September and October Pocket Letters

My AIW outgoing pocket letter to Thailand

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

So happy the weekend is here because my hubby and I are going to wrap some projects up this weekend so I can decorate for Christmas the following weekend. That's right, I'm breaking my own self imposed rule and putting up the tree and trimming the house before Thanksgiving. We'll be spending turkey day with our kids in Nashville so I want to have it done and enjoy this Christmas season. :)   

Today I'm sharing the pocket letters that I made for my pals at Pocket Letter Pals and also letters I received from them. The pl above was made for my new pal in Thailand, Buabee. She's a fellow fan of Alice in Wonderland and even though Graphic 45's Hallowe'en in Wonderland has a Halloween theme I worked around it to create her pl using the beautiful jewel tones of this paper collection. It features my favorite characters and I created a unique banner using one of the banner dp's. I did a lot of fussy cutting as well to add more interest to each vignette and the banner below.

I added magnets to keep the banner, which I placed on the outside of the pl, in place and cut out playing cards and other images to cover up the word Hallowe'en. On the far left pocket I stamped and embossed "Greetings from" in white detail embossing powder. On the third pocket I used a circle punch to create a circle frame for the Mad Hatter and then I used the punched circle and placed it in a bottle cap and created a glossy seal with Judikins 3D Art Gel. I love this stuff and it really creates a clear, shiny surface! 

Before I move on here are a few more closeups.

 The playing cards at the top were from a poker themed confetti pack I had in my stash from my son's baby shower this past July. Saying that now makes me realize I totally forgot to share pictures and projects here on my blog. Geez, I'll have to do that before the year is over lol. 

I have a stamp set by Crafty Secrets and I stamped these sentiments on a separate piece of paper and added it to this scene. I haven't received my pocket letter from my pal in Thailand yet so I'll share it with next month's incoming pocket letters. 

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The next pl was created for my new pal in New Zealand. Since they are experiencing spring, while here in the US it's fall, I thought I'd make her a spring/summer themed pocket letter. I'm so happy she likes it and we plan to exchange pl's again. :)

I used a paper collection by Simple Stories and added summer accents from my crafty stash.

This is the middle row and I added paper sunflowers, puffy ladybug stickers, wood laser accents, and word strips from the paper collection that I fussy cut. The soda bottle is a dimensional sticker from Pink Paislee and I added a metal bird house charm to the spine for her to keep or use on another pl for a pal.

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Next up is a pl I made for my friend in Germany, Katrin. We swap on a regular basis and this time we used mixed media techniques on a winged things themed pocket letter. 

Distress inks and  Tim's tissue paper provide a base for each pocket. The quote on the bottom left pocket is from a stamp set by Verve Stamps called Bird Song.

You can see the top row better in this photo hopefully. The chipboard fairy is by Dusty Attic and after painting her with distress paint I added some shimmer with Stickles by Ranger.

Wood laser butterflies and 3D dimensional stickers were used to reinforce a butterfly theme on the middle row as well as rub ons by Tim Holtz. The words are from Tim's large chit chat stickers and I popped them up on dimensional foam tape and outlined them with a white gelly pen by Sakura.

I made a matching tag as well because Katrin always includes something handmade for me. :)

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The next pl was created for a group swap at PLP's. The theme was to use a Prima doll image by Julie Nutting on our pocket letter. I didn't have one so I went to Hobby Lobby and fortunately they were on sale so I picked up a few. ;)

 I stamped the doll image several times with black permanent ink on plain cardstock then again on 2 designer papers. Using the paper piecing method I added some interest to her dress and boots with the patterned paper. Her hair was colored brown with Copic markers and a black marker was used around the edges for definition. For this pl I chose a dp by Pink Paislee and cut outs from Basic Grey. All of the elements go together nicely and I added a bit of sparkle with butterfly confetti pieces. Liquid pearls were added to the cut out roses and leaves, Stamped quotes by Verve Stamps and My Favorite Things were also added to enforce the feminine theme. 

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Next up is my last outgoing pl and it went to my pal in Florida, Mary. We also exchange on a regular basis and this time we went with a woodland animals theme. I used grosgrain ribbon on the spine which is so cute! On the middle row I went with a nighttime scene using a dp by October Afternoon which I've had in my stash for years. It was nice to use it and I hand cut some hills from green cardstock. The circle trees on the top row were made by die cutting graduated circles in different dp's and free hand drawing the tree trunk and branches. The little fox is a dimensional sticker by Jolee's Boutique as are some of the other stickers used on this pl. A fence die by Taylored Expressions helped finish my top row scene. I wish I had taken better pictures of some of my outgoing pl's but you can always click on the image to enlarge it. I was in a big hurry and didn't check the lighting, sorry about that.

That's a wrap for my outgoing pocket letters and now I'm sharing the letters that I received during September and October. 

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Incoming Pocket Letters

First up is the pl I received from my new pal in New Zealand, Raewyn. She created a cover for the front which folds inward and holds additional pockets. I love this design and I'm going to give it a try so thanks for the inspiration Rae. :)

Front Cover

What a great idea!

When you open the cover there are two flaps, one on each side and she tucked notes (not shown) under the doily flaps. It really elevated this pl and the flaps are easy to add with washi tape. Again, it's a super idea and I'm definitely giving this a try. Thanks Raewyn and for my crafty goodies too!

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The next pl is from my friend in Germany, Katrin, known as Sizu over at Pocket Letter Pals. Her mixed media pl is stunning and I LOVE the dimensional bird cage shaker she created using an Alterations die by Tim Holtz.

The colors are so pretty and the winged things she added to each pocket are gorgeous! I'm going to try and snap a pic of this outside and edit this post because this one is so dark. This pl is really beautiful in person and she added a lot of detail to it.

 This is her beautiful shaker tag!

She die cut several pieces then layered them for dimension. I love it Katrin, thank you so much and for my crafty goodies as well. :)

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Next is the group swap pl I received from Sarah70 at PLP's. We were challenged to use one of Julie Nutting's fab doll images and I love the one she chose. She also personalized it for me with wonderful quotes about grandmothers as I'd just become a new Mimi to my sweet grandson, Tristan. It was super thoughtful and I was so touched.

 Thank you Sarah for my beach themed pl and my craft goodies.

It's fabulous!

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The last swap pl was from my friend, Mary, in Florida. She mentioned she struggled with the woodland animals theme but I think she hit it out of the ball park. 

I love the vignettes she created on each pocket and I love my crafty goodies too.

Thanks Mary!

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The final pocket letter I am sharing today is from a dear friend at Pocket Letter Pal's, Glenda. She knew I was going to become a brand new Mimi in September and she made this beautiful pl to commemorate this special event in my life. It was so thoughtful and I cherish her friendship!

It's so precious and I love the "i'm a mimi" banner she created. She also used one of my fave baby collections by Graphic 45 and it was such a sweet surprise when I received it. She even included crafty goodies for me to enjoy and use on future pl's. You are a gem Glenda, thank you!!!

Well that brings me up to date with my outgoing pl's for September and October with the exception of Halloween pl's. I'll share those in a separate post when my overseas letters arrive. Fortunately my pals were willing to receive theirs late due to my crazy schedule the past 2 months.

Have a great weekend everybody, wherever you are!

Lisa xx