Envelopes for handmade cards??

Hi!! I made Christmas cards for my mom to send out and they are all different sizes, none of which I have any envelopes for. I was just wondering... where do I find envelopes?

Do you buy them? Do you make them? Do you have a template? Do you just give them without an envelope?

Help!!??

Sometimes I give out cards without envelopes. If you're giving them in person, there's no need for one IMO.
Mostly though, I keep 3 different sizes of store bought envelopes on hand and craft all my cards to fit one of them.

All of my cards I make are the same size. I cut 8.5x11 card stock in half and then make 2 cards out of that.

What I've done for envelopes is go to like the dollar store and buy a box of their greeting cards. I'd use the envelopes from that for the cards I made.

• skybluepink Said:

Oooohhhh... that is a great idea!! I have a lot of square cards and a few round ones, so I am not sure if they will fit, but I will check there and see.

Thanks for the fast reply!

I have seen big packs of just envelopes at Jo's with different sizes. You can also just go to the Office Supply section in places like walmart or office max and get a big pack of white ones that are about 5 x 7...stamp a cute image on the outside and it is perfect.

• Kiber Said:

I don't have a Jo's, M's or Hobby Lobby within 45 minutes of here. I already checked Walmart and they didn't have anything. It's tricky to live in the middle of nowhere!!

Thanks for the reply!

I use the Coluzzle Envelope template. I love it! I use my "ugly" paper to make the envelopes.

• Croppin4Christ Said:

Is it just one standard size, or are there options??

Thanks for replying!

I keep a stash of store bought envelopes on hand in different sizes. Then when I make my cards I make sure that they fit at least one of the envelopes. That way I find I'm not limited creatively and don't have to make all my cards the same size.

I make a lot of shaped cards too, I just take out the envelope I think will fit the best and make sure that the card stays within the size limit while I'm designing it:)

By the way, browse through the boxed greeting cards section and wedding invite section of Walmart, Target, etc because you can get some fantastic deals! I saw a box of 50 greeting card sized blank wedding announcements (the kind you print yourself) and envelopes on clearance for $2!!! They were regularly $15.

You can go to a paper supply store like Kelly Paper or Paper Source and they usually have envelopes in all different sizes.

Or there are templates. I know everyone raves about the Scor-It tool. I don't have one myself but I have heard it is really versatile for this kind of thing.

I just have one box of envelopes which I custom all my cards to fit. They're big enough that they have even fit a circle card before. If I need a different size, I buy at Office Max or Office Depot. They have many different sizes.

• EsteeLynn Said:

It has several sizes on one template, but I am not sure of the sizes.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!! I think I can make this work.

They sell various sizes of envelopes at Office Depot, Staples, etc. pretty inexpensively. I buy the envelopes first and then make cards that fit them, but the other way around should work too. Good luck!

Cindy

I bought a huge box of envelopes (250) from the auction site. I think I paid about $15 which included shipping. It came out to 6 cents an envelope. I make all my cards 4.25" x 5.5" (half of an 8.5x11 sheet).

Somewhere online I found a formula for making sutom envelopes. I'll put it here for you, but it's in metric measurements, so I don't know if it will be of any use top you, unless you have\can find a ruler that has metric and inperial measures on it.

I haven't tried this myself, so I don't know how well it works, but it might be worth a try

HTH anyway....

Envelope Paper Size Formula
 
1. Measure the size of your finished card
2. Paper width should be the width of the folded card plus 3cm
3. Paper length should be the length of the folded card x 2, plus 1/2 the length again

for example
1. An A2 card is 14cm long x 11cm wide
2. 14cm + 3cm = 17cm
3. 11cm x 2 = 22cm + half of 11cm which is 5.5cm,  so it’s 22cm + 5.5cm = 27.5cm - round up to 28cm
 
So - paper size is 17cm wide x 28cm long for an A2 size card.

Scoring Formula

This works with any size card

1. Score 1cm in from each side of the paper.
2. Subtract 3cm from width, this is the first score line across the width of the paper - for example 11cm – 3cm = 8cm, so the first score is at 8cm
3. Second Score - add card width to first score line plus .5cm - for example, 8cm (first score) + 11cm (card width) + .5cm = 19.5cm   Next score line is at 19.5cm.
 
Score at 8cm and 19.5cm, along the length of the paper for A2 card.