Artistic DIY Envelopes

I have to admit that I haven't felt particularly creative lately and while I have ideas for things I want to do, my motivation has been low. (I think I just need a holiday.)

My sister came by a few weeks ago and dropped off a box of magazines for me to look through then she went away and forgot to pick them up. I've been thumbing through them one by one. The most numerous one is Marie Claire Idées, which is all in French. My French is a tad rusty but thankfully, there are plenty of gorgeous photographs from which to glean ideas for creative projects.

The magazines that I'm not going to use, I plan to pass on to my local library for their sale table, or recycle.

However, this morning I had an idea, not for something presented in a magazine, but for pages from the magazines themselves.

I tore out a few pages and made an envelope. As you know, I love all things stationery, writing, and art related so the idea of making my own envelopes from magazine pages was a natural.

Here you can see a couple of the pages that I've torn from one of the magazines. I knew I'd never make this particular craft so it didn't seem like a great loss to sacrifice the pages.

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First, I trimmed the ragged edges straight with my paper cutter. Then I folded one of the pages in thirds, about the size for an envelope. Easy, right?

Using washi tape, which you can find a craft and paper stores, I taped the ends of the folded part to close them. This simply required placing half the width of the tape along the paper's edge, cutting it off, and folding it over the edge.

I chose a tape with colours that coordinate with the colours on the

paper, in this case stamps and postmarks in French. Apropos, oui?

To make the flap, I folded the top corners in to meet up with the top of the pocket.

You can cut these off if you like but I didn't bother. I like a neat folded edge.

I like how the interior of the envelope is full of photos in colour. They make a nice little surprise when the letter is opened.

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I also folded the "point" of the flap so it has a neat edge, riather like gift wrap.

You can see in the photo below that all you have to do is pop your letter into the pocket of the envelope then fold down the flap.

I just happened to have a pretty sticker (because I buy them whenever I see them) that looks nice with the colours on the envelope. You could also use a glue stick to seal the edges of the flap, which is probably a good idea anyway.

It turned out that a white space appeared above the butterfly sticker so I could write a return address there, or in this case my other web address, LettersfromWendy.com.

On the front, if the graphics are too busy, you'll probably want to affix a mailing label sticker for the address. I made this name and address up, so my apologies if an April Marshall really exists at 7741 Willow.

Voilà! A beautiful, unique envelope that takes only minutes to make.

Here is a selection of paper tapes, also known as washi tape, that I've collected. They are lots of fun to use.

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