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Pocket Folder

How to Make Personalized Pocket Folders Using Scrapbooking Techniques and Digital Graphics

Hybrid Scrapbooking Project: a Personalized Pocket Folder Organizer

Whatever you want to organize, this paper/digital scrapbooking project makes a unique presentation.

I belong to a group called “Las Damas que Almuerzan” (The Ladies who Lunch). We meet at local restaurants once a month to practice our Spanish.

Spanish is the first language for a few of the ladies. The rest of us want to maintain and improve our Spanish – a difficult task when one lives in an English-speaking community.

The group has been in existence about 15 years. No one’s really sure. I’ve been a member for 11. We take turns being the “anfitriona” (hostess).

This entails choosing the restaurant, sending out the invitations and making the reservation.

Until I made this pocket folder, we had passed around a tattered manila envelope containing members’ contact information, restaurant business cards with notations, a bunch of photos taken over the years and a tally sheet to keep track of “si o no” (who’s coming or not) and “quien toca” (who’s turn it is to play hostess).

The pocket folder has made everything much easier and neater.

It includes past photos scanned into the layout. The left pocket is labeled “restuarante ‘tips’ ”. Tips is in quotes because the Spanish word for monetary tip is “propina”, but the word “tip” (pronounced “teep”) has found its way into colloquial Mexican Spanish.

The “teeps” pocket is for business cards, ads and comments about restaurants we’ve tried or heard about.

The right pocket is labeled “mas photos” (more photos) for photos taken in future which can later be incorporated into a new page for our book. The back of the folder has more photos, identified by date, restaurant and new members’ names.

On the bottom is a tribute plaque to the four founding members, two of whom are still in the group.

The journaling on the back says, “A través de los años hemos cambiado … pero nos quedamos con los mismos ideales ¡amistad y español!” Translation: “Over the years, we’ve changed … but have kept the same ideals – friendship and Spanish!”

The folder is “bound” with a drawstring tassel (but a ribbon, elastic band or raffia could serve as well).

This allows pages to be added as needed. The insert in our “Ladies who Lunch” pocket folder is the tally sheet with all the information which the “anfitriona” needs to organize the next luncheon.

Digital Elements for the Pocket Folder

My pocket folder uses the following Scrap Girls products:

• Glass label holder from Amanda Sok’s Glitzy Christmas collection;
• Staples from the Scrap Girls Refresh Collection*;
• Thao Cosgrove’s Naturescape Biggie Blossom Blue paper and a folder clip from her Bella collection;
• Burlap Vines paper from Durin Eberhart’s Beach House collection;
• Keri Schueler’s Burned Paper Style;
• A tiny tag by Valerie Randall for Ro Paxman’s story “The Flight of Christmas”;
• Buttons from Keri Veale’s Victorian French Boards kit; and
• Rustic Crush paper by Gillian Hurst.

The crumpled yellow note paper was a customer freebie.

Scrap Girls encourages digital graphic design wannabes (like me) to submit products they create for publication on the Scrap Girls website. Those selected earn a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique.

That may not sound like much, but that small amount of money will buy you an entire Biggie or a bunch of “little-ies” (I made that up). A typical Biggie is an entire coordinated collection of fifteen or sixteen beautiful 12 x 12-inch papers, three sheets of alphas (including numerals and punctuation) and three sheets of terrific embellishments.

* The entire Refresh collection Biggie is available free to entice more artists into the world of digital scrapbooking. Click on “Freebies” to download your kit.

How to Make a Hybrid Scrapbooking Pocket Folder

In addition to photo editing software such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you will need: 3 sheets of 8 ½ by 11-inch cardstock; your choice of digital papers, embellishments and photos; coordinating thread to assemble the pocket folder; and (optional) something to hold the insert(s) in place and allow for new pages to be added later.

Create the front and back design for the folder’s cover and the design for the pocket (which should be about 3 ½ inches tall). Print.

Cut the pocket. Score both sheets down the center. Holding the pocket firmly in place atop the folder’s inside, sew a straight line down the center using a long stitch.

Then use a wide zig zag stitch to sew a border all around the folder. This stitching is both decorative and closes the pocket edges.

Design and print your insert page(s). Score down the center and secure the page(s) inside the folder using ribbon, raffia, an elastic band or adjustable tassel (as in my example).

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