Valentine's Times Four

This last week I was in a world of envelopes; first addressing and packing valentines then making mini albums with the leftover envelopes. I was, quite simply, surrounded by envelopes and what a wonderful thing it was too! The PZ facets deep V envelopes are so dramatic and pretty I just couldn't put them down. I kept coming up with ideas for what to do with them and as it turns out one of the things they are just perfect for (aside from actually mailing) is this super cute folding Valentine card.

The concept is pretty simple. Just adhere the flap of one envelope to the body of another one creating a chain of envelopes perfect for putting poems, letters, cards, tickets ... really anything in.

For mine I was hooked on the PZ Facet A2 envelopes in scarlet. The scarlet red in the facets line is the perfect Valentine's day red in my opinion. A pack of 20 envelopes will make you five of these cards. I also used the PZ facets card stock in slate and the Je T'adore 8x8 paper pack by Making Memories. Tools for this project include a paper cutter, glue, a corner chomper, and your favorite Valentine punches (but we'll get to those in more detail later).

To start I took four envelopes and glued them together flap to back and flap to back. Once the envelopes are attached, leaving the flap on the top envelope free, I have a really great base for building on and filling in. To fill my envelopes I cut four sheets of the Je T'adore paper to 4.25x5.5" and four sheets of the slate paper to 3.75x5". Because I think everything looks more finished with a rounded corner I corner chomped the patterned paper at this point but I waited on the slate card stock because I had other plans for it.

In addition to being surrounded by wonderful envelopes this last week I was also in the store every day with the unbelievable selection of Martha Stewart's sweet Valentine themed punches (pictured above). Never one to pass up an opportunity to test drive beautiful crafting tools, I decided to use a different Martha punch on each piece of the slate card stock. Now of course this might be a bit decadent for those of us not at a Paper Zone store every day, but it does create a really charming look and helps to differentiate each of the final cards. Once I was done punching the beautiful slate paper I rounded the corners on the pieces who had not already been corner punched.

Then I glued the slate card stock onto the middle of the patterned paper and put them each into their envelope sleeves. As it was just like that it was a fine Valentine but I still thought it needed a few finishing touches. So I traced the envelope flap onto a piece of slate card stock, cut it out and used it as a liner on the top, un-used, scarlet flap. I also took scraps from the 8x8 patterned paper and cut it out to use a decorations on the outside of the envelopes.

Te Je T'adore line has a selection of decorations, stickers, and charms which are too cute to be named but would be lovely on the outside of this card (as you can see in the final picture I have used some on a smaller version of this card I made earlier).

As a final touch I punched a small hole about a half inch into the flap and set a eyelet. I then threaded some of the beanstalks twine through it so that the card can be hung once opened.

Happy crafting and a very happy Valentine's day!
~Allie from Bellingham