DIY laminated pocket for your planner

I love my  Heidi Swapp Memory Planner. It's a place when I can record the everyday moments of my family. Sometimes I have a few bits and pieces of memorabilia I want to add into my planner so I wanted to come up with a way to create a little DIY pocket.
Today I want to share a fun idea for creating your own pocket, its  super easy and super fun!

As you can see  below I have a place to store some bits and pieces in a clear pocket that is surprisingly easy to make with a couple of laminating sheets, your Minc machine and one of the new Fresh Start list books.

Let me show you how easy it is to make.

Step 1. Grab one of the List books that come in the Fresh Start collection or you could use a piece of cardstock trimmed to suit the size of your planner. Also trim a laminating pouch to fit just smaller than the list book cover. 

step 2. Turn the two pieces of laminating sheets the opposite direction so the shiny sides are now facing each other. ( this is the trick to creating the pocket. the shiny sides together do not  fuse  together when  run through the Minc machine. )

Step 3. Using a craft knife trim the cover off the List book.

Step 4. Turn the cover over and carefully lay the trimmed laminating sheets onto the cover. Be sure to leave an edge on the two sides and bottom, but line up  the top of the laminating sheets and the top of the cover. Now lay the whole piece inside another laminating pouch.

Step 5.  Run the pouch through your Mic machine.

Step 6 Using a paper trimmer or scissors trim around the edge of the laminating pouch ensuring there is a small border around the two sides and bottom to make sure there is no gaps in the laminating .

Step 7. Trim along the top edge of the laminated pouch/ cover , trimming off the laminated edge therefore opening up the pouch. 

  

     Step 8 Punch holes and slip it into your planner.

I cannot tell you how excited I am for this new technique, as  a teacher I am always using laminating sheets and have used this technique in the classroom before but I am thrilled to now use it in my Memory Planner.

letterbox and lightbox Winter Games fun!

With the Winter games starting today I wanted to set up a little display in my classroom for my kindergarten class to follow our Australian team. I cleared a shelf in my  classroom and got to work.
Of course I looked no further than the Heidi Swapp Lightbox and Letterboard.
I started with my base, my Australian flag and then layered the Lightbox shelf and the regular lightbox on top.

I used a variety of fonts and icons to add to the fun of it for my kindergarten students.  The icons come from the Hobby Lightbox icon set. They are perfect for the Winter games theme. 

I then grabbed my medium black Letterboard and spelt out the words Gold, Silver and Bronze using the 2 inch letters. I had previously spray painted some of my white 2 inch letters yellow. My plan is to add the small 1 inch letters to the Medal tally as the days go by.

My kindergarteners loved the little set up this morning as they came in to class. We will be learning about the different events as they are shown on the television as well.

 GO AUSSIES GO!