ABNH - Envelopes Challenge

Hello! It's time for this fortnight's challenge over at A Blog Named Hero. This time we'd like you to make or decorate an envelope.

Yep. You can make an envelope from scratch or dress up a regular one. You can also make a matching card, but it's not a requirement.

We're still collaborating with CAS-ual Fridays, so I've used both CAS-ual Fridays and Hero Arts products for my project.  Oh, and I over-achieved and both decorated an envelope and made a card. It just seemed right.

Here is my fancy-schmancy collage:

I know, I know, the focus is on the envelope, so I'll get into a bit of detail about what I did to enhance it.

This all started with a remnant of Japanese paper from The Heaplet. I started out by lining a basic envelope. The first step is to cut the paper about 1/8" to 1/4" narrower than your envelope, then line up the top edges:

My envelope has rounded corners, so I used my corner chomper to round the corners of the liner. You can see it's just cut a bit narrower than the envelope. It's also shorter. You don't want it to go all the way to the bottom. We'll get to that in a sec.

Next step is to apply tape to the top edge of the back of the liner and to the bottom of the envelope flap, like this:

We only want to stick the liner to the flap, not the inside of the envelope. Once it's secured, it will move freely inside the envelope as the flap is opened and closed. Here's how it looks all stuck down:

Notice I stuck it below the existing "lick strip", and I've creased it where the flap folds. The bottom part is all free and easy.

Then I went wild with my stamps and decorated the outside of the envelope, too. I KNOW! Here's the front:

I stamped the image from the CAS-ual Fridays Beanstalks stamp set in Hero Hues black, then colored it with Soft Pool ink using a Fantastix. My plan is to write the address in the space between the two images. That handsome strip of Japanese paper hides a unfortunate schmear of pool ink. Oh, wait, no, I was wrong. That handsome piece of Japanese paper is to tie the front of the envelope to the lining. Yeah, that's it. I meant to do that!

Now, about the back. I started by stamping the flap:

Same deal: Beanstalk stamps, Hero Hues black, and Soft Pool ink applied with a Fantastix.

Now, the rest of the back:

See how that strip of paper ties in with the lining? :) It's held down with some 1/8" Sookwang tape. It's not going anywhere.

Okay, then I had to make a card, mostly to try and use up that piece of paper. Here's the card, then I'll explain:

I trimmed down some pieces of the paper that I'd trimmed off to make the liner, and just made them into three different widths of banners. The sentiment is from the Hero Arts Sending Smiles stamp set, and I stamped the same branch I used on the envelope to ... wait for it ... pull it all together.

The three gold images are from the Hero Arts set. I stamped them in Delicata Gold, which is as yummy as everyone says it is. Why that image? Because if you look closely at the paper:

you can see the flower centers are a dead ringer for that stamp image. I win. :D

After the gold ink dried, I went back and used my black glaze pen on all the dots on the stems, on both the card and the envelope, and also on the centers of the gold thingies.

Finally, I layered the whole thing on a piece of Hero Hues pool card stock and then onto a Hero Arts white card base.

Then I rested.

So, do you decorate envelopes to match your cards? Have you ever tried lining an envelope to dress it up a bit? Wanna give it a shot? Then why not come play our challenge? :)

Thanks, as always, to our fabulous sponsor:

One lucky crafter who links up to our challenge will win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp to purchase some new toys.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: Japanese paper and the following:

InLinkz.com