Lollipop box club

I've been posting this on my other blog, but since I made something from the box tonight, I'll post it on here.
I joined a subscription box club, called The Lollipop Box Club, it's based in the UK and is kind of a planner box. It's more than that, though, which is why I signed up for a 6 month subscription.
First look:

 This is about what it looks like each month, it's all nicely wrapped up in tissue paper with the heart confetti and a tag customized with your name on it.
 Here's the first peek into the goodies:

Here's everything laid out:

 There's always a couple calendars: one for this month, one for the next, some paper (which is extremely beautiful this month), some to do pages, note paper pages, planner stickers, a Treats bag, a stencil, a felt paper clip that she made, another tag, washi tape, a pen a stamp, a charm, a DIY bag, and a mystery gift bag. There's also a lollipop, but it's the first thing I dive into, this month it was orange and tasted like an orange pop.

 I believe the binder clips are extra this month. I love the cute little paper clips she makes for us, they are so cute. There's always a little charm that goes with the box.

 Here are all the paper pieces laid out. I don't usually use the to-do papers, or the this week. I usually put the stuff I don't use into some of my swaps, might as well share it with someone else.
The treats bag:

 Inside there's always a postcard that she makes, and some words. I believe the rest varies each month. Those little paper clips in the middle look like ice cream cones to me.
The Mystery gift bag::

 This month it was a maple whiskey candle and it made the whole box smell good.
The DIY kit:

 There's always stuff for a DIY and you have to follow the blog to get the instructions. I didn't want to make a heart, so I *tried* to make a pumpkin, but it turned out sad:

 It came out very lopsided. I basically stole some stuffing from a falling apart stuffed animal. I made the stem with some burlap ribbon and created the leaves with some green felt. I glued a bottle cap to the bottom to make it sit up:

Like I said, it's pretty sad. I should have just gone with the heart, it kinda looks like a peach to me.
Oh well, it was fun to do a little sewing again.

Fall Swap

I signed up to do the Esther Luka Family Fall swap again this year. This marks the year anniversary of participating in Esther Luka's swaps. Our requirements were:
One pocket letter, 4 embellishments, 3 washi samples, 2 flowers, 2 handmade cards: Hello and seasonal, 3 stamped images and 1-2 extras. Here's what I made:

 I used a leaf paper background. The tree is from a card I liked it so I attached it to the outside of the pocket. I added some leaves from my stash and layered some wooden leaves on top of them. The turkey is a felt piece from my stash. The two paper leaves are from a swap. I added the two ephemera pieces that I picked up from a garage sale. The quote at the top says 'make the most of every day' there is a circle piece from a garage sale with a Dollar Tree sticker on top. The middle card has another Dollar Tree sticker. The family piece is from a garage sale, it's layered on a cork sticker. The first card has some felt stickers from my stash.
The back:

I included some fallish stickers, some ribbon, silk leaves, ephemera card, sparkly leaf ephemera, foam turkey stickers, sequins, my washi samples.
The flowers:

 This was new this time around. I tried making some flowers with ribbon, but they didn't come out like I wanted, so I just did some layered paper flowers with pearl centers.
The cards:

 I really like how these turned out, I'm not that great at making cards. The hello card I just layered a bunch of paper with some vintage trim and some ric rac. The holiday one is an acetate house on some snowflake paper. The 'happy holidays' is a clear sticker on some white paper and popped up on foam tape.

 This envelope holds my stamped images. I made the envelope and embellished it with a silk leaf and some die cut acorns from a swap.
Embellishments:

The gold tag I had in my stash, I added the burlap leaf tag (from Hobby Lobby) and a leaf punch (from a swap) on top of it, I added a piece of ephemera (my stash) as well. I made another tag to match it with another burlap leaf tag (Hobby Lobby), a sparkly leaf (garage sale) and a 'be happy' sticker (Dollar Tree). I also made a banner embellishment. I layered some scrap book paper (my stash) with some leaf sequins (a swap) and some clear gems (my stash). I also made her some fall paper clips. The two leaves are from Hobby Lobby and the pumpkin was in my stash.
My extras:

I bought this hot pad/oven mitt set last year (Walmart), and it was just waiting for this swap. I'm amazed I didn't lose it. I included this velvet pumpkin I also bought last year (local store), some fall ribbon (a swap) and a piece of chocolate for her.
Here's what she sent me:

 First glance:

 Some extras:

 She included some heart post it's and some giant paper clips in this cute jack-o-lantern bag tied up with this burlap flower.
Another cute jack-o-lantern container:

 It had these very cute flowers in it:

 They are made from pipe cleaners, I love them.
Her embellishments:

 She made me a bunch of rosettes with foxes and sparkly buttons.
More extras:

 She filled this cup with tea and hot chocolate and got me a velvet pumpkin as well.

And some neat Jolee's Boutique snowflake stickers.
Cards:

 Very cute. I love the tree in the truck.
Stamped images:

 She included that tree and the truck image as well as some Julie Nutting dolls and a really cute truck and trailer image.

 Pocket letter:

 She said it was her first or second one. I love it, you can see the tag with her washi samples on the side and a neat embossed bookmark.
The back:

 The goodies:

I thought it was kinda funny that she used this ephemera set of the foxes, squirrels, owls and hedgehogs. The paperclips, these ephemera, the stickers and the pieces on the rosettes are all from that set.
I emailed Esther that I have gotten new people for every swap I've done through her group, but I am amazed at what they create. I've been doing some kind of art most of my life, and my partners always tell me they are brand new at this and I feel their stuff is so much better than mine.

journal page

I get a subscription box from Lollipop box club.com and finally used some of my stuff today. I'm getting very good at opening the box and hoarding everything in it, except the lollipop.
I still have about half of the notebook I put my Screw It and Do It challenge in to fill up, so I created a journal page:

The background is a card from a swap, I liked the pattern. The box had come with a frame, but it took up most of the page, this frame came in my PeachyCheap.com grab bag, it fit much better. The camera is from the box, it's layered on some note paper from the box. The film strip is a stamp from the box. The images in it are from my latest Walmart haul, they are from a planner sticker set. The other frame is a sticker from the box layered on a bit of one of the bags that holds some of the items in the box. The 'making memories' piece is from the box, it's layered on some more of that note paper.

I really like how it turned out. Maybe I'll do another journal page with the October box, I have another box from August I could do a journal page, too. This could be fun.

Banner swap

I signed up for a holiday banner swap on one of my facebook groups. After we partnered, I told my partner, I wanted Christmas and the word Hope, she said she wanted fall themed and something like Thanks or Fall. I did Fall because I'm not that great at longer words.
Here's what I created:

I bought the background chipboard banner shapes at Hobby Lobby. The papers are also from Hobby Lobby. The sunflowers are from a garage sale, the letters are from Hobby Lobby. I was going to stop there, but one of the requirements was to have three embellishments on it. So, I added the sequins in the corners (they are from Dollar Tree), with some tiny pearls in the middle of them (from a swap) and the squirrel stickers on the copper wooden pumpkins (both from Target) to the bottoms. We were also required to include the hanging string. I took some twine from some leaf tags I picked up at Hobby Lobby.
I love the simplicity of it. I hope my partner likes it as well.
Here's what my partner made:

 And some close-ups to see the dimension:

 I had to hang it up to see how big it was:

I'm gonna leave it up until after the Christmas season.
I love how it turned out, but I feel like I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. My partner asked what word I'd like and I said 'Hope' so I was expecting a banner with the word hope on it.

Pink card

One of the new groups I joined on facebook, had a pink swap for October.
Here's what I made:

Basically, I raided my stash and pulled out a bunch of pink stuff. The background is from a paper pad especially made to make cards. The journaling card is from a swap as is the butterfly die cut. The trim is from Michaels.
Of course, when they partnered up, they kinda changed the rules on me. Since it's October it's supposed to be about surviving breast cancer and courage, the original rules were anything pink, in the partnered post it said pink and about courage, so I made another one and sent it to my partner:

The papers are from my stash, I found the quote online and drew the pink ribbon.
Here's what my partner sent me:

 And the inside:

I love the little punches she included.

Alphabet Tags, D E and F

I'm in an Alphabet Tag swap in one of my facebook groups, every month we do three tags. This month it was D E and G. I had made a D tag earlier, and then I promptly lost it before the swap was due.
Here's what I created:

I started the dictionary background on the A-C tags, and have decided to do it for the rest of the alphabet.
The D has a dreamcatcher, dog and donut on it. The E has an earthworm, egg and eyes on it. The F has a fairy, fox, frog and flowers on it.
Here's what my partner made:

I love the eggplant and the feather on the flamingo

Mini Halloween pocket letter

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. I liked it when I was little and got some cool candy, and then when I was in high school and my friend had a party every Halloween, but it doesn't do anything for me nowadays. It seems like the candy isn't as cool, I don't get trick-or-treaters, but I do love seeing the little kids dress up for downtown trick or treaters.
I'm also not that interested in Halloween art stuff, but I like seeing what other people make and in order to have those things, I have to create Halloween stuff.
I signed to do a mini Halloween pocket letter in one of my facebook groups. Here's what I made:

 I had some paper from another pocket letter, so I trimmed them down for the cards. I also used some vintage ephemera that I picked up at Micheal's last year. It's very simple, but I like it.
Here's the back:

I just put in some more of the vintage ephemera for my partner.
My hope in signing up for mini pocket letters is to keep them at one stamp when mailing, but I'm not that good at it. I think I may have achieved it this time.
How cute is the way my partner packaged my return swap?

 The front:

 and back:

I didn't realize the skeleton was actually attached to the pocket letter until I opened it.

November Calendar Tag

I signed up to do another calendar tag in my facebook group. This month, the theme was pumpkins. Here's what I made:

I picked up some pumpkin paper at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago with the plan to use it as the background, but I decided it was too busy, so as I was covering the packaging I was using as backing, I chose this paper.  The giant pumpkin I got at a garage sale. I love the way the circle of the calendar fit so perfectly on the pumpkin. The 'it's a wonderful life' sticker came from Dollar Tree. I made a litter banner of leaf confetti (from a garage sale) and added some pumpkin stickers on top of them. I like the simpleness of it.
Here's what my partner made:

 and some goodies:

I love what she made for me, don't get me wrong, I'm a little disappointed though, because the theme was supposed to be pumpkins. I actually changed what I was going to make because of that.