So your sending a special hello or thank you note and you wanna jazz up your plain white envelope. Only you are using an irregular sized envelope and can't find an liner template to fit it. No problem - I'll show you how to make your own in less than ten minutes with a little re-purposing of items you have around the house.
Supplies:- an empty cereal or cracker box
- pair of scissors
- pencil
- ruler
- envelope
- paper to line your envelope with
{tip: you can use wrapping paper for a fun look on a low budget}
- glue stick
How To:
Steps 1 & 2: Break open your cereal box and trim the sides off. You want to be left with a nice flat piece of chipboard. Now measure the width and length of your envelope (with the flap open). Subtract a generous 1/8" off of the width and just under 1/2" off of the length and cut your chipboard to those new measurements. Remember your template has to fit inside your envelope and not block the adhesive of the flap. For example: my envelope is 5" x 5 5/8" so I will cut my cereal box into a square'ish piece measuring 4 7/8" x 5 1/8". Once you have cut your piece make sure it easily fits into your envelope and does not block most of the adhesive on the flap.
Steps 3 &4: Now place the cut piece on your work surface with the envelope on top. Line up the tip of your envelope with the top of the cereal box template and trace the sides of the flap onto the chipboard. Cut along the traced lines and voila your envelope liner template is complete!
Steps 5 &6: Now to line the envelope...place your paper face down and lay your template on top. Try to line the template up to the edges of the paper so you can limit the amount of cutting needed. Trace your template and cut out following the lines. {tip: if you want a super straight line use a paper cutter instead of your scissors}
Steps 7 & 8: Fold a crease into your liner so you will have a nice even line when you fold it closed later. Apply glue liberally around the top edges; the part above the fold. Smooth the paper down and apply a bit of pressure so the envelope and liner will have a secure bond. Give a few minutes to dry and you're done!
{tip: Don't lick the entire envelope closed. If its shut all the way the recipient may use a letter opener along the top and not see the lovely liner at all. Just moisten the tip of the flap or use a small seal/sticker to close your envelope.}
Remember to save the left over scraps from your cereal box to make templates for all the different envelope sizes you have lying around. Lining your envelopes is a cost effective way to make them look both beautiful and expensive. Hope you enjoyed this little how-to. Have a happy Monday!
{Update: the layout and spacing for this post kept changing on its own so I had to play around with spacing and pictures a few times - sorry for all of you RSS subscribers}
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Nice. I'm always sending handmade cards out and this will make the envelopes special too. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAndrea
You can get creative with the liners too. For a friend who is a musician line their envelope with old sheet music; for the foodie use old recipe pages from magazines. I love using envelope liners because they can be as quirky or as traditional as you'd like. They really do add a unique element to the whole snail mail experience.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's nice to have a step by step guide. :)
ReplyDeleteThis was very helpful, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is not crafty and therefore follow crafting instructions to a T, I wanted to make the following comments for perhaps future wannabe crafters:
In your picture of step 2, the cardboard is covering most of the adhesive flap unlike what is stated in the written instructions.
With step 3, after lining up the cardboard and envelope and tracing it/cutting it out you still need to cut the cardboard down further so that when you trace out the liner/cut it and paste it into the envelope the adhesive of the envelope isn't on the liner itself.
Gift Card envelopes make the gift special...always remember to use it.
ReplyDelete