All October posts are part of the Countdown to Halloween!
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! That’s what I wanted to yell every time I sat down to work on my Halloween party invitations this year. My party theme for Halloweenie Roast 2016 is Tim Burton, and I wanted to make invitations worthy of the creative genius himself.
I spent a lot of time looking for inspiration before landing on my final invitation idea. And I was determined to mail off each and every one in a black and white striped envelope.
But my first idea of drawing thick black lines on white envelopes I already had (and had already sized my invitations to fit!) totally crashed and burned. It looked like crap. Beyond crap, actually. I wasn’t happy and was absolutely NOT sending my beautiful invites out in such a horrendous looking envelope.
I troubleshooted for days. Use a printer to print the lines! I thought. And, quite frankly, it didn’t end up looking much better than drawing the lines myself. Plus, the stripes didn’t go to the edge of the envelope.
So I decided, “Okay, I’ll suck it up and see how much it would be to buy them.”
You would not believe how HARD it is to find black and white striped envelopes that don’t cost half your paycheck.
And then one afternoon on my way to take photos at Hobby Lobby for this post, it hit me: why not use black and white scrapbook paper to MAKE envelopes?! And hey, hadn’t I seen a tutorial for that on Pinterest a few years ago?
So that’s exactly what I did! I bought a book of black and white designs (used a 40% off coupon so I didn’t have to pay full price!) and read a few tutorials before deciding to wing it and figure it out myself.
Here’s what I ended up with:

Pretty awesome, right?
Want to make your own? Here’s how I did it:

Supplies:
- 12 x 12-inch scrapbook paper
- envelope to trace (my DIY uses a 6 x 9-inch envelope)
- pencil
- scissors
- glue stick
- washi tape (optional)
Directions:

Tear out the page, or pages, you will use to make your envelopes. Not applicable if you’ve purchased single pages. (A book was more cost-effective since I was making 40+ envelopes.)
Then, carefully pull apart your envelope along the seams. Be gentle so it doesn’t rip. You can use any size envelope for this, but as you’ll see in the next photo…a 6 x 9-inch was the max size you could easily fit on a single page. I recommend 5 x 7 or 4 x 6.

Place your deconstructed envelope on top of your scrapbook paper. And, obviously, do this on the blank side so you can trace without making lines on the outside of the envelope. (Unless you’re just a pro tracer. I am not.)
Also: be mindful of which way your pattern will face on the final envelope before you trace!
As I mentioned, the 6 x 9 envelope barely fit, so I had to be resourceful with how I used each page. I lined up one side of the envelope with the left edge of the paper, leaving space on the right side to trace the top flap of the envelope. And to help hold the envelope in place, I folded the flap over the top of the scrapbook paper.
(See what I mean about the HIDEOUS first try envelope? Like, who the hell would come to THAT Halloween party? Not me…)

Then using your pencil, trace the outline of your envelope. Neatness doesn’t count, as you’ll see from my tracing job.

If your full envelope fits on the page, ignore this step.
If you’re like me and it doesn’t, line up the edge of the top flap with the edge of your traced envelope. Then trace just the top flap onto the page so it ends up looking like…

This!
Now you’re ready to cut out the piece or pieces.

Here’s my envelope cut out. You may not have two pieces if your envelope size fits on the page.

Next, fold your envelope along the seams. I was surprised at how easy this was with the paper I used. I was expecting crooked folds and lots of frustration. There was none.

Run some glue along the inner flaps on the sides.

Then fold your envelope and seal the seams. This came together incredibly fast for me.
If your top flap fits on the page, now simply fold it over and voila! Insta-envelope! If you’re like me and need to attach the top flap, here’s how I chose to do it.

Measure a piece of washi tape just a bit shorter than the top flap.

Place the envelope and top flap face down. Then line up the top flap with the top edge of the envelope and press down to attach the two pieces using the washi tape.
Fold over and ta-dah! You have your complete envelope.

Because I was winging it and I’m not Pinterest-perfect with my crafts…I sometimes had a little extra on the flap and washi tape. Just trim it off!

And voila! A totally custom Halloween party invitation envelope Mr. Burton himself would likely be delighted to receive in the mail.
By the way, you can do this with ANY type of scrapbook paper – not just designs for a Tim Burton party.
You may have already seen my Tim Burton Blog Bash post where I shared my invitations, but to seal these I put a dab of glue on each corner, then used a sticker I made for the center:

Signed, sealed and ready to deliver to my Halloweenie Roast guests!

Aaaaand they’re off!
Making these?
I’d love to see your finished product! Tag me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, and I’ll re-share!
If you enjoy DIYs, stay tuned – later this week I’ll be sharing a Halloween DIY you can do for $10 or less!
Happy haunting,


