Up-cycling

The Mystery of the Neighborly Neighbors!

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

Yesterday I woke up to a wonderful surprise! I knew it had been snowing all night, and the first thing I thought when I opened my eyes was “I better get up and shovel the sidewalk”. So, I get up to check out what I had in store…and somebody else had already done it…before 8:00 in the morning!

Well, I couldn’t let this kind deed go unnoticed, so I decided to put together a little Thank You.

You may remember this lot from a few months ago.

Aha I thought! The perfect gift!

So, I gathered what I could find to cobble this gift, the jars (of course), bakers twine, dictionary pages, and various décor to cover the “Happy Birthday” on the only bag I had.

I knew I didn’t want to hassle with trying to adhere paper to that bag, so I printed a design from a scrapbook paper download I had purchased from Etsy onto some sticker paper. Then I found some paper with some metallic designs, a label from Joann’s clearance bins, a Tim Holtz butterfly, and a little wordstrip.

I stuffed the jars and card into my little bag, threw on a scarf, and trudged over to the nieghbor’s house…this is where it gets interesting…

…my neighbor didn’t know what the heck I was talking about, and he tried handing my bag back!

Here’s the crazy bit! Not only was my sidewalk shoveled, but my driveway, the path to my house, the neighbor on the other side of me, and the neighbor two houses down! I asked him if he thought maybe his wife had done it, (she wasn’t home at the time), and he said she didn’t mention anything to him about it.

Now I don’t know about you, but if I had done all that shoveling, the first thing I would do was take a picture and send it to my husband…maybe post it on Instagram…or even write a blog post about it. Heck, I’d do all that if I only shoveled my OWN yard!

“It’s a mystery Shaggy”

Anyway, I needed to thank them for the Christmas gifty bag they brought us during the Holidays, so there you go, but I’d still like to thank the right person!

Oh well, I just wanted to share because I had so much fun putting this together with what I could find around the house. Hope you enjoyed my little story!

Until next time,

Thank you for stopping by,

~Patty

Happy New Year…plus 2 weeks!

~ Patty Radish ~ 5 Comments

 

Ahhhh…the best laid plans!

This was how it was supposed to go: Drive over to the eastside, get the house decorated for the Holidays, shop, catch up, celebrate, go home…that was the plan. Now, I knew that the weather might be a little tricky, but I didn’t expect to be snowbound for going on 3 weeks!

Luckily I brought my Advent journal along with a decent variety of embellishments. But, in my infinite wisdom, I packed most of my art supplies to the westside last fall, and now I have next to nothing but Christmas themed embellishments to work with.

I pulled all non-Christmas themed pieces out and have slowly added some new items to the mix. I’ve been toying with the idea of only working in one junk journal at a time and finishing it up before moving on to a new one for a while now, looks like that’s a go!

And since it is still winter, most of the pages in this journal are relevant.

The craft supply shopping in this little town we’re retiring to is extremely limited, so I’ve been sneaking in into craft stores to plump up my stash a bit when out looking for wedding dresses with my daughter. (that’s a whole other story!)

The other side of this story is trying to keep from accumulating more stuff right now. We’re going to have to fit our other house into this much smaller one in a couple of years, and I’m supposed to be downsizing!

Although I’ve managed to be very strategic with my purchases, the problem with organization reared it’s inconvenient head. These are some filing boxes I picked up at the local thrift store I thought might work.

I made little file folders out of cardstock. The larger files hold vintage ephemera and the smaller ones hold store bought ephemera. I haven’t committed to labling them yet, I’m not sure I’ll need to…I just really needed to clean off my desk!Some examples of what I’ve been able to accumilate.

Clockwise from the top: Tim Holtz ephemera from Amazon, mics. paper pad ephemera “Shake It Chic” from Michael’s, stickers from Hobby Lobby, vintage magazine images, and various book images.

So, the plan from here, as soon as the passes clear, is to divide up as much of my stash as possible between both houses. Then put some yummy de-stash packs in my shoppe at a reduced price and share the love!

Also, I will be hosting some giveaways throughout the year to help this plan along, so stay tuned for that and tell your friends!

As always, thank you for stopping by,

Thank you so much for hanging in there with me,

Talk to you soon,

~Patty

My “Reset Girl Collections” Organization

~ Patty Radish ~ 6 Comments

I think that organizing has become my hobby. Truth be told, I find certain items irresistible when out “a-thriftin’. And one of them is vintage suitcases.

I found this white Samsonite beauty at the Goodwill for …are you ready?…$3.99! Luckily for me, they don’t consider the “60”s vintage, or this would have ended up in their online store. Score!

(And the fact that I am not considered “Vintage” having been born in the “60”s makes me pretty happy too!)

I think it was Cori’s “Paper Punch Buffet” idea that gave me the inspiration that this would be the ideal organizer for each month’s collection. This little tray is the perfect organizer for all my fussy cuts and punchables. All my girls fit beautifully in that front area, Love!

This month’s Collection is titled “Homemade”, and I absolutely LOVE it! The colors are perfect, a few fall colors excellently combined with pastels. A wonderful rest for the eye with all the earthy tones surrounding us this season!

A few of the items I keep in there at all times: paper pieces, washi tape, sticker paper, Reset Girl tissue paper (when Cori sent her orders in boxes), and my sweet little TRG Camp Reset pouch with a selection of doilies.

Everything fits in there just beautifully! I’m careful with what I put in the pockets because the elastic is a bit old.

There’s even enough room for journals!

Since my husband and I have purchased a little vacation/retirement home, we travel back and forth quite a bit, so I am definitely getting a lot of use from my vintage train cases.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into this month’s collection! Visit TheResetGirl.com for the latest collection!

As always,

Thank You so much for stopping by,

Have a great week,

~Patty

Thrifting, Wilhold Love, with Organization

~ Patty Radish ~ 3 Comments

It has been a long time since I’ve gone a-thriftin’, and boy were the thrifting angels on my shoulder this week!

I found three Wilhold sewing boxes, but only two came home with me. One of them was a repeat, and I only have so much room in my house.

The one in the background is olive green with a clear lid. I will be posting more about it when I find just the right use for it. The clear one at the front is already in use! More on that in a minute.

On to the rest of my finds…

Vintage office supplies. Another super cool, faux wood metal file box, I now own five. I have big plans for these and will be sharing that soon.

Dennison gummy things, various journaling spots, faux wood book ends, and an awesome vintage book on filing, swoon!

Stacks of sweet books for art journal makings, except for the green one, “The Good Earth”. That one will go into my classic movie collection, a great movie with Paul Muni, LOVE!

GAMES! What do you think of those round playing cards! I’m hoping to put together a “Games” ephemera pack sometime soon, I think I’m ready!

I’m always on the lookout for these retro flatware trays, they make great drawer organizers for the bathroom and office. That box with the red lid is a picnic container. A good friend of mine gave me some of those a few years ago and I love them.

Now to the real organization…

I had recently found a good use for the many wooden spools I have collected, organizing my jute and bakers twine. I had all this in about three or four different places. So, I was super tickled to have come up with this…but it gets better!

My new tag making kit!

This is probably the most excited I have been about organizing in a long time!

I make, and use, a lot of tags in my shoppe and art journals. Having everything in one place is amazing. I took what was in about 8 different places, and put them into one! Seriously, they were everywhere.

I may have a few more tags hiding somewhere around the house, but I still have room in there.

Now you know why I love these Wilholds so much, think of all the possibilities. So, if you ever run across one of these in the thrift store, I hope you won’t pass it up. Even if it is missing the trays, they make really cute storage boxes.

I’m still working on my olive green Wilhold, I’ll share as soon as it’s up and running.

Until then,

Thanks for stopping in,

Have a great week,

~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