Stretching the envelope ...

Hello, and welcome to It's a Creative World, at the start of a new week. Alexa here, thinking about envelopes ...

I've never been good at card making, but I do like writing notes to people - the sort that go with a stamp and take days to arrive. Recently, I've been trying to work out what to do with the stash of patterned scrapbooking paper I own, much of which I will never use on a layout, but which is striking or pretty. Recently, my DS sent a card to his Dad, addressed simply to "The best Dad in the world", followed by the address, and it made me wonder how many people had smiled when they looked at it on its way here. What else might cheer up the postal service, and the recipient of a note? How about a coloured envelope? There are templates you can buy for envelope making:

but an envelope of the size you want will do fine. First, undo an envelope, and lay it down on the back of a patterned paper:

Trace round it with a pencil: being wonderfully exact is not important. I usually trim the top edge of what will be the flap with a guillotine or paper trimmer, but hand-cut the rest. Fold up the edges, using the original as a model, and use two thin strips of double-sided tape to hold it together:

You can ink the edges if you like:

On the front, I stick a white label, big enough to take the stamp as well as the address. These are also homemade, from white paper, stuck down with double-sided tape, as I'm not quite sure that repositionable Herma will make it through the postal machinery unscathed!:

Other papers are also great for making envelopes, and can be chosen to suit the person you are writing to: newsprint, a page of sheet music, or the cover of a cookery magazine you've finished with can be fun to do:

 

How about a children's book from a charity shop of jumble sale? You might prefer to put the label on the right, to make sure plenty of the card is seen. Something like this ...

 

You can also layer on some additional stamping, if you like:

In fact, if in a hurry, a quick stamp can cheer up an ordinary envelope nicely. Border or roller stamps are quick and easy ...

or lay a piece of white paper part way across the envelope to give a clean edge, and stamp merrily away with stamps of a similar theme. If you notice any 'blank' spaces, ink a stamp, press it onto spare paper first, then use it in the 'blank' space - it will add a faded ghostly look which fills the space nicely without trespassing on the clarity of other images. The envelope below took about 90 seconds to do:

 

You may well have lots of other ideas and have tried this before, so do feel free to share them below! Hoping you have a creative week!

Comments

[Julie Kirk]

Beautiful work Alexa. I've been thinking of sitting down with some old maps and book pages and just making lots of envelopes - I thought it might be a nice repetitive, almost zen-like exercise. And you do make it look simple. Although ....best laid plans ...

:D

[joy]

It must be a pleasure to receive a letter from you. In these days of mobile phones and email it is a dying art. Beautiful idea.

[Suzanne]

What cute ideas!

[Eleanor]

Oh yes, what a peaceful thing to do. And how lovely to then have a stack of beautiful letter wrappings to choose from.
E
xx

[Debbie Roberts]

I have another reason for keeping my mountain of stash lol.

Debbie x

[platform bed]

I have a friend who really loves visiting your blog. He told me that I will find a lot of interesting informative post in this blog. Now I can tell that he is telling the truth. This is such an amazing blog.

[Tammy]

What a wonderful idea, the perfect finishing touch to a handmade card. Thank you for sharing xx

[lin]

another great idea Alexa and you could also use your digital papers for this too

[Jacky S]

Some gorgeous envelope ideas.

[Jaqui]

What great ideas - I think I may (ahem) borrow this one :) Thanks Jaqui x