Eco Packaging Handmade For You: Envelopes

One of the most prominent tips for Etsy sellers and others in the craft and handmade communities is to make your packaging special.  Your customer should feel special when opening their purchase.  Many crafts people excel in this area, the rest of us lack the time or inspiration to make beautiful, handmade packaging.  This week I plan to share a series on handmade eco packaging with a little twist; it is handmade by someone other than you.  You can purchase handmade eco packaging elements to decorate and ship your handmade products.  Let’s start with envelopes.

There was an overwhelming response to our recent story on Recycling Grocery Bags into Eco Packaging. A quick search on Etsy revealed several sellers that offer eco-friendly handmade packaging and shipping envelopes. Most are about $1 or less per piece. If you can’t make your own packaging, consider supporting handmade and buy your packaging from another crafter. Here are my top picks for envelopes:

  
• One smart crafter found good use for all those beautiful catalog images that would otherwise end up in the landfill. Karen of Ecogeneration offers these great Upcycled Junk Mail Inner Envelopes. Karen also uses upcycled grocery bags to make outer envelopes for her own shipping needs.
• Cassandra of Sunlit Orchard makes gorgeous recycled brown paper bag envelopes using decorative stitching. Technique is an advanced version of what I used for the Security Pattern Business Card Envelopes.
• Anna of Lila Ruby King makes these cute little hand-printed map paper envelopes. The envelopes are created from surplus map paper. She uses them for test prints when she is gocco printing and to use up any left over ink on hand. I love how the map paper is on the inside of the envelope.
• For the ultimate shipping durability check out these fused plastic mailers made by Stacy of FluffnFixings.
• You can choose your own size for these Vintage Map Envelopes by Tatiana of Russian Forest. You could make your own recycled paper envelopes or simply choose from 9 different sizes and your set of envelopes will be handmade for you from vintage atlases.
• If you don’t want to make your own business card envelopes, support handmade and buy these japanese magazine business card envelopes by Nina of Noodles After 12.
• Amelia of Bombus recycles old books into gorgeous envelopes perfect for sending a greeting card or packaging up a small product.

Stay tuned for more Eco Packaging Handmade For You.  Also read:

• Eco Packaging Handmade For You: Tapes and Ribbons
• Eco Packaging Handmade For You: Let Them Know You Care

[Image 1 and 3 by Cassandra Cook for Sunlit Orchard, Image 2 by Karen for EcoGeneration, Image 4 by Anna for Lila Ruby King, Image 5 by Stacy for Fluffnfixings, Image 6 by Tatiana for Russian Forest, Image 7 by Nina Cruz for Noodles After 12, and Image 8 by Amelia for Bombus]