For My Niece

My sister-in-law once told me that my niece likes crafty stuff.  That might have been a mistake.  Because, now, instead of getting awesome clothes or music downloads, she gets gift cards to Michael's and crafting supplies and...

...wait for it...

...wait for it...

...THIS!  See below!  This is the awesome "make your own note cards and envelopes set" I made for her birthday a few weeks ago!

I made templates out of card stock using the plastic templates from my own stash.  I made templates for the envelopes, liners, and note cards in three different sizes and wrote the instructions directly on the templates.  No keeping track of separate instructions sheet required!  I folded them up the way they would be put together when finished and then wrapped them up with a variety of fancy paper in all different patterns, some pre-cut note cards, a glue stick, a Sharpie pen, various embellishments and labels, and some hot pink striped washi tape.

I hope she liked it!

Here's the template for the smallest card, perfect for gift cards or gift tags.  The circled numbers indicate which flaps to fold in first.  I wrote "glue" wherever she'd need glue to secure the flaps.  In this case, some of the "glue" instructions are on the edges of the flaps facing toward the table.

Here are the templates for the middle-sized card and envelope.  For the note card template, I used just a flat rectangle.  Notice that I suggested tracing it twice, edge to edge, and folding where the two come together to create a folded card.

Here you can see where I indicate to "glue" to secure the flaps and make the envelope.

Here's the finished set of all three template sizes.

I folded the templates into "envelopes" with the liner templates and note card templates inside so that she could see how it would all fit together.

And here's the whole set!  I made sure to include small stickers so that she could secure the final envelope flap without using the glue stick.  (It's easier for the recipient to open and allows them to better see the liner paper.)  I also added some light-colored mailing labels so that she could use darker colored or patterned paper for the outside of the envelopes and the address can still be read easily by the postal service.  I'm all about snail mail, as you know.  I also included some pre-cut rectangular and scalloped note cards, because, why not!?