Postcard Swaps

Postcard Swap Tutorial…or not?

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

Today I thought I would share a short tutorial on how I made my postcards for the iHanna DIY-postcardswap, but it seems I had a few technical difficulties, i.e.: I accidentally deleted the photos…DOH!

Luckily, I didn’t delete all of the photos so I can give you a quick run down.

 I started out with some painted backgrounds, then adhered various botanical napkins, easy peasy. Some of the painted backgrounds were pretty ghastly, but the botanicals fixed that and actually made them quite interesting.

Then I embellished with the usual suspects: die cuts, postage stamps, washi tape, and chipboard letters (someday I’ll run out of these) Those butterflies at the top left were printed on Avery #8665 clear 8 1/2″x11″ shipping label paper. I purchased them from the Illustrated Faith Print & Pray shop. Follow the link, they are still available.

I just arranged the pieces in little clusters, then went around them with a #6B pencil, rounded the corners, and applied a layer of satin varnish to seal them and pop the color.

That’s about it for today. I’ve been staying super busy filling up my shoppe with Fall journal decor, Christmas journals, and ephemera packs, follow this link and have a look around. If you see something you like, use the coupon code CUSTOMERLOVE20 to receive 20% off your order.

As always, thanks for stopping by,

Have a wonderful week,

~Patty

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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

 

 

Holiday Journal Share

~ Patty Radish ~ 9 Comments

Hi, remember me!

Wow, it’s been a long time! I took a much needed break, and now I’m ready for a new year! With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to share a bit of my Holiday journal. I try to start these journals around Thanksgiving and run them through the New Year. This journal has about 35 pages, but I’ll only be showing some of my favorites.

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I made this year’s journal out of a vintage Christmas children’s story book, not too many surprises there I imagine. My only regret is that the format was too small for some of the images I wanted to use, so next year I will be going bigger. 🙂

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Let’s start with Thanksgiving. Most of these images are from a planner I took apart. I couldn’t bring myself to toss all the decor, so I repurposed them here. The small  gold card is from a Thanksgiving gift I received in the mail, some super yummy bread loaves for our feast. These journals serve as memory keepers, so I try and incorporate as many keepsakes as I can.

To Christmas…

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Case in point: a beautiful card sent to me by a wonderful friend, thank you Jenny!

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I alternated the original pages from this book with painted pages of my own, along with pocket pages and an envelope to hold notes and memorabilia. I think the page on the right is from the Nutcracker, I tried to tie the colors in together here. The tree on the left is a napkin, the circles are punched washi paper, postage stamps, ephemera, star stenciling, and a little doodling. Doodling on my pages is still pretty new to me, but I really like the contrast.

img_6127Using kitschy Christmas decor images was the most fun. These mid-century crafty ideas were too irresistible to pass up!

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Heading into the New Year, I couldn’t resist including my favorite photo from Christmas, our little elf. On the right is one of the pocket pages, perfect for storing the “Ring in the New Year” postcards from a swap I participated in.

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These are some of the postcards I made for the swap. So much fun!

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Here are the 3 postcards I received from the swap along with a Christmas themed one I received from a dear friend, thank you Iryna!  Love these!

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Here is what I came up with for New Years. I’m busy making plans for what I want to accomplish this year. Gardening and getting my house in order are on the top of my list. This home with a snowy scene out of the window is so inspiring. On the other side of this page has the instructions on how to build one of these indoor gardens. I won’t be doing that, so I arted it up.

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I made a bit of a mess with my New Years greeting, but it was fun.

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Playing with images and paint and keeping it simple, I just needed enough room to journal a bit.

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The last two pages of this journal. You may have noticed that my pages are becoming a tad minimalist, I’m trying out letting the images speak for themselves. Adding the doodles is really quite relaxing and adds an extra touch that seems to finish off the page.

I’m streamlining many aspects of my life this year, for instance not using props in my photos, or cutting back on outside projects. I’m hoping that I can free up more time to actually create, or decorate my house,  and hopefully share here more often. I’m also going to try a “No Spend” experiment with art and crafting supplies, except adhesives or pens, for the year.

That should be interesting, wish me luck!

So, until next time,

Happy New Year!

See you soon,

~Patty