I've been doing some recycling and made something quite useful out of an old ring binder. I wanted to make a mail sizer to help determine when packages will be classified as large letters when I get to the post office.
Unfortunately the post office don't sell the sizers that they use. I have seen some on eBay, but I thought I'd have a go at making one myself. I cut one side off an old ring binder, and then cut it to a rectangle shape, but only cut through the board, being careful not to cut through to the vinyl covering, so that I could then wrap the vinyl around the raw edge to make it neat.
I then carefully measured and cut two slots, one for standard letters, and one for large letters. If the package passes through the slot, then I know it will be sized accordingly. Because the card is from a ring binder, the board is really thick, and so it doesn't bend when I am holding it in one hand to push parcels through it with the other!
I've also printed out some handy information, with an area for the last posting dates before Christmas, and also the current prices for UK mail. I'm guessing that this will need to be updated frequently though, as our prices seem to change fairly often, but I can create a new panel and either cover up the old one, or replace the whole panel and use a new image each year for variety! Unfortunately I can't yet find the 2014 last posting dates, so I've left these blank so that I can add the dates in pencil, and then change them each year if necessary.
This project is to support the M for Mail challenge at
ABC Christmas Challenge.
Here's a sneaky peek at the reverse of the board, where you can see how I wrapped the vinyl around the back to hide the cut edge. I was going to do the same for the slots, but it turned out to be too fiddly, so I didn't bother.
Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
- Simon's Monday Challenge - Use this more (to stop me being shocked when I get to the post office and get told that it is gonna cost as much to post my creations as it did to make them!)
- Fab 'n' Funky - Christmas, we're half way there
Happy crafting
Annette
xx
