Altered Junk Mail and Craft Bags

I’ve had a bit of play with these junk mail return envelopes.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos then dove right in.

I was about to write a letter to my pen pal so I decided to present it a bit unusually.  

You seal the envelope, cut it to the size,  then trim the open corners.  Fold down one of the top flaps.  You then have a pocket.

Cover the various parts that show with decorative papers and embellish as desired.  I tucked my letter inside the pocket then put it all in a regular envelope for mailing.

   

I next made tags for birthday gifts.  They are made the same way as the letter pocket.

   

These were fun to make.  They are kind of tedious to make but it’s so surprising to see a big transformation from a junk mail envelope.



I had some fun altering boring craft gift bags.  First I slapped some Gesso on the bag fronts.

Next I chose some ephemera pieces to glue on collage style.  These are stamped and/or photo copied onto tracing paper.  I like the transparent look that tracing paper provides.  I glued all the pieces onto the bag, added some stamping and finished the bag with a die cut greeting. 

   

The second bag is made similar.  I began by gluing a piece of decorative paper over the Gesso.  Then added a bit more Gesso over the paper design to mute it somewhat.  This bag includes some washi tapes and a small talk sticker.

   

The backside of the bags looked so plain.  I made tiny tags to hang there.  

The tags are decorated on both sides so if they get flipped, they are still fun looking.

   

These are not very large bags.  About 8” tall and 5.5” wide.  I have a lot of them to use up.

   

I don’t really have many occasions when I actually give a gift (other than these two people).  So I don’t know how many bags I will get to alter.  These bags were returned so that I’d fill them again next year.  Ha!  Maybe I’ll try some Christmas bags next.  I hope to improve on my altering designs.