how to make an envelope

Remember all those cards from last time? Well, I decided to use them as an opportunity to send out pictures of our guests from our wedding and open house, but to my dismay, the pictures were a lot bigger than the cards. So I looked online to see how to make envelopes. Here is the best link I found: http://stamping.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/03/make_envelopes.php

I remember that when I went on splits with the sister missionaries in Rome, one of the sisters showed me how she made beautiful envelopes out of magazine paper. She did this to show love to the people she missed at home, and I was touched by those simple envelopes and what they represented. When I realized I need to make my own envelopes for anyone whose card includes a photo, I decided to use my Italy calendar as a paper source. How fitting! I had 11 months of beautiful photos that seemed to beg to be made into envelopes.

So I learned how to turn this:




into this!

 By the end, I had an assortment of beautiful envelopes, like this one I am sending to my dear mother:

 And to my brother:

 And to various other loved ones:

Do you want to try? It's so easy! I loved doing this, and because I want you to have the same experience, I am going to try to explain the process.

First, place your card in the part of the calendar that you want to show on the front of your finished envelope:

Fold the calendar over the card in two directions:

 
If one flap folds over too far, you can make a third fold to decrease the size of the flap:

Now fold the other two sides of the calendar over the card:



 You should have creases that look like the picture below.  The picture shows you your next step, too, which is to cut away the corner creases of the envelope.

 

After the corners are cut, fold the bottom flap over the card, and then fold and tape the sides over the bottom:

: 

Tape the top flap down:


And voila! You have a beautiful envelope to send to someone special. I found out that I gained a whopping TWELVE pounds between my last doctor's visit and today's, so I have decided to turn the energy originally intended for Christmas cookies to envelope making instead. They aren't as yummy, but I think they convey the same message. What do you think?