Recycle Mailing Envelopes

 Are you a shopaholic on Ebay like me.  I get in items for my jewelry and things that I make and then sell the finished product.  Well the tiny Manilla envies that they come in can not be reused.  OR can they??

I had bought a roll of wall paper (wrapping paper is to thin) from a garage several years back.  Only paid like $1.00 and bought several rolls.  So I had this light bulb go off in my head.  Why not cover the packages with it.  Now these are tiny packages because some of them come from overseas and in the USA we can not mail packages that are this small.  So I measured out what we needed.

 I laid them out on my cut piece and folded down one end 1/4 inch.  Ok this one is 1/2 but 1/4th works better.  You might have to roll your paper opposite way due to it will keep rolling up on you.

Glue the edge down

Fold it over one more time but DO NOT glue it this time.

This tim fold the rest of the cut piece over until it rests on the fold you just did.  Flatten and crease.

  Now open it back up if the cut is not even.  Take a ruler and trace your straight line and trim that off.

Next Trim off the flat edges of your padded envelopes you are going to recycle.  You just need the bubble wrap part.

Fold your bottom or side (whatever you want to call it).  The longest side 2 times like you did the other side.  BUT DO NOT glue any of it.  You just want it so that you can put your padded  envelopes up against it to figure out how you want to lay them out.   Trim your envies and lay them out to fit like a puzzle on your right half of the folded wallpaper.  Only placing them up to the 2nd fold of the side and bottom folds.  Hope this makes since.  grin

 To make this easier I took my Elmer's glue and poured it into a plastic jar I had saved. 

Now I could dip my paint brush in making the next step easier.

Paint your glue on one side and lay the envelopes out to fit the entire area of the size you have chosen for your padded envelope.

Once you cover the top layer with painted on Elmer's Glue then fold over the remaining lose wallpaper up to the folded line we made before. Glue the 2nd fold of the right side down covering your folded over piece of wallpaper.

Use clamps to hold it folded over while it is drying.  In about 5 to 10 minutes take clips off and do the same to the bottom edge.

Ooops forgot to take one pic.  Will add that soon.  Trim each side of your flap in a diagonal line to make a neat look to your fold.  I also measured in some and cut off the inside layer where the folded piece would fold over.  Here are my finished envies that I recycled.  I also covered just the front of an 11 x 14 envelope so I could reuse it.  Hope my tutorial was done well enough for you to understand.  Have fun playing.