Tutorial: How to Make A Simple, Recycled Mailer

Since I started listing scrap packs in my shop, I’ve been going through mailers like nobody’s business! I’d already worked through the stash I’d set aside from packages that came to us, and using brand new ones just felt so wasteful. Instead, I decided to raid the recycle bin and see about whipping up some mailers of my own!

All you need to make your very own are: a pair of scissors, some packing tape, and thin, scrap cardboard from the bin. I used an empty six pack caddy that was left over from a party at our place.

If you’re using a six pack, just use your scissors to cut the faces off of the front and back:

If you’re using a different sort of scrap cardboard, just trim two pieces to the same size.

Stack your two box pieces so the printed parts are on the inside, and use your packing tape to close up three of the four sides, like this:

Voila! When you’re ready to ship, just put your items inside, close off the open end with more packing tape, and you’re ready to go!

The ones I made are really simple, but you could totally jazz this up. Just grab your glue stick and fix pretty paper or a junk mail collage to the plain cardboard, and you’ve got yourself some packaging art!

There is one little hitch with this project. Since the front and back pieces are really the only parts of the six pack that are big enough for making an envelope, you’re left with a lot of cardboard that’s still headed to the bin:

Any ideas for projects that would use up some of these smaller pieces?

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