DIY Project: Envelopes

Our envelopes initially looked a little blah. When I came across Miss Lobster's Save the Dates, I knew what our envelopes needed - envelope liners and a stamped detail. Here's the inspiration:

(Miss Lobster's Save the Dates)

I didn't immediately rush out and buy paper for our liners or rubber stamps. I waited to see if it was going to be a detail that mattered to me. I asked our blog readership for guidance. And then, after thinking about it for a couple of weeks, I ordered paper from Creative Papers Online and a stamp (and ink) from Blue Moon Scrapbooking.

Even after cutting and gluing the envelope liners (which I did over a couple of days), I would still do it again. I love how they turned out. Here's what I did and the results.

1. Fold the paper in half. (It was too big for any of the rotary cutters we had.)
2. Cut the paper into three 10 inch sections.
3. Cut the sectioned paper in half.
4. For a business envelope, trim the halves to 8 3/4 inches. (This is so that the liner slides easily into the envelope and does not cover the envelope glue.) NOTE: In reality, I did Step 5 before this Step 4. Don't do that. Instead of trimming each sheet once, you have to trim each sheet twice.
   
5. Divide the trimmed paper into two 4 1/2 inch tall pieces.
6. Slide one of the trimmed pieces of paper into an envelope so that the top edge of the liner is below the envelope glue.
7. Bend the liner at the crease of the envelope.
8. Cut the edge of the liner so that the cut ends after the edge of envelope glue.
9. Repeat Step 8 on the other side of the liner.
   
10. Lay a ruler parallel to the edge of the envelope glue to the end of the cut on the liner.
11. Bend the liner along the edge of the ruler.
12. Repeat Steps 10 and 11 on the other side of the liner.
13. Lay a ruler along the crease and with an X-acto blade cut along the crease.
    
14. Repeat Step 13 on the other side of the liner. You now have a template from which you can create the rest of your envelope liners.
15. Slide the envelope liner template into the envelope to double check that it doesn't cover the envelope glue and that it ends below the opening of the envelope.
16. Take a handful of trimmed sheets and align them with the template.
17. Using scissors cut along the edge of the template.
    
18. Place your template on top of a handful of envelope liners.
19. Fold the liners so that they match the template and score.
20. Apply glue to the bottom of the envelope liner. (NOTE: One 1 fl oz Elmer's Craft Bond Acid Free Memory Book Glue Pen is not enough glue for 90 envelopes. I ran out of glue with 23 envelopes to go.)
21. Slide the envelope liner into an envelope and press to secure.
22. Apply glue to the top of the envelope liner.
23. Press the top of the envelope liner to the envelope to secure.
24. Fold the envelope closed and score. You now have a lined envelope.
25. Put books on top of a stack of lined envelopes so that they dry smoothly.

Once the envelopes were lined it was time to stamp them. Hand stamping 90 envelopes took roughly an hour and a half once I figured out how I wanted to apply the stamp. Here's what I did and a sneak peek of the results.

Did you add some pizazz to your envelopes? What did you do?

Obsessed with Envelope Liners

Help! My passion for stationery has gone to new extremes.

Here's the emergency. We find ourselves needing to send out Thank You notes before the wedding (initial idea of using a photo from the ceremony no longer works). The design is simple yet elegant with lots of room for a personalized note. The envelope is plain. The envelope looks exactly like the one we're using for our invites (that's because it is the same).

For months now, I've been seeing invitation suites with lined envelopes and DIY envelope liner posts.

(Oh So Beautiful Paper)

(Penned and Pretty... A Calligraphy Shop)

(Oh So Beautiful Paper)

(Source)

(Source)

(Paper Source)

It was never an option for our invitations. (I ordered custom 44 cent postage stamps so to avoid tipping the scale at more than an ounce (I couldn't find a custom 17 cent option and I didn't want to order custom 61 cent postage stamps) we're skipping unnecessary weight.)

Ok, I'm pretty obsessed. By that I mean, I'm obsessed with the pretty. Seriously I've told myself, "Eden Keep It Real." I even put together a Top 5 Things Brides Should Do to Keep It Real and have it with me at all times. I thought I was doing so well. I was even smugly patting myself on the back. That is until Miss Lobster's post about Rubber Stamps put me over the edge.

Envelope liners AND a custom detail on the front of their envelopes!

(Source)

Immediately our lace rose popped into my mind. That would look lovely on the front of the envelope. A quick search on the Interwebs, and I found some options:

Stamp Francisco

Or a pocket watch.

Nora Jane on Etsy

Wouldn't a touch of purple or charcoal gray contrast nicely with the light gray/cream envelope?

Someone - anyone - please talk me back from the ledge. It's a stretch from our design elements to the two stamps I found. But jeez our envelopes look plain.

Poll: Thoughts on envelope liners.

A. A proper envelope never goes into the mailbox without a liner.

B. Who takes the time to open envelopes? Just rip and be done with it.

C. What's an envelope liner?

Maybe I should just take a break from paper, stationery, and scrapbooking blogs for awhile (at least until everything paper-related for our day is in the mail).