Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft: Dog Days Are Over - Wendy's Dog Themed Pocket Letter

DOG THEMED

POCKET LETTER

This month in Aunty Vera Land is going to be a fun competitive time, where Aunty Vera is playing Dogs against Cats. I chose 'dogs' because who wouldn't want a 'man's best friend' right at his side. I, unfortunately don't have one but that doesn't stop me from bringing the best 'dog' themed projects to you for the month.

This first project is a fun and colourful 'Pocket Letter'.

One that you can keep for yourself or send it to a friend to show how much you also care for their dog! And, inside the little pouches you can fill it with crafty goodies that they can use in their own projects in the future.

Background: The first pocket letter was put together by Janette Lane in February 2015. Shortly after that there was a mad rush by crafters in making them and pocket letters became a craze. The craze has since died down but occassionally you still see the pocket letters popping up here and there, where they are still being used in swaps or to send Happy Mail in.

The pocket letter I am showing you how to make today is slightly different than the norm, this one has a shaker pocket in the center middle pouch.

Let's Get Started:
What I used:
*Echo Park I love my Dog Paper Collection
and the coordinating plain paper pack.
*A 9 pocket plastic sleeve (mainly used for collector cards)
*Aunty Vera Washi Tape - "Puppy Dogs"
*Sequins or gems for shaker
*double-sided tape/ dimensional tape
*A selection of ribbons or fibers for decoration
*A selection of crafting items to place in pockets

To start, I used the coordinating plain paper pack from Echo Park I love my dog collection and chose a few of the wonderful bright colours. You will need to cut 8 pieces from this paper and I 'mixed and matched' the colours.
Cut 8 pieces at 2 1/ x 7 1/2

Score each piece at 3 1/2 and 7 inches. Fold in half at 3 1/2 inches and then fold at 7 inches to make a flap. I like to round the corners on the small flap but this is optional.

I cut out the 3 by 4 journal cards from the collection and made myself a template at 2 1/4 by 3 1/4. This makes the front image a little smaller in size than the folded pocket. It will leave a nice little border around the edges so you can still see the colours of the base papers.

I also rounded the corners on each image cut.

I worked out where I wanted each front card placed on the individual pocket pouches and before gluing them down, I went around each image with a black marker to put and edge on them. I then used double sided tape to stick them down.

When I had the front images adhered to the pouches I put them aside for awhile so I could work on the plastic sleeve. I used Aunty Vera's washi tape and ran a strip along the side of the sleeve where the holes are on both front and back and then repunched the spot of the original holes.

I started to then work on making the shaker pocket in the center pocket of the sleeve. I placed some sequins and a few charms in it and then sealed it up. I placed a strip of double sided tape on the inside of the plastic pocket right at the top, which sealed it together. I then ran a small strip of the same Aunty Vera Washi tape along the top outside of the pocket which gives it a double type of seal.

And the shaker pocket is made.

I was now up to decorating the back side of my paper pocket pouches. I cut around some of the small images from the other Echo Park pattern papers and also used more of the washi tape. I also cut some of the words from the Puppy Love paper and added them to the back decorations on the paper pockets. I used a small piece of dimensional tape to place the words down. As a personal touch, I used my black marker and drew a line border around the edges of each pouch and added a squiggly line to it.

I also added some ribbons and fibers to the side of the pocket letter as a decoration.

Finished backside of Pocket Letter.

Finished Front side of Pocket Letter.

Below shows individual front and back images and also the contents of goodies I placed in each pocket.....

I really enjoyed putting this pocket letter together and I hope you will make a themed 'doggy' one for yourself or a friend. You can watch a process video by clicking below.