How to make pockets to hold ephemera in scrapbooks

One of the problems with using ephemera in scrapbooks is that some times you do not want to affix the item to the page.  This could be because it is double sided and you want the viewer to be able to see both sides of the item.  One of the best solutions for this problem is to create a pocket in which the items can be inserted and stored.

To the right are two examples of pockets that I created for our albums commemorating our trip to Europe in 2015.  The top example holds the itinerary for our trip and a map of Europe. The bottom example has the maps and brochures from several of the places that we visited in Uppsala, Sweden.

The steps to create these pockets are as follow:

Step 1: Layout your page and decide where you wish for the pocket to be.  Put your items to go in the pocket on the page and carefully put a small mark on either side of the items.  This guarantees that the opening will be wide enough for your items to fit through.

Step 2: Use a roller cutting system to cut a straight line between the two marks.

Step 3: Turn the page over and use tape to put right next to both ends of the cut line.  This helps to keep the paper from tearing further once you put the items in.  I often use two pieces of tape on each end to strengthen it.

Step 4:  Place the items through the slit and line them up with how deep you want the pocket to be.

Step 5: Use some scrap cardboard and line it up just under the bottom of the items, and then use a long piece of tape to fasten it to the page at the bottom of the pocket.

Step 6: Use tape to fasten the rest of the scrap cardboard on all 4 edges of the cardboard.

The images to the right are the back of the two pages at the top of this blog.  You can see that for one I used a large almost full piece of cardboard to create the pocket, and on the other I just used a scrap piece of cardboard and taped it in strategically.

Below is a video tutorial that I created that shows the whole process.