Security envelopes

The things you can do with security envelopes! It's been a true hype in blogosphere, lately. Since I have plenty of security envelopes (I'm one of those people who keeps correspondence in the original envelope for months before filing) and plenty more of all kinds of paper and card stock after last weekend's clean-up activities, I went out yesterday to go buy one of those circular punch cutters - I don't know if that's what they're called, but I guess you know what I mean. One of those "you slam on it" cutters which come in all shapes and sizes. They came in all shapes and sizes at the store I went to, but not in big circles unfortunately. Sold out (no surprise, really - see first sentence)! A little frustrated I left - I'll have to put my ideas on hold for a while, I guess.

But... you can also photograph security envelopes. And that's what I did instead. Security envelopes abstracts - well, one envelope and one plastic plug-in cell phone holder is what I used for these photographs. And my by far favorite macro lens.

How about that! If you can't punch it you just photograph it...

Now, for those of you interested in crafts using security envelopes, here's a short list of things you could do:

- the most gorgeous paper cut art using security envelopes by Kristiina Lahde
- How about orange - cup cake flags
- notepads at Little Paper Dog
- and through Little Paper Dog I also found cupcake toppers and garlands at Creature Comforts
- and again through Little Paper Dog: plenty of other ideas at iDiY
- Craft-Werk: security envelopes made out of... security envelopes, beads and garlands
- Crafting a green world: more envelopes
- tags at the Felt Mouse
- security envelope patterns and buttons at The Sweetie Pie Press



And since, now, I have the list up here, I won't have to go through all my bookmarks again, once I found that circular cutter that is...

DIY Japanese tape

Ok - you may want to classify this DIY idea under 'totally ridiculous', 'totally irrelevant', 'totally useless', whatever... but please, do keep on reading.

This idea just popped to my mind while I was cleaning up my messy crafts table and my eye fell upon
- my double sided tape, which was still sitting there after doing this post and hence has started collecting dust already which is not so good on double sided tape
- and a stack of security envelopes (you know, these envelopes used by banks, insurance companies, telephone companies, utility providers which usually contain bills).

And since anything's better than cleaning up a messy table on your birthday, I said to myself:
'How about making some (not so) Japanese masking tape and writing a tutorial!'
Why would one make his/her very own tape, you ask me?
- because the real stuff doesn't stick
- because it's late at night, stores are closed, you ran out of fancy tape and you need to wrap that present, so you are desperate to find a tutorial to solve this problem this instant!

Well keep on reading then as I have something for you - As a matter of fact it won't take more than a couple of lines to explain.

What you'll need:

- double sided tape
- security envelopes, or by extension: paper with a nice print (magazines, origami, wall paper, ...)
- cutting board or if you don't have one, a ruler, pencil and scissors

Instructions:

1. measure the width of your double sided tape
2. cut your paper in strips same width as your tape
3. make a guess of how much fancy tape you'll need
4. rip off a piece of tape, same length as your guess in step 3
5. stick tape to the back of your paper strip - cut off excess paper
6. Use to wrap your present!

That was easy, wasn't it!? And again the possibilities are endless.

Now, if you were wondering about those little boxes that I have used in at least two posts - I have twenty three (23!) left as they were part of an advent calendar we received from a big and generous company - some boxes still have a little chocolate inside as we made our own advent calendar and never got to finish this one.
I might try a couple of chocolates now, actually. It's my birthday after all, and since my table looks even messier now than it looked before anything's better than...

(munch, munch...)

Note: If you're interested in crafts using security envelopes check out this post with a non-exhaustive list of security envelope based crafts. Feel free to add more links to similar security envelope crafts in the comment section of today's post!