More craft swaps

I've worked a lot on craft swaps for the last couple of weeks. That's introducing me to some awesome crafters and leading me to learning some new crafting techniques and some different types of paper crafts.

This is a flipbook. The book is made completely via paper and washi tape.                                                                                                                The black and white cards in the center flip up with what has been called a waterfall effect. Each card has a different image related to butterflies. 

I used my little Sizzix embossing machine to emboss the butterflies on the back of the card. I used a Q-tip to rub ink onto the butterflies to make them stand out more.

I filled the booklet full of little goodies like these handmade tags. I used my Cricut to cut out the tags.  Then, I added some embellishments to gussy it up. One thing this group is teaching me is that embellishments are everything.

I also added some other goodies to the booklet. The idea is to give your swap partner some goodies that they can use in future projects. I included some bits of printed cardstock, a bit of embossed paper, tons of tiny butterflies, which I cut using a butterfly punch, and some small flowers.

This is my second pocket letter card. My theme was alien invasion.

This black background is a thick shiny piece of cardstock. It's gorgeous, but it was a nightmare to cut. I killed the blade in my paper cutter with it and I'm pretty sure I dulled the blade in my Cricut as well. I finally ended up using scissors to cut off the edges. The end result is that the paper isn't exactly the same size in every pocket, but I did the best I could.

I downloaded the little monster from Printable Cuttable Creatables.







I filled the back of the pockets mostly with little embellishments, such as stars, buttons, etc. I added a few decorative elements, such as a quote from X-files and a couple of additional monsters, which came from a Cricut cartridge.

Now that I've received a couple of pocket letters from other group members, I know I need to work on upping my embellishment stash and my embellishment-making skills.

My first pocket letter

I discovered a cool paper project that connects paper crafting with pen pals it's called pocket letters. Apparently, this has been a thing for several years, but it's completely new to me.

You take a trading card sheet that contains 9 slots. Then, you fill each slot with mini cards. You might have a particular theme such as retro days, cats, Harry Potter, etc.

You might use photos, stickers, washi tape, tags, ribbons, or whatever other crafting goodies you have around the house.

After you've make your pocket letter, you fold it up to fit in a letter-sized envelope and send it off to a fellow crafter. That crafter sends you back a pocket letter in return.

Often these darling collections include a few crafting supplies for the recipient such as some washi tape samples or stickers.



This is my first attempt at a pocket letter.  I went with an all-things retro sort of theme.

I didn't include crafting goodies in the pockets. Instead, as I folded up the pockets, I included a letter about myself along with a few package labels, a couple of stickers, and a bit of washi tape.

I posted a photo of one side of the pocket letter to a crafting group on Facebook and asked for someone to swap pockets with me. I found a taker within 5 minutes. Hopefully, that means that my first attempt isn't a total disaster. I'm still learning.

I can't wait to see what I receive in exchange.



I hope to start a collection of these pocket letters. This seems like a fun crafting project that I can continue to maintain even when my workload is heavy.

Happy crafting!