Tuesday, August 31, 2010

diy crafts: lined envelopes

i have an immense crush on gorgeous paper crafts. 

i can easily spend my entire paycheck on cards, postits, pretty pens and one of my longest loves is delicated lined envelopes! envelope liners are a great way to work in a little colour or incorporate your theme into your stationery, and i was extremely keen to sneak in a little more damask in our wedding stationery!!


pretty pretties from martha stewart!

a super easy way to DIY your own envelope liner is to purchase a liner kit from paper-source, excellent investment for standard size envelopes. but if you have crazy sized envelope, like i did, here's what you can do! 


buy a sheet of translucent plastic sheet (at craft stores) or if you have old abandoned folders from school, best to recycle! :) trace the shape of your envelope and cut out the template. snip of 1/4 inch at the bottom so when it sits in the envelope, its slightly shorter!


fit as many liners as you can into the paper you selected. we purchased this damask print off the internet and printed it on a laserjet... we could fit (2) in each A4. cut accordingly. you can use a xacto knife. i cut each of them using my scissors, its a great activity while watching TV.

see the empty strip at the side and bottom? doesn't matter, no one sees that bit. the important bit is the pattern on top.


I find that a glue stick or craft glue works best for this step. Make sure you align the liner correctly: straight and lined up with the adhesive on the flap of the envelope. Fold the flap of the envelope backwards. Apply glue to the exposed back of the liner (the part that attaches to the flap is the only part that is actually glued to the envelope). Then press the flap and liner together.

Then i use a bone folder to re-fold the flap of the envelope and create the crease in the liner. If you're not an excessive crafter like me, you can definitely use a wooden ruler to make a crease or with your nail! i just LOVE my tools and find the lines more crisp and sharp!

viola! perfectly lined envelopes for your cards! :) stick a stamp on it and send it to someone you love!! i don't know about you but im most excited when i receive mail! there is just something extra special and charming when love is stamped and sent through the postman!!

xx

9 comments:

  1. how much time did you spend on these envelops babe?

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  2. nice! i am gonna try that and send some nice old-fashion snail mail from london! i like snail mail so much better than emails. :)

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  3. *shrug* it took many many movies and many many evenings! :)

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  4. oooo a classic! then you can drop the letter into a big red post box!!! even that sounds like an adventure already! :)

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  5. I LOVE beautiful paper too!!! I did liners for our cards too - all 320 of them! Spent countless hours going to scrapbooking stores looking for pink peony patterned paper (our colours were shades of pink and gold), which evolved into same shade, different designs Cos the stores here just don't stock in bulk. Looking back now, I don't know what got into me - I can't imagine doing even just one now!! Martha Stewart is baaaaaad influence!!

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  6. good lord!!! 320 cards and a full-time serious job!! how's that for dedication!!
    looking back it was so much fun. but frankly am disappointed no one sent me an email raving about my envelope liner! *boooo*

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  7. oooh! yes yes...i must take a photo when that happens. hahaha

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  8. hahahaha!!! you'll find yourself doing crazy things for weddings! :) only after then you'll laugh about it! :)

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