Laurel Lane Guest DT

This is my final post in my guest spot for the Laurel Lane Design Team.  I am bananas for Laura's printables!!!  I strongly suggest you check out her Etsy shop HERE, and grab a few of the amazing kits she has for sale.

This pocket letter (PL) features Dear Lizzy papers from my stash (from an older Gossamer Blue kit), mixed in with washi, punched butterflies, Maggie Holmes and Heidi Swapp elements.  The beauty of PL's is using up your stash in a way that spreads some happy to a new friend!

This is a chipboard butterfly from Maya Road that I heat embossed.  I embossed two more of these butterflies and included them in the PL as goodies.  The sequins are adhered with micro glue dots and the butterfly is on the outside of the pocket, backed by a Laurel Lane Card that I inked.

Another Laurel Lane Designs card with Distress Markers smooshed on top.  My favorite way to use Distress Inks and Markers is as watercolors. 

This PL uses Maggies Holmes Project Life cards that I trimmed to fit in the pockets.  Again, this is a mix of items from my stash including the typewriter stamp from Mama Elephant, Dear Lizzy stickers and embellies and a Gossamer Blue exclusive embossed stamp image (Happy Camper).

I think this Laurel Lane card is one of my favorites, I love the sentiment!

Huge thanks to Laura Rahel for letting me guest DT this month!  I had so much fun working with your fabulous/lovely/just-plain-awesome products!  You're a doll :)

Laurel Lane Guest DT Spot

I have had a BLAST making  pocket letters with the Laurel Lane Designs cards!  I love the sentiments, black font on white, it's a total clean slate and the possibilities are endless.  I opted to use Distress Inks on the cards for a watercolor effect.

The Laurel Lane cards say Hello Love and Love (repeated).  I printed them on (cheap) card stock purchased from a big box store and smooshed the inks right on top and zapped with my heat gun. Very little warping or piling.  The rest of the pocket letter came from a Simon Says Stamp card kit featuring Doodlebug papers and epoxy stickers.  The letters spelling FUN are a Gossamer Blue exclusive cut file from the July kits.

 

Sequins finished off this happy summer PL and it was off to the recipient!

Laurel Lane Guest DT Spot

I made a bright and cheery Pocket Letter using the Laurel Lane Designs Bright Kit (purchase HERE), created by the stunning Laura Rahel.  Other supplies used:

• Mama Elephant Type It Stamp Set
• Neat and Tangled Pretty Mail Stamp Set
• Gossamer Blue July Kits
• Distress Markers
• Sequins (some from Pretty Pink Posh) and paper clips from my stash

I used Distress Markers to smoosh inks onto the printed Bright Kit cards, which I trimmed down to 2.5 x 3.5 inches to fit the PL pockets.  Lots of embellishing in the form of the Shimelle, Evalicious and Pink Paislee stickers and die cuts from the July Gossamer Blue kits.

Laurel Lane DT Guest Spot

If you haven't read Laura's blog I suggest you stop everything and go HERE right now.  Laura writes from her soul, makes super adorable fun stuff and is just the cutest lil' thing you'll ever lay eyes on. She is on the Gossamer Blue Design Team with me and also has an Etsy shop HERE with some awesome downloads for Life Pages.

I am doing a guest DT spot for Laurel Lane this month and wanted to share how I'm using the Bright Kit for pocket pages.  I started by printing the downloads on card stock (this is just the super light stuff I purchased at my local big box discount store) on my Canon Pixma 7120.  The downloads come with cut lines (takes out the guess work!) so I trimmed them up, easy-peasy.  I wanted to add some color to the cards so I used my Distress Markers, a clear acetate piece and water bottle to do some smooshing.

Surprisingly, the paper didn't fall apart!  I think using the smooshing technique limits the amount of water that comes into contact with the paper, and I used a heat gun between layers so the water wasn't sitting for too long on each card.

I am a huge fan of pocket letters (read about them HERE) and thought the Bright kit would work great for PL's.  This is the first PL I created using Laura's kit.

Don't the cards work perfectly?

Happy 4th of July to my US friends!

The Pocket Letter Craze

My friend Sasha showed me some pocket letters a while back and I was super skeptical.  I thought it was just another fad-trend-craze that would fizzle out sooner rather than later.  But oh my goodness, how wrong am I?  Pocket letters are blowing up Instagram and Facebook!  One of my favorite Internet friends, Heather at Goldiecar Designs, sent me my very first PL and it was love at first sight.

HOW FUN IS THIS?  You get a fun note and all sorts of goodies to share in your own pocket letters, or just keep in the pockets to enjoy.  I LOVE THIS IDEA.  

This concept was dreamed up by Janette Lane (read her idea HERE) and has blown up all over the world.  You can find Pocket Letter Pal's from just about anyplace.  

I've since received two more PL's and know I've got another coming from a friend I met on Facebook (link to the FB group I'm in HERE).  The first is from my friend Sasha and the next is from a FB swap I agreed to:

Last I have a few PL's I've made and sent out.  I prefer working with a color story instead of a theme. I like to ask my PL pal their favorite color and other things they like/enjoy so I can personalize their PL as best I can.  Some people like to make the PL's and then find a swap partner, but for me I like to create with that person in mind.  

Have you made a pocket letter yet?  Would you like to swap with me?  I would be more than happy to make a special PL just for you!  Leave a comment on this post and I will reach out to you so we can exchange info.  Happy Crafting!