Since getting engaged at the end of January, a lot of my free time has been moving over to wedding planning rather than blogging. I’m still reading a lot of books, but I’m not finding quite as much time to sit down and write posts. Since I haven’t done a DIY post in a long time, I thought I would share this fun one.

I used these envelopes to hold the letters asking my brother and my two best friends to stand up with me in my bridal party, but you could use them for anything! This tutorial works best if you don’t have to accommodate a particular sized card/piece of paper. Unless you want to do a bunch of measuring, my advice would be to fit your letter to the envelope.

These are so much fun, require basically no supplies and make any piece of mail look much more special.

You’ll need:

• One piece of paper of your choice, standard 8.5×11 size (you could also use a piece of 12×12 scrapbooking paper, but it might need some trimming). It’s helpful to get a piece that’s fairly bendable because then your mail won’t require extra postage. If it’s too stiff, there’ll be a non-machinable surcharge.
• A small coordinating piece of paper for the label if you can’t/don’t want to write directly on the paper.
• Scissors
• Corner trim punch (optional)
• A good strong craft glue–I like Scotch brand’s Quick-Dry Adhesive, which you can find at pretty much any craft store.

Fold the paper into approximate thirds with one smaller section. You can measure this, but I prefer eyeballing it. The smallest section becomes your envelope flap, so it can be as small/large as you like. Once you have everything the way you want it, go over the crease with your nails or a ruler or a bone folder.

Cut small slits (1/2 inch or less) where the thirds folds are towards the center. Trim small triangles off from the end of the slit to the edge of the paper, so that the it’s easier to fold.

Trim the flap section so that the flap ends where the slits do. (a section about 1/2 inch x 2 inches, depending on the size of your flap.

Fold the edges inward on the top and bottoms of both sides and crease sharply.

Using your strong craft glue, run a generous line of glue on both sides and hold together until the glue has bonded.

Fill with whatever messages you’d like to send and seal with more glue when you’re ready.

Address the envelope and it’s ready to make it’s way out into the world!

Have you ever made your own envelopes before? What did you send in them? Let me know in the comments!