I love making my own envelopes out of recycled materials. An easy trick is to keep an old envelope and unfold it to use as a template. But then I saw some pretty wooden envelope templates on the Blue Eyed Night Owl blog and found them irresistible.
You may have noticed that on the inside of those ominous white envelopes containing bills, bills and more bills (and occasionally junk mail) are pretty patterns: from simple blue polka dots to intricate flags, triangles and hexagons. Why not turn those envelopes inside out and make them into something new? From this...
To this...
It's so simple: all I do is open out the envelope and trace around my template (if you want to use an envelope as a template just stick it onto some card and cut out first). Make sure you line up any folds on the security envelope with where you want your folds to be on the new envelope:
Then it's just a matter of folding the edges and gluing down the centre and bottom of the new envelope. I've found that it works best to use mod podge and a small paintbrush so you can be really precise and get a strong hold. Use only a thin layer or the paper can pucker.
Finally, add a stamp, sticker or decoupaged image to add your own personal touch. Et voilà! These small envelopes are perfect for holding little gifts or notes.
