5 ways to decorate envelopes

Since starting the Creative Pen Pals project, I've immersed myself in all things snail mail. Because let's be honest, one of the greatest joys of receiving a penned letter is the initial reaction you have when you realise that there's an adorned beauty in amongst the bills.

Something I've found though, is that if you only have a couple of pen pals, the letter-writing kits which come in packs of 10 or 20 certainly start to become less exciting and more *groan* "there's that stationery again".

Don't get me wrong, I love me a cute printed letterhead, but I also love the uniqueness of receiving something that has been customised or is one of a kind. So it got me thinking. How can I easily create some lovely, colourful stationery that can be customised using the same technique but different supplies?

So I've come up with 5 ways that you can embellish standard envelopes (nothing fancy, just plain old envelopes from an office supplies store) with supplies from your craft stash. 

what I've been making

I've been a busy little bee lately keeping myself occupied with various little crafty projects.  I should be sewing more softies, but I've instead been occupying my time with random projects.

Here's a little peek at what I've been busying myself with...

My beloved and I are heading Europe in September to celebrate my 30th.  In honor of that (and that fact that I can't stop thinking about the trip) I made a travel wallet which my husband won't be embarrassed to be seen holding - unlike the store-bought one I've been using for the past couple of years - a tad girly for him!

We're off to Amsterdam, Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Munich and Paris.  So if you have any must-see or must-do tips for me - especially any fabric/craft stores or flea markets not to be missed, I'd love to hear about it!

Here's a link to the fabulously easy tute 

I've never made one before, so I thought it was about time I attempted my first quilt.  I found one of my son's old fleece blankets from when he was a baby and thought it would make a good filler for the quilt.

Now understand my method of attempting new projects.  I DON'T read tutorials.  I simply try to work it out for myself.  Then after I finish the project, I read tutorials for tips on how to better my technique.  Weird, I know.

Here's what the laid out squares look like (before sewing)

I will post pics of the finished quilt once I finish the edges.  It's all sewn together and very quilt-like, I just need to work out what I want to finish the edges with.  I have some really gorgeous crocheted-lace in mind.  Very unorthodox.  I know.

If you haven't guessed that I have a slight obsession with all things related to snail-mail, well then you haven't been reading closely enough.  A couple of months ago I posted a link to a project on upcycling envelopes.  Well I kind of forgot about that project until yesterday.  I started making a pile of envelopes using an envelope template I made a while ago for some hand-made cards.  I had a bunch of pages saved up which I save from magazines and junk mail.  They make the most amazing envelopes!

You should try making some.  You'll be doing your bit by recycling / upcycling and you'll have fun doing it.

There's more stuff, but I haven't taken photos.  I think that's enough for now.


Don't forget.  I would love to hear any of your tips for Europe craftiness delights please.  Comments.  Lots of comments.


Sand shoe.

matchbox of tiny trinkets

I recently participated in a matchbox swap.  We had to either make from scratch (template was supplied) or decorate an empty matchbox and fill it with whatever we wanted.

Here's what I made for my swap partner.

I made my matchbox using the supplied template and some gorgeous scrapbooking paper and filled it with lots of trinkets in the theme of love including stickers, brads, beads, buttons and ribbons.


I received my swap parcel yesterday and it was filled with not only two matchboxes containing all sorts of gorge trinkets, I also got Hawaiian chocolate and soap as well as some window love heart jellies.  Totally gorgeous and totally made my day. Thanks Heather from Hawaii!

everything old is new

I love finding new uses for things that would otherwise end up in the bin.  Having made envelopes from old newspaper pages in the past myself, I really appreciated reading the secret pie shoppe's blog where she shares a tutorial for turning glossy magazines pages into envelopes.

I hope it inspires you to make some envelopes yourself.

Totally cool.

a little post love

Thanks to postcrossing, while my laptop was being fixed I managed to keep myself busy (and a little creative) making some postcards to send to people.

I really think that I put a bit of effort into it because I don't just make a bank of postcards to send out; I wait to receive each persons address and read their profile to see what they like.  Then I custom make a postcard trying to use pictures of their favourite things.  Geez, committed or what?

But I do it in the hope that people who are sending me postcards will read my profile and follow my request of hand making a postcard for me (instead of sending me a store-bought one).  I don't expect everyone to be an artist r a master crafter, all I am asking for is that the person hand-make the card.  That's not too much to ask for is it?

Here are the latest postcards I made and sent out...

the receiver of this postcard likes maps, so I shared a little piece of Melbourne with her!

the lady who will receive this card lives in the Netherlands and likes craft, collecting magazines and dolls

and lastly the lady who will receive this card is a 29 year old costume designer who lives in the US and loves crafting everything!  So I combined a sketch with fabric to make this one for her.

If you haven't already signed yourself up for postcrossing, I urge you to do it.  It gives you an excuse to do something creative every few days and receive good old fashioned mail by way of postcards from around the world!

Win-win I say!

Postcard delight

 I love this postcard by HidenSeek on etsy

If you're anything like me and have a fetish for postcards, then you'll know all about postcrossing.  I however only found out about it yesterday.  Where have I been?

If you haven't heard of it before it's this neat postcard exchange program whereby you send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world. 

If the sound of sending random people postcards freaks you out, you can stress less because there is no obligation to include a return address.  When you register your details on the website they are kept private.  You choose how much you wish to disclose to the people you're sending postcards to.

For each address you receive, you also receive a tracking number.  When the person on the receiving end, well... receives it, they log onto the website and enter the tracking number.  It then logs your postcard as being received and you know that it arrived safe and sound.

Also, you can request specific types of postcards.  Some people ask for places of interest from where you live, others want specific animals and some leave it completely up to you.

So being the postcard freak that I am I created my account yesterday and requested my first four addresses.  I took great delight in handmaking each card to the owner's requests for personal likes (you don't have to hand-make the postcards, you can buy them instead if that pleases you).  I found a postcard back template on Martha Stewart's website.

You just download, print and trim the backs and then create your masterpiece on the front.  You can use a clear sealer to finish your postcards and make them more durable so they'll hold up through international post, or you can do what I did and laminate them just to be extra sure.

Today I posted a postcard each to Taiwan, China, USA and Finland.

Taiwan - made from sumo cat printed fabric that's been laminated

China - made using stamps from around the world (Australia is circled) and laminated

USA - she likes lighthouses, so I printed a photo of a lighthouse I took a couple of years ago onto hand-written background paper.  Laminated of course

Finland - was all about local sights, so Luna Park in Melbourne was my choice.  I scanned a sketch of Luna Park then printed it out onto a page from an old Woman's Weekly magazine.

If you like the idea of receiving lots of postcards from around the world, then make sure you register yourself an account at postcrossing.  It's free.  Well, except for the postage... and supplies of course.

There's nothing like receiving good old fashioned mail.
Magdalena