I've been meaning to post a tutorial on how to make a paper envelope for a while but a comment from a twitter friend this week gave me the push I needed! When you've gone to the trouble of making a card for someone special it's so much nicer to present it to them in a handmade envelope too. So, here's how you do it…
1. To make an envelope that will fit an A6, postcard-size card you will need: an A4 or US legal size sheet or a piece of paper measuring 21cmx21cm, ruler, pencil, scissors and double-sided sticky tape.
2. The piece of paper you're going to use needs to be square and measure 21cm each side. With the sheet best side down, the easiest thing to do is fold one corner of an A4 sheet over to the opposite edge and then cut off the excess strip to leave you with the square.
The only drawback is that you'll have a crease showing on your finished envelope.
3. Turn your square so you have a corner pointing down. Measure 9cm up from the bottom corner and mark the point. Measure 7cm in from each side corner and mark these points. You are going to fold the corners in at these points so to make it easier you can draw a line across each mark so you can see exactly where to fold.
4. Fold the three corners in along your fold lines.
5. With the side flaps folded in, add double-sided sticky tape to their bottom edges so that the bottom flap can stick to them. You only need a thin strip so cut a piece of sticky tape down the middle lengthways before sticking onto the edges. Fold the bottom flap up so it sticks to the side flaps and you now have something that looks a lot more like an envelope. I like to tuck in the little point you have sticking up from the bottom flap but you can cut it off if you'd rather.
6. On each side edge of your envelope, measure up 11.5cm and make a small mark. Using the ruler to make a sharp crease, fold the top flap over. In creating the top flap you've folded over the top corners of the side flaps and so the envelope looks a little 'unprofessional' with this little bit of excess folded paper. So you can just snip it off to leave clean edges.
7. And there you have it, your finished envelope! You can seal it with regular sticky tape or double-sided tape, or a sticker or glue, or whatever takes your fancy :)
I used a plain sheet of white recycled paper for this tutorial but you can use any paper or thin card you like. How about an old map or a magazine page? The options are endless!
I hope you liked this tutorial and found it useful. I'm very happy for you to share this tutorial but please name this blog as the source and post a link back to this post rather than give the full instructions.
I plan to make tutorials a bit more of a regular feature so I'd love to hear what you think of this one. And if you want to share pics of envelopes you make do leave links in the comments box so I can take a peek!
