Pocket Letters

Hello Sassy friends!

I'm sure you've caught a glimpse of the craze that seems to be sweeping the scrappy and pen pal community at the moment, in the form of Pocket Letters. I've admired them for a while and thought I'd give one a go, using Simple Stories 'Say Cheese II' and 'I am'. 

The idea was developed by Janette Lane as a new way to send letters. The pockets can be filled with pretty much whatever takes your fancy, like stickers, tea bags, washi and so on. Once the letter is complete, you can fold it up and pop it in an envelope. What a fun way to receive correspondence!

 

The letters are created using a 9 Pocket Trading Card Protector. I reckon this could be the equivalent of an 8.5 x 11 protector sleeve. I didn't have one of these to hand, so I trimmed down a 12x12 sleeve and used my WRMK Fuse Tool to create the pockets. (If I was going to do this on a regular basis though, it would probably be worth investing in the proper sized pocket sleeves.)

I measured the pocket sizes by cutting cards from patterned paper down to 2.5 x 3.5 inches and then running the Fuse down the length and breadth of the sleeve at intervals. This created the 9 pocket page.

 

I then used the cutting attachment for the Fuse tool to create the slits in the pockets, so I could tuck my bits and pieces inside. The little video below shows how this attachment is used.

A few things I've learned whilst using the Fuse

• Be sure to give it adequate time to heat up. It needs to be hot enough to melt and fuse the plastic, otherwise it will just drag over the sleeve and or the pocket will open when pressure is applied to the fused line.

• You don't have to only use the ruler supplied in the pack, you can use an ordinary metal ruler. Likewise, you can use any protector sleeve brand, not just the WRMK ones.

• If you need to use the cutting attachment (or visa versa) I used a small pair of pliers to lightly grip and twist off the roller fuse attachment while it was hot. Again, allow time for the new attachment to heat up when changing the head. Similarly, I found while fusing all of these pockets, that the tool needed a little bit of downtime to reheat between repeated use, to give a good seal line.

I created a small envelope for my letters with my WRMK Envelope Board. If you would like to create one yourself, I used a 12,5cm square paper and first guide punch at 5.5cm.

 The next letter an encouragement letter rather than swap letter, for someone close to my heart.

The little envelopes serve as a cute place to stash my written letters.

I'm sure you'll agree that it could be a very fun way to keep in touch. For more information on pocket letters, you can head to Janette Lane's blog or search #pocketletter for loads of inspiration. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Chantalle

Make one yourself using these items from the Sassy Store:

Project Life | Week 13...

Hello Project Life Fans! Today on the blog I am sharing my PL2015 Week 13 spread.  Otherwise known as - Easter!  

 

This week I am playing with the gorgeous Amy Tangerine Rise & Shine collection, Dear Lizzy Fine & Dandy, and little pieces of ephemera from Crate Paper.

 

 

My title pocket for Week 13 takes advantage of the white space below a photo collage. Jillibean Alphabeans (tart teal) pick up the colour from other elements on my spread, as does the gold foil leaf embellishment.

 

 

My "Week In Review" journaling was printed onto white cardstock and balanced in the 4x6 pocket with layers of Crate Paper Craft Market ephemera.

 

 

To repeat the look of the title pocket and to create cohesion, I added a Simple Stories cardstock sticker to the white space of a second photo collage.  Its colour mimicking the title of this spread.

 

 

On page two, I wanted to be able to instantly recognise this PL spread as representing Easter 2015.

 

 

In place of excessive journaling, I simply added a few sub titles such as "egg hunt" and "Easter 2015".

 

  I've also kept the colours on these pages, fresh and reminiscent of Easter. It's no longer Summer and the weather is starting to cool.  The pink bunny die-cut from the Craft Market ephemera pack was also ideal to add to my spread.  Thanks for visiting..x   Sassy Supplies:                  

May Moodboard page - Leonie

Hey folks, hope today finds you all well and perhaps managing to squeeze some scrapping time into your schedule somewhere?!  

Perhaps you could play along with us and our May Moodboard created by Anita Bownds, it is just so pretty and sweet. 

 I loved creating with this board.

Here's the page I made and I used the Amy Tangerine - Rise and Shine Collection

available in the Store HERE

The Rise and Shine collection has lots of bright yellow and pink patterned papes 

which suited the board perfectly.  All I need to do was add some of the brighter blues from the board, which I did by creating a background using mostly the 

Cobalt Blue Color Bloom Spray by Prima.

I also added some yellow to the background with various stencils.

I used some cool transparent stickers for contrast from the I Am - Simple Stories collection.

See the phrase sticker here and the black hearts on the background.

The title letters are from the Simple Stories - Snap - Life Documented range. 

These are one of my favourite alphas to use at the moment, there are 8 different colours in the pack!

Thanks for dropping by today. happy creating! Leonie.

Click on the links below to see all the products I used from the Sassy Store.
  

     

Project Life | Week 10...

Hello Sassy Friends! Welcome to another instalment of Project Life Monday.  Today I am sharing my Week Ten | March 9 - 15 using the awesome Simple Stories I Am and Crate Paper Craft Market collections.   This week I have left my photos to be the hero pieces.  My boys had their first hockey games of the season and therefore a big part of our week revolved around their preparation. However, even though four out of the nine photos shared this week are from this weekend event, I've made a conscious effort to include bits and pieces of our everyday normal as well as a milestone for my youngest.  

 

Even with the craziness of the photos dotted throughout the spread, I have tried to balance the chaos by also featuring embellishments in the filler card pockets.

 

 

By cutting apart and trimming sections from the patterned papers, I have created interest with layers.

 

 

Some embellishments were even shared across two pockets..

 

 

While other filler cards were stand alone statements that felt appropriate for the story nearby.. The "fearless" card used Amy Tangerine Stitched as a background layer, Simple Stories I Am fussy cut butterfly and fearless word strip and a Craft Market ephemera label stamped with two sentiments.

 

 

Where I wanted to really highlight the photo/story, I added a MAMBI chipboard hand, layered with Simple Stories I Am stickers.

 

 

On page two of this week's spread, it was a case of copy and paste from page one! More brightly placed photos and filler cards layered with embellishments.

 

 

My title pocket was quickly put together using the Simple Stories I Am 4x6 Horizontal Journaling paper, Craft Market Ephemera and some Prima Alphas.

 

 

The photo of my daughter's preparation for her Spanish Ballet exam was also layered but with a fussy cut word strip from the patterned paper, MAMBI chipboard circle, enamel dots and another sticker phrase from Simple Stories.

 

 

When creating the "yes, we're open" filler card, I have actually used two pieces of patterned paper. The slight hint of the pink paint chart is from the Craft Market Project with Gold Glitter paper trimmed to 3"x4". The wood panel paper was on the reverse side of the same paper. I trimmed it to allow the pink paper to border one side of the pocket. I love that I managed to capture a sneaky photo of my girl at her work and how awesome is it, that I can really use the "café/shop" sign as part of my journaling this week!!

 

 

Where some filler cards this week are very busy, I have also managed to tone down some pockets and use them simply.

 

 

Finally, the word "crazy" was created from the Simple Stories Expressions Cardstock Stickers and added directly to the photo of "Crazy Sock Day"!

 

  Thanks for joining me here today, even among all the chaos as shared above!! So far, that's my Project Life 2015 adventure. Crazy & Chaotic. Wish me luck for the next few weeks!  *grin*  ..x   Sassy Supplies:   MAMBI | Vacation Chipboard Stickers   Craft Market | Ephemera Pack Craft Market | Handmade Paper   Simple Stories | 4x6 Horizontal Journaling Simple Stories | 3x4 Journaling Card Elements Simple Stories | Expressions Cardstock Stickers     Amy Tangerine | Stitched Felted Paper