There’s nothing better than receiving a hand written letter in the post, am I right? Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to contact people immediately on social media, but letters are much more intimate and they demand your attention in a way that a tweet cannot. One of my favourite parts of writing a letter is the decoration. Here are four ideas for decorating your own letter paper. Are you and a long distance friend in need of a catch up? You should write them a letter this weekend 🙂
I wanted to use recycled paper, and the paper I used comes from the Exotic Paper Company. I chose to buy recycled banana paper, but you can also buy paper made from elephant poo. How cool is that!
You will need: Paper, Ink or watercolour paint, paintbrush (small and large), jam jars, rubber, craft knife
Rubber print paper
To make this rubber stamped paper, first put a little ink in a jar and add the same amount of water • Use your craft knife to carefully cut a shape out of the rubber. The simpler your shape, the better! • Paint the rubber with your water/ink mixture and use a spare piece of paper to dab off the excess • Use your rubber to print onto the paper. Don’t worry if it’s uneven, it adds to the charm!
Bordered Paper
If you want to border your paper, you can use any illustration you like, but the most effective designs are simple and abstract. I just used a combination of curly lines, swirls and yellow dots! Before you paint onto your paper, experiment with different amounts of ink and water on your brush, different sized brushes and a variety of pressures to decide which marks you like the most!
Ombre paper
Fill two jars with water, and add a couple of drops of different coloured ink to each jar. • Make sure you wipe the excess water off your brush before painting – you don’t want there to be puddles on your letter paper! • Roughly paint a different colour wash on each end and blend in the middle
Illustrated paper
First paint a background onto your paper by dabbing a watered down ink onto your paper with a large brush • Use a small brush, and black ink straight from the bottle to paint a simple design in the corner. If you paint your design whilst the paper is wet, the ink will bleed a little, which I think looks cool. If you want a crisper line, wait until the paper is dry.
So there are some ideas for decorating paper! Which is your favourite? Do you write letters to your friends, or do you have a penpal? I’d love to hear how you decorate your letters!
Jessthetics 