Won't You Be My Valentine?

Two days of snow, with more in the forecast, means my calendar squares for this week have pretty much been wiped clean.  That's the thing I love most about snow days, the opportunity to stay home and do something unscheduled.  Sitting by the window watching the flakes come down, with a cup of tea and a knitting project or a good book are some of my favorite snow day activities.  But this is Valentine's week, so I've been putzing around doing other things for some special people that I love.

In the recent issue of the Martha Stewart magazine, a crafting project caught my eye.  I'm not much of a crafter, but this looked easy enough for me to handle.  Fabric envelopes in pretty patterns,  to use for tucking in a heartfelt note or maybe even a gift certificate.  This would be a perfect way to use up some scrap fabric, but since I don't sew very often, I didn't have anything that seemed suitable.  I found these fabric quarters at Michael's and the colors seemed perfect for Valentine's Day.

The first thing I did was iron the material.

Next, I carefully took apart an envelope to use as a pattern.

I painted Mod Podge on both sides of the fabric (the messy part),

and hung them up to dry.

The next day, I traced around the envelope on the wrong side of the fabric.

Then I cut out the fabric envelopes.

Using the paper envelope as a guide, I folded the fabric, creasing the edges into the center.

With a little more Mod Podge, I sealed the flaps together, placing a piece of wax paper inside the fabric envelope, until the glue dried.

I took out the wax paper and voila!  Pretty fabric envelopes.