Mini Swag Bags

I love how these cute mini-swag bags turned out for my daughter's 14th birthday party. I found a package of the small black bags at a local craft store and added the tags to the front.

Inside each bag was chocolate and these Wish Bracelets that I created ... I originally saw these on a show I was watching. Apparently, there are many origins as to which culture the idea came from. I found the charms and cord at Michael's. The wearer makes a wish on the charm and ties the bracelet on ... when cord the breaks and the charm falls off your wish is granted, as the story goes.

A fun night at Melting Pot celebrating Lexi's 14th birthday.

Halloween Stuffed Bag

This was a Halloween Stuffed Bag I created for a swap. I LOVE making these ... this one has a custom created bag made from one sheet of scrapbook paper - then embellished. This fun penpal project had lots of elements, including - handmade tags, handstamped Halloween images, a handmade rosette, some stickers and ephemera items I had purchased.

Here is the Stuffed Bag all unpacked ... I even included a smaller bag with a handle which could be used later to surprise a friend filled with some Halloween candy.

I LOVE Fall so much and these fun penpal swaps really get my creative juices flowing while making me so excited for cooler days and fun holidays to come!

Fall Themed Pocket Letter

Here is a Pocket Letter I sent out recently to a swap partner with a Fall Theme. Don't you just LOVE Fall? It is my favorite season. Watching the leaves change and the days go from hot to warm to cool. I can't wait for our first fire pit - hopefully in the next few weeks. And, of course, everything pumpkin. 

This PL features a clear shaker pocket in the middle filled with a range of orange colored sequins and cute fall themed embellishments. 

Hope you're enjoying some enjoyable Fall activities ... 

Pipsticks Sticker Club

September Pipsticks 

Growing up in the 80's one of my favorite hobbies was collecting stickers. I had this great sticker album with all my cherished stickers inside. I would page through it every night and admire the stickers I had collected - puffy stickers, Garfield stickers, scratch-n-sniff stickers. I guess that is why now a days I enjoy using stickers in many of my paper crafting projects. They are especially great to use on the outside of envelopes. It's probably why I love Washi Tape so much too, it's like a sticker in a tape form.

Recently, I ran across this amazing company that has a monthly sticker club! I had to sign up ... each month you receive an envelope in the mail with all these wonderful stickers sourced from places all over the world. Now, I just need to figure out how to keep one of my daughter's from hoarding them for herself. Maybe I need to get her a sticker album. 

Want to try out a sticker club for yourself ... here is a link to Pipsticks.

Pocket Letters

Pocket Letter - Fall Theme - Front Side

I have collected so many stamping and paper crafting supplies over the last ten plus years ... I have gone through phases where I purged a lot of my materials. Many times I donated items to non-profits or I sold off items on eBay. And, while it is always nice to make room in my craft space by getting rid of items - it is much more fun to use up my craft stash creating things.

Pocket Letter - Fall Theme - Back Side

Imagine my surprise when I came across a small ad in a craft magazine for a site called Pocket Letter Pals ... before I knew it I was filling these mini-pockets of a 9 x 9 sheet. It is a fun new way to enjoy the world of pen pals. I want to help preserve the art of writing letters and the joy of receiving a card or letter in your mailbox from someone. Pocket Letters are an extension of the ever popular Project Life - which is a great way to easily scrapbook utilizing plastic pockets placed in a three ring binder. Pocket Letters was started by Janette Lane as a new way to correspond with pen pals. The trend caught on and now there are Facebook Groups and Swaps dedicated to this new hobby. There are many ways of creating a Pocket Letter - I follow the more traditional decorated front pockets and back of pockets filled with items to share with your pen pal/swap partner. Of course, a letter is always included.

Hoping to post a tutorial soon on how I go about creating what goes inside the pockets. In the meantime - take a look on YouTube there are tons of videos with lots of super creative takes on this craft.

Welcome to "Diary of a Paper Crafter"

Welcome friends near and far ... this begins a new season of blogging for me. I enjoyed blogging when my kids were younger about our homeschool life but, as they have gotten older and their homeschool journey more independent, I took a break from documenting everything on my old blog.

So, this begins a new season ... my newest blogging effort is to document my love of paper crafting! You will still find occasionally a post about our life but, for the most part this blog will be dedicated to everything paper crafting related. 

A little about me, my name is Alicia, I've been married for 26 years to a great guy. We have three children ages 15, 14, and 12 - who we homeschool. I love everything paper crafting related!! Right now, that love of paper has me participating in many swaps every month - Pocket Letters, Bag Style Flips, Rubberstamping, and Hand Coloring.

When I am not homeschooling, paper crafting, or driving my children to their extra-curricular activities - I love baking and snapping photos.

Have a question about something you've seen on the blog or a technique I've used ... feel free to email me.