
My homemade gift envelope - free!
I saved money today by making a special gift envelope for my sister using a flashy magazine cover, above. Instead of a boring white envelope, her birthday card will arrive with a bang! Here’s how I did it – for the cost of postage.
I gently pulled off the cover of freshHOME, a magazine that has a really nice glossy cover. (They recently had a story on making your own mosaic pot.) I placed my sister’s card in the middle of the cover at an angle so that the upper left corner of the card and bottom right corner of the card each touch opposite edges of the paper. I folded over each corner so they met and secured my folds with a strip of clear packing tape. Afixed a stamp, return address label, and a blank label on which I wrote her address, and put it in the mail.
Here is a series of photos to illustrate this neat way to make your own envelope!

Step 1. Tilt the card.

Step 2. Fold right side.

Step 3. Fold left side.

Step 4. Fold ends and tape (not shown).
Using magazine covers, maps, or customized word puzzles, is a fun and free way to wrap a present or card.
Great idea! I have alot of cards, but have seemed to lose the envelopes, so this will come in handy!
You are so crafty! 😉
What a neat idea, Julia – very cute! I will print this out and give it a try. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
@LISA Let me know if it works for you! My sister also used to make really cool envelopes by painting plain white ones with water colors. She is super artistic, though, so I could never pull it off.
Yes!! very cute and very creative!! Thrifty too!