Monday, March 29, 2010

recycled magazine envelopes

When I was 16, I visited my sister up at college and her roommate was making envelopes out of magazines. She helped me make some and I was hooked. I had a few pen pals in high school from all over Europe and an exchange student in Australia that I liked to write. I also made a lot of these to write to a few missionary boys from our church! I used to be a writer in my day, but of course, have since turned to email. These are so simple to make and I am aware that I am not showing anything new or something you haven't seen. I just wanted to remind myself and any of you who are interested that these envelopes are super cute and a great way to recycle those Martha Stewart or any other beautiful magazine when you have finished with them.

You can use one of the pre made templates from any scrapbooking store or take apart an envelope, trace it on to light cardboard (poster board) and make your own template. Just trace the template directly on to the magazine page with a Sharpie and cut it out. Fold the top, bottom and sides in and then glue accordingly. Easy.





at

22 comments:

  1. LiseMarch 30, 2010 at 9:43 PM

    I made these in college, too, but mine were never as beautiful as yours! I'll have to give it another try with more of an eye for aesthetics. Thanks for the reminder.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ali @ gimme some ovenMarch 31, 2010 at 12:33 AM

    Oh my goodness! I'm completely in love!!

    I was just looking at some old Anthropologie catalogues the other day, trying to find a reason to justify keeping them around. But I'm totally going to turn some pages into these.

    Great idea!! And lovely photos! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. DillaMarch 31, 2010 at 5:38 AM

    Cute!
    I use magazines paper as wrappers to wrap storage boxes. Save money and good for environment too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Karyn March 31, 2010 at 6:27 AM

    I do love these and in fact I think I have a few letters from you with envelopes just like these... ahh the good old days when we all wrote letters instead of emails or messages on Facebook ♥

    ReplyDelete
  5. SydneyMarch 31, 2010 at 8:12 AM

    ....loving this post. Thanks so much for such a good idea.... and a good reminder that a handwritten letter in a pretty envelope, is really special....still.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Melissa {polkadot chair}March 31, 2010 at 10:02 AM

    My sister and I used to do this all the time too! But we used to cut out the cute guys from the jcrew catalog and send those :)
    Melissa

    ReplyDelete
  7. chrisMarch 31, 2010 at 10:25 AM

    Thanks for the reminder of a fun idea!

    ReplyDelete
  8. LauraApril 1, 2010 at 12:26 AM

    LOVE this idea. Thanks for posting it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jennwith4April 1, 2010 at 1:39 AM

    Beautiful! Will definitely try this out!

    ReplyDelete
  10. AmyApril 1, 2010 at 3:48 PM

    They're gorgeous! I do have a stack of magazines that I won't chuck out because of the beautiful photo spreads...this might be the answer!

    ReplyDelete
  11. MandeeApril 3, 2010 at 4:33 PM

    I am laughing because I think I still have some of your self made envelopes from our pen pal days! I'll have to look!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful HandmadeApril 4, 2010 at 1:09 AM

    What a great idea for my kids, too, so I don't have to give them more expensive store bought envelopes for their "cards" and "presents" to each other! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very ShannonApril 6, 2010 at 3:54 PM

    So cute! Love this idea!

    ReplyDelete
  14. embeeApril 8, 2010 at 10:35 AM

    my roomie and i made these in college too! we always took our old five-star notebooks from the previous semester, and made our template from the front plastic cover. that way it could get used over and over and never got bent!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Rachel@oneprettything.comApril 8, 2010 at 1:42 PM

    Those are so pretty! Thanks so much for posting this, I'll be linking.

    ReplyDelete
  16. PuwiApril 9, 2010 at 6:15 PM

    your idea make me crazy!!
    you're so talented..
    thanks you for sharing...

    cheers,
    puri

    ReplyDelete
  17. LauraApril 12, 2010 at 8:02 PM

    Love 'em! Made my own and blogged about it:
    http://betulaloo.blogspot.com

    Must go hunt out more used magazines!

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousApril 19, 2010 at 4:24 PM

    I'd forgotten about this! Love the idea by another reader to make them from anthro catalogs--i hate recycling those!
    I'll have to show my daughter how to make these--she'll love them.

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousApril 19, 2010 at 4:24 PM

    I'd forgotten about this! Love the idea by another reader to make them from anthro catalogs--i hate recycling those!
    I'll have to show my daughter how to make these--she'll love them.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Becky MooreApril 20, 2010 at 10:46 PM

    What a terrific idea! I never saw these before!

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousMay 8, 2010 at 12:47 PM

    Mae, you're amazing! I love this! I don't want to lose the link, and wanted to share with others too for Mothers Day this year, so it's featured it in a roundup of my favorite DIY Mothers Day gifts, here:
    http://www.camilledawn.com/2010/05/mothers-day-roundup.html

    Mother Lode
    www.camilledawn.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. DYAMOND WOMANMay 14, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    Amazing idea, thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete