Very Easy Folding Gift Packets

Tidy little packages from a 4 3/4" x 2 3/8" tag!

This week I sold some notecards on Etsy.com and needed a small, decorative envelope in which to enclose a little gift for my buyers, but I was all out of my usual manilla mini envelopes. However, I did have a box of old fashioned labels.

It occurred to me that if I just made two folds in one of those labels and tied it around the back, I wouldn't even need to use tape to secure the little gift inside. I folded the bottom up about 1 3/4" from toward the middle of the label. Then I folded the top (with the tie) down so that it overlapped (about 7/8").

Grabbing my box of stamps and stamp pads, I stamped a couple of pretty designs on the outside, tucked my little gift inside, and Voila! A nice little thankyou gift from me to my buyers.

When I thought about it, there could be some wonderful variations on this idea, which could be useful for Valentine's day or other gift giving opportunities involving small, special gifts.

If you want to give a valuable gift and want to suprise your someone special with something you can just tuck into your pocket or purse, you need your little gift holder to be able to be secured so the fancy gift can't fall out the side. But tape would muss up the "look" as well as stick into the little card inside. So I created one package which can be inserted into the Valentine's Day or Birthday Card.

For it, cut a piece of cardstock (I used pink, since this is a Valentine's Day package) 6" x 1 1/4" and fold it in thirds. (I just "eyed" mine.) Glue a cute picture on the front (maybe of yourself...). Next cut a heart out of tissue paper, and use that to wrap the gift. Tuck it into the tag package, and that into the card. That's all it takes to have a very personal, portable, suprise package for the one you love.

You can get fancier if you wish. You can make any kind of insert you'd like. You can change out the string with ribbon, and tie beads onto it, or paint your little gift package with craft paints. Write something special inside, and you'll have something they'll never be able to throw away.

Have fun.

deber

Making Altered Books

Above is a section of my first Altered Book which has been glued, stamped, painted, and sewn to make a fun little piece of art. As you may know, space ships are an often explored theme in my artwork.

I've been thinking about Altered Books today. I used to teach (or rather, guide) troubled teens to make them, and I'm thinking about doing that again. Unless you've seen or heard of them before, I am sure you have a few questions, the first being, "What the heck is an Altered Book?"

Simply put, an altered book is a book that has been changed (altered) in a variety of ways, to serve any variety of purposes.

An altered book is a book of endless possibilities. It is a good project for young and old, and can be a private thing or it can be done in groups. It can be as funky or as serious as the creator wants it to be. It can be a journal, a scrapbook, and sometimes even therapy!

Use a hard cover book that you don't mind permanently altering. For myself, I like love stories and old dictionaries because I like including the words and sentences in my art. For kids, I often use Reader's Digest hard cover story collections which are easy to find for cheap at Goodwill. Pages are glued, cut, folded, sewn, stamped, painted, and other things inserted into the book to make it personal.

Page 1 of my first Altered Book

The first step is to tear out small groups of pages here and there, because as you begin the altering process, the book will get thicker and thicker.

Next, glue several pages together. If you are troubled by wrinkled pages, use a popsicle stick or ruler to smooth the pages out. You're going to have to work very hard at this...and if it bothers you a whole lot, you may want to find some other project to do, instead!

You may sew, staple, or use eyelets and run ribbon or string around the edges of each decorated page.

These pages have a hand outline which has been painted, glued and written in. Some words were painted over and wiped down. Images on vellum were glued.

Layering antique lace, old buttons, a black and white photo, and an old calender, along with gauze...

This is a peek-a-boo page, where I cut out a part of one page to reveal a portion of the next page.

Look on the internet for other sources and ideas on making Altered Books. The book I used most was Altered Books Workshop, by Bev Brazelton. I also found the following books to be inspiring:

New Directions in Altered Books by Gabe Cyr
The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn
Altered Books 101 by Beth Cote

A few things you'll need or want to gather before starting:
book
scissors
glue
needles
string, thread, floss, yarn, etc.
glitters, powders, stains
stamps and stamp pads
bits of lace, cloth or old clothing
paints and paintbrushes
pens
photo copies
anything else that suits your fancy

The making of altered books is a journey you won't finish in a day, or probably even in a week. The purpose is personal; it's all up to you.

So my best advice is this:
Enjoy!