I recently ventured past the confines of snail mail stationery art and made my very first envelope. Though I’ve been itching to give this a try, I was a little worried when I made envelope mail art early last year and much of it was returned to me because the art (and therefore addresses) had fallen off the envelopes. I searched for a tutorial on how to make an envelope, and there are tons of YouTube videos and other tutorials out there that involve stencils and complicated folds. I started off trying to make one that ended up looking like an orgami-version of a deformed duck, which was promptly tossed in the recycling bin. Then I found a much easier tutorial that involved some very easy folding and very easy taping. My finished product, which I sent to Alanna (with a proper letter this time), was received in good condition, so it held up well.

I stuck white labels on the front of the envelope and wrote Alanna’s address and my return address on them. Someone on Twitter suggested that I should have “hung” the address from the rafters of the ceiling, which would have been a great touch, but I’d already stuck the labels on when that idea came through. Maybe next time!

Once I perfect my handmade envelope, I’ll post a tutorial on how to make one (if you’re a newbie like me). In the meantime, I’m going to play around with different types and sizes of paper to see what works best. I’ve been tearing fun pages from magazines, so I’ve got lots of material with which to experiment!

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