A Month of Grace

Grace means the free, unmerited, unexpected love of God, and all the benefits, delights, and comforts which flow from it. It means that while we were sinners and enemies we have been treated as sons and heirs.
R. P. C. Hanson


We're all stumbling towards the light with varying degrees of grace at any given moment.
Bo Lozoff

A Month of Grace

The grace of the spirit comes only from heaven, and lights up the whole bodily presence.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.
Jonathan Edwards

Making Envelopes

I was asked how to make envelopes, so, since that's the one thing I do really well, I was happy to share.

It helps to understand what an envelope is: just a sheet of paper wrapped around something. The ends need to meet and overlap so they can be secured together. It's basically wrapping paper. The simplest envelopes are merely squarish flaps at the top and bottom, with narrow little flaps folding in on the sides. In some really cheap envelopes, the side flaps are even left out - some cheap Valentine's Day cards just glue the sides of the envelope together without bothering to have side flaps.

As the flaps are tapered more and more to form a shape closer and closer to a triangle, the sides need to be wider to compensate. You can see that in the diagrams below. Generally, you can tell whether your envelope will need to have squared flaps or triangular ones by placing the item you want to wrap on the paper you're going to cut the envelope out of, and seeing how much room you have for side flaps. How much width is available for side flaps will determine how much you can taper the top and bottom flaps of the envelope. I like flaps that are almost perfect triangles like a Hallmark card envelope.

Even an envelope with squared flaps can look really nice if the bottom flap covers two-thirds of the body of the envelope or more and the top flap covers almost half. A generous top flap makes all the difference. The ratio where the lines meet can make the envelope pleasing or awkward - I imagine it has to do with composition, like the rule of thirds in photography.

If you can design the envelope so that it's placed squarely on an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper rather than diagonal, you can run the paper through your computer printer first and print a return address label in the proper place before cutting them out (I do this routinely).

I guess you could print designs on them, too. Or, if you have a paper cutter or scissors to cut patterns, you can make the top flap really pretty. I've never done that; for me, the challenge and satisfaction is in finding the perfect ratio of height/width, and flap size.

Instructions for making your own envelopes are divided into multiple blog posts.

Getting Started
Making the Template, part 1 and part 2
Cutting them out
The Final Steps: gluing and folding them






Note that, as the top and bottom taper in more and more, you'll need more side to cover the contents. Keeping that in mind will help as you consider the design of your envelope.

Envelope-Making 101: Setting Up

There are a LOT of photos with this, so I've uploaded all of them in five separate posts, and I'll add the text next.

You'll need a sheet or two of graph paper to get really even measured cut-outs, a stiff sheet of paper or cardboard to make the template, scissors, glue, stapler, some paper to make the envelopes out of (I use scrap paper) and a pencil.



Trim the graph paper along marked lines so that you're starting from exact squares.



Measure how big the envelope needs to be. It should be about a quarter inch larger than what's going in it so it goes in and out easily, larger if what you're putting in it is thick. I think I'll make some envelopes for all my money.


Cut exactly, using the grid lines as a guide. Use the first graph paper rectangle to measure a second one.



Cut two identical rectangles from graph paper.

Envelope-Making 101: Start the Template

Use one graph-paper rectangle to trace a rectangle on the stiff paper. Arrange it so that you've left room for a top and bottom and side flaps.



Now fold the graph paper in half. You'll be measuring to make the top flap, but you'll do half of it in order to get an exact mirror image.


Draw dots about a half inch (for a small envelope) or whole inch (for a bigger envelope) from the corners. The slant of the top flap is more slanted near the corners of the envelope. The dot will mark where the slant changes.



Connect the dots using a paper edge to make your line straight.



Sketch out the shape, connecting the straight line to the corners, rounding slightly where the dots are. These rounded edges are what will help make the envelope look nice.



Cut along the line, and then unfold. This symetrical triangular-shape is what you'll trace to make the top flap.



Trace its shape in three places: where the flap goes on the stiff paper, inside the rectangle (to help visualize how the flaps look as you go), and on the other piece of graph rectangle to help show where to measure for the other flaps.

Envelope-Making 101: Finish the Template

You traced the shape of the top flap on the second piece of graph paper. Now sketch out an overlapping shape to use as mirror images for a side flap. It doesn't need to come to the middle if the bottom and tops will overlap in that middle section.


The corner should be pleasantly rounded.


The bottom of the side flap is done the same way, keeping in mind an idea of where the bottom flap will go.You only need to cut out one of these side flaps.



Use the side flap to trace its shape on the stiff paper and on what remains of the graph paper. Remember not to trace the flap upside down!


Now for bottom flap. You'll make a mirror image of this and flip it to trace both sides (or you can use a third graph paper rectangle!) So you only need half of the sheet.


Take a look at where the side and top will be meeting and overlapping. Mark a dot where the bottom of the envelope should meet the side. Also make a dot near the corner. That marks where the slant will change, being steeper near the corner and more gentle towards the middle of the envelope. Note that I've shaded the area where the flaps will overlap to help visualize where the bottom flap needs to be. After sketching out the shape, cut it out.



Trace half the shape, flip and trace the other half.



Trace the shape again inside the envelope to help visualize what the envelope will look like. All the flaps should provide enough overlap that there are no open cracks.

Envelope-Making 101: Cutting Out

The template is now finished and only needs to be cut out.


All ready for tracing!



Trace it onto a sheet of paper. If the template is too long to fit straight up and down, don't be afraid to turn it to a diagonal.



Using the paper with the traced template shape as the top, staple 5 or 6 sheets of paper around the envelope shape. This will hold the paper together so you can cut out 5 or 6 envelopes at a time.


All cut out!

Envelope-Making 101: Glue, Fold and Finished

Fold the sides in, being diligent to fold exactly from corner to corner. Being exact is what will make your envelopes crisp and even and not lopsided-looking.


Fold the bottom the same way - corner to corner.


All folded and ready for gluing!



Take a look at where the sides and bottom overlap - glue goes in the overlap area. If you get glue outside that overlap area, you'll glue flaps shut or glue two envelopes together when they're stacked. I've shaded to show where the overlap areas are. Glue ONLY goes within those shaded areas.



Within that shaded area, you'll lay a line of glue close enough to the edge to make the edges tight, but not so close that glue squeezes out into areas you don't want it. I've drawn a squiggly black line to show where to set the bead-line of glue.



Use as thin a bead of glue as you can. It doesn't take much glue to hold paper flaps together, and too much wet glue will squeeze out where you don't it and warp the paper. That doesn't look nice.


All glued!


Now it's time to fold down the top flaps.



The five-dollar-bill fits inside very nicely.



I secured the top flap down with a dot of glue.

Don't forget to close your bottle of glue! Glue evaporates pretty quickly, and thickened glue is harder to work with when you're trying to get a very thin bead for envelope flaps.

These pretty envelopes with triangular flaps work well for smaller envelopes where you have space to spread it out on an 8 1/2x11" paper, but larger envelopes sometimes require squared flaps to make them fit. To see if something will fit in an envelope made from an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper, lay it on the paper and wrap the paper around it. You have to be able to get the paper all the way around it with a little left over to glue. Sometimes it works by turning to a diagonal, sometimes it works by using narrow rectangular flaps. (I'll show how to make a rectangular flapped envelope another time.)

Of course, you're not limited to 8 1/2x11" paper. I've used gift wrap, grocery bags, manila folders, light cardboard from packaging, poster board, and pretty bags from nicer department stores.

A Month of Grace

Grace is savage and must be savage in order to be perfect.
Charles A. Stoddard

Make Your Own Composition Book

These are the materials you'll need: large cover stock, legal paper, a stiff piece cardboard cut to the exact size of the book for trimming, a needle, heavy-duty craft thread, a thumbtack to punch holes, a template and pencil (or pen) to make a nice design on the front, and a pair of scissors.


Print 12 sheets of lined paper, both sides, on the legal paper. I created a Word document for this task.


Lay out the printed sheets of legal-sized paper.


Fold them in half.


Fold a sheet of large cover stock paper for the cover.


Put the paper inside the cover.


If your cover is way bigger than the paper, it can be trimmed (but not too close; just a rough cut!) so the clips go on.


Clip the cover to the pages so they'll stay still during sewing. I could use more clips for this, but all I have are two.


Punch holes about every inch. It's hard to get a needle through 12 sheets of paper and a cover. This step makes it easier for sewing.

Blogger wouldn't let me upload any more photos, so I'll put the rest on its own post, here.

And you can see ours in use here.