One of our closest friends moved back home to Switzerland earlier this year. My 5 year old still mentions how much she misses them, and recently started carrying their last Christmas family photo card in her backpack everywhere she goes. I think it might be time to become pen pals!

Snail mail is a wonderful thing, even more so in our digitally-obsessed world. With summer vacation on our side, it seems like a perfect excuse to work on our reading and writing skills, while crafting some fun little mementos to send across the ocean. I’m a sucker for beautiful envelopes, and these crafty options will keep me going for weeks – I might even share with her! If these pique your interest, you should do a search for “mail art”, there are some amazing things being done in the mail.

DIY Inside Out Security Envelopes
See the tutorial at Design*Sponge.

I’m looking at our junk mail in an entirely new way. Turn all those envelopes inside out and reuse them! They’d also be great in one of the book DIYs listed below.

DIY Lined Paper Envelopes
See the tutorial at Frankie.

These are beautiful and fast – no envelope template needed! Perfect for presents and little love notes.

DIY Souvenir Journal
See the tutorial at Besottment.

Make any collection of envelopes into a sweet book – it’s ready to stuff with memories and mementos from your summer, a vacation, or a random Tuesday afternoon.

DIY Washi Tape Envelopes
See the tutorial at Paper Pastries.

We always have regular envelopes around, but they never feel special enough for the letters and craft projects we’re doing. This game changer makes them far better than average!

DIY Animal Envelopes
See the tutorial at Mer Mag.

Don’t wait for Valentine’s Day! Fill these with drawings and letters, then you can give them to little school friends over the summer to keep things interesting.

DIY Galaxy Envelopes
See the tutorial at Mini Eco.

We have a huge stack of old magazine – even astronomy ones – so I can’t wait to try these out. Though any picture would work, I’m particularly in love with these starry skies.

DIY Metallic Desk Organizer Envelopes
See the tutorial at Eclectic Trends.

Super practical and easy to make, this little gem is just what I need for my business card collection. I think my daughter would prefer it to hold the feathers she keeps gathering from the backyard!

Pictured at the top of this post: DIY Wallpaper Envelopes, see the tutorial at Camille Styles.