Crafty Friday!

I'm not a super crafty person. It's not that I don't want to be crafty, it's just not really in my blood. My mom HATES crafting, so I didn't really grow up doing too many crafts, except at school and at like summer camp. I'm trying to get better about it, but I usually have to stick to pretty simple projects or else it usually comes out pretty horrible.

Last night, my BFF K invited a bunch of us over to help her with her first crafty wedding project - making cute liners for her envelopes for her save the date cards, which are going out next week. She is using adorable light pink envelopes and then got navy blue print wrapping paper to make the liners. The end result was AMAZING, but I have to admit, I was pretty lost while we were working. They gave me the task of "tracing" because I think they knew it would be hard for me to mess that one up.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos to go along with this, but here's the general idea:

1. Take one envelope as the sample and cut it apart to start to make the template for the liner. K's envelopes were sort of a weird size and shape (they were long and skinny, with a rounded flap) so this was a crucial step. I think it would have been much easier to use a square envelope.

2. To make the template, you measure the envelope, cut the side flaps off, and then we cut it down by 1/8" all around, so that it would fit perfectly into the envelope. Honestly, this was the part I didn't really pay attention to, because I knew it was outside of my crafty range. The girls fiddled with the pattern and tried it a million times. Basically you have to keep trying it in the envelope to see if it fits and keep trimming until you get it perfectly. Sorry that was so un-technical! Once you have the basic template using the envelope, we made two more using thick cardboard.

3. Using the cardboard template, I traced the pattern onto the sheets of wrapping paper, putting them as close together as possible, so I could get as many out of one sheet as I could. My personal best was 19 liners from one sheet of paper!

4. Then, using an exacto knife, K trimmed all the liners out. This is where the 2nd cardboard template came in handy, so she could cut while I was tracing. It's easier to cut with an exacto knife around the pattern with the thick cardboard as your guide.

5. Once the liner itself is done, you stuff it into the envelope to make sure it fits. Carefully crease the envelope so that the liner now matches up perfectly with the envelope. We just used glue sticks to attach the upper part of the liner to the flap.

6. Not completely necessary, but we then used magazines to press the lined envelopes to make sure they were perfectly creased and lined (sort of like pressing flowers between thick books)

And voila - adorable lined envelopes, waiting to be stuffed with the save the date cards! Again, I think this would have been more helpful with pictures, but oh well.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I love fall weekends, they are so relaxing to me!

Also, special shoutout to my sweet and adorable grand-little from college, Amy, who found my blog last week and left me a cute message!! I miss you Amy - hope you are having fun down in sunny Florida!