Aloha, all!
You may remember the Get Well Card that I made this past week – it was a project for a CASE (Copy And Share with Everyone) challenge, and the size of the card was 3" high by 6" long. This is a great card to make with 12" Square Card Stock because you get 4 cards out of one piece of the Card Stock (cut it in half both vertically and horizontally, and – voila! – 4 pieces 6" square ready to be folded into the 3" x 6" card).
When I updated the post to note that I would be sending the card to Shelli Gardner, the Stampin' Up! CEO, I also snuck in a photo of the envelope that I'd made to go with it.
Yes, I made the envelope – with the brand new Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board!
I've had the Punch Board for several weeks, and I've been waiting until September 1st when I could actually advertise it to you! There's more information here about the Punch Board. You can order it today, using the stock number 133774. The cost is $19.95 – a bargain when you think of all the money you'll not be spending on envelopes any more!
While I made my envelope with standard print/copy paper, there are going to be times when you have some embellishments on the front of your card that you feel a copy paper envelope will not handle well. For those cards, I recommend that you make an envelope liner with Designer Series Papers or even card stock. A liner will make the inside of the flap decorative, and will provide some additional support on the inside of the address side of the envelope. Do that, insert your card with the front facing towards the address side, and you've got the protection you want without having to use as large a piece of paper or card stock that you'd need to make a whole envelope.
Now a little note about the envelope I made for the 3" x 6" card. One of the criteria for cards that I make is that I be able to mail them. After all, that's what greeting or note cards are for!!! So I needed to work a bit with the measurements on the Punch Board to make sure that my card – and its envelope – were mailable in the U. S., which is where I live.
While there is a measurement on the board for an envelope for a card that is 3" x 6", that envelope will NOT be able to be mailed in the US because the envelope height is less than 3-1/2", the minimum height for mailing. I also found that moving up to use the envelope for the 3-1/2" x 6" card left a lot of (too much?) room around the card. Instead, I made up my own set of measurements (I'm sure others have done this, but I couldn't find it!). For an envelope for a 3" x 6" card that is to be mailed, use paper that's 7-5/8" x 7-5/8", and make the first cut at 2-7/8", then follow the general instructions on the punch board.
I'm so excited to have this Punch Board so that I can mail ANY card I made (well, within U.S. Postal Service regulations!) and I'm not bogged down with a standard 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card. This is going to be fun, though I'm so used to making the standard card that fits into an A2 envelope, I can't imagine I'll stray too much from that too often. But whatever I make, you can be sure I'm going to have fun with it!