Mixed Media

It Looks Like I Found Some Words

~ Patty Radish ~ 9 Comments

Over the years I have gone back and forth about sharing. Maybe it’s life that gets in the way, or it could be me getting in the way. At any rate, it occurred to me over the last day or two that ‘creating things to share’ is very different from ‘sharing things I create’, which is where I may have gone wrong and created way too much stress and anxiety. This goes double for making videos.

Asking the right questions.

I don’t know about you, but when I search on YouTube for videos, I want to see how people decorate their pages, not just more tucks and pockets to bulk them up. Or it seems as if everyone wants to either make ‘projects’ to sit on a shelf or sell their journals. I thought I could fill this gap, but the enjoyment of creating can go right out of the window when you’re filming the process, but that isn’t quite what made me reevaluate ‘the why’.

How do you feel about this? I can’t believe I have never asked this question, but what kind of content do you look for?

Then the strangest thing happened.

Right about when I was going to dive into YouTube full on, a bunch of people I follow went dark, for issues ranging from health to burn out. I found myself waiting daily for my favorite creators to show up, and it made me a bit frustrated because it was the bulk of them, but it also made me think, ” At this stage in the game do I need all the hassles of creating content?”. Especially when I have zero intention of monetizing my channel, or Instagram, or this blog…uh no! I feel as if the people I follow struggle with this issue just as much as I do, but they are locked in because it’s how they pay their bills.

For the Love of it.

Now, I have a lot of sh…stuff on hand I need to use up, so I gathered all of the crappity crap I have been holding on to for the last decade or so and organized it into little bags and containers. I didn’t flinch, I stayed with it and worked with these bits and pieces until they were all gone, and this journal is the result. I was so happy with the way it came out I decided I had to share it with you. Believe it or not, it was finished 2 weeks ago, I was having that much fun!

A bit of a hot mess.

I would love to tell you that this journal wasn’t a struggle, just look at some of the things I was working with, it was! But now it’s filled with memories of Happy Mailings, thrifted finds, shoppe leftovers, and even a piece of backdrop paper from too many years ago to remember. There will be even more memories tucked into the pockets and envelopes in the form of my daily journaling printouts.

Looking forward.

Like I said, this journal is finished and I hope to create the time to share the rest of it with you over the Holiday Season. Truth be told I have also made an Advent journal filled with ‘self care’ prompts, it just needs some finishing touches before I can share it.

In closing.

All your wonderful comments and encouragement in my last post warmed my heart more than I can ever tell you! Right now I can’t say where I’m headed with sharing on social media, because I have hit burnout too many times before. If you are here right now, Thank You for your patience. Many of you commented that you would be here if and when I decided to come back, I never would have imagined it would be this soon, but here we are.

So with that being said…

As always,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty

July’s Journal: Beach Themed

~ Patty Radish ~ 11 Comments

Last time I was on here I was on my trip to North Dakota. I’ve been back for a while, but decided to take a break from posting and do a little research. I became obsessed with watching junk journaling videos, and I’m glad I did! SO much inspiration out there!

But, in the meantime I neglected to share my ‘Beach’ themed journal, so here’s a bit of it.

Still loving the vintage vibe.

I have a box I throw anything ‘seaside’ into in case I get inspired. You probably won’t be surprised to know I have several ‘themed’ boxes I throw things into when I find them. Do you do that too? I’d love to know I’m not alone here!

Well, somebody went to Hawaii!

As I said in my last post, my daughter and grandson went to Hawaii, so I have lots of photos of them in this journal. I love the mix of decor, memories, and journaling. I thought about doing away with my “Monthly” journals, but it’s working for now, and it’s keeping me creative.

My grandson at a luau.

Also, it’s nice to use up ephemera I have been holding onto (hoarding) for years. Mixing with digitals gives them new life. If you have inquiries about any of these digitals I can send you the links, just ask.

Two of my favorite faces.

Summer feels over where I live. As I write this I can smell wood fires burning (in chimneys to be clear), there is definitely a chill in the air. And I’m drinking coffee with pumpkin spice creamer, that makes it official!…right!

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to cooler days and Fall feels. We have a granddaughter on the way, due in October, so Fall is going to be pretty exciting. Let me know how you feel about Fall being around the corner in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty

Garden Inspired Journaling Pages

~ Patty Radish ~ Leave a comment

Hi Friends, I’m back!

I took a short break to focus on organizing our home, a little family time, and some much needed time in nature. There’s always so much to do, it’s difficult to fit it all into one day…and before you know it a month has gone by. Oops!

A cookbook divider with a handwritten recipe.

But, I’m happy to say that I’ve at least set some time aside to be creative. I still have quite a few of these ring bound journals sitting on a shelf, and I thought it would be fun to dust a couple of them off and see what inspires me.

A photo at a garden center I took years ago.

At the end of the month we will be getting new siding and windows on our 60+ year old house, so I’m not doing anything in the garden this year. It feels strange not to be obsessing over a garden, but I can enjoy a bit of gardening in my journals…and enjoy a break!

Saving a page disaster.

This has been the year of the Dragonfly in our area and I wanted to include them in some of my journal spreads. So I looked for a cool digital on Etsy and found some really cute ones. Here’s the link if you’re interested: Store4Fun This page has been sitting unfinished with those paint scrapes for years, it’s amazing what a few paper scraps and paint dots can do.

Muted tones with black paint rings.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your summer. I know it’s pretty hot here in the Northern Hemisphere right now. It’s going to get up to 109 F. here in a couple of days, but I’ll be in North Dakota for two weeks getting a break from it. I made a special journal for my trip with lots of trees, wild flowers, birds, bugs, and a few fairies for fun. I may actually share some pages while I’m on my trip, I’ll see how things go.

Until next time,

Thank you for the visit,

Stay cool,

~Patty

Finishing Up My April-May Memory Journal

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

This was a last minute idea I had before hubby and I took a trip to the “westside” to visit family for a few days. I made a journal and gathered a few supplies hoping I would have time in the evenings to work on it. Most of what I did on the trip was gather and organize memories, then finished it up at home, which worked out perfectly.

This journal spans from about a month and a half, and because it became so thick and full it was difficult to choose which page spreads to share, but here are some favorites…

One of the first things I had to do was go to Daiso, one of my favorite stores. The tags on the left are from some little mesh bags I found, I never seem to have enough of them. Above them is a little art sticker from a local artist I picked up at Pike Place Market, and on the right a cute business card from a day at an arts and crafts fair. It’s tucked not glued so I can reference it later.

These are all from different days of our trip. Decorating these pages in chronological order was making this too much of a chore, so I decided to mix things up and just have fun with color and decor.

A pocket for my journaling page. That blue napkin on the right is from the Mother’s Day dinner at our son’s in-law’s house. What an awesome way to spend the day, chatting with my friend in-law while her husband cooked us dinner!

I tried to stick with what I had packed for the trip to work with even when we got home. I find that I am more likely to finish up projects when I limit my supplies. I can really go off the rails if I have too many options.

I printed up a few photos of flowers I had taken during a walk when my daughter and grandson were visiting. I print them up on copy paper, that way they don’t bulk up my journals and they make perfect backgrounds.

I made a tuck spot out of one of my “stash busting” clusters. That little art piece is from a little set I got at Daiso. A super quick page spread!

A little stacked cluster with some mini envelopes from Daiso to hold some of the business cards I collected on our trip. I didn’t want to lose the info on them, so this was a perfect fix. I got two of the business cards there on the right so I could use one of them as decor.

Also, you may notice that I’m inking the edges of just about everything lately. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but I’m having a lot of fun with it.

A card from a friend I received in April. I used some of the decor from the envelope to decorate its new little home. And just a cluster with some fussy cut flowers on the right. As you can see, I’m having a lot of fun with color by not sticking strictly to any order. Just get things in the journal!

Using the envelope from one of my birthday cards to hold some journaling. The card was too thick, and cute, to put in this journal, so I’ll be framing it instead. On the right is a collage of some memories of our trip to Pike Place Market. Kell’s is our favorite Seattle pub, such a fun day!

At the end of the month I remembered about 20 things I forgot to journal about, so I just made a list and printed it out. I use these journals to document things I might want to include in our photo albums later, so I try to add as many memories as I can…

…which is why this one got a new “journal girdle”!

As always,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty

Checking In

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

Hey Friends, just a quick post to let you know I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.

I have been keeping busy organizing and using up several years worth of ephemera.

I usually just organize then loose interest, but this time I am actually putting it to use.

…and I have almost filled up a journal at this point!

Let me know in the comments how you are doing and what you’re up to.

As always,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty