Hi everyone! I recently participated in a loaded envelope (LE) swap coordinated by a facebook group (Loaded Envelope Galore). The criteria/requirements were pretty simple: The envelope had to be 4″ x 6″ with a minimum of 2 pockets, a large tag to fit the largest/main pocket, 1 envelope with tags, stickers, or other goodies that fit in it, 1 altered paper clip, 1 wand, at least 5 embellishments, at least 2 Alice in Wonderland inspired images, and 5 die cut outs.
This is the first LE I’ve ever made and I even got to use tons of awesome Creative Embellishments goodies on it! I had so much fun creating this project for my swap partner, Raquel, and hope to participate in more swaps in the future! Here’s how it looks fully assembled and stuffed:
For the back, I added an additional gusseted pocket with reinforced slits to threat the lace tie through. The pocket drops open when the ribbon is untied, allowing it to hold more than a flat pocket would allow. I added an octagon shaped folded note with a quote from the book printed onto it. I wrote my partner a note inside:
Here’s the pocket emptied out, shown here with the 2 large tags I created for it and the front of the wand:
Close up 1: Features a CE Butterfly Flair button.
Close up 2: The tag on the left features a book stack wood veneer piece from the Graduation Set, an adorable wood veneer Bunny, chipboard playing cards from the Family Game Night set, an adorable little door piece from the Fairy Door Set 1, and 1 Steampunk Timepiece. The tag on the right has a Mini Pocket Watch tucked behind the little Webster’s Pages baggie and the altered Julie Nutting doll. I couldn’t find a JN doll that quite matched what I had in mind, so I used the Candie design, trimmed the short hair off of the sides of her head and drew in long hair. I then sketched out an apron to layer over Candie’s dress, along with the collar, to make her look more like the Alice character.
Close up 3: To make this piece, cut 2 strips of patterned cardstock, punched one edge on each piece, then accordian folded them to create 2 separate rosettes. I adhered 1 on each side of a 3.5″ doily. I set that part aside and got the toppers ready by layering a die cut stickers over punched, scalloped circles, which I then adhered onto 2.5″ doilies. From there, I added the paper straw handle by inserting it between 2 folds on one of the rosettes. Next, I added some string and glued the toppers onto the rosettes to create the double sided wand. To finish it up, I added 2 different laces to the handle.
Close up 4: The back of the wand.
Some of the die cuts and embellishments I created and included. The bundle on the left is a stack of 3 die cut envelopes. The Webster’s Pages baggie on the right contains 4 diecut doilies and several gold accented stickers that I felt went with the Alice in Wonderland theme. 🙂
Close up 1: I used a CE Square Mini Frame to create a mirror embellishment with some foil tape (bought at a hardware store).
Close up 2: A little shaker box embellishment with an image of the caterpillar character inside. The sequins were actually left over from the product swap we had with SpiegleMom Scraps back in March.
These are the altered paperclips I created for Raquel. The center piece at the top features 2 wood veneer Mushrooms from the CE store, the center one at the bottom includes an outlined Rose from set 2, and the one on the right has an altered Butterfly from a set of 5:
Image from the side showing the 3 gusseted pockets:
I hope Raquel liked what I created for her! On her youtube channel, you can check out her video tour of the incredibly generous package she sent me. She sent me sooo many awesome goodies that it’s actually split into 2 parts! She also has a separate video of her opening this LE that I sent her. 🙂
Part 1 of Raquel’s LE that I received: Raquel’s project part 1
Part 2 of the LE Raquel created for me PLUS the adorable mini she also included!!! Raquel’s project part 2
The super sweet video she made of her opening the LE I sent: Raquel opening the package I sent her
You can also check out her blog here: https://paintsandglitter.blogspot.com/