HappyMail Pocket Folder: A crafty DIY

I’ve been making tons of these little happy-mail folders recently.

They are super quick & easy to put together, then you can fill the pockets with all sorts of goodies and pop it in an envelope. Obviously, flattish items are recommended if you want to send it via letter post!

Ideas of thing to include:

• Letter
• Sticker sheets
• Folded letter set (2 sheets, 1 envelope)
• Postcard
• Teabag/ hot drink sachet
• Washi samples (wrapped around a playing card works well)
• Flyers
• Recipe cards
• Paper embellishments
• Ephemera

Some pretty elaborate bits of tech are required:
1 sheet of paper, a pair of scissors and (if you have one) a bone folder.

The finished folder will be 1/8th size of the sheet. For example, starting with an A4 sheet gives you an A7 folder.

You can use ANY paper. Some papers I have used:

• Scrapbook paper
• Plain printer paper
• Magazine/comic pages (these work particularly well because if you remove the staples you can use 2 pages as one sheet)
• Gift wrap
• Tourist leaflets that fold out
• Wallpaper

Start by making a fold lengthways, then open it out.

Fold the left-hand edge in to meet the centre fold.

Turn the page over, and repeat with the other edge, this time meeting the centre fold on the other side of the paper.

Open out & lay flat, wrong-side up if you have a certain side intended for the outside.
With the paper lying landscape in front of you, the 3 vertical folds should lie “valley, valley, mountain” from left to right.
Cut the 3 vertical folds only on the BOTTOM HALF of the sheet.

Fold the top left corner to meet the 1st vertical fold.
Fold the bottom middle right OUT from the centre to meet the 3rd vertical fold.
The bottom left corner is folded similarly to the top EXCEPT you want to start folding from further up the side. If you measure from the bottom of the upper flap to the horizontal centre crease, you want the measurement between this crease and the top of the bottom flap to be roughly half. You will be left with a small overlap, Cut this off flush with the cut edge where you initially cut the vertical fold. I took this picture after I had completed the next steps – ignore the folds that have happened on the reverse – they are coming up next!

Turn the whole sheet over.
Repeat the same folds in the same places, top left, bottom centre right, bottom left.

Now it is time to start folding the sheet to make the pockets.

With the wrongside upmost, fold the left hand side in to meet the centre.

Flip the whole sheet over.

And fold the new lefthand side in to meet the centre.

At the bottom of the right hand side, there are 2 flaps. Fold the topmost one UP and firmly burnish the crease.

Repeat this action with the 2nd smaller flap.

Flip it over!

Again, fold UP the 1st bottom left flap.

And the 2nd.

Fold it closed and you have a pocket folder.
Almost!
You just need to seal the vertical edges!!

You can seal the edges with:

• Tape
• Staples
• Stitching

Some examples of other ones:

This one used a double page spread from a Simpsons comic. The edges were sealed with insulating tape!

This tiny little one was made with an offcut of paper and some washi tape edges.
It’s the perfect size for a note, some postage stamps and some loose stickers etc.

I hope you’re inspired to give these a try! Be warned though, they are addictive…

I’d love to see what you come up with, so tag me in your Instagram or twitter pictures.

Thanks for dropping by.