Treasuring Simplicity: Lining Envelopes

I will be the first one to admit that I tend to begrudgingly try technology. For example, I was adamantly opposed to a Kindle—why would one ever want to lose the magic of turning a page? I didn’t want to even try the Kindle. Then, one birthday (five years ago, actually), my family got me one. What did I discover? I found I loved it! I loved being able to read in bed on my side (a task that used to prove difficult with a hard cover book), I loved being able to highlight sections of the book, or search for specific words, or look up a word. I adore my Kindle now, but I got there taking the long road.

The same can be said for paper versus electronic invitations. I thought an invitation should come the old-fashioned way: through the mail. But, the ability to track RSVPs in one place convinced me to try it, and, I have to say, I loved it.

I do think there are some things that are better left to the mail, however, and thank you cards are one of them. So, for Alex’s birthday thank you cards, I ordered them from Paperless Post using the same design I had for his electronic invitation. At first, I selected envelopes to come with them (lined using a beautiful green pattern), but then I saw the price: $60 (for thank you cards!). I removed the envelopes from my shopping cart and decided to provide the envelopes myself.

I have a stash of white envelopes that fit the thank you cards perfectly. To line the cards, I still wanted to use green (one of the main colors of Alex’s birthday party), so found two patterns that I liked. I cut out a template to fit the envelope, and then used the template to cut a pattern from the green papers.