My Pocket Letter™ for Kelli

Yesterday I shared the bright and colorful Pocket Letter™ my swap partner Kelli made for me.  Today, I have mine to share!    This is how I packaged mine all up, using a punched doily, some silk flowers, vintage millinery leaves, and satin ribbon.  I could add these extra flourishes because I didn't have to actually send it through the mail.

Before I get too into the sharing, if you're wondering what the heck Pocket Letter Pals™  are, I gave an short explanation of Pocket Letters in my last post.  I won't repeat myself here because the best resource for learning more about this phenomenon and getting lots of ideas, tips, and inspiration is from the creator of this concept Janette Lane.  Her links are below.

Website

Blog

Facebook Group, it's private & you need to request to join

YouTube Channel

This is what I created.  It was a bit of a challenge for me because Kelli favors more of a shabby chic look than comes naturally to me.  I set out to incorporate a  vintage floral look with her favorite colors, pink and gold.  I think I succeeded pretty well and really enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone.  It was great using up some of the pretties I've saved for years, like really gorgeous embossed K&Company paper as the background.

Here is a close of the top row.  The gold banner and pink butterflies are both punched out of a Die Cuts with a View Glitzy Pastels 6X6 paper pad.  Can't recommend that enough!  It's thin enough to easily punch and the glitter doesn't brush off the backing or fall off.  I purchased it when paper stacks were 40% off at Joann's so it was a very good purchase since I can make tons of custom die cuts and alphabets with it.

The rose sticker is from my stash and I used it along with a smaller layered rose sticker at the bottom so they would coordinate and help make the Pocket Letter cohesive even though I am using pieces and leftovers from many different scrapbook lines. The word definition is from a larger sticker, I cut out and notched the one I wanted to use, then used little Tim Holtz alphas to spell out "wish".  I felt this bit of black balanced out the darker key lock sticker placed at the bottom of the letter.

Now for a look at the how I incorporated Kelli's initials into the letter & personalized it just for her.  See that gold washi tape?  That wasn't originally supposed to be there.  When arranging the square letter Thickers I made a placement error and then ripped the label sticker when I tried to move them.  Nothing like layering to save the day!

The middle row came together the quickest.  I wrapped up some coordinating twine and decided to part with one of my horded Kate Spade gold bow paper clips, so I could add something really special.  On the far right are more vintage millinery leaves I got a few years ago at an antiques fair.  

One of my favorite parts of this Pocket Letter is my very first shaker pocket, filled with sequins and mini beads.  I thought Kelli might want to remove the sequins to use for projects so I closed the pocket with washi tape for now, but she has a Fuse Tool so if she can use that, if she'd prefer seal it permanently.  To finish it off, I staped a little Heidi Swapp transparency with "enjoy" in gold on top of the pocket.

For the bottom row I layered several bits and pieces to create a collage along the three pockets.  Elements are adhered to the paper inside the pockets and also right on top of the outside.  I repeated the banner, butterflies, rose sticker, and  a darker element from the top of the Pocket Letter here as well.

One of the few things a Pocket "Letter" wouldn't really be a Pocket Letter without is an actual letter from the sender to the recipient.  I had the perfect mini envelope to house mine in and finally figured out the perfect way to use the gold hand piece I won in a giveaway.  It added the perfect touch of extra special, I think.

Like Kelli did for me, I also included some fun goodies for her.  I raided my supplies for pink and gold and found some great stuff.  By coincidence, we also gave each other the very same Vanilla Caramel tea!

Many Pocket Letter Pals send each other things they've made, like the ribbon paper clip Kelli made for me.  I sent her one as well, some punched & stamped tabs, more butterflies, and a few one inch circles I stamped and then punched out.  It wasn't much but since this was my first time crafting a Pocket Letter it took me awhile to design and assemble it to the point where I thought it was just perfect.  I was stamping and punching these things right up until the time we had to leave to go deliver it!

Have you gotten into the world of Pocket Letter Pals?  I'd love to see what you've made!  Maybe we can even swap and be pals too ♥

A Pocket Letter™ from Kelli

Have you heard about Pocket Letter Pals™?  They are really popular with paper enthusiasts!  A twist on a traditional pen pal, it's a super fun way to use up all the bits and baubles crafters have left over after creating a scrapbook page or other project.  It's also fun to shop for goodies specifically for a Pocket Letter so even if you don't have a large stash to pull from, don't let that stop you from joining in!

Basically, you create a "letter" within a trading card protector.  You can fill each pocket with decorative paper, embellishments, and extra goodies.  Here is a handy guide with ideas for each one, but there really aren't any hard and fast "rules".  You can decorate the front, either within or on top of the pockets,  and add goodies as part of the front or on the back.  Or you can skip sending little extras entirely and focus on the design.  A lot of the pockets have a theme of some sort, that's usually agreed upon by the swappers.  You can learn more about this phenomenon and get lots of ideas, tips, and inspiration from the creator of this concept Janette Lane.  Her links are below.

Website

Blog

Facebook Group, it's private & you need to request to join

YouTube Channel

I first heard of Pocket Letters on YouTube and quickly went to check out the Facebook group.  I'll admit to just admiring and gathering ideas for quite awhile.  I was a bit hesitant to start swapping because I already have a lot of scrappy projects I'm working on.  Then a couple weeks ago I was at my local scrapbook store and overheard some employees talking to another customer about them.

I joined in on the conversation and before I knew it, I had agreed to swap my very first Pocket Letter!  This is a nice way to ease into the process because I already sort of know my swap partner from seeing her at the store.  Plus I wouldn't have to worry about extra shipping charges, should my Pocket Letter end up being bulky and heavy, because we could simply swap at the store.  Perfect!

After discussing our likes and preferences, Kelli made this really fun and colorful Pocket Letter for me!  I just love it!  It's so bright and cheerful!

I just love all the fun details Kelli put into it.  This paper bow is so cool!  She also made me an embellished paper clip with aqua ribbon on a gold paper clip, eek - can't stand the cuteness!  You can spy it at the very bottom of the image above.  I'm torn between using it as a bookmark for my planner or keeping it just where it is.

She also MADE this awesome quilled camera!!!  It's my very favorite part!  I tried to photograph is from the side so you can see how dimensional it is.  It's just perfect attached to the Polaroid style frame that highlights the colorful sequin shaker pocket.  Love how the echo the shape of the polka dots on the paper.  There's also a really cool banner clipped with mini clothespins!

It's not a requirement, but many Pocket Letter Pals also send little goodies with their letters.  Kelli and I discussed the tea that Janette Lane suggests, it really does fit perfectly into the sleeves!  Kelli mentioned she had some yummy tea to include and that got me thinking...I had some that would be perfect too!  After all who doesn't like vanilla and caramel?  This is too funny but we ended up swapping the exact same flavor and brand of tea!

Besides the actual letter from Kelli, she included a fun little Currently list so I could get to know a little bit more about her.  She also gifted me little stickers and a die cut plus some more ribbon paperclips.  I thought these were really fun!  That yellow one with the stars {heart}.

She also sent me some washi tape, that I don't actually have!  I am super tempted to use it up, those polka dots!!!  I wanted to send her some but had thrown away all my extra clear sticker sheets, you know the backing stickers come on?  I sent her some twine instead but never thought to use a playing card!  That's a perfect fit and I like how it adds and extra layer and interest to the pockets.  I'm totally going to use that idea!

I'm so thrilled with the very first Pocket Letter I've received!  So much so that I've already agreed to swap a Disney themed one with another employee at the store.  Very excited for that because I just love Disney!  I will share the one I gave Kelli soon.  I hope she loves it as much as I love the one she made me!

Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages: Thanksgiving

It's been awhile since I shared an update to my son's first year's Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages, and since we're well into November I thought the pages from his first Thanksgiving were a good place to pick up at.  I used pocket pages and Simple Stories' Harvest Lane collection to quickly scrapbook these memories.  I was able to get all of these pages done in one sitting, which is much faster than it would've been if I scrapped them traditionally.

This first page is about the apple hat my mom knitted and that both kids have worn.  It's so cute!  Journaling has been added to the empty card, photographed before finished so I wouldn't have to edit out details to share on the blog.

This is the spread about Thanksgiving.  Family photos on the left and some of the little guy on the opposite.

We normally take family photos and while they are great to document changes and the kids growth over the years there isn't always much to write about them.  That's one reason why I love using divided pocket pages and cute inserts so I can include them without having to do too much to make them look pretty.

I did a little bit more embellishing on this half of the spread, and included a closer look at the cute onesie he wore.  All I added was the title and turkey stickers.  He is with one of his Great Aunts, his Grandma, and me along the bottom.

My Dad's birthday happens to always be really close to Thanksgiving so unfortunately for him, his birthday is often combined with turkey day.  After most of the family when home we had cake and presents for him.

Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages: Visiting the Grandparents

For our next pages in the Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages Series I have the continuation of a group of memories from the First Time Apple Picking layout shared on Monday.  When we went with my family, it happened to be on a Friday ER didn't have school and we spent the weekend at my parents'.  The next traditional scrapbook page and the following divided page protector all have pictures from our visit.

I took a lot of pictures of them all with LB, because you can never have enough precious baby photos!  I liked several but had way too many that were similar.  I picked three of my favorites, one with each of my family - Uncle, Grammy, and Papa and used them on the "main" page.

Then I used several from a series of photos I took the interaction between my mom and LB while he was hanging out on ER's old baby quilt.  It was back when he was just beginning to really respond, so sweet.  I thought the "Stitched with love" card from Harvest Lane by Simple Stories was just perfect for these because of the quilt.

On the reverse side of the We Are Memory Keepers photo sleeve I inserted pictures of LB with my Dad taken that night in my parents' TV room.  These are meaningful to me because I have some similar ones of my Dad with ER when she was a baby.  The last one is of LB giving my brother Dave a big grin.

I liked the designs printed on the reverse side of the cards I picked for the side with my mom that I left them and didn't pick new ones to go with these pictures.  I've added my journaling on the fruit card, but since I have to edit out so many personal details for blog posting I decided it was just easier to leave it blank for sharing.

Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages: 1st Time Apple Picking

This week's I have two installments of Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages to share.  Today's layout is about the first time we took LB apple picking.  Not that he did much other than ride around in the baby carrier, but it was fun to have him along nonetheless  The design is based on the Winning Layout Sketch from Close To My Heart book Cherish.  I highly recommend the it, the layouts are beautiful and will help you use many of the beautiful patterned papers you may have in your stash.  There are handy cutting guides for each layout making assembly quicker.  You do not have to have any CTMH supplies to get a lot of use out of it.

Left Side

I was able to use up a lot of paper from the Fall paper category in my stash.  I've had these papers for a couple years, they were picked up at Target as a set and I no longer know who the manufacturer is for sure but I suspect K&Company.  The apple rub-ons inside the metal tag and on the green label are also older Target supplies, this time from the Dollar Section.

Right Side

The journaling will eventually go on this side, on top of the apple paper on the top left.  I just neglected to print it out before photographing.   The metal tags are very old Oriental Trading Company, I've had them since we lived in CA over 8 years ago!  I got a ton in a package and have used them for a ton of stuff.  They were inexpensive but are on the cheap looking side.  I found that to be the case for most things I ordered from them so I've stopped purchasing from there.  I spend too much time on my scrapbooks to use cheap materials!

The "memories" tag is brand new, this winter and I got a package of them but took them out awhile ago to sort into my Project Life stash and can't remember who makes them.  They are pretty trendy just now, I've seen them pop up in various kits and other scrapbook blogger's layouts.

Sorry about the terrible glare on the page protector here.  I was feeling lazy and didn't bother taking any of my pages out of my binder when photographing these.  Won't make that mistake again!  Click any of the images to see larger versions and come back for more on Thursday!

Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages: Mixing Page Sizes

Awhile ago, I rather abruptly stopped my weekly series of Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages. That wasn't because I stopped making progress on my little guy's first year of album. I had just reached a point where there were a lot of seasonal layouts coming up and it didn't seem right to be posting pages of fall activities and pumpkins as summer was beginning.

I decided to hold off sharing those pages until September when they'd be more seasonally appropriate BUT I meant to share a couple more pages, like the ones I have today, and explain why I this scrapbook series was on temporary hiatus. Obviously, I never quite got around to that, guess we were enjoying our summer too much!

I'm excited to start sharing this collection of scrapbook pages again!  There's just one little change, I've decided to move the post day from Monday to Thursday.  So expect to see installments on a regular basis.  I hope they give you some ideas and inspiration for scrapping your baby's precious first memories.  Even if you don't have a little one to document, many of the ideas and layouts can be easily modified to any theme.

Getting back on track, let's start back up with a couple 8.5X11 layouts from LB's first September.  These two layouts are placed in LB's First Year Album Vol. 1 between previously shared layouts Sibling Love and So Happy Together and above, is how they appear within the scrapbook.  As you can see, I've mixed up page protector sizes.

Prior to starting Project Life I pretty much exclusively scrapped 12X12 pages.  Now that I regularly include inserts and all sorts of fun stuff into my Project Life albums, I've gotten way more comfortable mixing page protector sizes.

This really works for me because I have never really been a one photo scrapbook page maker because 12X12 just seem like too big of a scrappy canvas.  I would think the one photo would get lost in such on such a big space.  However, 8.5X11 is the perfect size for highlighting one precious photo.

 {Sweet Little Baby of Mine 8.5X11 Layout}

While planning scrapbook pages, I noticed that once we brought LB home, there was a shortage of photos of just the two of us.  I have never been a willing photography subject, but I know it's important for me to appear within our family's memories so I do try to get in front of the camera from time to time.

I think this oversight was because I had a rough recovery, with post delivery complications that meant I was just trying to get through the day!   Since there aren't many of me with LB I thought it was especially important to scrap them.  This isn't of a particularly special time, just some snuggles on the couch.  It was okay to use rather generic, albeit cutely themed, supplies.  I was able to use a pre-made sticker title, quote sticker, and a onesie epoxy sticker all my stash.  These were all leftover from my now seven year old daughter's baby pages so it was great to revisit older things.   A Project Life journaling grid card, border sticker, and new papers round out the supplies used.

On the other side of the "Sweet Little Baby of Mine" layout is "Snug as a Bug".  I took this photo for a MAM Baby Products review.  While you could say this was taken on assignment, it turned out to be one of my favorite newborn pictures of LB.  He just looks so itty bitty and still has that brand new infant look.  The little hoodie was also a favorite, it has a cute little bug face complete with antenna on it's hood.  It seemed like an obvious place start when picking supplies for the layout and Basic Grey's Bowties 6X6 paper pad gave me the perfectly scaled down papers to use.

{Detail of Snug as a Bug 8.5X11 Layout}

While both of today's layouts are simple, I think they are the perfect size for highlighting a memory when there is only one photo to support it.  So tell me, do you mix up sizes in your albums?  What is your favorite size layout to scrap?

Pocket Style Scrapbooking without the Pockets: Summer Time is the Best Time

I'm still catching up on scrapbooking pages from my daughter's early years and trying to fill in some blanks in her albums. I think part of the reason for my procrastination was I didn't have any inspiration for what to do with them.  With the advent of pocket style scrapbooking the stress of designing a page is lessened but it doesn't always fit in with the other pages I've already created to add pocket pages.

For example, the stories that would be placed chronologically right before and after this day have already been scrapped on traditional 12X12 pages.  This is my solution to avoid affecting the timeline of my album.

These pictures have been sitting in my photo box since shortly after they were taken way back in 2007!  Time to get them where they can be enjoyed and help me remember how little E was just after turning one.  While not spectacular photos alone, together they tell the story of how much she enjoyed our apartment's pool and how much I liked this cool float with a built in shade.

It's super easy to base a page of the configuration of various pocket style page protectors without having to actually use them.  This spread above is based on my favorite WRMK 12x12 Ring (3-4x6, 2-6x4, 1-12x2 Photo Sleeves) and Becky Higgin's Design A.

Normally this WRMK page would have the 12X2 slot on the right if on the lefthand side of a spread.  I love how could get the same look but put the patterned paper on the right.  The summer word paper and pink foil paper are both from MAMBI Summer Days paper pad.  They coordinate perfectly with the newer MAMBI Pocket Pages Themed Cards that are used on both sides of this layout. The flower border is Doodlebug Design.

Here is a better look at the right side, with more happy summer colors used.  The orange dots and "Cool Off" cards as well as the word & foil papers are more MAMBI and were chosen to tie both sides of this layout together.  The stickers are leftovers from my stash, so old I have no idea who the manufacturer was.  The puffy flip flops and goggles from left side are both from K & Co's Citronella line.

To break up the pocket look a little, in what would be one 4X6 photo space I added a little WRMK journaling tag with our former address on it.  I also added a little punched circle, I wanted it to look like a little tab and fill in some space because I thought the one inch difference between the WRMK tag and the 4X3 patterned paper looked a little awkward without it.

Did you notice the word overlays with the little flowers and brads?  Those are from a kit I bought way back when Lisa Bearnson was still on QVC, this is before the switch to HSN.  It was fun to use some older supplies :)  I hope your days have been full of some scrappy goodness, like mine have been!

Baby Boy Scrapbook Page: A Favorite First Outfit

Hello!  Thanks for coming by for another entry into my Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages Series.  I finished this page up a couple months ago and have been excited to share it because I love how it turned out.

I got this sweet outfit from a friend before LB was born, it was so kind of her to dress him - literally from head to toe!  I fell in love with the darling hat and little loafers.  On occasion, LB would even consent to keep them on for more than five seconds!

I took him out on our back deck and found the perfect spot to prop him up in a corner of the landing of our stairs.  Then I managed to take what would end up being one of my first absolute favorite pictures of LB.  It's the one I highlighted on the far right by offsetting it's placement.  I used that one to make a canvas, put it on cards, you name.

Favorite pictures deserve a very special scrapbook page!  I broke out my Echo Park This & That Charming to use, it's perfect with the vintage feel I think the hat gives to the pictures.  Echo Park is currently one of my favorite companies to scrap with.  They often sell collection kits with a piece of each paper design, stickers, etc. It makes it so easy to get pages put together because everything coordinates so beautifully.  I am bummed that they come out with a seriously cute baby collection in March.  I've got most of LB's little baby pictures scrapped now, but I could've really used it a couple months ago when it was really hard for me to find a baby collection I loved.

Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages: 2 Little Love Bugs

While perusing around Pinterest I found a great sketch site called Creative Scrappers.  I loved that unlike many, you can search by number of photos.  Since I usually start by selecting my pictures this was ideal for me.  Then I did a little reading and found out that in March they were taking a break, just my luck!  Happily, the site will be staying up so you can still access their sketches; I thought it was a resource too good not to share.  It's where I found the inspiration for this entry into our Baby Scrapbook Pages, which is based on Sketch 119.

This was another stash buster and it took awhile to dig out all the supplies as I'd already added them to the pile I let ER create with.  At first I thought the colors were a bit bright and pink...can you use pink on a boy page?  Then decided since his big sister is in each of the photos, bright colors and pink were A OK!  It turned out really cheerful and I was glad I went ahead and went for it after I checked out the selection of bug and insect related paper at the store.  Ick!  They were either way too realistic and almost scientific looking really dull dark colors.  Definitely NOT something I'd want to use for my two cutie pies!