You've Got Mail!

So I had a fabulous idea yesterday that I couldn't wait to share with you!

While cutting the stamps off of my mail for a page in my Wreck This Journal, I realized that the envelopes my mail comes in could be used for something new.

Next time you get bills or other mail from businesses that come in security envelopes, take a look inside and you might be pleasantly surprised like me.

Or, I could just show you right now.

Yeah, let's do that.

Look through the window

See that? The inside of the envelopes have designs.

So I cut open the envelope and opened it up to see how I could use it.

Great timing! I just bought some small moleskin journals and immediately thought of covering one with the envelope paper.

To cover the journal completely, I had to use two envelope halves. Making sure to position the paper where I wanted it before applying any adhesive.

Easy flush edges: Make sure that the envelope paper is bigger than the journal. Wait to trim off the excess paper until after the glue dries using sharp scissors or an xacto knife.

Using my new favorite medium for paper:

I adhered the envelope paper to the outside of the journal.

I have found that the easiest way to do this is to apply the adhesive to one side of the journal at a time, pulling tight and smoothing down each side as you go. Squeegees, credit cards, and other long flat items are also useful for smoothing out any bubbles under the paper.

Then I allowed the journal to dry completely and cut the excess paper around the edges.

Next I added a ribbon which served two purposes*:

1. Covered up the seam between the two pieces of paper.
2. Adds a blast of color to the black and white pattern.

*Plus, orange is my favorite color so I'm always looking for ways to add a little orange to my projects!

See how I made sure to leave the ends extra long? That way there's plenty for wrapping to the inside of the journal cover.

Once the ribbon was positioned where I wanted it, I glued it to the outside of the journal! (I used clear Tacky glue for this part.) And then allow the glue to dry AGAIN.

Next, I trimmed the excess ribbon to about 2.5 inches and folded it over into the inside of the journal to be sure it would fit. Once I was sure it would fit tightly inside, I glued the remaining ribbon to the inside of the journal.

To protect the first pages from the glued ribbon, I slipped some small pieces of freezer paper inside.

Then, because the edge of the ribbon where I folded it over to the inside wouldn't lay flat, I clamped the journal shut.

After an hour of clamping, I removed the clip and placed the journal under a stack of heavy books to dry completely.

There's one less envelope in the dump today!