Stationery

Working at a paper store, just like working at any other store, has its pros and cons. For the creative person, it's fabulous - great ideas, great products, and a discount! Of course this means that you end up buying more stuff than you really need at any given time. Take me, for instance.

I think personalized stationery is a fabulous idea. It's, well, personal. Of course, to get the real thing is prohibitively expensive for most of us, and who really writes that many letters or notes anymore anyway?

Monogram

Perhaps we should write more. It would get us out from the pale glow of our computer screens and bring back some of that fine motor control we've adapted to pushing virtual iPhone buttons. But I digress. Regardless of how much we really do use it, I found out that personalized stationery is not all that hard to get, and lots of the materials you use to make it can be reused for the next time (you know, after you write a bunch of letters).

Ingredients:
8.5x11 paper
A2 envelopes
Fancy Italian paper for linings, one sheet
Envelope liner template
Stamp
Ink
Double-sided tape
One evening of perfectionism

Stationery

After cutting all the paper in half with an x-acto and straight edge, I stamped each sheet in the upper corner. I suppose that really, one ought only to stamp half the sheets so that when you write a two-paged letter, only the first sheet has a monogram, but who cares! (Of course, this opens the door to more and more rubber stamping, a danger in its own right). Then each sheet folds in half to fit nicely inside an A2 envelope.

That's the paper, which is easy. The envelopes are easy, too. From the sheet of fancy paper (your choice) carefully trace and cut ten linings. Insert them into the envelopes and tape the point down with double-sided tape. Repeat!

Lined Envelopes

And let's have a little close-up. This Italian paper is gorgeous, not to mention sparkly.

Lining

And don't worry, I'm still knitting, and papercrafts haven't taken over my life. They've just been added in. And it helps to have something to show you when I can't show you my secret purple knitting! But now with my fancypants personalized stationery, I can pretend that I, too, have what it takes to be all high society. Or maybe I'll just write fun letters. Who cares! Pen pals, anybody?

Comments

Oyster Girl said…
Make me some!! So pretty!!!!
7:41 PM
Sarah said…
Ooh, stationary! It's fun, isn't it? I wish more people would write letters - when I die no one will ever go into my email and it will all disappear for eternity. At least with letters someone, someday might read it...
12:07 PM
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