FCMA: Mail Art Pocket Letter

Launch gallery slideshow

Swap Coordinator:	smmarrty (contact)
Swap categories:	Mail Art
Number of people in swap:	11
Location:	Regional - USA only
Type:	Type 3: Package or craft
Rating requirement:	4.95
Last day to signup/drop:	May 9, 2015
Date items must be sent by:	June 8, 2015
Number of swap partners:	1
Description:
Pocket letters are a penpal phenomenon and there are many Instagram and YouTube tutorials available. To make a pocket letter, you use a plastic baseball card sleeve that has 9 pockets. In each pocket, you put scrapbook and planner supplies. For this swap, we'll fill the pockets with mail art supplies. Some ideas are: washi tape samples, stickers (mail-related), stamped images, address labels, small images (from magazines or collage sheets) that can be used for mail art, swap cards, and ??? (you can list more ideas in the comment section below.) Let's keep the items mostly paper - the fun thing about pocket letters is that you can fold the plastic sleeve and it will fit into a #10 business size envelope. Also, the items should be flat so they can be used for gluing or attaching to envelopes and postcards. The postage will be more than just one stamp - about $2.32 or so to send. You will have one partner - if you like this idea, we can do more. Also, I'm thinking of doing a series of swaps where you collect your pocket letters in a 3-ring binder so you can organize and collect your mail art supplies in one SMALL space (unlike the 20+ envelopes I use currently.) I have some photo sleeves in different sizes so you can use up your stash of goodies.

Discussion

smmarrty 04/18/2015 #

Some YouTube pocket letter tutorials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_o-nX7ZttE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3A-DREpoU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu27NRvNPvY

smmarrty 04/18/2015 #

Pocket letters on Instagram:

pocketletters

pocketletterspals

pocketletterstuff

MissWhimsy 04/19/2015 #

Love this idea! So great to fill a pocket letter with mail art supplies! And Im so glad its USA, these letters get heavy international.

StarryNights 04/19/2015 #

Susan, I was soooooooooo excited to see you hosting a pocket letter swap! I love them! Can't wait!

What do you mean stickers included need to be mail related? You mean they can only be things like envelopes, postcards, etc? We can't include stickers that go along with something our partner likes or collects that isn't mail related?

smmarrty 04/20/2015 #

Sure, any stickers are fine - I just meant the overall theme for most or many of the pockets should be mail art related - snails/snail mail, air mail, red and blue stripes, used postage, "This is Mail Art" - whatever.

smmarrty 04/24/2015 #

I have been working on my page - I'll share a fun discovery. I'm using the security envelopes paper for backgrounds - very postal!

StarryNights 04/28/2015 #

Hey Susan, I wanted to clarify the theme of the pocket letter. Are we to decorate the pages/cards in a mail art/mail theme? Or can we decorate them in any theme and it's on the goodies that we add in that should be mostly mail art themed?

smmarrty 04/28/2015 #

Well, I was thinking that the cards would be mail art - themed. And the goodies - I know that pocket letters have many bits and pieces but when I learned about them, I thought they would make a great way to organize all the little things that I like to add to my own envelopes - but if you have another idea, please share - I'm pretty flexible. And honestly, I just wanted to try making some!

StarryNights 05/ 1/2015 #

Sorry, if I'm asking too many questions, but I want to make sure I understand and get right how the pocket letters are to be made/the theme. So when you say the cards are to be mail art themed you mean to decorate/design them like we would say a mail art pc or envie? Like use paint, stamps, markers, glitter, markers, etc and design/decorate each card like it was an individual piece of mail art? So there's no set theme per say as long as we decorate/design the cards like a piece of mail art?

smmarrty 05/ 4/2015 #

You can do whatever makes you happy - sometimes I can't think outside the box.

I'll put 2 pix on Flickr and you can see what I'm doing. But have fun and do what you do.

smmarrty 05/ 4/2015 #

I added to the Mail Art group - take a peek.

Magickspirit51 05/ 6/2015 #

This is my very first attempt at doing one of these pocket letter things, and I believe I am doing it right, except I want one of the cards just to show a pattern design and then I want to wrap washi tape around it. I hope that would be ok.

smmarrty 05/ 6/2015 #

That sounds great - some folks spend their time making each card beautiful and the backs are plain or empty. And some folks (this is all according to YouTube videos) decorate the fronts and backs. And some people even decorate the plastic pockets. It's a lot to take in.

My feeling is do what you like and if it is done with enthusiasm and joy, then the received will love it.

I am new to this also - one of those things I just wanted to try. But after gathering stuff to make one, I have enough stuff to make 20 so I may as well make 20!

Magickspirit51 05/ 6/2015 #

Ok, that definitely makes me feel better. I was very nervous about doing this swap because some of the swaps for these are very, very detailed about how they should be done. I like art to be free flowing without a lot of restriction. To me, that is more true expression.

Fabriqueen 05/ 7/2015 #

I just made my first one about 10 days ago and I can tell you that once you get started on one it just starts flowing. I think of something and say "I'll do that on the next one" so I have just started grabbing another pocket and going with my new idea. I now have about10 in various stages so they will be really easy to finish up and mail.

smmarrty 05/ 8/2015 #

I agree Fabricqueen - I made one for fun and 2 weeks later I'm in about 8 swaps!

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