Mail Love - a letter from a hotel

I was recently in Montreal and stayed at the Marriott Château Champlain hotel downtown. I was traveling light, so I only brought with me a pared down craft kit. I also wanted to try out making something with the limited supplies available, just to see what I can come up with.

I scoured the room for things I could use* and this is what I found:

Montreal guide book, a hotel notepad, some brochures and paper coasters.

Many hotels still provide paper and a few envelopes, so those are often available as well. I wanted to be creative and was genuinely curious what I could come up with without resorting to the hotel stationery.

The letter part was pretty straightforward, I just wrote the letter on the pad. I flipped through the guide book and found a few pages I liked. I folded one to make the band around the letter.

I used a folded map from a brochure to make the envelope. (There are a few ways I've used smaller pieces of paper to make envelopes in a pinch. I can write a tutorial if anyone's interested)


The page I chose for the band around the letter was just long enough to barely touch on the other side, so I had to improvise a bit. I folded a paper coaster and glued it on the back of the decorative band.

The back of the envelope is secured with a bit of the tape I brought with me.

I tried a few different things for the address label. The coasters had a plastic coating on one side, so I wasn't sure the glue would stick on it. I also tried to find a page from the guide book to use, but in the end I felt i might as well go with the simplest solution. I ended up ripping a sheet from the notepad and using that for the address. At least that would be securely glued on the envelope.

Here's the final look at the envelope:


Pretty simple DIY letter, but it's genuinely made from what I had at hand. It was actually pretty fun! This definitely started a whole train of thought on what kind of other things I could make. I think I'll try them out soon...

I challenge you to try it out, just try using simple things you have at home like flyers or ads you get in the mail. Please let me know if you try it out. I'd love to see what you come up with!

*) Remember, don't be a dick. Just use things that are legitimately there for your use or would be tossed after you leave. Brochures and disposable paper products such paper coasters or cardboard packaging are ok, anything in the hotel binder is probably not. Use your best judgement.