Upcycled Life: Handmade envelopes

Reuse those paper goods like last year’s calendar, brown paper bags, old maps and retired books to give character and a handmade touch to do-it-yourself envelopes. Are you writing a thank you note or looking for a fun way to dress up a pledge for an experiential gift?

Make it yourself to customize the size and shape for wrapping those small or unusual items. Go ahead and raid the paper recycling bin. It’s good for the environment and doesn’t require another shopping trip.

Open up an envelope you already have on all of the seams to make a template. Don’t worry if the paper rips a little bit as long as the outer edge of the paper is intact. It should look like a rectangle with triangular like flaps on each side.

If you don’t have an envelope in the right size to use as a template, there are a plethora of templates and tutorials online for making your own template from scratch.

Trace the template onto paper and cut out.

Lay the template back onto the cut paper matching up the edges and fold in the flaps of the template on all sides. Use this as your template to score around the flat sides where the flaps will fold up.

Optional: To line the envelope, use the template with the bottom and side flaps folded up and trace onto a different paper. Cut this shape out and glue onto the inside of the top flap.

Fold the flaps on the scored edges and use a glue stick to adhere just where the edges of the bottom flap overlap the side flaps.