It's hump day which means the weekend is only two days away. We've been enjoying the beautiful fall weather here in west Tennessee with walks, picnics and taking our annual fall cruises on the lake to watch the changing of the leaves. I try to soak up this time of the year as much as possible because I know what follows. I hate winter and the cold that comes with it. :( For me after celebrating the holiday season it's all down hill until spring.
I should warn you that I'm sharing several projects w/photos so if you want to grab a quick cuppa or snack now is a good time. :)
Today I have three Halloween tricked out pocket letters to share with you. I'm posting them in the order I created them and the first one (above) was for my pal in Connecticut. We were swap partners in the Cute or Spooky Halloween Monster swap at
Pocket Letter Pals and it's clear that we both chose cute. I love all the fun aspects of Halloween-trick or treating, dressing up, parties and candy-but not the dark side. Since my kids are grown it's fun to have a creative way to "dress up" ATC size cards with stickers, stamps, dies cuts and punches and create pocket letters. Of course you have to include a sweet treat as well and I always try to "treat" my pal and not "trick" them. ;)
Here's the back of the pocket letter where I stashed all of her treats.
Stickers, tags, ephemera, ribbon, bottle caps, labels and some relaxing tea after a hectic day.
One of the things she mentioned that she liked about her pocket letter were the fences which I embellished with purple liquid pearls. The border punch is by Martha Stewart and you'll see it also on my last pl in this post. I kinda like it too!
Top row-there were goodies on the the front side as well as the back side. Here you can see one of the assembled bottle caps and there are two buttons as well. Sorry for the glare, it's really hard to get good clean shots because of the reflection from the protective sheet cover.
Note: You can click on any picture to enlarge.
Middle row-No goodies on these but I did share some of the labels I used in the back pockets.
Bottom row-You can see the fence punch again and I had fun creating the little scenes. Even though the black cat scared the skeleton have to death (far right) they later became friends and went trick or treating together, or so I was told by the skull. ;)
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Note: if you are Tiana or Patti you want to stop reading now if you're pl's haven't arrived yet. I post at PLP's once they show delivered but usually do not wait to post to my blog. Just sayin'!
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Okay
my second pocket letter went to my Canadian pal. This is actually our second swap and again it's not for a group swap but simply because we wanted to. I adored the first one she sent so I'm looking forward to receiving hers next week.
{I'll share all of my incoming pl's at the end of the month so you can see what I received.}
When we exchanged last month we had a cute animals theme going so I definitely wanted to include animals on my Halloween pocket letter for her. Owls are the main focus with a black cat, bats and birds. Orange, black and white, with a touch of yellow is the color scheme and there are no goodies on the front which might lead her to think she's been tricked. All she has to do though is turn it over and jackpot, treats everywhere. :) Also I included several ribbons and an Idea-ology Halloween token that she can use for future projects on the spine.
Check it out...
The back is fully decorated so when she removes all of her treats it will still look great.
A little close up of her treats-tea, fragment tags, button, stickers, ephemera, stamped Halloween images for her to color and use, bottle caps, clear stamps, owl and skull erasers, ribbon and twine and lastly charm die cuts. Since her pl is traveling a long way I put her sweet treats in a bag and included a trick or treat label.
My third and final Halloween pocket letter went to my pal in Indiana. We were part of a Halloween Group swap and truthfully I wasn't sure what she'd like so I kept it classy with a touch of elegance. Sound weird? Guess it does but hopefully the Authentique Glowing paper collection helped me pull it off.
Glare is a bit of a factor here too so I've included close ups of a few pockets.
The middle pocket functions as my quote pocket. I stamped a Waltzingmouse greeting that says Halloween WISHES in Staz On Metallic Silver ink and added filigree corner stickers. Ribbon tied into a bow adds a pop of color. You can see the left pocket a little better below.
This is the pocket that greets my pal and lets her know I have included a note for her. You can see the MS fence border punch a little better in this photo and here I used silver liquid pearls. To make sure the web stands out I ran a silver Wink of Stella brush pen over it. This is a good time to address the spine of my letter which I always try to dress up. In this case I added washi tape, brads and the middle punch hole has a button attached which my pal can use for future pockets or keep for herself. Hey ghoulfriend is a Taylored Expressions stamp and I also stamped a pumpkin patch on the bottom with a Verve pumpkin stamp. The wood laser cut arrow is by Studio Calico and I altered it with black paint and a silver gel pen. An alpha set by Studio G was used to stamp NOTE as well as what each individual pocket holds (like the photo below).
I'll get back to the spine in a minute but before I do I thought I'd mention that this pocket letter contains goodies on the front as well as the back. In this one I tucked in a Halloween charm die cut set by My Favorite Things for her. There's a witch's hat, cauldron, tombstone, pumpkin, dog bone, ghost, spiderweb and crescent moon included.
This pocket (bottom row-middle) has an acetate pumpkin which I added to the front of the pocket letter. I tucked in die cut tags and stamped images for her to use. On the pocket itself I stamped Tags and Images which gets lost by the big mouth pumpkin lol.
If you jump back to the middle row-middle pocket you'll see a punched MS spiderweb where I hid some bottle cap images for my pal. If she dares to enter the web {insert evil laugh} to retrieve her goodies. Now if it were up to my daughter she'd pass as she hates spiders. If you want to see her lose it just "trick" her with a spider however I guarantee her reaction won't be a "treat" lol. ;)
Here's the back of her pocket letter (keep in mind I split the goodies up front and back).
I couldn't shake the glare today but I hope you can see that the back is as pretty as the front. Two of the pockets on the front have ribbon and twine stamped on them and I tucked the goodies in the back. Did the same for the metal bottle caps. The other pockets hold a packet of tea, a note for her and some stickers.
The last touch was to make this tag for her using stamps by Tim Holtz (greeting) and the trio of stacked pumpkins by Northwoods Stamps. I added spiced marmalade, squeezed lemonade and black soot to create my background and washi tape. Several ribbons and an Idea-ology Halloween token, which she can use, finish it. You can see the button (middle punch hole) I included and when I remember I also like to stamp the date I mail out the pocket. She also received a bag of chocolate treats as well.
I'm off to clean up the mess I made in my craft room so I can start work on my next pocket letter. It's for a fashion swap and there's a twist to this one. Can't wait to share it and see what you think. Wish me luck!
Have a super day, wherever you are.
Lisa xx
