Friday, August 22, 2008

Recycle Tip Of The Week: Handmade Envelopes




I love this idea and I think you will too! Most of us use envelopes often and why not mail a letter in style? No worries, now you can. To make envelopes like the ones I have made above you will need the following items:

1. glue stick
2. pen or pencil
3. standard envelope
4. your choice of paper (think old magazines, card stock you will never use, old calender pictures, paper bags, etc;) Reduce, reuse, and recycle!

First, you will need to take a part the envelope. Envelopes will come a part fairly easy, just try not tear it. Unfold it completely. Next, take the paper you will be using to make your envelope and lay it on a flat surface. Take the unfolded envelope and position it on the paper until it fits completely (you may have to turn it to make it cover the paper). Now take your pen/pencil and trace around the edges of the unfolded envelope until you have drawn the entire shape on the paper. Now, fold your paper just as the envelope was folded. Fold the edges, then the bottom, then your top flap. All you have to do now is take the glue stick and run it along the edges of the bottom flap and lay it over the 2 side flaps so that the bottom flap is over the side flaps. Let it dry and VOILA! You now have your very own envelope! To seal it you can either glue it or put an envelope sealer on it. If you have any questions please feel free to comment and ask them.

2 comments:

Teresa jane said...

Great tip! I love it!

SuzeesJubileeZ said...

Hey why stick to the standard size envelope? make it any reasonable size. I have used brown paper with water color and pen and ink designs. Its a lot of fun to get a reall original letter in the mail and hey who gets much real letters these days?