Bear-y

Getting close!

Three new  trading card page beginnings.

Denim

Tags, folios and paper pockets

Colored acetate cut to ATC size (2 1/2 x 3 1/2)

I now need to add the fun stuff. Things for my penpal to play with. A letter and......well the imagination is the limit.

More Pockets

Well I missed Pi day and here it is approaching St Patrick's Day and I have done nothing to decorate for it. I have however made up several more pockets and gotten loads of ideas for more.
Here are three I made as a group (much easier that way using the same papers and embellishments).

Consider that the pockets are laying on a pink/cream background; pocket left empty for letter, Mail Tag, Easter ribbon, paper scraps, tea, labels, beads, Easter stickers, cutouts. I will add things that fit the recipient to several of the pockets when I have written the letter. Since these are intro letters (not established penpals) I have only a vague idea of what they might like.

Easter aproaches

With Easter just around the corner I have been a busy little rabbit getting some pretty things ready.

These Easter PCs were a snap with a little handmade paper, rubber stamps and a pretty napkin.

Washi Easter eggs. 

Second side. You can tell by the penny what size these are. They fit perfectly into an A-2 envelope.

Pocket Letters

Janette Lane came up with an idea of putting letters in a trading card protector as a way of streamlining the storage of said letters. She started a group called Pocket Letter Pals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C551yphwG_o

I joined a swap to exchange one of these and this is what I came up with.

I decorated the outsides of the pockets with bling, Washi tape and rub ons.
 I thought the rub on asking the receiver to "Forget Me-Not" was appropriate for the letter.
 It seems there is only 2 constants. A pocket for a letter and a pocket for a Mail Tag.
(A Mail tag is a prompt; i.e. "What is your favorite vacation spot?" or
 "Who is your favorite author and why?" meant to inspire more conversation)

This is the front. I filled the pockets with little gifts that reflected the decorated outsides.

The back. This is a challenge because of the visibility of everything.


My one question is once you get your PL and use up the things in the pockets won't you end up with a lot of wasted space? I asked Janette what happens then but so far have not heard back I was hoping to have her answer before I posted this.

She did get back to me about a week later and her answer is about what I expected.

Janette Lane

 

That's a good question Suzi! It just depends on what you want your collection to look like.. For me, I'm going to take out most of the goodies and try to keep the rest of the letter in tact... Does that make sense? If it looks a little sparse, then I don't mind.. Or you could combine letters if you just have empty pockets. :)  It's up to you! :) 

 

An Envelope for a Skinny

A Skinny is a bit of art similar to an ATC but instead of being 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" it is 3" by 5". ATCs have commercially made pockets for the artist to slip their work into to protect them. No such thing for a Skinny so I started making pockets for them. I gave my pockets a pleat so that 3D art work has more room. Here is how I did it. (all measurements are in inches)

For my cover I chose scrapbook paper 5 1/2 by 9 3/4.
Scored it at the 3 1/4, 6 3/4, and 8 1/4 and folded all the score lines into mountains.
I have also used light weight card stock. Anything that does not crack when bent will do.

For the pocket I used a piece of heavy drawing paper 6 by 11 1/4.
I scored it at 3 and 8 1/4 then turned it and scored the length of it at 3
 and folded all the score lines into mountains.

I cut away parts from the ends so it looked like this and added a valley fold that bisected the end angles.
I glued A to AA and B to BB.

This is what it looked like. The pleat gives anything 3D plenty of room.

I folded the short edge of my cover over and secured it with glue to make a sturdy flap.

Next I glued the pocket into the cover centering the 5 1/4 on the 5 1/2 and making sure the
back of the pocket sat against the score line of the cover

Now all you do is tuck in your Skinny. You can add a bit of string, ribbon,
thin lace or even a fancy paperclip to hole it closed.
Lishmo, who inspired this, used a tiny clothes pin. Her pocket was an altered  paper bag.

After sending off my 1st Skinny naked I determined this was much nicer and it adds a bit of flair to my work. I hope my swap partners like them as much as I do.
(If you decide to make one of these and need help, just shoot me a message.)