Since my January pen pal letters were a success (despite my Minnesota mail not arriving), I decided to send another batch of happy mail to my family. My February pen pal with me themes centered around Galentine’s Day and mermaids.
In addition to the envelope art, I decided to include a few goodies in the letters that I sent to Kola, my nieces and nephew. This time around I experimented with creating pocket letters to include in each envelope. I found examples of this idea on both Pinterest and YouTube.
What Are Pocket Letters?
Pocket letters are made of plastic trading card sleeves which you can buy from any office supply store or online. The pockets of each sleeve are then decorated with stickers, scrapbook paper, and other embellishments in order to make it pretty.
Once you have finished decorating the pockets, you can add items or gifts to each pocket. The idea is to add something thin or flat to the pockets so that it can easily be folded and placed into an envelope in order to send flat mail, not a package. Some items that can be added to each pocket are gift cards, letters, playlists, stickers, washi tape, and photos.
As usual, after falling in love with the pocket letter concept, I found every video and post on the idea and saved it to my accounts. I found a bunch of videos on YouTube showing how to create a pocket letter. It was amazing to see how creative you can be with decorating a pocket letter. The possibilities seemed endless.
Kola’s Pocket Letter
I designed my cousin’s pocket letter using her favorite color purple as part of my theme. I looked high and low through my supplies to find purple paper and embellishments to add to her pockets. To my surprise, I don’t have a lot of purple in my stash. So, I had to make due with the few items that I had.
Fortunately, I was able to work with the few purple supplies I had. I did a mix of plain paper matched with an animal print paper that I found in one of my boxes. Finally, I added a few stickers which complimented the color scheme and added a little more razzle dazzle to the design.
Front of Kola’s Pocket Letter
The surprises which I placed in each pocket were pretty simple. I added my current music playlist, stickers, a fun fact, a recipe, sequins, washi tape, sticky notes, questions, and a tea bag.
Back of Kola’s Pocket Letter
Although I wish had more to decorate the pocket letter with, I think the end result looked pretty nice for my first attempt at this craft.
Mini Pocket Letters for the Kids
I created mini pocket letters for my nieces and nephew. The mini pocket letter only consists of one row of the original sleeve. Therefore, I cut up one sleeve into three equal parts. Giving each child three pockets each.
Kage’s Mini Pocket Letter
For Kage’s mini pocket letter, I continued the merman theme. I used solid blue colors as the background for each pocket. Then I decorated each pocket with pictures of sea horses and Neptune.
Front of Kage’s Mini Pocket Letter
Back of Kage’s Mini Pocket Letter
Inside Kage’s letter I placed money, a playlist, and would you rather questions.
Ayla’s Mini Pocket Letter
I did a classic pink and black theme for Ayla’s mini pocket letter. I added some rhinestone embellishments, pink stickers, and white flowers to the outside pockets in order to finish the design.
Front of Ayla’s Mini Pocket Letter
Back of Ayla’s Mini Pocket Letter
For gifts I added some washi tape, stickers, and additional black and white embellishments.
Noelle’s Mini Pocket Letter
Noelle’s mini pocket was vintage pink. I actually used the same paper used to create her baby scrapbook four years ago. I finished the design with two soft pink flowers and a heart on the front of each pocket. I added the same gifts of stickers, washi, and embellishments to her letter.
Front of Noelle’s Mini Pocket Letter
Back of Noelle’s Mini Pocket Letter
Envelope Art
Since it is February, I decided to draw hearts on the envelopes I created for my aunt and cousin this month. I found these designs on Pinterest and recreated them on the envelopes I created. They were easy to draw and turned out cute.
Heart Themed Envelope Art
I decided to do a mermaid theme this month for the kids’ envelopes. For Noelle and Ayla, I drew mermaids surrounded by stars, hearts, and bubbles. Each mermaid fits their personality.
Ayla’s Envelope
Noelle’s Envelope
Kage’s envelope is the trident symbol. I found an example on Pinterest and I think it looks good on his envelope and fits his style.
Kage’s Envelope
Final Thoughts
I had a great time creating my happy mail this month. The pocket letters were a hit with all of my pen pals. Plus, all of the letters arrived to their recipients without a hitch this time. I can’t wait to send something new and different next month. I have so many ideas I want to try.
What did you think of the pocket letter idea? Have you made one before? Tell me in the comments below.
