How to Make an Ephemera Envelope

Hey everyone! Before we talk about our craft today, can I just share what I made last week? I participated in Workshop Week, a weeklong virtual creative retreat. I've been tuning in since it started in 2020 and it has always left me inspired and grateful for this community! It also reminded me to make time for art and that art can be a pathway to a fulfilling and lucrative career. 

I followed along during most of the sessions and incorporated miniature versions of them in my sketchbook as part of my daily practice:

The instructors made us feel we could do the projects even if we've never done so before. It was also exciting to learn about new techniques and tools, as well as having the right mindset: Don't overthink it; Trust the process; We're not looking for perfect. 

And really, Workshop Week is one of the highlights of my year, turning it from blah to TADA!

Now, on to our craft. Do you have paper scraps left over from other artsy pursuits? 

I keep all my paper scraps. I use them for making greeting cards, collage, envelopes and liners, and for scrapbooking. 

I group the paper scraps by size. The smaller ones go inside zipper bags and the bigger ones go inside plastic envelopes. I store everything in a plastic box and rummage through them when a paper project comes along.

Today, a paper project has come along:

 We're making an ephemera envelope...TADA! 

I got the idea from the book 'The Art of the Travel Journal" by Abbey Sy. She defines ephemera as "any form of printed matter produced for a specific short-term use. The word ephemera comes from the Greek work ephemeros, meaning short-lived." Examples of ephemera include tickets, maps, brochures, postcards, clothing tags, packaging material, coasters, paper napkins and the like. 

Collecting ephemera and including these in a travel journal extends their life and are powerful reminders of the trips we've taken. 

We can store these ephemera in an ephemera envelope that we can make out of our paper scraps. Here's how:

We will need rectangular shaped paper (ex. A5 or A6 size paper).

1. Fold the sheet of paper in half.

2. Unfold it, then fold each side into the middle fold, resulting in four even segments.

3. Fold the top outer edges towards the nearest fold, creating two triangles at the top left and top right sides of the paper.

4. Fold each side toward the middle. 

5.  Fold the bottom up about 1/2" (1.3 cm) to create a pocket.

6. Seal the center and bottom seams with washi tape.

7. Decorate the pocket envelope using stickers and rubber stamps.

We can now add this to our travel journal as a nifty way to organize all the ephemera we've collected during our journeys.

I hope this has inspired you to turn your own paper scraps from "blah to TADA!"

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