daunting.

There are lots of other things I have in the works to scale down, use what I have instead of buying, and using my own ingenuity, I’ll share some of that in my next blog post.

Until then,

Thanks for dropping by,

Have a great day,

~Patty

 

 

A New Gratitude Journal

~ Patty Radish ~ 6 Comments

Lately, finding the time, or inspiration, to jump back into art journaling was waning fast. The hustle-bustle of gearing up, then winding down, from the Holidays left me with only enough energy to get back to organizing, planning, and cleaning.

But, because there were still quite a few memories that didn’t make into my  “Holiday Journal”, I started a new one. It’s going to be kind of a “Gratitude” journal. I did one of these few years back, but that one was a daily gratitude journal, and it became too daunting, so I’m going to try a new approach this time and hopefully this one will be easier to keep up with.

Today, I thought I would share a few elements that I used to get this art journal organized.

First, I went through my photos and grabbed some memories. My family was spread all over the place this year and we didn’t have time to take a lot of photos, so grabbed what I could. I made sure to attach the dates on the back to keep them in order.

In my travels over the last month or so I grabbed paper ephemera whenever I thought of it. I’m super glad I did because these bits will be perfect for this project!

Next, I prepped my pages. Here, I prepped one side to show the difference, it shows up much better on the text and scrapbook paper pages, but there you go.

First I scrape some gesso, then a layer of tinted matte medium, then a bubble wrap stamp with more gesso. Most of it gets covered with collage, but small bits poke out enough for interest.

This is a page of my grandson wearing his camouflage antlers while brushing his teeth. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn on the blinking lights before taking this photo 😦

I’m still attempting to use up as much random ephemera as I can, and I have to say I’m making quite a dent in it. I actually had to open up another “box of random” to fill my art journaling containers! Speaking of which, in my next blog post I hope to share some of my organizing techniques for art journaling, I almost have it down to a science.

That’s it for now, I’m supposed to be driving over the pass right now, but one of my goals this year is to write one blog post a week, and I didn’t want to put it off longer than I should.

So, until next week (I hope),

Thank you for the visit,

~Patty

Mini Art Journals

~ Patty Radish ~ 9 Comments

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared about my mini journals, mostly because it’s been a long time since I’ve “worked” in them. I stopped writing in my art journals because sharing my journaling was leaving me feeling a bit over exposed. So I came up with this little gem.

It’s filled with freebies and inexpensive “$1 Bin” journals. The card at the left is a postcard covered in contact paper that I use to place between the pages to have something sturdy to write on.

Here’s a nifty trick you may or may not know about, these clips make perfect pen holders!

These little journals are the perfect place to use up those stickers and washi that have become less than inspiring (“in other words what was I thinking?”) but you don’t want to waste good money. I prep my pages ahead of time in the evening in front of a favorite movie. It’s kind of a no-brainer project after a log day.

I’m awful about writing in a straight line, especially if I have something on my mind I really need to get down on paper. So, I put washi in random places on the pages to help guide my pen, and the stickers are just a fun addition.

Just like in a book, a tag is a great way to highlight a thought.

Here’s my little collection, the three in the front are more art journals with a little bit of journaling. I’ve figured to a way to share these with out sharing my journaling,  so I will be writing a post about these later.

This is what I keep my minis in. It’s the perfect size to sit next to my bed if I need to hash out an idea or get something off my mind. I’m still working on the organization of it, I’ll share my progress on that later too.

I hope this inspires you to use up some supplies in an inexpensive, but fun way!

Until next time,

Thank you for popping in,

Have a great day,

~Patty

 

 

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Page Spread of Lost Souls

~ Patty Radish ~ 8 Comments

Once in a while, I like to challenge myself to see what I can come up with using the funkiest of ephemera.

I have quite a few plastic photo keepers full of random images that I pull from to fill pages, some of them hover over the recycle bin once in a while, but get a last minute reprieve, and put away for another day. The other day I decided to give some them a chance…with a few fun additions.

The photo at the top right is some wall art I photographed 7 or 8 years ago, I  don’t know why I just couldn’t toss it, maybe because we were on vacation and it just wasn’t photo album material

To me, the challenge is to make random pieces fit together some how. I’m not sure I accomplished this, but I had a lot of fun trying.

So, if you’re like me, and you just can’t bring yourself to throw away your funky bits and pieces, try putting them on one page and see what happens!

See you soon,

Have a great day,

~Patty

(p.s. I’m hoping to write shorter blog posts more often, hope this fits the bill)

Taking a Breather

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

I made it on the other side of a huge goal! I’ve always wanted to get my Holiday shoppe makings finished well before the Holidays, as opposed to during, and I’ve done it!

I could stay busy till I drop with what needs to be done outside of making things for my shoppe, but I decided to push through and get it done. If you want to see what I’ve been up to, hit this link. I have a few more ideas I’d like to work on, but I’d really rather relax and have a little fun……case in point.

How cute is this? It’s a gift to me for a job well done! I’ve tried making nature themed journals in the past, but they always seemed to fizzle out, I’m hoping this one will stay the course. Actually, art journaling in general has fizzled out as of late, hopefully that’s behind me.

This page looks a bit “Spring-y”, with a little fall thrown in, but it ticks all the boxes: flowers, birds, washi…insect?

I found an old paper pad where I had jotted down some quotes quite a few years ago and decided it was time to give them a home. Another piece of flotsam put to use.

This page has been hanging on my wall waiting for a home for too long! I may color it in with pencil, but I love it just how it is. Again: mouse, bee, mushroom…sweet!

This is an example of some of the ephemera packs I made for my shoppe, I call them “Flora and Fauna”.

If you decide to visit my shoppe, and find a few things you can’t live without, be sure to use the coupon code CUSTOMERLOVE20 to receive 20% off your order.

Here is my latest page, I pulled a junk journal insert out of my shoppe. I think I may have to make more of these, they’re super fun!

It’s rather strange how relaxed I feel right now, it was totally worth all the hard work, and my studio is that much more organized too!

As per usual, I feel pretty guilty ignoring this old blog, and my Youtube channel, but there is only so much time in the day.

I signed up for the iHanna postcard swap again, so I need to get started on those now, I’ll be sure to take process photos to share.

If you’d be interested in receiving one, sight unseen, just post a comment and email your address to me by November 1st and I’ll get one out to you, international addresses included, (my email is at the top right).

Until next time,

Thanks for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty