Make Your Own Envelopes for That Extra Special Touch

A few weeks ago, I came across a great blog post featuring handmade envelopes and confetti from Kristi at Digital Cake Crafting. She makes truly lovely sheet music envelopes using the Martha Steward Scoring Board. I have Martha's board, too, and have used it often. I also have started making my own envelope templates. The envelopes above are made from my templates.

Making envelopes is like therapy to me. They're easy and fun and, when I'm done, I know I have something completely unique. I've made envelopes in about every size imaginable. But, I have a soft spot for mini envelopes, which I incorporate into the ephemera journals I make.

When I come across an envelope shape or size I like, I make a template of it.

Follow these simple instructions and you'll soon be on your way to creating your own special versions.

Steam your found envelope open by covering it with a dish towel or other soft cloth. Set your iron to one of the lower heat settings--one that will allow you to use steam. Steam open by applying the hot iron to the cover cloth, checking the envelope every several seconds to gauge your progress and to ensure the paper doesn't overheat.

After it's steamed open, let the envelope cool and the melted glue set for a couple of minutes before moving on to the next step.

Now, trace your envelope onto a piece of thick cardboard.

Cut out your template and you're ready to create your own envelopes. TIP:  I file the original envelope with the cardboard template for folding reference in the future.

You can create your envelopes out of any type of paper that suits your fancy or your needs. Because I'm big on recycling or upcycling, I most often use pages from discarded books, maps that are otherwise past their prime, old sheet music, paper bags and vintage magazine or catalog pages. Don't worry if the paper isn't perfect. You can often work around any stains, small tears or creases. Of course, wrapping paper and scrapbooking paper are also nice materials for envelopes.

For the larger envelopes below, I used vintage magazine covers and pages. For the smaller envelopes, I used pages of National Geographic.

Trace your template on the paper of your choice. TIP: If you're using paper that has words or an image with a right side up and an upside down, be careful how you place your template. If you plan to use the envelope in a traditional way, so that the front of the envelope is where you normally would put a name or address, place the template so the words or image are right side up on that portion of the envelope. If, like I do, you plan to use the back of the envelope as the front, place accordingly so the image is right side up on that side. This may take a bit of practice until you get the hang of it.

Using your original envelope for reference, fold and score accordingly. I use a bone scorer, but the edge of an expired gift card works just as well.

Next, glue the pouch of the envelope using a glue stick.

I made my envelope to use in an ephemera journal. I like to include handmade envelopes in my journals and attach the traditional front to a piece of card stock so the flap remains free to open and insert special goodies.

That makes the traditional back of the envelope the front in my journals. You can see how the words are positioned when I use the envelopes in this way.

The vintage valentine envelope shows the traditional front and back when the envelope is to be used in the normal fashion.

Recycle some paper today. Mail a special envelope tomorrow. 

Make it a great day!

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