Earlier this year I decided to share my trade secrets about how to make envelopes, and I was really pleased with how popular the post was! So I thought it was about time that I do a second envelope tutorial, but this time showing you how to make lined envelopes. They are really good for a special occasion and you can customise them to any colour scheme you want to. I used tissue paper for the lining, but you could use any pretty paper – just make sure that it isn’t too thick, otherwise it will be difficult to fold the envelope.

You will need:

Paper for the outer and inner envelope
An outer envelope template
An inner envelope template
Scissors
A glue stick
A ruler
A pencil
Double-sided sticky tape
A cutting mat (or flat surface for drawing on)

Step 1: Make your templates by finding an envelope in the size that you want, and make the inside template by drawing a smaller shape of the outer envelope (see photo!). Cut out your templates on to some fairly thick card – this will allow you to use them again and again! You might need to use a craft knife to do this, depending on the thickness. Then draw around each template on the paper that you have chosen, cutting them out really carefully.

Step 2: Rub out the pencil marks on the top of the inside of the outer envelope (there’s no need to do the others as you won’t see them once everything is stuck together). Place the lining on top and then lift up the top edge and glue a line where the lining will be placed (see photo above!). Then fill in the rest of the gap with glue and then carefully smooth out the lining (see next 2 photos!).

Step 3: Repeat this gluing with the rest of the lining (it’s easiest to do this in one go). Leave the lining to dry for a while – a good opportunity to put the kettle on…

Step 4: When it has dried, you can fold the envelope – the ruler will come in very handy here! Start with the sides first, then the bottom and then the top. Make sure you’ve pressed each side down carefully.

Step 5: Measure a length of sticky tape to stick the bottom to the sides (I usually cut a 1cm strip in half). Place the tape carefully along the bottom of each side edge, remove the backing and then stick.

Step 6: Finally, measure another length of sticky tape for sealing in the same way as before. Stick as close as you can to the top edge – but remember not to pull of the backing this time!

Ta-dah!

I made the plain coloured linings as part of a rainbow set, which would make a really nice gift. But there are so many lovely patterned tissue papers that you could use – these ones are my favourites!

I was hoping to include the templates with this, but I’m having computer issues – ugh! I want the templates to be actual size but they’re printing a few millimetres smaller than they should. If I can figure out how to fix this, I’ll post them!

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It’s National Stationery Week this week, and to celebrate I’m giving away my trade secret – how to make your own envelopes! They’re super easy and make really great gifts, although if you choose paper that you love you might not want to give them away! But as my friend Emily put it, envelopes ‘must fulfil their destiny’, so why not write to a friend this week?

You will need:
A sheet of thick wrapping paper (thin stuff doesn’t work very well)
Some double-sided sticky tape
An envelope in a size and style which you would like to make
A pencil
A ruler
Scissors
A cutting mat (or flat surface for drawing on)

Step 1: Lay the paper on a flat surface and decide which way to fit the most envelopes out of the sheet. Draw around the envelope and then cut them out carefully (save the scraps for other projects!).

Step 2: Next, you need to fold the envelope – the ruler will come in very handy here! Start with the sides first, then the bottom and then the top. Make sure you’ve pressed each side down carefully.

Step 3: Measure a length of sticky tape to stick the bottom to the sides (I usually cut a 1cm strip in half). Place the tape carefully along the bottom of each side edge, remove the backing and then stick.

Step 4: Finally, measure another length of sticky tape for sealing in the same way as before. Stick as close as you can to the top edge – but remember not to pull of the backing this time!

Ta-dah! There you have your very own envelopes! When choosing paper, try to go for smaller designs as they’re really effective. These ones are my favourites:

You can make them in any size too!

You can also make them for any occasion – we made them for our wedding invitations I’d love to see photos of your handmade envelopes if you decide to have a go, whatever the occasion!

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The envelopes that we’re going to send our invitations in – there is a bit of a story behind them actually! When I first started making stationery I bought a few sheets of pretty paper and eagerly took them home to make some envelopes. When I’d made some with this paper I thought: ‘They would make wonderful envelopes for wedding invitations’. And then Tom saw them and said: ‘They would be lovely for wedding invitations’ – even before I’d said it! So we agreed that we would have to have these and I went out and bought extra paper!

The flower we designed for our invitations (and the biggest inkpad ever!)

We chose pink card for the invitations, and decided that we wanted some sort of flower design for the front. Tom had the idea of using heart shaped petals to make the flower so that we can use the full flower or have one heart-shaped petal. This is going to work really well as we’ll have the petal on the bottom of each of the inserts in the invitation, which will tie everything together nicely. Once the designs were finished, we had them made into rubber stamps so that we can print the invitations in pink ink. The stamps were made by The English Stamp Company who are absolutely fantastic! You can upload your own design onto their website, and if the image isn’t quite right they will help you to solve the problem.

Our flower stamp

We don’t have access to photoshop software so were having problems with the resolution, but the lovely people at The English Stamp Company fixed that for us and emailed new versions of the files to upload so we could order our stamps. The stamps are beautiful – so well made and the results are fabulous (the E.S.C. also supplied us with the biggest inkpad I have ever seen!). And I’m so pleased that we’re designing and making things for our wedding together – it has been a fun day starting to make our invitations.

So now we just need to stamp our names on the front and then think about what goes inside…but that is for another day!

Post updated 24th June 2016.

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