I thought I would do a tutorial today. It's been a while since I shared how I did something, so I thought why not today!!!
Soooo, I'm going to share with you how I create little wanna be interoffice envelopes (not sure if that is that actual name of the envelope or not). You know what I mean though, right? The envelopes that close with string??? Anyways, I'll just show you and then you'll see what I mean :)
Step 1: The very first thing you need is paper for your envelope. Cut it down to any size you want and fold it twice like you would fold a letter you were going to mail. See picture below.
See what I mean by fold it twice like you would a letter you were going to mail? I didn't fold mine evenly. I wanted the outside flap to be shorter so that I could attach the closure. You will soon see what I mean.
Now, you will also see that my envelopes are already bound inside my book. You can still make these envelopes and simply adhere them to your books. If you want to see a tutorial on how to bind them in your book, check out Marion Smith's Ustream Channel.
Step 2: The second step is to find a scrap piece of paper you want to cut circles out of. The size of circles do not matter as long as they are not bigger then your flaps or folds. Cut the circles out of your paper. If you do not have a circle punch, use a die cut machine; if you do not have a die cut machine, free hand them ladies. It's art. It doesn't need to be perfect!!!
Step 3: Next you want to ink your edges! Well, you don't have too, but you will see what a huge difference it makes. You cannot really tell from this photo, but the paper is a kraft sheet from Tim Holtz's collection.
See what a difference inking the edges make? I used Vintage Photo ink for the whole album. It worked really well with the paper collection.
Step 4: Once you have cut out and inked your circles, you are going to want to pierce them in the middle so that we can fit brads through them. Again, you can skip this step, I personally find that piercing the paper first prevents unwanted bending, etc.
I didn't measure I just guessed what the center was.
Step 5: Once you have pierced holes in your circles you are going to want to pierce holes in your envelope. Again, I did not measure. I simply laid the paper circles on what will be my envelope and guessed at what looked to be center. I used the hole already in my paper circle as a template for making a hole in my envelope. Be careful not to pierce through the envelope!!!
Can you kind of make out the small hole?
Step 6: Now you can attach your circles with brads. I used mini brads, but you can use larger ones if you so desire :)
If my instructions have been clear enough, your envelope should look fairly similar to the above photo.
Step 7: The last step is to add the string. I would leave a one inch tail and then wind the string around the small flap about 2-3 times. Once you have done that you can cut off the 1-inch tail. Start winding the string around both circles again 2-3 times. Leave a small tail for you to be able to open the envelope with ease.
If you want to make your envelope a "true envelop", you can glue down the sides of the larger flap. Just make sure you don't use too much glue or you might accidentally glue down the top flap as well!
The before...
and after...
Hope you enjoy!! :)
