Birthday Card

My friend's birthday was on Tuesday, so I made her a flipbook type card:
Here's the front:

 Her favorite color is green, I added some blue in there as well. I had picked up some card blanks at Target, but they turned out to be just a single card, not cardstock folded in half, it was a little weird and I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be that way, but I made it work. So, I just went through my paper and picked out blue, green and blue/green papers to use and added them to the cards and then taped them together to create a flipbook.
The front is chevron with a green diecut I got in a swap, I just distressed it with some green ink from Stampin Up, I added a mother of pearl button and a green button to the middle. I also added this washi from Hobby Lobby. It doesn't show up very well in the picture but it's actually gold foiled, it says "life is an adventure" it came in a pack with some globe washi.
When you flip it up:

 Close-up of top:

 This kind of a paisley/flowered print. I added this banner sticker from Dollar Tree, and stamped some worms and colored them in.
Close-up of the bottom:

 These are project life cards that I cut down to fit.
When you flip them open:

Close-up of left card:

 

 I just added a panda sticker and wrote Hello
Close-up of middle:

The cake image is from a book, I just added stickers to the bottom.
Close-up of right page:

 I just added this cute sticker to it, it says "Live in wonder and find beauty in the everyday"
When you flip this card down:

 Close-up of middle piece:

 I just added some balloon stickers from Dollar Tree, along with alphas to spell out "Make a wish" and some birthday washi to the bottom.
Close-up of bottom page:

 I just added another project life card cut down and some of those bubble/enamel dots from Dollar Tree
When you flip this one down:

 Close up of third page:

 I actually had a really hard time with this one. I had a different card here and could not make it work, so I took some white cardstock, crumpled it up and distressed it with two shades of green and a shade of blue ink. I used some washi to make banners and added this card.
Close up of last page:

 I created an envelope using one of the papers and put a coloring page in it. I added the ribbon to cover too much tape and a cute fairy cat sticker.
This is the back:

Pretty plain, I just signed it under the stamp.

I had so much fun making this, I hope she liked it.

E.L.F. Winter Swap

I participated in Esther Luka's Winter swap and it was so much fun. My partner was Julie, here's what she sent me, first look:

 Everything out of the box:

 These were in the bag in the back:

 Tons of lace, some eyelash yarn and a bag of buttons
The other extras:

I'm still working on this bag of candy, it's very good.
And here's the handmade stuff:

This is a loaded envelope stuffed with goodies
Here are the goodies:

 some ornaments, a couple paper clips. I love the pom pom snowman.
More goodies:

 Some stickers, washi samples and a handmade card.
I love how she did the washi samples, it looks so cute, I'm not sure I'll want to take them off.
And the wands:

I love it when people make and send these to me. They are so fun. I've gotten a few lately. I haven't tried making one myself yet.
And here's the loaded envelope empty

It's also beautiful. I've seen people getting these in the mail and saying how they don't want to take them apart and ruin how gorgeous they are. I made sure to put everything back in the way I found it. Though I do think I should have a special place for all my wands just to keep them together.
Here's her pocket letter:

 How beautiful is that? She told me it was her first pocket letter.
Here's the back:

 And the goodies:

 Lots of bling in there, paper clips and snowflakes
And some other stuff she included:

She said she read I wanted doilies, now I have quite a selection. I love all the snowflakes she sent me. I've signed up for a challenge and am thinking of doing a snowy pocket letter, they will be perfect.

Winter Esther Luka Swap

I joined the Esther Luka Family Winter swap this year. We had to send our partner:

a flip book or a pocket letter

5 samples of washi at least 18 inches long

3 handmade embellishments

a handmade ornament

1-2 extras.

Here's what I sent my partner

 The flip book is in the top left, next to that are my samples of washi, I added them to a 'library card' bookmark from Target, next to those are some Almond Roca (my partner said those were her favorite chocolates), I also included a mug full of chocolate, next to that are my handmade embellishments, next to those is my handmade card and at the end some Christmas tree clothespins
Here's a close-up of my embellishments:

 The one on the left is a tag layered with a scalloped circle, a circle and a word sticker. I stamped the snail in the middle. The tag is actually wooden, I just added the wooden snowflake that I colored with a metallic pen and put a gem in the middle and added some sparkly washi to the bottom. The last one is made from a button that I got in a swap, I colored it to  look like a peppermint and added some banners and a word sticker.
Here's my handmade card:

 I used some kraft paper background that I layered some Christmas paper on. The sentiment is actually a clear sticker that I put on a white background, I distressed it with some stampin up ink so it wasn't so white.
Here's my flipbook:

 On the front here I added some jewel snowflakes and the sticker to the top.
When you flip it open:

 Here's a close-up of the left page:

 I created a side pocket with dictionary paper and highlighted the word 'Holiday'. I put one of each of the tags I picked up at Target and some Christmas stickers. The side is some Santa stickers on plaid paper.
Here's a close-up of the right page

I bought the puffy stickers with this exact set-up in mind. I didn't really have any great paper for the fireplace, so I just used some striped paper. I added a string to hang the stockings on and some stickers. I probably should have added a fire in the fire place.
When you flip the left page up:

 Close-up of the top page:

 I added a cut-out from a clip art book and colored it in. I also added some sparkly silver washi to the bottom and two snowmen buttons to the left. I also painted the wooden snowflakes with puff paint and added some bling.
Close-up of the bottom page:

 I love this little train sticker. I added some ribbon to the bottom, that sort of looked like train tracks. The sentiment was a clear sticker that I added to white paper and cut out.
When you flip the bottom right page to the right:

 Close-up of the middle page:

 I made a pocket and added some vintage images I printed off my computer. I added this Mary Engelbreit paper doll I had gotten somewhere.
Close-up of the right page:

 The corner pieces are from the same clip art book as the snowman above, I colored them in with metallic pens. I loved the sentiment of this card.
Here's my handmade ornament. I had the hardest time figuring out what to do, so I finally just went with an altoids box (if you've read my previous posts here, and here, and here, you know I love altering these, and I haven't done one in awhile).

 I took some more of those vintage images, I added one to the front, and put some lace on it.
Close-up of side:

 I added lace to the top edge of the box as well as the bottom edge.
Close-up of inside:

 

 I added some more vintage images. I added some vintage silver ric rac around the inside edges. I tied a pink ribbon on the top for the hanger, and added this beaded tassel thing to the bottom.
Close-up of the back:

Again, a vintage image. Usually I'll cover the box with dictionary paper, but I finally settled on doing this ornament at the last minute and it would have taken too long for the mod podge to dry and I wanted to get it mailed out on time.
My partner said she loved what she got. The ornament is more vintage chic than the rest, but like I said I was having a hard time with it. She said I could go shabby chic, so I did.

I will post what I received from her, soon.

Crafty updates

Just some misc updates on what I've been doing craft wise. I got this tag in a RAK back before I moved, I want to say in July. Normally, I don't really color, I just don't like staying in the lines, but one day I sat down and colored it with my metallic pens:

 I also wrapped up gifts for my 12 Days of Christmas swap:

 I had a lot of fun decorating the outside of them.
A few years ago, I started this by cutting out a mitten from felt and then added a vintage dish towel to it. Last year (maybe?) I pinned the fabric to it, but never got around to sewing it down. Mostly because my mother said she was going to give me a sewing machine and then never did. As sheer and delicate as the fabric was, I was afraid hand sewing it, wouldn't catch the fabric right.
I found some metallic thread in my stash and sewed it together

 I don't know what else to do with it. It's about the size of an actual mitten.
I also signed up for a Christmas PL in one of my facebook groups. I had a hard time figuring out what to do for it. I do like how it turned out:

 I used some washi I got in a swap for the side. I just don't have a lot of Christmas washi and what I do have, I didn't think went with the rest of the pl. I used two papers from a 12x12 all seasons paper pad I picked up from Hobby Lobby for the backgrounds. One is a wood grained pattern with chevrons, the other is shades of red and green with Dec 25th in squares.
First row, the red square is actually part of a gift tag from Dollar Tree. Second card, I just fussy cut some reindeer from another paper pad. Third card is a sticker from Hobby Lobby.
Second Row: all the pieces are vintage clip art I printed off from my computer. The first and third were actually printed in grayscale (because I have run out of color ink) and I colored them with metallic pens. The second one was printed off last year, so it's in color.
Third Row: the first and third cards are some Santa stickers that I layered on red paper. The second card is Santa postage stamps layered on red paper.
I added an owl ornament to the side.
Here's the back:

The first space I put my letter in. The second I added some more of the reindeer I put on the front. The third is full of tags I picked up at Target.
Second Row: The first space has some more of that clip art, the second has some heart embellishments that were in my stash. The third has some puffy snowmen stickers.
Third Row: the first space has some clip art someone sent me, the second has some chocolate, the third has some stickers, stamps and a holiday eraser.

What's everyone else up to?