We are so excited to share today's post with you! Julia discovered Pocket Letters™ a couple of month's ago and shared her find with me. After a little research we discovered Janette Lane, the creator of Pocket Letters™ and Pocket Letter Pals™! We thought it would be fun to collaborate with Janette and share this trend along with two ways to use identical Kelly Purkey and Maya Road products and a few other goodies that these two fabulous designers have in their stash!
I asked Janette to share a little bit about herself so that we could share her background with you :)
Hi there, my name is Janette! I'm the author of Janette Lane Blog, a papercrafter, and a snailmail enthusiast! I live in California where I lead a simple and blessed life with my wonderful husband, Justin (aka Lovey). I'm also the creator of Pocket Letters™ and Pocket Letter Pals™, an organized and artistic way to send penpal letters around the world. I love anything having to do with creative correspondence (couldn't resist the urge to complete that alliteration) blogging, and arts and crafts. I also have a penchant for planners, journaling, photography, hamburgers, and thrifting. I'm inspired by the world around me and I always try to look for the humor and beauty in every day life.I believe it's the "little things" that make life BIG!
You can find Janette in the following places:
Please join Janette today on her blog, Janette Lane, to see the special Pocket Letter™ she created and be certain to leave a comment there before May 16th. You won't want to miss out - we have a special thank you awaiting one lucky random winner!
THANK YOU Julia and Janette for sharing your creative genius with us and we hope that each of you enjoys today's collaboration! -Ellen
Recently there's been a very intriguing trend that I discovered on Instagram. It's called the Pocket Letter™ and it's a fun way to get creative and share your art with others. It intrigued me as it's a) a throwback to my childhood and the penpals I used to have b) it's a new way to be creative and c) I usually can't resist trying something at least once!
Ellen and I thought creating a pocket letter would be a fun project to share with you in the CLASSroom and so we decided to look into this pocket letter thing.
Today I'm sharing a pocket letter with you that I've created for the CLASSroom but what exactly is it? A pocket letter™ is made from a plastic sleeve that holds baseball cards or other paraphernalia. It's a simple concept. Just fill all nine of the little pockets with paper, notes, art or whatever, fold the pockets into thirds and mail off to a friend. Once it's swapped the plastic pocket letter can be put into a 3 ring binder to keep or you can use the items in the letter to create your own projects.
The Pocket Letter™ was first created by Janette Lane and we thought it would be fun to plan a little blog hop with Janette today.
Make sure you stop by Janette's blog here to see the rest of her pocket letter and for more inspiration!
How to Create a Pocket Letter™:
- start off with a 9 pocket page protector
- fill each pocket with something - use your imagination
- fold page protector into thirds and put in envelope
- send off in the mail - note: make sure you go to the post office as the envelope will be a little thicker than normal so extra postage will be required
Each pocket will fit an ATC sized piece of cardstock or other papers. That means you can use any ATC sized product. Because of the popularity of pocket scrapbooking there are a ton of wonderful products on the market that will fit in these sweet little pockets. I start off by cutting 9 pieces of paper to 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches in size and then add layers and embellishments from there.
For this pocket page I was playing around with some of the new Kelley Purkey line for Hero Arts. It's a fun mix of stamps and notes that are great for planners but can also be added to lots of crafting projects as well. That's one of the things I love so much about crafting...the ability to make ideas work across different mediums. I've also paired it up with some of the fun new papers from the Basic Grey South Pacific 6x6 paper pad, some sweet Maya Road goodies and of course, some of the Ellen Hutson dies.
Design Notes:
- Each pocket is different but using a product line or color scheme across the project helps tie it all together
- The fun little Kelley Purkey post-it notes are perfect for my planner but also fun additions to a pocket letter
- Stamp details onto patterned paper, notes, tags or other accents to personalize it
- The kraft mini bag in the center pocket has been stenciled with Avery Elle Ink and the Kelley Purkey Window Pane Stencil
- The Tim Holtz Pocket Cards make fun and easy layer accents for pocket pages
- Pocket Letters™ are a great way to use up lots of little bits and pieces you have laying around your work space
- Sending off pocket letters™ is a fun way to stay in touch or to make new friends
- Pocket letters™ can be created in your own unique style or you can think about your recipient and create something specifically for them
Pocket letters™ can be a little tricky to photograph so I've pulled out each of the inserts so that you can take a better peek at them. Each insert is unique and for the most part, just using simple layering and stamping techniques to add interest.
Don't worry about making each insert too complex. Just have fun creating!
Things That Can Be Included in Pocket Letters™:
- tea bags
- craft supplies
- paper clips
- sequins
- gift card
- photos
- travel ephemera
- pressed flowers
- letters
- die-cuts
- embellishments
- post-it notes
- stickers
- tags
- mini art
- inspirational quotes
- pocket calendar
- ATC's
- anything fun or unique!
To finish off your pocket letter™, just fold it into thirds and place in a legal sized envelope. I always like to tie mine up just to make it easy and it looks cute too.
If you're looking for people to swap pocket letters with, it's easy to find them at the Pocket Letter Pals™ web-site!
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom! I hope you take the time to try out a pocket letter™ and share your art.
Have a creative day!
Use the 9-Pocket Pages or create your own "Hot Li'l Pockets" using the Fuse Tool and our Storage Pockets or Pocket Pages! Be certain to sign up for our newsletter (just head over to our home page, scroll to the bottom and enter your name and email address!) You are not going to want to miss what Julie has cooked up for May 15th!!!
