Envelope Wall-Hanging Tutorial

Okay, so this is a tutorial for a wall hanging that I made to display my hundreds of postcards. (It won't actually hold a hundred, so I'm going to have to make another one... LOL). Sadly, I don't have a picture of the final version, because I haven't got around to hanging it on my wall yet - but it's coming soon. Hopefully, you'll be able to visualize it... but if you have any questions, just ask :)

For this project, you'll need:
- envelopes (Anywhere from 4-7) of the same size
- collage materials
- stiffer paper/cardstock (I reused the inner tube of a dollar store giftwrap package)
- decorative brad
- string or ribbon
- scissors/glue

1. First, assemble your envelopes. They all have to be the same size, and they have to be able to fit your postcards. I used 5 envelopes, but you could use less (maybe more, but not too many more, because it'll get too heavy to hang).

Arrange them in a vertical line, and glue the flap of the bottom envelope to the "front" (what most people consider the front, but it won't end up being the front for our purposes) of the envelope on top. Keep going until you get to your top envelope, and just leave that one free.

2. Next, you'll take the images that you've cut out for your collage, and begin gluing them onto the envelopes. Be sure to leave all the flaps open, as that's where the postcards (or whatever items you choose) will be stored. I chose pretty travel-inspired pictures, mostly from National Geographic, but you could use any magazine, scrapbooking paper, etc to go with your decor. Keep going, all the way up to the top.

I also cut my pictures a little bigger than I needed, and stuffed them into the pockets, so that they slightly overlap. If you anticipate having a lot of items to fill your pockets, you don't really need to worry about this, but if there's going to be a gap, it's always nicer to see pictures, rather than just white envelope. By the time you're done this step, there should be no envelope seen on the "pocket" side of the hanging.

3. Next step - flip your hanging over, so that you see the back of the hanging (the flaps glued to the "fronts") which should be white. Take your cardstock/heavy paper and cut it to the size of your hanging. Use a whole lot of glue, and stick the cardstock to the envelopes. This is just to reinforce the envelopes a bit.

This is what my hanging looked like at this point. To the right is the full length of the hanging, all covered with images. To the left is the bottom pocket, filled with a few postcards. (Notice how you don't really see the images behind the pockets when they're full... the cityscape is all but invisible back there... so use your favourite images on the actual "pocket" part):

4. The final step is to attach your brad and string. I used a cloth covered brad (super cute, and I found it at the dollar store! Can't beat that!) ... I wrapped the string around the brad before I closed it up. One other thing I did after the fact was reinforce this area with some clear packing tape. I thought that maybe I made my hole a little too close to the top and it would need a little bit of reinforcement. This is more of a judgement call - if you feel like your hanging needs some extra support, I think this is the way to go (or if you have other suggestions for reinforcement, let me know!)






And, you're done! Gorgeous, pro-looking wall hanging that can contain almost anything (you could use it to organize receipts... school assignments... notes... whatever!), and you get to recycle and be creative. Can't beat that!

If you like these kinds of posts... leave a comment :) I'll do more in the future if there's interest in it. I do projects like this all the time.