How to make amazing stationery in just an hour

While many of our customers adore all things stationery and love to write letters, it can still be difficult to source beautiful letter writing sets; paper and envelopes that inspire you to get writing.

So, in this article, we thought we’d show you how to make your own quality stationery instead! After all, we’re all spending more time at home at the moment, so why not work on a fun project?

First, we’ll look at a marbling effect and then we’ll take a look at how to create an envelope liner.

Marbled paper and envelopes

Marbling is really simple to do and looks incredible, so prepare to be amazed!

Equipment

All you need to create this effect is heavyweight paper and envelopes with texture, a can of shaving cream, and some food colouring (liquid or gel) in your favourite colours.

Additional equipment you’ll need includes masking tape, a baking dish, a silicone spatula, a clean ruler, and wooden skewers.

Method

Before you do anything else, mask off the areas of your paper and envelopes that you don’t want decorating — this includes the back of them!

Then, fill a baking dish with a layer of shaving foam, add a few drops of your base food colouring colour and gently fold in it with the spatula.

Don’t mix it in too well; you want the swirls to remain.

Next, add further colours using a wooden skewer — just dip the skewer in the food colouring and then swirl it around in the foam until you are happy with the pattern.

Now comes the fun bit! Lower your first piece of paper or envelope onto the foam, then remove it quickly (so the paper doesn’t get too wet) and place it facing upwards on a piece of kitchen towel.

Grab your clean ruler (plastic or wooden) and scrape the shaving cream off the paper in one motion. Wipe the paper or envelope with a clean piece of kitchen towel to remove the remaining excess foam.

Repeat until you’re done, then leave your artwork to dry. Once it’s fully dry, stack it up and place it under some heavy books to flatten it out.

Then, get writing your letters!

Lined envelopes

Envelope liners are a really pretty addition to any envelope and are a lovely surprise for the recipient of a letter.

You might think they’re quite difficult to achieve but you’ll be surprised!

Equipment

All you need to create a lined envelope is an envelope, some pretty paper (such as wrapping paper), cardstock, glue, scissors, a ruler, and a pencil.

Method

Firstly, you need to create a template. To do this, you need to trace around the envelope with the flap open onto the piece of cardstock.

Next, measure the envelope adhesive on one side, as you won’t want your liner to cover this.

Then, trim that much plus a few mm extra off all sides of your cardstock template — this will leave you with a template that is the same in shape but smaller than the envelope.

Now, slide the template into your envelope and check it would work as a liner. Make any adjustments, as required.

Then, use the template to trace onto the back of your liner paper; cut out the traced shape and place it inside your envelope.

Fold the flap down with the liner inside and then reopen the envelope,  glue the liner down inside, and you’re done!

When it comes to writing on your new stationery, you can explore our wide range of quality pens here.