Weddingbee Blog

If it isn’t obvious already, I lurrrrrrve crafting and all the time-consuming details that come with it. I work in a field where you can spend months, even years on a research project and still not have a final, polished result. As such, the wedding-related projects we’ve tackled have given me a more immediate, gratifying sense of accomplishment. The DIY route certainly isn’t for everyone and everything, though, and it’s important to first determine whether it’s worth your while to tackle a project.

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Speaking of crafting being a time suck, I searched high and low for just the right envelope + liner combination for our STDs and came across this beautiful “Ice Cream Stripes” pattern from Paper Source (which, to my chagrin, is now discontinued).

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These delicious colors were absolutely perfect for our color palette! I quickly ordered a pack along with some chocolate 4 Bar envelopes. Mr. Tartlet and I tackled this project, armed with a few crafting weapons of choice:

• Self-healing cutting mat
• 4 Bar envelope liner template, also available through Paper Source
• X-Acto knife
• Bone folder
• Tombow Mono Adhesive (Permanent)

Align the envelope liner template on your paper. Using an X-Acto knife, carefully cut around the template. Alternatively, you could also trace around the template with a pencil and cut the liner out using scissors. However, I found it was easier to get around the pointed curve with the knife.

Insert the cut liner into the envelope, and using a ruler as your guide score the liner using a bone folder along the fold of the envelope. Don’t press *too* hard, as you don’t want to slice through the liner itself! Take the liner out of the envelope and flip it over. Apply a strip of adhesive right underneath the crease you just made (on the rectangular part of the liner, not the triangle).

Insert the liner back into the envelope, taking care not to get that strip of adhesive prematurely stuck on the way in. Once fully inserted, gently press down along the adhesive strip to secure the liner in place. Fold the triangle part over, and apply adhesive to the envelope underneath. At this step I also tried instead taping the liner itself, but that didn’t work as well in my hands. Fold the triangle part of the liner back up. Using the ruler again as your guide, fold the entire top portion of the lined envelope over.*

*Using this method, one thing I disliked was that my envelopes sometimes wouldn’t open all the way. However, the alternative (which happened when I didn’t include the final steps of folding the lined envelope closed) was that the envelopes wouldn’t close properly.

Run the bone folder over the lined envelope to make sure everything is adhered, and fin! A custom-lined envelope. We were able to line 80 of these suckers from start-to-finish in one evening, and time flies by when you’ve got a Law & Order marathon to keep you company!

How did you decide whether the DIY route was for you?