My Christmas cards are 4 x 6 and between funds being tight and being super busy, I just haven't had a chance to go buy the right sized envelopes. Well tonight I decided: No more slacking! I whipped up some envelopes with old magazine pages. I used a December issue of a magazine to have holiday-centric images. You could also use this technique with scrapbook paper or old calendar pages.
Supplies:
- Magazine, calendar or scrapbook pages
- Card or letter to mail
- Glue stick
- White out tape
- Self adhesive gift tags
- Pen
Make the envelope:
Step 1: Pick a magazine page you like and turn it face down. Center your card on the page
Step 2: Fold in the long sides of the page against the sides of the card
Step 3: Dog ear the corners
Step 4: Using the bottom of your card as a guide, fold the bottom edge up. Mark the diagonals with a pen.
Step 5: Apply the glue stick on both sides from the line down to the fold (as indicated by the blue arrows)
Step 6: Fold the bottom up and press along the edges to seal.
Step 7: Dog ear the top edge. Fold the top edge down against the side of the card and crease. Open and apply glue across the top and on the dog ears (as for the flap of an envelope)
Step 8: Fold the flap down to close. Press to seal
Address the front:
To make festive holiday labels (and to create a clean space to write the address if mailing), apply a self adhesive gift tag to the front.
If you are going to mail your cards, be sure to avoid confusion with the post office by whiting out the "from" on the tag before writing the recipient's address. Use another label for a return address in the traditional place, or write it along the envelope flap on the back side.
Now you have envelopes that will stand out from the crowd as well as save you money and help save some trees!
