Something I’ve seen popping up in the galleries more often recently (but which I’ve been in love with for a long time), are photo pockets. You know, the page protector thingies that are so common in traditional scrapbooking. While it is true, that photo pockets can make your page look at little faded (since they are usually placed on top of everything else on your page), it also is true that they can give your layout a fun twist.

Photo pockets are so much fun to work with. And they are really versatile, too. You can fill them with photos, papers, elements or with a bit of everything. Photo pockets come in various styles and formats. Like this sample by Joanne Brisebois:

Photo Pockets Vol. 5 by Joanne Brisebois (Oscraps)

While these protectors have a strong reflection (which can distract a little from whatever it is that you want to showcase), I still like them, because they are not like the traditional square format, and the way Joanne divided the various pockets makes them interesting to work with and look at.

Wear A Slip 7 by Emily Powers

Emily Powers also has a very interesting collection of photo pockets, though it seems like she doesn’t sell them any longer, since I couldn’t find any sign of her still selling scrapbook products when I searched the net for her the other day. But when you look at this example, you can see how very versatile these photo pockets can be used. You don’t have to measure everything neatly to fit each pocket. Everything you want to show, you can just “throw” in there, and that’s what makes these pockets so much fun. Like in this page: I wanted to showcase my sister’s tendency to collect things. What better way than to use a photo pocket and fill it with random stuff! Even the photos I used seem just like a collection of random pictures of her.

Wear A Slip 6 by Emily Powers

Admitted, this is a scraplift of a page I saw in the Gallery Standouts recently, but I just loved how the page protectors were used here. There is so much you can do with them: use them for journaling, for your titles, to show off your papers, to fill them with photos, and of course, embellish, embellish, embellish.

Now, the good news is, there is a whole new set of page protectors that were just released this past weekend.

Pockets No. 1 by Valorie Wibbens

Here is my page using one of Valorie’s new photo pockets:

This pack comes with eight different page protectors. Valorie Wibbens (The Lilypad) is working on this series of photo pockets, and she promises, there are more to follow. So, if you don’t have any page protectors in your digi-stash yet, how about you go get some and start playing with them? Who knows? You might start enjoying them as much as I do!