Christmas Advent Pocket Letter

I made one of these last year and then dropped out of the group I made it for, because of things. I proposed the idea to the moderator of another one of my groups and she posted it. The one she suggested was just a 9 sleeve pocket letter, but using a fuse tool to divy up the pockets into more. I suggested using three 9 sleeve pocket letters but just decorating the extra pockets, so people without fuse tools could participate, and because that's what I made last year.
As I was packaging up the one I made last year, I tied it together with ribbon, but then thought after mailing it, why didn't I just make it a file folder pocket letter, so that's what I did this year:

 Again, I took a gift bag and used the front of it for the front of the file folder, sadly when I was attaching it, it stuck in the wrong spot and I had to pull it off making the lower right corner tear. So, I took some wood veneer snowflakes, colored them with a silver marker and then covered them with silver or blue glitter glue. When I first laid them down, they covered the whole bottom, but after putting the pocket letters inside the file folder, it made one side much more pushed up than the other, so I just attached the snowflakes to the more bubbled side. I also added some gems to the middle of them. I was going to add more gems to the sparkles under the sleigh, but then I decided that since the file folder was extra, I didn't really need to.
Inside:

 I covered the inside with some paper from Hobby Lobby. I never know how to decorate the insides, I just stuck a bag and some hot cocoa in it.
First pocket letter:

I used some plaid paper for the backgrounds on all the pocket letters. I added mostly stickers to either the cards inside the pockets or the outsides of the pocket itself. The candy cane on the first pocket is gems. The 'merry christmas' is from a project life journaling card. The hats are from a Christmas kit. The reindeer is a very dimensional sticker, the merry christmas on the bottom is from a cupcake pic and the snowman is a tag. I had some cute ornament paper that I thought would work to number them, but thought they were a little small when I cut them out, so I just punched some 1" circles to layer them on. I couldn't find number stickers small enough, but realized I had some number stamps in my stash.

Goodies:

stamped images, wooden pieces, brads, stickers, tags, word pieces, tags, tea, tags.

Back:

 I used some letters to Santa paper
Second pocket letter:

I went with a Christmas tree theme for this one. The first pocket has a die cut, the second and ornament from Hobby Lobby. The third, fourth, sixth, and eighth are stickers. The fifth is a tag I got in a swap as are the seventh and ninth. I added some washi to keep the goodies in in transit.

The goodies:

embellishments from a swap, stickers, altered paper clips, shaker mix, stamps, pins, magnetic bookmark, tea. I didn't put anything in the middle pocket as it was very hard to get open with the tag on the front.

The back:

 I felt the plaid on the front wasn't very Christmassy, so I used Santa paper for the back.
The third pocket letter:

This one is a little more Santa themed. The first pocket has a reindeer from a cupcake pic, the second one is a tag, the third a wood piece, the fourth is a sticker, the fifth another wood piece, the sixth is from a cupcake pic. The seventh has a couple stickers, the last two, I used some foam trees to make a scene, I added a snowman button behind them and some snowflakes on top.

The goodies:

die cuts, stickers, wooden ornament, bling, foam trees, sticker, tiny ornaments, Christmas themed stamps. I did take out the candy cane bling because I thought it was too hard to get in that pocket as well.

Back:

Candy cane paper.
Second page of file folder:

 Again, just covered it with paper. I added a little envelope with a note in it.
The card:

 I just made a little 3x3 card with a sticker.
Back of file folder:

I thought this paper was very nice by itself, so I left it alone.
Here's what I received in return:

I want to open it right now. I'm so impatient

Lollipop box

I've been working on a tag flip like item using the items I received in Lollipop boxes. It started out as a notebook, but every time I added some of the paper to the notebook it would rip a bit at the connection at the top, so I figured I'd still use the paper, but punch a hole at the top and use a binder ring to hold them together. I stopped at October the last time I sat down and worked on these. So I started with November this time, it was a bit harder as I didn't have any of the stickers.

 First page:

 The tag had my paperclip on it, I cut out the quote from the post card and added the jeweled hearts to the top and onto the background paper.
Second page:

 I cut out the banners from the ephemera sheet as well as the hearts. The lace was from Hollar, with a quote from the kit. I added a mermaid sticker from the Dollar Tree in the middle.
Third page:

 The mermazing was from the ephemera sheet as was the tail piece. I layered the mermazing on a scrap of paper and used it to cover my name. I layered the tail piece on a mini doily die cut from a swap and put it on the background paper.
Fourth page:

 I layered a doily from the kit with a die cut from my stash, the blue circle is from the ephemera sheet and I punched a one inch circle from the post card. I added a foam sticker on top of it all. I added a scrap of paper with some sequins from the kit. I added the hello die cut from the kit at the top.
Fifth page:

 The tail is from the postcard, I added the quote from the ephemera sheet. I also added the jeweled hearts to the bottom.
I remember opening the December kit at work, apparently I never took a picture of the full kit.
First page:

 I put the banner stickers on the left and right edges of the page. The banners on the right have heart stickers on them. I also added some wood veneers with some champagne colored flat back pearls.
Second page:

 I covered one of the tags with a scrap of paper and a scrap of the post card. I added the walking, sweaters and hat stickers to it and put it on the page.
Third page:

 All these items are from ephemera sheet.
I created this tag with the idea of putting it on one of the pages, but then didn't like the placement on the pages I had left.

 Again, I covered it with a scrap of paper and added some stickers.
Fourth page:

 I just trimmed the post card down and put it on the page.
January:

 I didn't have the sticker sheet or an ephemera sheet for this one, so it was a particular struggle.
First page:

 I really like how this one turned out. The pink doily paper was from my stash, I just trimmed it down and added it to the corner. The blue pieces are from the post card. The forever is from the description sheet. The captured and hearts were leftover from the September postcard. I added the chipboard frame (peachy cheap) with a baby picture of mine to it.
Second page:

 I cut down one of the bags to put on the background and added some of the postcard. I'm not entirely sure which kit the flowers came from, but I added them to the page.
Third page:

 I went with a tag on this one, too. I covered my name with a piece of tape that held a paper clip on. I punched out the flower shapes (I wish they were suns) from a paper in my stash.
Fourth page:

I found the stickers in the box, but realized later they weren't from this kit, though they worked with it. The word sheet is from the kit.
Apparently my limit is three months, I couldn't get inspired to start February.

December Calendar Tag

It's time for December and my last Calendar Tag. I signed up this year to try them out, but as much as I enjoy getting them in the mail, I have a hard time getting myself to do them, so I won't be signing up next year.
Here's what I created:

I wanted to go with more snowy/winter vs Christmas. The background is just snowflakes and a strip of sweater looking paper, that i trimmed to the wrong dimensions, so I added the blue doily to the top and a strip of washi to the bottom. I had the calendar stuck down but couldn't figure out how to fill the empty space.The sticker of the girl is from another planner sticker book (It's actually from a January sheet), I added the flat back pearls as well. I colored the wooden snowflake with a silver metallic marker and added the gem to the middle.
Here's what I received:

 It's cute, but I feel she didn't follow the rules by having at least one embellishment.
The extras:

This is the last one of these I'm doing. I accidentally signed up two years ago in the middle of the year and only did it this year because I wanted to collect a year's worth, but I feel it was more work than I wanted.

Altered Library Card Pockets

Sometimes I see my groups mirroring the swaps they do. I did an altered library card pocket swap in one group and then another group posted this swap. I've noticed a lot of the members overlap. I decided to sign up for this swap as well. We were supposed to make three altered library card pockets again, with embellished cards. Here's what I made:

 I went more flat this time. I chose some more vintage looking paper for the backgrounds, though the insides of the pockets are a little more vibrant. I made some strips of washi on the pockets, added some die cuts I found on my desk and some stickers.
After mailing them, I realized I was supposed to embellish the cards, so I made three more:

And of course, realized after taking the picture, that the one in the middle is taller. The backgrounds were on my desk. The first one has some flowers cut from a memo sheet and some stickers. The other two just have stickers that went with the pockets.
And here's what I received:

 This was the first envelope I received, I notified the hostess and she made three more for me:

They're very cute, but I'm a little annoyed that she didn't really embellish the cards in the pockets. She basically used journaling cards and stuck some little star gems on the first and the last one and didn't do anything to the middle one.
She still hasn't said she received my cards, even though tracking says they've been delivered, and I feel the cards got delivered too.

random cards

Some misc ATCs I made lately.

Again, with the scraps on my desk for the background. I used my new planner stickers for the girl, the pink background she's directly on and the flowers surrounding her. I'm so proud of myself for using that sticker book.
My next one:

All I did was layer the long sticker on the background, and the shaped sticker on a medallion die cut I found on my desk.
Here's a couple cards I made for a sketch.
The sketch:

 First card:

 I wanted to use this paper pad I'm having a hard time using up.
And then I went back and re read the instructions, it says a fall themed card, so I made another one:

I realize the ribbon at the bottom is lower than it's supposed to be and the bow looks a little weird with it, but I'm not good with ribbon and bows.
I put the diagonal piece on foam tape thinking I'd use some cardstock for the two pieces sticking out, they are just stickers. I'm thinking I could put some tea in it, put some kind of sentiment on the striped paper and give it to someone for fall.

Loaded bag

I signed up to make a loaded envelope for a swap. Normally, I don't do loaded envelopes, I find them a bit harder than loaded bags, which I prefer. But I've been a little lax with swaps in this particular group, and I need to inch out of my comfort zone.

Front:

 This is another reason I don't like loaded bags, I've seen people just roll the edges, but they never work for me, so I just cut a V and lined it with acorn stickers. I first covered the envelope in a vintagey looking map paper. I have a few paper pads that I never seem to use (and then acquire more paper pads), so I'm trying to use them. I had this large fox die cut in my stash for awhile cause I don't know what ot do with it. So, I colored it with a silver pen and added a flower to her ear. I also added the felt pumpkin and some more acorn stickers to the corner.
The back:

 I found the pheasant piece in my stash, it was actually part of a 12x12 paper, but I thought it was perfect since it's for a fall piece. I added the fall leaves behind it so the paper didn't look so empty.
We had to make three 3x3 cards and envelopes:

 I'm really not that good at making cards, but I love this small size. I went with Hello, Thanksgiving, and Easter.
Hello: is just some stickers from two planner sticker packs. Thanksgiving: another one of those fall leaves with some flower and heart stickers and another sticker from a planner sticker pack. Easter: this sticker was from another planner sticker pack, but it was too small, so I layered it on some springy looking papers.
I had someone make some 3x3 envelopes because I didn't want to buy a pack somewhere for 3 of them. She had sent me 3, and then I misplaced one, so I tore another one apart to get a template to make two more.
And a handmade card:

 I just layered some paper, some lace and a journaling card on a card background.
This is what I included:

some coloring sheets, some fallish bows, a stamp and stencil set, some stickers, tea, a mini notepad, a pencil and some planner stickers.
Here's what I received in return:

 I like the shabby chic-ness of the envelope.

 I didn't appreciate all the girly themed items in the envelope.
The cards:

The one with the angel is actually to me, but it was cute.
I love the 3x3's I wish more people would send me 3x3 cards