How to Decorate your Envelope

Many people may think that sending mail is a thing of the past, but there's a huge community of snail-mail lovers that have and always will continue to send letters. Maybe we love the feeling of writing a letter, or maybe it's opening an envelope and finding words beautifully assembled by a loved one. No matter what it is we love about sending snail mail, letter writers are passionate and they've even created a fun art-form called "mail art". Mail art is when you take a plain, ordinary envelope and dress it up to it's full potential! Whether you use washi tape, stickers, small embellishments, etc. many people are using their craft supplies and creativity to really bring their mail to life. Since we at Simply Stamps love making our mail special, we decided to put together our very own tutorial for decorating your envelope. Follow along and find some inspiration to send a piece of mail art!

First, we collected the supplies we thought would be perfect for dressing up an ordinary envelope. Here's what we used:

• washi tape (and LOTS of it)
• embellishments
• scissors
• an extra fine tipped pen
• a plain, brown envelope
• a personalized address stamp

Next, we chose our three favorite washi tapes and added them to the left side of the envelope, using the scissors to remove the excess. We chose this simple pattern of alternating different wash tapes along the edge, but the creative possibilities are endless with this step. You can choose to line the full envelope with washi tape or create a box to house the name and address of your recipient, just to name a couple.

We then added a few embellishments to one of the washi tapes, choosing to use the small gem in the package to be sure the envelope was still post office friendly.

Using the fine-tipped pen, we created a very simple pattern of dashes along the remaining edges of the envelope. We also flipped the envelope over and included the pattern on the flap.

Next, we stamped the personalized return address stamp on the back flap of the envelope. When stamping your envelopes with a return address stamp, you always want to be sure you first open the envelope and lay it out flat, as pictured below. If you stamp your envelopes this way, you'll get a consistent and even impression every time!

Finally, we used the fine-tipped pen to address the envelope and prepare it for sending.

The only rule when creating mail art is it should always be designed with your recipient in mind! If you're sending a letter to someone who loves vintage items, go for a vintage theme. If they love all things floral, find flower stickers to add a few accents that will definitely be appreciated. We hope we've inspired you to give mail art a try of your own and send a beautifully decorated piece of mail to someone you love!