SWL ~ handmade envelope book

For this swap we'll be getting super creative!

For your 1 partner, you'll be making them a handmade envelope book. This is made from handmade envelopes, binded together to make pages, which looks like a book. In each envelope, you put a little surprise for your partner. Really, anything goes here as long as you follow size & layout guidelines.

The book will fit inside a standard size envelope (half of A4). Creativity is key here, there's no really "wrong" or "rights" and it's all about putting your own spin on things.

What to do?

• Make a standard size envelope from an A4 papers, magazine article, old book pages, etc. Fold it in half, like a book. This is the front & back cover.

• Make another (MINIMUM) 4 handmade envelopes.

• Each envelope should be a different colour/theme/made out of different papers. Craft paper, card stock, magazine pages, mail art, whatever you want to use. Note the envelopes don't have to all be the same size, they can get smaller and smaller, be in different shapes and sizes, etc.

• Fold the envelopes & put the envelopes inside the book, bind them with ribbon, string, tape, etc, they can't be loose. The envelopes will act as pages.

• In each envelope, put a small surprise for your partner. A sticker, a letter, paper scraps, a postcard, atcs, embellishments, anything that can fit.

• How many "pages" aka envelopes in your book you include is up to you, but 4 is minimum. What you make them out of is senders choice; get creative.

• Decorate the envelope book further with stamps, stickers, collage, drawings, paper goods, quotes, embellishments, anything you can think of.

• Put it inside an envelope, include a note for your partner with the swap name etc, and send it! :)

Please put a lot of thought into it and create something you are proud of. Stick to the layout guidelines above & size. As long as there is a front and back cover which is a folded envelope, and inside "pages" made out of envelopes, with small surprises inside for your partner, it is up to you what to do with it! :)

There are tons of inspiration online, on pinterest, there's tutorials on youtube etc. Below are just a few and are not exactly what is expected of you; it is just ideas. There is also pictures of 2 I made on my swap blogspot which is on my swapbot profile.

~ http://lulupu.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/all-about-mini-albums-tutorial-and.html - a mini album.

~ http://feeling-crafty.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/new-mini-book.html

~ http://www.pinterest.com/happyhippo56/mini-albums-envelopes/

~ http://feeling-crafty.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/christmas-planner-for-2010.html

just simply google for more, there's tons on the internet & pinterest!

happy swapping :)