Earth Day how-to :: make an upcycled shipping envelope {and another GIVEAWAY!}

Earth Day is just around the corner, and the NaturalKids team here on Etsy is having a huge (56 shops!) sale and promotion to celebrate. With the Earth as our muse, today's tutorial is timely and fabulously functional. It's by Kat from katsinthebelfry, her lovely shop full of gnomes, toys, kits, crowns and more.

Oh, and you can enter another beautiful GIVEAWAY of natural kids toys and more over at the beautiful blog, NaturalSuburbia







(a beautiful playsilk from PolkadotDragon, a felted snail from MuddyFeet and a wooden iron from PrettyDreamer)

Now onto the tutorial....
New (upcycled) shipping envelopes - the tutorial, by Kat

People have been emailing, asking about the envelopes I talked about recently. Since I needed to make a few the other day, I thought I'd photograph the process for you.

*prepare the bag: carefully remove the handles, & toss them into your recycling bin. Next you'll need to cut the bag open; do this by cutting down one corner seam, then around the base. now your bag should lie flat.



* place your item on the bag, & measure 2 inches around. you can either cut out 2 of of this size, or fold your bag over, then cut once. i did the latter here. definitely fold if your item is bulky.



*with your machine set to zig zag, stitch around three sides. leave a bit of a seam allowance, & don't forget to back stitch.



*slip your item in. make sure you ease it to the bottom of your envelope, so you don't accidentally sew through it. for a bit of padding you can first wrap your item in some of the tissue you saved from your birthday prezzies.



*sew the fourth side closed, back stitching once more to avoid ravelling.



*if your bag has a fancy design, as does mine, add a label for the address.



*a reminder to recycle your envelope would be a lovely addition. perhaps i should have gone with a color not in the bag's design.



*make more! my bag made 1 small, & 1 large envelope.



these are fun to make, & take very little time. happy envelope-making!
~peace.

Here's something lovely from Kat's shop!



Sunee, a Shakespearian wooden doll, clothed in Shakespeare's writing, and sweet as can be!