about patterns.

As a crafter I tend to see patterns everywhere I look, which is both a blessing and a curse.  It's a blessing because things that other people look at and see trash, I see treasure.  It's a curse because I have a LOT of treasures! It's really hard to throw things away when you think of them as potential projects.

That's what happened to me on Monday.  We were short staffed at work so I volunteered to help open the mail, which on Mondays is a very big job.  I ended up with a huge stack of envelopes to open and almost all of them which checks that came in security envelopes.

I don't know if you've noticed, but security envelopes have come a long way baby!  As I open the envelopes I kept noticing that the insides of the envelopes were actually very pretty and I was surprised at the variety of colors and patterns.  Next thing I knew I was carefully setting them aside and even went so far as to remove some from the trash.

I brought them home and carefully cut open the envelopes and then refolded them so that the pretty insides were now on the outside.

I ended up with quite a stack.  The best news is that if the project in my head turns out as well as I think it might I know where I can get an endless supply of additional envelopes!

So, now you are wondering what I plan to do with them, right?  I have an idea for a mini album, and I'm talking really mini.  I recently bought a book about Japanese book binding, and I think that would be a great way to bind this little album.  The book is from a great Etsy seller, Erinzam, and its a beautiful book full of 128 binding projects.

I just got the book yesterday so I haven't had a lot of time to study it yet, but I hope to do so over the next several days and then I'll try out one of the many binding techniques.  Of course I will show you how it turns out, so stay tuned!