Brown Bag Pocket Pages "Tutorial"

A new year and new opportunities. It's a time to think about goals, future and what we would like to do with 365 blank days. I am going to create art. Not sure if I will everyday but I do know that there are alot of art journaling groups out there and I want to be apart of most of them. The downside to all this is that it's hard to track the prompts from each group, if they have a monthly theme or devotionals every week. I had to come up with a way to tracking all of it. What I decided was a double pocket page for each group each month.

I started with small plain brown paper bags. I picked up a pack from Wal-Mart in the lunch baggie section. They came in a pack of 50 for $1. Then I cut two inches off the top because I wanted them to be 5x7, the size of my album. Leaving the bags flat, I cut and pasted sketchbook paper over top the tall baggie section and what would be the bottom of the bag. Then I used my wonderful washi tape to seal the now front side of the bag. I only used washi on the edge. This is a little hard to explain so bare with me. First I did the top edge of the baggie, folding inside the bag so I could still use the big baggie part and then the bottom edge of the bag. Then I did the edge of the top part of the bottom of the bag. I did not stick the washi to the paper but folded over so I could use the bottom as a pocket. Lastly, I taped the sides, going over the both the bottom and the baggie and folding over on that edge only so I created a pocket. The last bag in the photo is the completed process before I added information. For more help, see other photos for details because pictures probably explain better...

Here you can see the two pockets. The top is the smaller pocket made from the bottom of the bag and then the lager pocket from the baggie itself. That is why I only taped one edge so I could still kinda expand the pocket. 

Being in five art journaling groups this month and six in February, I had to keep up with the prompts for each week plus the monthly theme. After I made my pocket pages, I titled/headed each page with the group name, in this photo it's Documented Life. Then under that I listed the month. On the small pocket page I wrote the monthly theme out. Not all groups have a monthly theme but some do. This way I can keep up with if there is one or isn't one.

I also cut some of the sketchbook paper into 3x3 squares. On the top of the squares I listed the week in big letters. I also added the abbreviated group name to the side of the week, in this photo that would be DLP. I did this so in case all my squared fell out I would know which group the prompt belonged to. Later on I added the groups color to the squares titles, so purple for DLP. I did this just so I could tell on color and not read but really it doesn't matter.

For groups that are Faith filled, I did the main verse for the week where the prompt would go. On the back of the card I will write or print out that verse. If there is a devotion for the group, I plan on printing that on 5x7 size and putting into the bigger pocket. 

Here is all the groups that I am in and all the monthly themes. I hope that all makes sense. If you have any questions, please ask. Come back tomorrow, or later this week to see the art I have created for Week One Prompts. 

Are you art journaling? Are you in art groups? Why or why not? If your in more then one how do you keep up? Let me know below. 

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