Not too long ago we celebrated Sweet Pea’s 4th birthday. (Oh geez, I have a four year old). This is the invitation I put together for her little shindig.

Well, as promised, here is the “How-to” for this lovely invitation pocket. So let’s get started gathering the supplies you’ll need. Now, you don’t have to go out and buy all the crazy tools, paper cutters, etc. if you don’t want to. It definitely helps to have them, but a good pair of sharp scissors, ruler, bone folder (and a steady hand) work just fine. Here is what I used…

• Paper cutter
• Scissors
• Scoring board
• 2.5 inch circle punch
• 2 inch scalloped punch
• Glue dot roller (Scotch brand is my favorite. I get it from Michaels)*
• Glue Dots*
• Cardstock for Invitation Pocket (I used one 8.5×11 inch for each pocket and cut down to size. If you fall in love with a design that’s 12×12, use it. Either way, the cardstock needs to be cut to size)
• Ribbon or cardstock and any other embellishments you’d like for the belly band (your choice as to how many different ribbons to use. I’ve done two before on this project and it looks great).

*Use whatever glue you prefer. The dot roller and glue dots are my personal preference. They’re easy to use and they don’t wrinkle the paper the way a glue stick sometimes can and there is no drying time.

Once you have your supplies, its time to cut the paper down to size.

The size of the invitation that went inside the pocket was 5×7, so I made the pocket 1/8 inch bigger on both sides. In other words, my finished pocket was 5 1/8 x 7 1/8 inches. It’s very easy to adjust this down or up depending on the size of your actual invitation. Just keep in mind that the you need an extra 1/2 inch on the side and bottom of the pocket that will be used to glue the pocket together. This will make more sense after the first couple of steps.

1. Cut your paper down to size. You should end up with a rectangle that is 10 3/4 x 7 5/8 inches. (Again, this is for a finish invitation pocket size of 5 1/8 x 7 1/8inches).

2. You’ll need to score your cut paper. Start with your paper horizontally. Score at 5 1/8 inches and again at 10 1/4 inches. You should have an extra 1/2 inch area. Turn your paper vertically and score it at 7 1/8 inch. Again, you should have an extra 1/2 inch area.

3. Now that your paper is scored, you’ll need to make one more cut. You will need to cut off part of the 1/2 inch area on the bottom of the invitation pocket. Start from the 5 1/8 inch score mark and cut down to what would be the starting point of your pocket. Now here is the important part. If you look closely at picture below, you’ll notice that the extra 1/2 inch areas are both on one side of the paper. That’s key when it comes time to gluing the pocket together. Make sure to also trim ONLY the corners on the 1/2 inch areas at an angle. (See picture below).

4. Fold your pocket on the scored lines.

5. Take your 2.5 inch circle punch and make a partial circle punch on the front part of the pocket invitation. I just eyeballed it.

6. Time to glue your pocket invitation together. This is where I used the glue dot roller on the 1/2 inch areas. (The coffee mug is a must. Just don’t spill the coffee on your invitation pockets).

7. Glue your pocket together. Here’s what your invitation pocket should look like.

8. The main pocket is now complete. You could leave it just like this if you’d like or you can add the bellyband. For the first layer, I actually used card stock. I cut a strip of card stock to 1 1/2 inches x 12 inches. Since it was card stock, I just used the glue dot roller to secure it to the invitation pocket.

If you look closely, you’ll see the belly band overlaps on the front of the invitation pocket. This is because the Lalaloopsy image will cover it and give it a nice clean look.

9. If you plan to add any other layers of card stock or ribbon, do so now. I used the glue dots to secure the ribbon to the invitation pocket. Glue dots definitely work better than the glue dot roller for ribbon.

10. Final step is to add your embellishment to cover the overlapped part of the bellyband. For this, I used the 2.5 inch circle punch for the black card stock and the 2 inch scalloped punch for the Lalaloopsy image (I got this image from esty.com). Secure it to the invitation pocket with glue dots.

You now have your cute invitation pocket. Just slip in your invitation and you’re all done.

I hope this tutorial helps and I’m more than happy to answer any questions you may have. I would love to see your version of this invitation pocket.

Happy Crafting!