Today's Mission: Make My Own Envelope

I always give my clients a DVD with their images, but I ran out of sleeves and needed something a little classier than a folded sheet a paper to protect the disc. I decided to make my own envelopes which I am quite pleased with. I love that I can customize the design on the outside of the envelope by printing a different design on the paper.

What you'll need:

a scissors or paper cutter

glue or glue stick

a ruler

a pen to mark the center of the paper

a piece of paper (decorative printing optional - I used a regular sheet of 8.5x11" paper printed with my logo) You could also use scrapbook paper for a pretty design.

Measure and cut the paper so that it is an exact square.

Use a ruler to measure from corner to corner to find the exact middle of the paper and mark it with a x or a dot.

Fold one corner so that the point touches the center marking and crease it. Use a fingernail or hard edge to really make it crisp.

Fold the other corner so the points meet right in the middle and crease that side as well.

Fold up the bottom so that it overlaps the other triangles by about a half an inch. Make another crease.

 

Use a glue stick or glue (if you use regular glue do so sparingly so it doesn't saturate your paper or bubble it. I like to make a super thin line and then spread it out with my finger so it's just barely sticky.

Press the flap down onto the glue and hold it for a few seconds. Then fold over the final flap of the envelope (also overlapping slightly) and you are done!

Now I have an envelope with my custom logo that I can use to protect my client's images.

 My next mission is getting the copyright release printed on the inside flap of the envelope. It turned out pretty good but it needs some tweaking.

You can use this method to make larger or smaller envelopes depending how big you make the the square. For bigger envelopes use large sheets of scrapbook paper.