How To Begin Making Greeting Cards # 5 : Envelopes

After you have finished your card, unless you are going to deliver it by hand, you will need an envelope. There are again quite a few options for you to consider. without buying another gadget, you can make an envelope to fit your card by following a pattern. You can find these for free all over the internet:
Pattern for an A2 envelope

As you can see, the above link is named for the size of the envelope you will need to fit our little Valentine's Day card. Standard envelopes sizes are numbered, so if you .know the size of your finished card, you match that to the envelope. Here is a handy chart:
envelope sizes

As you explore making cards, you may want to make square cards ( a trend right now), action cards, or cards with a lot of dimension. Just keep in mind that the US postal service required extra postage for non-standard cards.

You can also just save a few envelopes from the mail, take them apart carefully, and use that as your pattern. You can buy packs of ready made envelopes for greeting cards at craft stores. These are generally not as nice feeling as ones you can make out of card stock.

The simplest way, however, is to buy an envelope making gadget.If you are going to keep making cards, making envelopes out of matching card stock is very satisfying. I love giving away good cards with good envelopes!  I use the Martha Stewart gadget. It comes with a "bone" folder (more on that later), handy charts, and is very simple to use. Get it here:
Martha Stewart Envelope maker

Learn how to use it here:
Martha Stewart Envelope tutorial


SEE YOU LATER!