DIY Happy Planner Pocket Folder

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I love to organize. Organize things. Organize my schedule. Organize my planner. I also love to craft. When I can craft and organize at the same time, it’s a very happy day for me. I’ve begun creating my own decorative pocket folders and DIY Happy Planner Pocket Folders. It’s easy to make your own pocket folder for just about $1. 

Making your own Happy Planner Pockets means you can choose the exact colors and designs you want. You can make one pocket folder in about 15 – 20 minutes. Look at how pretty they are! And the really are easy to make. Really.

If you’re interested in making a DIY planner pocket folder for planners of any size, check out my Disc Bound Notebook DIY Pocket Folder that shows you how to make a pocket folder for a planner with any dimensions. 

I just discovered the Happy Planner. It’s similar to another popular planner, but I prefer the Happy Planner for these reasons:

• It’s much less expensive
• Much of it can be used year after year. With the other similar planner, you have to throw the entire planner away at the end of the year. With the Happy Planner, you simply replace the calendar portion of the planner. You can continue using the cover, the binding discs, the dividers, pockets and other accessories. Earth-friendly makes me happy.
• You can change out the accessories mid-year and anytime you’d like.
• You can craft your own planner accessories and add them to the Happy Planner

You can look at the Happy Planner options here.  

I’ve also created my own DIY Dividers for Happy Planners and they only cost pennies to make. 

DIY Happy Planner Pocket Folders

Supplies and Tools to Make a DIY Pocket Folder

• Decorative Card Stock – for the main part of the pocket folder. You want to make sure that you use card stock so that it is sturdy.
• Decorative Paper – for the pocket portion of the folder, You could use card stock, but it will be more difficult to manipulate.
• Glue Stick – I use an extra strength glue stick.
• Double-Stick Tape – I run through double-stick tape like water. 
• Paper Cutter or Scissors – I always use my paper cutter, but you could use scissors if you take your time. 
• Hole Punch – I already own a a Crop-A-Dile and it makes the perfectly sized hole. A regular hole punch would work almost as well.
• Happy Planner Punch – Or you can invest in a paper punch specifically designed for the Happy Planner. 
• Pencil
• Ruler

You can pick up single sheets of decorative card stock and decorative paper for $.50 or less. Look for the paper that’s on sale. I’ve found it for $.39 or you can use a coupon at a major craft store. (For my military family friends – Did you know that most of the major craft stores offer a military discount?)

Extra (Nice-to-Have) Tools 

• Happy Planner Punch –  There is a Happy Planner paper punch made specifically to work with the Happy Planner system. 
• Score-Pal – I used my Scor-Pal for perfectly scored folds, but you can also use a ruler and bone folder.  

Choose complimentary colors of paper, with one piece of decorative card stock and one piece of decorative paper. I chose to use solid color card stock, because I couldn’t find patterns that complimented each other. I did make one pocket folder (the orange floral one) with complimentary papers that I already had and I love how it turned out. 

Step One

• Measure the card stock.
• I simply lay one of the planner pages on the card stock and mark where to cut.
• If your card stock has a pattern, make sure you have the pattern going the right direction before you cut the paper. 
• I cut my card stock 7 inches by 9 1/4 inches.

Step Two

• Cut the decorative paper for the pocket.
• You want the pocket to wrap around the card stock as one continuous piece of paper, so you’ll need to glue two pieces of paper together to make one strip long enough. The dotted line in the photo shows where I attached the two pieces of paper. Then I cut it to the correct size. 
• Be sure to consider the direction of the pattern on your paper.
• My paper’s dimensions were 14 1/8 inches by 4 1/2 inches. 
•  
• If you want a taller pocket, you can adjust your measurements. 

Step Three

• Crease and fold a 1/4 inch flap on the bottom of the pocket (be sure to check the pattern direction to identify the bottom).
• Use the glue stick to adhere the flap down. 
• Crease and fold a 1/4 inch flap in the middle of the top of the pocket.
• Don’t glue the top flap down yet.
• I chose to make the middle section before the slope of the pocket 3/4 of an inch (so the middle section before it was folded is 1 1/2 inches).

Click the button below to see steps four through six of the tutorial.

Susan

I’m a mom of 3, a veteran and military spouse. I’ve moved into 20+ homes all around the world. My passion is helping busy people make the space and time for what’s really important to them.