How to Make an Envelope Liner Template with Silhouette Studio and Sticker Paper

So you're wondering how to make envelope liners in Silhouette Studio? You've come to the right spot because I've figured out an easy way to make custom size envelope liners using Pixscan and printable sticker paper. Oh you're gonna love this!

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.

What you'll need to make DIY envelope liners with Silhouette:

• Silhouette PixScan Mat
• 1 Spare Envelope Per Liner Template Size
• Full Sheet Sticker Paper from Online Labels (Clear, White, Glossy, Foil...any kind will do)

You're going to need to sacrifice one envelope for the template.  After that you can save the template design in your Silhouette Studio library and you'll never need to make the template again (for that size envelope) - you'll just go about cutting the liner whenever you need it.

Unfold the envelope completely and lay it on your Pixscan mat. That means ungluing all the folded parts. It may also mean cutting off the side flaps if the full envelope can't fit on the Pixscan mat without covering the registration marks and borders.

Once you have your envelope flat on your Pixscan mat, take a straight on picture of the mat.  This is the actual picture I used.

Email the photo to yourself and download it to your computer.

From Silhouette Studio click the Pixscan tool along the top tool bar and use the window on the right side to navigate to open the Pixscan photo you just took.  If you're new to PixScan you'll want to read this Silhouette Pixscan tutorial for beginners first.

This is normally when you would use the trace tool but because your envelope is one solid color it will be nearly impossible to trace the areas inside the 'lick strip'. I don't really know if that's what it's called - but that's what I'm calling it.

Instead, use the Draw a Rectangle tool to draw a rectangle so the top of the rectangle lines up with the fold of the envelope and the sides are just about to the sides - but slightly inside. The bottom of the rectangle doesn't need to go fully to the bottom of the envelope, but should go at least 2/3 of the way down.

Duplicate the rectangle above and then double click the duplicate rectangle shape so you access the edit points. Move the top left and top right edit points in (towards the blue arrows) to form a triangle.  The triangle should be shaped just below the lick strip.

Once you have your triangle and rectangle drawn, move the triangle down by just about two or three taps of the down arrow key so the two shapes just barely overlap. Select both shapes and weld by right clicking > Weld.

 

This is what your shape should look like now...



Now use the Draw a Line tool and draw a straight line across where the fold of the envelope will be.  This will be your fold line so you don't want it touching the outer liner shape border.

Select the line and from the Line Style tool make it a perforated line. This will create a nice fold line, but won't cut the two parts in half.

You can go ahead and delete the Pixscan image now. You won't need it anymore.  If you can't get the Pixscan image to delete just select the envelope liner template shape and copy it into a new work area by selecting > right click > copy >  open new work area > right click > paste.

DO NOT RESIZE THE ENVELOPE LINER TEMPLATE!!!  By drawing the template shape over the Pixscan image it will be perfectly sized for your envelope.

Now you can save the envelope liner template to your Silhouette Studio library!

Whenever you want to cut it you can open the blank template and add whatever details you want to the liner and print and cut it.  I will show you how to make custom patterns for your envelope liners in another tutorial, but let's just keep this one simple and use the Draw a Circle tool to draw circles and fill them with a solid color.

The next step is to add registration marks to prepare to print and cut. 

Make sure whatever shapes you use inside the liner shape are set to No Cut from the Cut Settings Window.  The actual envelope liner template shape and the perforated line should be set to cut - which will be indicated by a thick/bold red cut line when you the Cut Settings window is open.

For this liner I cut on Clear Gloss Inkjet Printable Sticker Paper from Online Labels. It prints and cuts beautifully. It's also available for laser printers and in a clear matte finish as well.  Place the clear sticker paper into your home printer so the clear side that should be printed on is oriented correctly in the tray. Click the Print icon in Silhouette Studio and your design will print.

Once the design has printed, place the clear sticker paper on your Silhouette cutting mat. To get a full cut through both layers of the clear sticker sheet I picked "White Sticker Paper" as the material from the Cut Settings window in Silhouette Studio. I adjusted slightly to put the blade of a depth of 6 and a thickness of 26.

After the design cuts remove the excess clear sticker sheet leaving the envelope liner on your cutting mat.

The easiest way to insert the liner into the envelope is to leave the sticker paper backing on the bottom half of the envelope liner, but remove the sticker backing from the top half (above the fold line).  That perforation line will help you tear off just the top triangle-shaped half pretty cleanly.  Fold the liner over and then from one of the corners, peel away the triangle shaped backing sheet from the top half of the liner.

Slide the bottom half of the liner into an envelope (not the one you use on the Pixscan mat as I'm sure it's old folded and cut up by now).  Having the backing still on the bottom of the liner makes it easy to slide in without the backing sticking where it shouldn't. Line up the perforation line with the fold line on the envelope and then fold the top triangle-shaped area onto the envelope. The liner should fit right inside the lick strip.

I love the way the envelopes look with liners! It think it's just such a fun surprise when someone opens up their envelope. Printing and cutting them on the Online Labels clear glossy sticker paper gives them a high quality look, too!

Here are a few more I quickly made using the same envelope liner template made by simply replacing the polka dot design with a wreath monogram and printing an cutting on Silver Foil Sticker paper. The other was filled with a custom floral pattern and printed on matte sticker paper.  The foil and the matte printable white sticker paper are also both from Online Labels.  See why I love this place? They have everything!

Look for the Silhouette tutorial on creating envelope sets using custom fill patterns next week on the blog!

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

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