For a lot of us, September marks the beginning of one of the busier times of the year. The “-ber” months. With the start of a new and unique school year, followed by the most celebrated family centered seasonal time, including fall festivities, then Thanksgiving, and eventually Hanukah and Christmas, during which we try to cram as much jubilee as possible into our already busy lives—we all have so much going on, and it may feel like there is just no time to dedicate to preserving all of these fond, albeit sometimes somewhat hectic, memories.

What if we told you that scrapbooking can be fast, simple, and easy! It is a perfect time to discover, or rediscover, the simplicity of scrapbooking in pockets! By using Memory Protectors™ with multiple pockets, you can quickly catch up on your scrapbooking or just add photos, art, and journaling (and any other keepsake that you can fit into a pocket) to your albums.

From how to tell a story to the creating of the artwork that goes along with it, pocket scrapbooking is a memory keeping style all its own. If you are new to this style of scrapbooking or are simply looking for inspiration for your pages, we’ve compiled a list of artwork tips and ideas for you below!

Pocket Scrapbooking Tips & Ideas:

1. Fill no more than half your pockets on a page with non-photo elements.

2. Stick to a color palette, pulling color ideas from your photos.

3. Use Picture My Life™ pocket cards (designed to coordinate with each other in theme and color).

4. Design and make your own pocket cards from papers, Thin Cuts, stickers, and stamps. (This is a great way to use up some of your scraps, too!)

5. Fill pockets with other things, besides cards or photos (ticket stubs, loose Cricut^® shapes, sequins, etc.).
Tip: We sealed the sequins pocket you see in our example so the sequins wouldn’t fall out.

6. Make a statement and split large titles or photos into multiple squares.
Tip: Consider printing a large 6 x 8 photo and split it up into several pockets!

7. Use the negative space of a Cricut^® shape to create a pocket card. If the space is large enough, back it with a light color cardstock and use the space for journaling. If you are cutting several small shapes (like our 2019 below), back it with cardstock or any other paper that will add interest to your layout.

8. Add a sentiment to your photos by stamping directly on them
Tip: If your photo has any sort of finish on them, we recommend you use StazOn™ ink. If it is a truly matte photo, Archival Black is a good choice.

9. Don’t want to stamp on your photos but want a similar effect? Stamp directly onto the pocket Memory Protector™ with StazOn™ ink, instead.

10. Add embellishments to the outside of the Memory Protectors™.

11. Use Flip Flaps™! If you have too many photos or things that you want to work into a page but not enough pockets (or enough to fill whole other page) add these stick on pockets that flip up (or in any direction that you attach them) to reveal whatever is underneath!

12. Similarly, if you have too many photos for a traditional scrapbook layout, and don’t want to create another layout with all of the remaining photos, use pocket pages to display these.

13. If you have a piece of memorabilia to display that is too small for a pocket, mount it onto a piece of paper that will fit.

14. Create a window to the next page in your album by partially filling a pocket (use a smaller photo, half a pocket card, etc.).

15. Number your photos to give your page or layout a more narrative direction. Take this a step further by adding numbered journaling to a pocket card that corresponds with the numbered photos.

16. Create color visual triangles. This means to purposefully place the same color in three different places that, when connected, form a triangle.

17. Don’t have time, or care for, writing in full paragraphs? Use bullet journaling to keep track of the details of a memory!

18. If one of your pockets is holding a card that you want to remember to pull out when you revisit the page, add a tab along the edge of the card on the open side of the pocket.

19. Easily add some visual interest to your photos by trimming them down ¼” and mounting them on a piece of paper that fits the pockets exactly, creating a border around your photos.

20. Sometimes things don’t fit in pockets—like notes, journal pages, your grandma’s favorite clock—take photos of these things to include them in your stories.

21. We said 20, so this one is a bonus: plan ahead. If you know you will be going on a tropical vacation, or camping, or pumpkin picking—there are activities that you know for certain you will be participating in (playing on the beach, sitting around a camp fire, walking through a pumpkin patch, etc.). When you are scrapbooking with pockets, it’s easy to lay out some pages really quickly for these types of events without having the photos yet. Once you have them, add them. If you don’t like the way it’s laid out, rearrange! Easy-peasy!

If you just went through our list and still find yourself at a loss for how to begin, or otherwise feel that your finished pocket layouts didn’t turn out quite right, try revisiting one of our previous posts, 5 Approaches to Pocket Scrapbooking, where we share additional ideas to get you thinking about how to create a pocket page or layout, and to get you up to speed on this popular style of scrapbooking.

Whether you’re cutting things up, attaching them to a pocket card, or creating a pocket for a group of items—there is no wrong way to tell your story. In the comments below, share with all of us how you are using pocket scrapbooking in your memory keeping.

Recipes:12″ x 12″ Hooray for Today Pocket Scrapbooking Layout
D1938 My Acrylix^® Love Lives Here Stamp Set, D1926 My Acrylix^® Simple Florals Stamp Set, X9017 Mix-in Paper Packet, X6047 Black Cardstock, X6044 Peach Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z6047 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2841 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z6502 Peach Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2851 Saffron Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2896 Smoothie Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7258D Summer Vibes Picture My Life™ Cards, Z4235 Gold Loose Sequins, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z1950 12″ x 12″ Memory Protectors™ Design 3, Z1951 12″ x 12″ Memory Protectors™ Design 4

6″ x 8″ On this Day Pocket Scrapbooking Layout
D1929 My Acrylix^® Paper Pal Beach Day Stamp Set, D1932 My Acrylix^® Joyful Sunflower Stamp Set, CC7203 Happiest Place Coordinating Cardstock, X5978 Glacier Cardstock, Z1375 Kraft Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2841 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7258D Summer Vibes Picture My Life™ Cards, Z4304 Silver Loose Sequins, Z3191 6″ x 8″ Memory Protectors™ Design 2, Z3192 6″ x 8″ Memory Protectors™ Design 1

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