Bring Your Address Book for Snail Mail Goodness — Hallmark’s Got the Stamp Covered
Remember the days when you would wait (im)patiently for the mailman (or woman) to drop off your new Columbia House CD ($1 for ten CDs still might be the best deal ever)? Or those times when your pen pal would send you a care package filled with letters, photos, cookies and magazines? Those were the days. Well we’re here to say that those days need not be a thing of the past. Snail mail is still the most thoughtful way to say “Happy Birthday,” “Thanks A Million” or “You Go, Girl” and it will bring just as much joy as those dollar CDs did. So get out your stamps, pens and paper because you’re about to be as inspired as you were to wait by the door :)
Together with Hallmark, we are going to show you five easy ways to amp up your envelopes. We’ve also got six writing tips for you:
Hallmark
Re:Make hosting a make station where you can write letters and create your very own envelopes. Then they’ll send your letters, so be sure to bring your address book (read: phone). Check it out. At the Hallmark make station they’ll be providing notecards, postcards, decorative paper and envelopes. Then alongside their artists, you can customize your envelopes with Sharpies, gel pens, colored pencils, decorative tape, rubber stamps and stickers. So amazing! Didn’t make it to Re:Make? Check out all the fun here.
As promised, here are five ways to pimp out your envelopes.
Materials:
– Hallmark envelopes + cards
– foam sheet
– colorful paper
– vellum
– washi tape
– confetti
– wood block
– stamp pad
Tools:
– hot glue gun
– scissors
– tape
– pencil
– pens
Stamps
Custom stamps add a little bit of flavor to your envelopes.
First draw your design on a foam sheet. Cut it out and adhere it to a wooden block with hot glue. Add some ink and press it down on your envelope.
Damn, girl! How cute is this sloth card?! We are dying over this and the other cards from Studio Ink, Hallmark’s artist-driven card site. Check them out for adorable postcards, greeting cards and stationery.
The addition of confetti makes this envelope feel like a party.
Measure your vellum against the envelope. Fold and cut a piece to size, then fill it with confetti.
Confetti Pocket
Tape it to the bottom of the envelope by adding clear tape to all three open sides.
Too cute!
Adding a bit of washi to your envelope will give it the extra color it needs.
Choose your washi tape (there are SO many to pick from!) and add strips to the envelope.
Washi
From stripes to chevrons to frames, the washi tape ups the cute factor 100 percent.
Pop up cards are cool, so why not make a pop-up envelope?
Take two pieces of cardstock and place one on top of the other. We used two different colors, but that part is up to you. Fold one edge over, draw half a heart and cut it out.
Pop-Up
Repeat this so that you have four hearts. You will use three. Fold all of your hearts in half. This should be easy as you already have a crease from the first step. Add hot glue to one side, then add a second heart half. Do the same thing to the other side of the heart.
Then adhere the back side of your pop-up heart to the inside flap of the envelope.
Your recipient will get a little surprise when he or she opens it up!
The simplest addition to any envelope is some hand-drawn designs.
Draw your little heart out, starting with a pencil so that you can perfect your creation before you put it down in ink.
Drawings
Now that you’ve created the World’s Cutest Envelope, let’s get some mail in these babies.
Mark your calendar for September 12th and come find us at the Hallmark make station to get creative and send some hand-written letters. We’ll get them stamped and sent, so be sure to bring your addresses.
Six Essential Tips for Writing Snail Mail
