Pop’s Letter

Recently we downsized. It is that inevitable process as children leave the nest. To prepare we had to go through box after box of the prior generation’s keepsakes. At the beginning it was a struggle. Each item was a decision. What to keep and what to toss.  The digital age has made it easier. Scanning software from Google or a quick picture makes the memory permanent. 

Then one gets into a rhythm and knows instinctively what is important and what is not. What tells the story of the lost one and what is simply clutter.  What started to surface was a pattern.  While the pictures were nice, the letters were important. 

This made me realize that the crucial art of letter writing had died and that few emails will survive to the next generation.  

So a solution became a passion. Many of the letters I found were airmail. They were on a stationary that was the envelope. To save weight very thin paper folded to make its own envelope. If we could reproduce this technique with simple 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper and if we could make it available electronically, letter writing could once again be easy and fun.

A quick search on the internet found a great group of people, the Envelope and Letter Fold Association.  They pointed me to something called the scoop envelope on the ELFA page by Paula Versnick.  

With a bit of work, the following template is now ready for use:

Folding Envelope

The instructions are simple.  

Print it out, write your letter on the back, then fold it so that the blue lines are on the outside and the red ones are on the inside. Then you are ready for the address and the stamp. No need to take it to the post office.  Place it in your mailbox, flip up that red flag (yes, that is what it is for!), and the mail carrier will pick it up.

For those that like more complex instructions, try these:

1. If you start with the blue lines that go all the way from one edge of the paper to the other, I have found it easier. I start with the top corners and then do that longest fold across the top, then the two sides. 
2. This should get you to the place where only blue lines are on one side and red ones are on the other. Place the blue side down on the table, then fold on the red lines of the two triangles to make the scoops.  
3. Fold the bottom edge over at the red line, then insert the bottom corners into the scoops, crease, and seal with a bit of tape. 

If you needed a second page for your letter, fold it separate from the envelope.  

1. First fold it in half as your normally would, by bringing the bottom edge to meet the top edge.  That makes a 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inch rectangle.  
2. Then fold it in thirds by bringing the right edge 2/3 of way across and then bring the left edge all the way across to meet the crease.  
3. That should make a 3 by 5 1/2 inch rectangle that fits nicely in the envelope, which itself is 3 1/2 by a little more than 5 1/2 inch wide.  Nice how that works out. 

Special Instructions for Grandparents

Print two envelopes.  Write a letter to a grandchild on one.  Put a stamp on both.  Then fold the blank envelope as a second page (see above) inside your letter.  With some help from mom or dad, the grandchild may refold it and send back a letter of their own!  Great fun.

Special Instructions for Geeks

Get GoodNotes and import the stationary as a landscape template.  Create your envelope from the new template and address it before you print it.   

Then write your letter using a portrait template and print it on the back of the envelope!  You can easily add digital pictures and QR codes to mix modern and vintage.

It is my hope that letters will once again become a treasured thing.