How To Make Your Own Inexpensive Mailers and Envelopes

Below is a quick example of how I made my own mailer/envelope on the cheap. This came about mostly out of a time crunch and a bit of laziness lol. I was almost finishing up my orders and needed two small envelopes but really didn't feel like going to the store and then coming back and finishing.

So I looked around to see what I had and I saw that I had plenty of paper bags because I use them to make paper bag scrapbook albums in my etsy shop. So I simply cut off the bottom edge and sewed it shut with a zigzag stitch. I inserted a piece of thin chipboard inside. Then, I taped down the thread on the back to make sure it didn't come undone with handling. Easy and quick!

I think that it looks rather cute especially with the pink paper (pink and brown is my favorite combo). I think that I am going to use this to mail out the Mickey Mouse ear punches that I have in my Mouse Party House etsy shop as I sell a lot of these and tend to run out of envelopes quickly. I love happy accidents :).

TIPS:

• Use sturdy a sturdy bag, you don't want your envelope to come undone :)
• I taped down the flap (when I folded over the bag) with a wide shipping tape and wrapped around so that it would also make sure the folds on the side stay flat. Next time to be on the safe side I am going to tape down the sides of the bag as well.

Here are a few more ways to make cute envelopes. One example uses pretty scrapbook paper and the other magazine pages. Who doesn't have magazines around?

The first examples comes from 27 things. Cute right? 

Cute way to reuse your magazines. See the tutorial HERE.
 

Ideas To Reuse, Recycle Suitcases For Craft Storage

Old, vintage suitcases are beautiful and can be a great idea for craft storage. Especially if you don't have a lot of space as I do in my apartment. I found some awesome faux crocodile? silver suitcases in a discount store and love the fact that I can leave them out in the open. I use them to store my spools of ribbon (of which I have too many lol)

Here are some other cool examples of how you can turn a suitcase into storage:

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I also love these ideas on how to display your suitcases.

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Other items you may like:

Inexpensive Gift Wrapping Ideas, Repurposed, Recycled

Why spend more money than you have to on gift wrapping? I have this gorgeous ribbon (photo above) for sale in my etsy shop went looking for great ideas for gift wrapping that was also inexpensive. I found great ideas on marthastewart.com. Below are my favorites.

Can you guess what this wrapping paper is made from? Potato chip bags!!! Simply cut the bag along the edge, of course wash thoroughly and there you have a unique and inexpensive gift wrapping option.

This was made from paper gift bags that have been stamped with a cute design.

Love this idea and it's a great way to repurpose old greeting cards. Glue the greeting card to the top of the box lid and use an exacto knife to trim around the edges or you can do like the picture and cut with some decorative scissors and then adhere to box lid.

You can photo copy your favorite pictures and affix to inexpensive paper and instantly make it look way more expensive.

Other items you may like:

Duct Tape Notebooks and Other Projects

I got some designer the other day to pretty up my packages that I mail out. (I saw a tutorial on how to make fabric tape for this but I was feeling a bit lazy. lol) I love composition notebooks so I decided to look around and get ideas on covering them. I then came across other great projects using duct tape. 

 How pretty is this notebook? Source

 Roses anyone? I got this from the duck brand website. They of course have lots of project ideas on their site

 Pretty and inexpensive. Disclaimer the crafter uses Priority Mail boxes, of course the Postal Service frowns upon (and it's against their rules) getting their boxes to use for things other than shipping (Just wanted to put that out there :) ) Source

 Can you believe this is a dress?!!! Super talented girl she is. Source

 I really like this notebook. It turned out fantastic. Source

I also came across this video on how to simply make some really cute bows.

 

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Ideas To Recycle and Repurpose Old Furniture

Reduce, reuse, and recycle! Why buy new when you can repurpose an old piece of furniture and not only save money (as well as the environment) but you will have a unique piece. I love going to thrift stores to look for items that can be used for other purposes. I like when there are a few unexpected pieces in the room and not everything looks new.

Here are some clever ideas for reusing furniture that I found on hgtv.com

You can view the rest of their picks here

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Inexpensive Gift Idea: Magazine Bows

What a great idea this is! Have you ever gotten a gift for someone and gotten home from the store and realize that you have forgotten the gift bag and or bow to accent the gift? This is a great way to be green and give a gift that is wonderfully presented.

The instructions are on Howaboutorange blog.

You can also wrap the gift in magazine pages, making it completely green.