How to Make Gift Tags from Junk Mail Envelopes

9 DIY Gift Wrapping Ideas: Junk Mail Gift Tags

How to Make Gift Tags from Junk Mail Envelopes

Need to wrap a cute gift in a hurry? Here’s how to make gift tags out of junk mail security envelopes in under 10 minutes.

I love crafting with security envelopes. They’re basically free printed paper that arrives in your mailbox unbidden almost every day. If you can’t stop the junk mail from arriving, crafting with the stuff is the next best thing, right?

More security envelope crafts: Security Envelope Business Card Holders, Security Envelope Mini Notebook

Wait – but what was that about free printed paper? YES! Have you ever peeked inside of a security envelope? Each one is printed on the inside with a pattern so folks can’t read the mail inside or see if there’s a check in there. Every company seems to use different envelopes, so if you start collecting you can get a nice array of patterns pretty quickly

Right, but enough about how much I love a security envelope. Let’s get to how to make gift tags, right?

How to Make Gift Tags from Junk Mail Envelopes

Materials

  • security envelope
  • pencil
  • ruler
  • scissors
  • glue stick
  • corner-rounding paper punch
  • regular or heart-shaped hole punch
  • baker’s twine or spare piece of ribbon

Directions

1. The trick to harvesting paper from your security envelope is to work around the glue and the window. In the photo below, you can see how I planned my cut: I avoided the part of the envelope that overlaps (where it’s glued together) on the left, and I avoided the envelope’s window on the right:

How to Make Gifts Tags: Cutting Paper

2. Cut through the whole envelope, leaving the fold at the bottom intact. You should end up with enough paper to make two gift tags when you trim the piece you just cut out in half, like this:

How to Make Gift Tags: More Cutting

3. Unfold your paper piece, then refold along that existing crease so the “inside” of the envelope is now outside. Use your glue stick to completely cover half of the new inside, then press down. You should now have a rectangle with the print on both sides:

How to Make Gift Tags: Gluing

4. Use your corner-rounding paper punch to round the two top corners. For the best result, I’d suggest rounding the corners opposite your fold. Then, use your regular or mini heart punch to punch a hole in the far end of the tag. That’s where you’ll string the twine or ribbon for hanging:

How to Make Gift Tags

2 thoughts on “How to Make Gift Tags from Junk Mail Envelopes”

  1. Pingback: 10 Recycled Craft Ideas for Earth Month | KM Crafts

  2. Pingback: A Gift Tag from a Junk Mail Envelope

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