last minute envelope book

 

When a big event or a holiday is coming up, I am one to have big ideas about things that I want to make for a gift. Suddenly, the event is here - and do I have my project complete? Usually, no! One of the things I have wanted to make for a long time is a mini book for Chad of him and the girls for Father's Day. That project will be made someday, but obviously did not come together this year. This project I put together was something that I know he will love, is a step above just a card, doesn't require too many supplies, and I was able to complete it very quickly. Let me show you what I did to make this envelope book for Chad's Father's Day gift...

I am loving the Guide Lines set that is coming out with the release this month and so I used to to create two background papers to use with my project. One color of ink (white!) and one color of paper (kraft!) Easy. The pieces of cardstock are 4 1/4" x 11" (a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock cut in half the long way.)

I got these 5 1/2" square envelopes from a paper supply place (Anchor Paper for those of you in the Minneapolis area.) You could easily adapt this project to whatever envelopes you have on hand. I attached the envelopes together by adhering the flap of one envelope to the bottom back of another envelope - see the pictures above and below.

So looking at the picture above, you can see that I have 3 envelopes attached together in a long line. I also want my project to stand a bit like an accordion book.

I used the Father Knows Best set to create sentiment blocks for my project. Each square has a stamped tree and sentiment from the set - you can see all 3 of them below.

Here is my quick and easy layout for each envelope. The Spring Moss base measures 5 1/2" x 4 3/4" and the strip cut from my stamped background paper is 1 1/2" X 5 1/2". The layouts are all the same except for the placement of the squares. Repeating something in your design, or repetition, is pleasing to the eye and helps you put together your project more quickly!

I added a few accents to each section - a bit of vintage brown trim and stitched on buttons. I put all of this together before I adhered them to the envelopes. I also covered the top flap of my envelope book with the stamped background paper.

For inside each envelope pocket I printed out pictures in a 4" x 4" size and adhered them to 5" x 5" kraft bases. The twill tape pulls on the side are stitched on with my sewing machine using a zig-zag stitch.

Here's how the pictures slide into the envelope pockets...

A look at everything all put together. The twill to tie the envelope book closed is stitched to the top envelope flap with a sewing machine and is long enough (coming around both sides of the book) to tie the whole book closed when it is folded up.

Here's everything all bundled up and ready to give to Chad this Sunday. This project would be so easy to make for so many occasions!

Good luck with your holiday projects and thanks for stopping by!

Father's Day Envelope Book

stamps: Guide Lines, Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), Unicorn Memories (Stewart Superior), Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up!), Jet Black Archival (Ranger)

cardstock: white, kraft, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink)

accessories: Spring Moss twill (Papertrey Ink), 5 1/2" square envelopes (Anchor Paper), vintage trim, vintage buttons, linen thread (Stampin' Up!), dimensionals, sewing machine/thread