This month we’ll discuss the use of envelopes in your altered book creations. A pretty envelope can be used simply as a design element in your page spreads, as a functional element....or both! They can be glued, stapled, taped or sewn onto your pages. They can also be used as a page all on their own! Let’s get started...
Scrapbooking companies are offering envelopes for storing keepsakes, so why not use those in your altered books? This project uses items from The Paper Loft’s Flip Flops line to make the page interactive. The user slides the cards out of the library envelopes to see what’s inside. This is a page of compliments in an altered book to be gifted, offering some affirmation for a harried friend.
Your envelopes can be sealed shut to keep secrets inside or to protect treasured letters, cards or heirlooms. Clear envelopes allow the viewer to easily see what’s inside. This layout shows a postcard stored in a clear envelope, attached with a handmade hinge made of twill tape, which allows the reader to flip over the postcard to read the message on the back.
In the next layout, the envelope is big enough to be a page of its own. It is glued between two page tabs. It will eventually be sealed shut to hide the contents from the average viewer.
Your AB envelopes can be as simple as an envelope from the office supply store (embellished and stamped, of course!) or they can be handmade, using a purchased or homemade template. All of my handmade envelopes, such as the Mona Lisa envelope here, are made using the Kreate-a-lope templates from Green Sneakers. I love Kreate-a-lope because I can simply tear around the template --- no measuring or cutting for me!
To achieve the look of “I Guard My Secrets,” glue handmade paper to pages. I chose this paper because it had a lot of large bits of text in it, giving the illusion of hidden secrets - perhaps a late-night paper shredding session?
Foil the edges of the pages and sponge paint over the handmade paper. Attach the envelope to tabs between the pages. This envelope was made with an old calendar page.
Glassine envelopes are fun because they are transparent enough that the reader can see what is inside. What will you put in your envelopes? This spread uses glassine envelopes to hold stamped images and confetti stars. I also turned the four envelopes on the left-hand side of the spread into little doors, held closed with Velcro. (See the October 2005 article on Doors and Windows.)
Other ideas for envelopes:
- Cut a slit in your page to slide in the envelope. Glue a page to the back of your slotted page just around the sides to allow the envelope to fit in between the pages
- Create a pocket by folding your page and place the envelope inside. (See the December 2005 article on pockets.)
- Try nesting envelopes within envelopes for a super-duper secret message and make your reader work for it!
- Sew your envelopes to a page or a tab using sparkly threads and fibers.
- Collect movie ticket stubs, wine labels, or any other flat ephemera and display in clear or glassine envelopes.
- Write secret letters to yourself or your deity and seal your innermost thoughts into your altered book.
- Save coin envelopes, stamp envelopes from the post office, and any other interesting envelopes you find in your daily travels to use in your altered books.
- Attach your envelopes with glue or tape, or think along the lines of brads, photo turns, wire, string, pop dots. Maybe you have a fat envelope full of love letters than can be stored in a niche in your book!
