tissue paper envelopes *Tutorial added*

[night_owl]

I made these envelopes using tissue paper I got in swap packages:





I took lots of pictures while I was making them so if there’s interest I can make a tutorial.

Tutorial here (or just scroll down ).  I didn't have some amazing dream or out of the blue start ironing paper together.  Mum's been making them for years (I think I remember her taking a class when I was tiny).  If I knew who to give credit to I would.....

[kristen219]

whoa those are really nice!!! are they very sturdy? i would be interested in a tut if ur willing!! 

[Jane2]

Those envelopes are BEAUTIFUL, night owl!

So neat and tidy - with not a ragged edge in sight. Which I am sure there would be if I tried to make them. (I have a manual dexterity problem you see.)

Are they hard to make? I'm willing to make an attempt.
With your tutorial of course. (As I am one of the earliest viewers of your post, I'm sure others will be along asking for it.)

[night_owl]

Wow!  You guys are quick!!  I'll start working on a tut tonight and hopfully be ready to post it tomorrow.  They are very easy and the technique used can be adapted for little boxes, book covers, or anything really that you would use paper/cardstock for.

kristen219:  They're sturdiness depends on what paper you use in combination with the tissue paper.  The ones you see here are about as sturdy as a regular old envelope with the exception of the blue one, as I made it with construction paper.

[night_owl]

It seems that my tutorial is too long to put in just one post so I'm splitting it in two.  This is my first time making a tutorial, I tried to make it really clear.  Let me know if there's anything that doesn't make sense.

Tutorial

I’m going to write out the easiest/basic instructions for the regular flat ones (in the picture these are the striped and star ones, betcha didn’t know the blue and red ones were textured did ya ). At the end I’ll explain how to make the textured ones, and an alternate way to make these envelopes.  Also, please excuse the mess in the background; I don’t like to make my bed.  And just ignore the fact that my ironing board is dirty.

Ok, lets start by gathering our supplies….



You will need:

• Freezer paper – it’s the kind w/wax on one side only; mum says it’s usually found in the baking isle and not by the plastic wrap (like I thought).  I’ve never had to buy some because the lady that owned this house before us left this huge mongo industrial sized roll of it and a bunch of unopened smaller rolls…I’m set for life!!
• Tissue paper
• An envelope that is the size/shape you want your finished envelope to be
• Glue – I’m using mod podge but mum uses those little photo squares scrapbookers use, she has to cut them in half first.  I’ve also used rubber cement and elmer’s.  All of these work fine.
• Something to apply the glue with – I’m using a paint brush
• An iron – with the steam turned off
• Something to iron on – it needs to be relatively hard.  If your ironing board isn’t super padded it should be fine.
• Scissors (somehow these didn’t make it into the picture)
• A pencil (or a pen is fine to)
• Some music to craft to – today we’ll be listening to Charlie’s Angels Soundtrack

If your iron is like mine, it takes a few minutes to heat up.  Turn it on a low-medium setting and put it somewhere stable to heat up.

Start by cutting a piece of freezer paper that’s about 6 inches longer than your sheet of tissue paper; it’s better to have too much than too little.  My freezer paper wasn’t as wide as my tissue paper, this is fine, just try to cover as much as you can with one piece.  Lay them on your ironing board with the freezer paper on the bottom (wax side up) and the tissue paper on top (pretty side up). 



Now you’re going to iron the tissue paper to the freezer paper.  Carefully smooth out the wrinkles with your iron (it’s ok if you don’t get them all out, just try to smooth out as many as you can).  Be sure not to iron the waxy side of the freezer paper directly (messy, messy).  When I do this I just try to get within an inch from the edge of the tissue paper; we’ll get all the way to the edge later.

After you iron the whole thing, cut any excess freezer paper off.  Try to cut it flush with the tissue paper.



After cutting, turn your paper over (tissue paper side down) and iron it again.  This time go all the way to the edge.  After it’s cooled enough you can touch it (learned this the hard way, give it about 30 sec so you don’t get burned) turn it over again (pretty side up) and gently rub your fingers over the top to check for parts that haven’t completely sealed with the freezer paper.  You’ll know when you find one; it’s kinda like an air bubble.  If you don’t find any, good for you!!  If you do find some, go back over them with the iron.

Next you’re going to need your envelope



Carefully take it apart,



and using it as a template, trace it repeatedly all over the freezer paper side.  I usually get five envelopes out of one piece of tissue paper



Now you need to cut them out (this is easier if you cut them into smaller bits first)




Now you’re going to fold them up.  Here’s my folding sequence.  (Please excuse the odd bits and pieces.  I was trying to fold them on my ironing board, which was not a hard enough surface, and they wouldn’t stay down.).  To get a nice crisp fold, do this step on a table or a hardcover book.



Now we’re going to glue them.  I tried to take a pic of one w/glue on it, but you couldn’t really see it so put a thin strip of glue where the purple is.



Now it looks like an envelope!!



At this stage I fold the top flap back down and stick them in a heavy book so they can dry and be pressed flat.  My book of choice is a wallpaper sample book because it has a handle on the spine and I can hold it up by the handle and shake it so all my envelopes fall out (when I glue mine I stick them in randomly and it takes forever going through each page looking for them).  I leave them in the book for about 2 hours.  This is the time when I work on swap packages, write letters to go in the envelopes, and check craftster .

After they’re all dry I like to put little symbols on the inside of the top flap.  I think of them as wishes for the recipient.  My favorites to use are:

• Dollar sign = wealth
• Peace sign = peace
• Heart = love/romance
• Smilie = happiness
• Four leaf clover = good luck

Sometimes I free hand them, other times I use stamps or stickers (I didn’t do a four leaf clover this time because when I free hand them they look like crap and I couldn’t find my stamp)



So that’s basically it!!

(cont. in next post)

[night_owl]

(cont. from previous post)

For the textured ones the directions are pretty much the same except:

You start out crumpling your paper





I’m not sure if you’ll be able to see the texture in the third picture so here’s a close up:



When ironing your crumpled tissue paper you don’t smooth out the wrinkles (that would defeat the whole purpose of crumpling it in the first place).  Instead you have to press it.  To do this you put your iron in one place for a few seconds, lift it up (don’t slide it!), and put it down again somewhere else.  Try to overlap your “pressings”.



In the center of the above pic, if you look in the middle, where I circled, the orangish part is where I have started to press it (I hope you can see it).  After pressing the top (again, getting close to the edge), cut off the excess freezer paper and press the backside the same way.  This time going all the way to the edge.

After that you continue following the original instructions.


But what if *gasp* you can’t find freezer paper??  Relax, you can still make these using slightly different materials.  You will need everything on the above list except change freezer paper to other paper (I’m using construction paper but you could use anything really, just remember that you will have to fold it later so try not to pick anything too thick).  You also need to add plastic wrap to the above list.  Making your envelopes this way takes longer because the plastic takes longer to melt.  When I make them with plastic wrap I turn my iron to medium high.

Start by layering your papers/plastic in the following order:  construction paper on the bottom (or what ever paper you decide to use), plastic wrap in the middle, tissue paper on top (pretty side up).



Now you can continue with the basic instructions except when you would cut off the excess freezer paper, cut off the excess plastic wrap (and tissue paper if it’s bigger than your bottom paper) and after you cut out the envelope I would run the iron over them again to make sure they’re sealed.  Be VERY careful when you’re ironing them so that you don’t accidentally iron parts that don’t have paper on both sides of the plastic wrap.  You don’t want to experience trying to get melted plastic wrap off your ironing board.

Because it's faster, I prefer using freezer paper.  However, using plastic wrap has its perks too.  For example: I love to use patterned paper so the outside is a plain color and the inside has duckies on it or something!  I also like using white on top of colored paper because you can kinda see through it.  It just occurred to me that, in place of plastic wrap, you might be able to use waxed paper (wax on both sides). I’ve never tried it, but I imagine it would work.  I’m planning to make a few more next week sometime.  I’ll try it and post the results.

If anyone makes any I’d love to see them!


**Edit**
I tried using wax paper and was unsuccessful.  I posted about it later in this thread (click here if you don't want to go search for it )

[alisonwonderland]

Those are so cute! I almost never send letters anymore but I may need to start again so I can use some awesome envelopes...

[Kiwimonkey]

When I was reading the second part of the tutorial, I was wondering, "why plastic wrap?  Why not normal wax paper?" 

I think I'll try this sometime soon.  I've searched and searched for freezer paper and can't find it     But wax paper.... I've got plenty of that! 

Thanks for such a great idea and tutorial!!

[craft_t_chic]

Great tut! Great idea!!! I love this...I totally have to try it...

[Qwerty]

great tutorial! i'm a sucker for stationery and purty paper, putting this on my to-do list.