Hand written notes are the beginning of romance, is there anything as sweet as someone putting pen to paper with their feelings? Email just doesn't cut it. But here's something that you can cut--homemade envelopes.If you take the time to write an honest-to-goodness letter then wrap it up in style--nowadays a real letter is too precious for just any old white paper envelope. A homemade envelope is the finishing touch for that special note and here are two easy ways to do it (I used to make these all the time when I was a kid).
1. Use a small purchased envelope as a template, unfold it and trace the envelope's outline on a large magazine page. Cut it out and fold it up, gluing the edges with a glue stick to secure. A seal makes a pretty addition too. The best magazine pages to use are those with big, dramatic pictures (I'm partial to the floral shots myself). It looks nice to use a paint pen in silver, white or gold to address it, gives it that dramatic touch. I used a white-out pen on this one at left and it worked well.
2. Using a paper lace heart doily fold a pretty envelope around your note and glue as you would an envelope. Pretty and romantic for that special thought.Please leave a link below to your own creative ideas for activities, games, crafts and food that will bring some fun to February.
Technorati tags: Valentines, holidays, crafts
21 comments:
you're so clever!
How do you come up with all of these clever ideas? And why do you not have your own show on TV?
These are absolutely beautiful! They remind of the posts Meredith at LikeMerchantShips has been doing about pretty packaging. There's something extra special about a special envelope or package!!
Very pretty, and a great way to recycle!
I love the lace doily envelope...so pretty!
I love when my husband leaves me a handwritten note. I do not often reply in the same fashion, but you have encouraged me to do so. Thank you.
I have done magazine envelopes many times and my friends all love it when they get a letter in the mail that is something other than the usual white. Sometime an ad for kitty litter or something makes really funny envelopes.
My daughters really love to do this. To make a more permanent template we use the plastic made for quilt templates. My girls also like to recycle old wrapping paper to make envelopes to send Thank You's for the gift they received.
I haven't yet tried the doilies. That looks so pretty!
I used to make envelopes all the time before I had kids...we had a big house and lots of room for my papermaking equipment. Now we have 3 kids and live in a 2 bedroom apartment. Go figure!! I love to make envelopes...its a lot of fun to customize them! I'm still working on the shrinky dinks though!!
Came here via WFMW ... LOVE this idea! I think sending notes through snail mail is a lost art. Making the envelope gorgeous is such an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing!
~melody~
Oh, yeah! A TV show! That would be great for you! These are darling, of course. My 13 year old daughter is big on making all our cards and envelopes. You're right, it IS a nice touch to a busy, techno-world.
Cool! I love sending real mail, and your envelopes are so cute! I'll have to give it a try.
Awesome - I'm really excited to try this out. I don't know why I haven't thought of it before. :)
I used to love making funky envelopes when I was in school. I wish I had the time just to write a letter now. Thanks for the fun reminder =)
I used to do this all the time when I was in high school and college. Once I sent my grandfather a letter and he asked my mother if I was too poor to afford envelopes. But everyone else thought it was cool.
OH I loved those when I was little. Melanie, Luke and I use to go through the national geographics and make cool ones!
I've done this with old sheet music, magazine pages, newspaper... it's a lovely idea!
They're just beautiful!
I did the doily thing for Valentine's day, too. My son and I made them for his Valentine's Day card exchange at preschool. I blogged about it a few weeks ago.
I used to make envelopes from glossy magazine pages, but then a friend told me that the postage had fallen off the homemade envelopes I was sending her. So if you're planning to actually send these through the mail, you might want to add a little tape or something to keep the stamp on.
I'm excited to see what everyone else is doing!
You never fail to post a cool idea I want to try! TFS
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