A Holiday Mini Journal

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been pretty absent from this olde blog for a while now…I’ve been too busy making! Making Christmas gifts, making things for my shoppe, and making plans!

But, I thought I would take a wee break and share something  that I’m pretty happy about…

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My 2015 Holiday mini journal! You see, every year I toss around the idea about whether or not to make a Holiday journal. Sometimes I make one, and sometimes I don’t. This year, it was a yes.

I knew I wanted to go small, so I set about looking through my art room for a likely candidate. I had completely forgotten about this little book, it was literally falling part at the seams!

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It’s probably from the 30’s, the pages are so super delicate! I am going to adhere these pieces to card stock to preserve them before I use them.

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In my book, the Holidays start with Thanksgiving, so what a great way to begin this journal. Luckily, I took a few photos over the weekend to start out. It had snowed, so it was a beautiful drive!

As if I didn’t have enough to do, I decided to work on two list challenges this month. I figured there may be days I don’t do anything Holiday related to journal about, and thought It would be nice to mix things up a bit.

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It had snowed at my daughter’s house and her yard looked gorgeous! This was my grandson’s first thanksgiving, I managed to get one photo of him not moving.

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On the last day of our visit, my daughter and I made Christmas cards. Something that has become a Thanksgiving tradition for us.

That is what I love most about this time of the year, enjoying all the family traditions, old and new! It’s just getting harder to fit them all in to one month!

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I have lots of fun stuff to play with, so I bought this cute box from Michael’s to store it all in. I didn’t decorate it this way, but I sure am inspired by it! It looks like a cross between a Victorian and Mid-Century Christmas to me, I may have to run with it!

I will probably be posting primarily Christmas related posts this month. I have so many plans that that is all I will be doing! So, consider yourself forewarned!

Until next time,

Have a great day,

Talk to you soon,

~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

They Say “If It Works, Don’t Fix It”, but if it doesn’t…

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

Yes folks, it’s another re-constructed journal!

I have been having a rough couple of days on more than one level, and needed a safe place to vent. But, because I’m not a huge fan of letting off steam publicly, i.e.; online, I choose to work it out with pen and paper.

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This journal was a little useless, being from a project that I had completely lost interest in. So, last night I tore out all the old project remnants, and replaced them with new journaling pieces. Some of the pages didn’t survive the reconstruction process, but most did.

I began to rummage around my art room, gathering all the lost souls I could find. You can spot some of them at the top of the page. Bling junk!

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Then, I grabbed my pen and and started writing! I wrote and decorated, decorated and wrote. Soon, I was adding inspirational quotes and sayings. And I must say, feeling much better about things!

First, for getting a few things off my chest. Then, for giving myself permission to do so!

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It didn’t take long for this journal to become a comfortable place to land. To be honest, I had hoped that I wouldn’t need a “venting” journal anymore, but sometimes things just pile up.

My introverted side pegs out pretty easily when I spend too much energy outside myself.IMG_0723

  I think that some of the “projects” I get myself involved in makes me a little too stressed, then I hurry through my pages just to get them done. Not my style!

So, I’m going to put a lot of outside projects, and interactions, on hold for a while, just to regroup.

IMG_0729This blog is my heart and soul, so I won’t be wandering too far from here!

IMG_0734Because, we all need a comfy place to call our own!

Have a great day!

~Patty

A Redecorated Journal

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

I have had an off/on relationship with this journal for quite a few years now. There are parts that I loved, but it lacked a cohesiveness that I just couldn’t put my finger on. Probably due to the fact that I thought I could just dump a bunch of unwanted ephemera into it, and believe everything would be just fine. But, it wasn’t! When this journal started to go off track, onto the shelf it went.

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This may look familiar to some of you that have been following my blog(s) for a while. And the differences may not be immediately noticeable, but they’re there.

After watching Florence Antonette‘s Traveler’s Notebook series on continuous loop, I found the cohesiveness that I was looking for!  My first thought was to buy some Midoris and try her style, but on closer inspection, I realized that I had a lot of the same elements she was using, in this journal. So, the restructuring began, and couldn’t be happier with it!

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First, I striped away all the old journaling, this poor journal had become the complaint department, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do with it. I also removed anything that just didn’t fit the aesthetic, luckily that was at a minimum.

IMG_0573I replaced the journal pieces, then began filling it with washi tape, more postage stamps, and ink stamping. Now, I wish I had taken some before and afters, there really is a difference!

IMG_0575I love how the stamping subtly blends the journal piece into the background, exactly what I have been wanting to accomplish for a long time, but was to critical about my stamping abilities to try. I guess it took a “lost cause” project to give me the courage to throw caution to the wind!

I am happy to say that this journal is still a work in progress, so I have lots more excuses to buy more postal goodies! Win! I’ll be sure to share it’s progress again soon!

As always, thank you for the visit,

Have a wonderful day,

~Patty