Learn how to make your own DIY Envelopes for pen pals – just using coloured paper and a few crafty materials you probably already have at home in your art + craft box.
I’m a long time fan of snail mail – receiving or sending! There is nothing better than making a colourful handmade surprise for a friend or pen pal. Many of my pen pal and snail mail creations are made from scratch using different papercraft methods.
Paper is one of my favourite things to craft with and it’s a medium that is so versatile! You don’t need lots of materials and tools to make a lovely letter. It’s often the handmade things that are cherished the most! Right?
Lot’s of my crafty creations are made just using paper in a personal style that I like to call – painting with paper!
So grab some colourful paper and let’s getting making some envelopes.
How To Make DIY Envelopes
To make these envelopes you’ll need:
- Coloured paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Marker
- Used envelope or envelope template
- Washi tape
- craft punch
Let’s Make Some Envelopes
There are many different ways to make an envelope. If you don’t already have an envelope template you can open up a used envelope to use as your template.
Honestly the rest is simple…once you have drawn around an envelope on coloured paper. Cut it out and fold and seal down the sides.
It’s really up to you on how you decorate your envelopes. Give yourself the creative freedom to experiment – and remember to have fun with it. Let your creative style shine.
Just in case you feel a bit stuck. Here are some tips on how I decorated these envelopes.
8 Ways To Make + Decorate Envelopes
1. You don’t need to fold up the envelope the way that the template is intended to be used. For example the yellow envelope was made using the same template as the green one. I just chose to fold different sides up making it a narrower envelope.
2. You can also fold envelopes using no template – origami style! See the video below or check out my You Tube Channel to see how I do this.
3. Use craft punches to make shapes and use these to decorate your envelopes. I used a circle punch to make it look like the envelopes are decorated in a polka dot pattern.
4. Cut-up your punched shapes to make another shape all together, like I did with the circle shapes on the blue envelope.
5. Use a marker to add extra pattern details like polka dots or triangles.
6. Washi tape is sooooo versatile – it gives all snail mail an extra something something – hahahha!
7. Have fun with paper. I enjoy just letting the moment take me by and freehand cutting (Matisse style!) the paper. For these particular envelopes I made paper sprinkles and blue flowers.
8. You don’t need any fancy address labels, just use the coloured paper for this too. Ovals, curved rectangles and triangles are my go to shapes for using as address labels.
Remember to just have fun! It’s the imperfections that make anything handmade so loved.
Hope you have fun making your DIY envelopes for pen pals. For more snail mail ideas check out my zine Happy Mail Day.
Oh yeah! I also made a video of me making these DIY Envelopes. Check it out below. If you enjoy this video, please feel free to pop over to my You Tube Channel and subscribe to see more (it will be much appreciated!).
Happy Mail Days! xo