How To ... Embellish an Envelope!

Hello everyone and welcome to Whatever Thursday -- the weekly feature on Stamping 411 where the Operators take turns at bringing you ... whatever! Today, I'm going to share a quick and easy tutorial on how to embellish your envelopes. After you've worked so hard on your beautiful cards, an embellished envelope is the perfect finishing touch to really make your efforts shine! I've got four easy ways that you can dress up your envelopes so ... let's check them out!

The first, and one of my favorites, is to line the envelope flap with a bit of Designer Series Paper that coordinates with your card. On this sample, I used the Flirtatious Specialty DSP - gotta love those doily shapes! It's oh, so easy to do. Just cut a piece of DSP at 5.25 x 2.75" (or whatever the width of your envelope is). Use the curved edge of the envelope as your pattern and trace the curve on the back of the DSP, trim with Paper Snips and then fasten to your envelope with SNAIL adhesive, making sure to position the DSP just under the adhesive on the edge of the envelope flap. That's it -- how simple is that!

Okay, the second way is to simply stamp on the front, back or both of your envelope. Again, use coordinating colors and stamps which tie it back to the card that you created! In this case, I used the Delicate Doilies Stamp Set with colors of Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso, the perfect compliment to the card that I created with the same colors and patterns. If you look closely, you'll also see the 3rd way to embellish an envelope on the edge of this envelope flap.

That's right, the third way is to add a little punched edging to the flap. I used Melon Mambo cut at 5.25 x 1" and punched one side with the Scallop Trim Border Punch. I applied it to the underside of the envelope flap with SNAIL adhesive and trimmed the ends to curve them in slightly. Just remember, when you do this, you may need to apply additional adhesive to seal the envelope. But what a pretty, delicate look it is!

And finally, the fourth way to dress up your envelopes is to emboss them with the Big Shot and a Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. On this sample, I used the Elegant Lines Impression Folder. Just put it through the Big Shot with just the flap inside the folder so the only part that embosses is the flap. This is especially beautiful for a wedding card. Of course, when it's put through the paces in the postal system, the embossing will flatten out a bit, but hopefully it will arrive with enough intact that whoever receives it knows that something very special is inside!

So there you have it ... four wonderful ways to dress up your envelopes and make your beautiful hand-cards even more special! That's it for today!

Happy Stamping (and envelope embellishing), everyone! Blessings, Gretchen