Happy Valentine's Day, Violet, Hazel, & Iris!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!  i'm posting this at 10:30 Thursday night, so it's close enough, right?  there’s just something about this holiday that makes it so much fun to create for, isn't there?  i don't know if it's all of the pretty colors or the hearts or what, but i, for one, am smitten with this holiday!  and i’m lucky enough to have 3 little nieces--Violet, Hazel & Iris--to give extra special valentines to!

i was inspired to make library card pockets by all of the library images and ephemera found in the Love Notes collection.  i have some ready-made pockets but they're fairly flimsy and plain so i decided to make my own using some of the lovely LN patterned papers.  i’ll share a brief tutorial on how i made them--it's incredibly easy if you want to try it, too!

you’ll just need a few items--a card pocket to use as a template, patterned paper, a pencil, scissors, strong adhesive, and a bone folder.

start by taking apart the card pocket.  to do this, i slid a letter opener under the edges of the flaps that were glued down and opened them up.  once you've done that, trace a template on the opposite side of the patterned paper you want to use (seen here is "Crush").  **don't forget to make your scoring marks!**

cut out your envelope, fold, and adhere using the original card pocket as a guide.  given the heavier weight of the paper, you'll want to use a strong adhesive, like This to That double-sided red tape from American Crafts.  and when you're all done, you have a cute little library card pocket, all ready for decorating!

these were so much fun to embellish; my nieces have 3 different personalities so i didn’t want to make these all the same.  this one seems very girly to me and fitting for a 7 year old who likes to play dress up and LOVES to read.  with the big, beautiful rosette Standouts, you almost don't need to add anything, but i couldn't help myself and added the heart doily, some chipboard pieces, and just a touch of lace.  (have you noticed my affinity for adding "touches" of lace to EVERYTHING lately?!)

a row of glittery, see-through, and sticker hearts stitched to the library card adds texture but not a lot of thickness, so the card slides easily in and out of the pocket.  because the card pocket was chalkboard-black, i did want to add a hint of the same to the inside card and "love & kisses" seemed just perfect for that!

the next pocket was made from "Heartthrob,” and after looking over the chipboard pieces, i decided to go with a postal-theme.  (maybe it's also a little shout-out to my dad, who was a long-time postman :)  the letters, the mailbox, and the airmail stripes all looked so cute clustered together.  you can do as much or as little with these as you like.

a bit of glitter and doily snippets for the card insert tie into the design on the pocket.  my sister has designated a special color for each of her girls and Iris' is blue; the blue mailbox was perfect and i chose the aqua accent card from "Book of Love" to match.  Iris is only 18 months old so i just wanted to make something sweet for her! 

  for the third pocket, i used the gray side of "Sweetheart”--a fitting name for 4-year-old Hazel!  i brought the backside of the pattern (red & pink chevron) in with the little heart garland and really tried to use pops of the dark pink both on the pocket itself, and also the insert.  i wanted to keep some clear space on this pocket and a small cluster of embellishments at the top adds a lot of interest without being overwhelming.     

since there is just a touch of aqua in the badge on the pocket, i added the aqua heart sticker to the insert.  there are also a few more cut elements here from the "Book of Love" paper.  i tell you, those accent cards and tags go so far!

this was a really fun project and now that i've figured out how to make my own library card pockets (it wasn't difficult!), i know i’ll be making them often from now on.  i hope my 3 little sweeties will love receiving these as much as i loved making them!