Join us for the all-new Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course, happening now! →

Learn More
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS Feed
    • YouTube
    • Premium Membership
    • Beginner Calligraphy Course
    • Intermediate Calligraphy Course
    • Calligraphy Worksheets
    • Beginner Watercolor Course
    • The Calligraphy Book
  • Blog
    • Pointed Pen Calligraphy Worksheets
    • Pointed Pen Calligraphy Drills
    • Video Courses
    • Brush Pen Calligraphy
    • Handwriting
    • Hand-Lettering
    • Mail Printables
    • Printable Artwork
    • Procreate Worksheets
      • Cleaning Cloths
      • Erasers
      • Glass Jars
      • Inks
      • Kits
      • Mechanical Pencils
      • Nibs
      • Oblique Pens
      • Paper
      • Protectants
      • Rubber Stamps
      • Rulers
      • Straight Pens
      • Washi Tape
      • Watercolors
      • Wax Seals
  • Help
  • Cart
Log in

Your cart is currently empty!

The Postman's Knock written in calligraphy
Subscribe for $1/week
Sign In
  • My Account
    • Account Details
    • Addresses
    • Payment Methods
    • Order Receipts
    • Subscriptions
    • Printables + Worksheets
    • Video Courses
  • Help
Log in
The Postman’s Knock
  • About
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Help
  • Premium Membership
  • The Calligraphy Book
Subscribe for $1/week
Sign In
  • Welcome to TPK! This is your first of 2 free articles. For unlimited access to tutorials and articles, join TPK Premium for less than the cost of a latte.

    10 Stunning Mail Art Envelopes to Inspire and Delight

    June 30, 2022

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    Mail Art, Roundup

    This article, which showcases ten fantastic mail art envelopes on the TPK site, is designed to inspire you to create eye-catching correspondence! From mail art that’s made with coffee (literally: using coffee as ink) to envelopes that feature ink spills, there’s something for every artistic taste.

    • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Pinterest
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook
    • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)WhatsApp
    • Click to share on X (Opens in new window)X
    • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window)Bluesky
    • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window)Threads
    • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Reddit
    • Click to share on Mail (Opens in new window)Mail
    Fiddle Leaf Fig Envelope Art Tutorial

    After writing Monday’s newsletter, mail art is on my mind! For this article, I decided to showcase my ten favorite recent envelope designs on the site. (For a similar showcase from 2017, see this article.) If you have a moment, let me know your favorite in the comments! If you love mail art and want to come up with your own designs, consider TPK’s Marvelous Mail eBook, which was recently updated to provide more tips and inspiration for making gorgeous envelopes.

    LEARN ABOUT THE MARVELOUS MAIL EBOOK


    1. Coffee Mail Art

    Believe it or not, the “ink” on this envelope is coffee! The only non-coffee element is a bit of blue watercolor on the portrait. My favorite part of this mail art is the ornate flourished frame around the recipient’s portrait.

    How to Write Calligraphy With Coffee

    SEE HOW IT WAS MADE

    2. Fiddle Leaf Fig Envelope

    A handmade paper envelope plus a simple yet vibrant color scheme elevate this envelope to eye-catching heights. There’s something zen about that lush fiddle leaf fig. Just looking at this envelope makes me feel calm!

    Fiddle Leaf Fig Envelope Art Tutorial

    LEARN HOW TO MAKE IT

    3. Artistic Return Address Envelope

    When I send international mail, I almost always write my return address on the front. In this case, the return address steals the show! (I love using iron gall ink for projects like this one. It’s the perfect tone of black!)

    12 Artistic Envelope Ideas | The Postman's Knock

    READ THE ARTISTIC RETURN ADDRESS TUTORIAL

    4. Lacy Golden Butterfly Mail Art

    This envelope is all about the stamps. They add a hint of western flair and make me think of lassos when I look at the flourishes around the banner! Never underestimate the power of a simple color scheme (in this case: brown, white, gold, and black).

    Intricate Golden Butterfly Envelope Art Tutorial

    LEARN HOW TO MAKE THIS ENVELOPE

    5. Peru Mail Art

    This is another example of postage stamps bringing an envelope to life! I let the stamps help me choose what color to make the Peru artwork, and that made all the difference.

    One Weekend, Two Fabulous Mail Art Tutorials | The Postman's Knock

    MAKE AN ENVELOPE LIKE THIS ONE

    6. Flourished Swan Mail Art

    I was so thrilled when Schin Loong agreed to write her gorgeous Flourished Swan Envelope Tutorial. After I read it, I ended up making a swan envelope of my own (and I thoroughly enjoyed doing so).

    Flourished Swan Envelope

    READ THE TUTORIAL

    7. Intricate Teacup Mail Art

    I love the designs on vintage teacups, which is why I couldn’t help incorporating a “Singapore Birds” cup into this mail art motif. Choose a photo of a teacup that appeals to you and use it to make your own teacup mail art!

    Intricate Teacup Envelope Art for "No More Boring Envelopes"

    LEARN HOW TO MAKE THIS MAIL ART

    8. Chic Inky Poppies Mail Art

    I’d love to paint flowers like these on a wall (complete with gold highlights). They’re simultaneously simple, elegant, and just the right amount of messy. Pair them with Kaitlin Style calligraphy for the perfect piece of mail art!

    Chic Inky Poppies Mail Art Tutorial

    MAKE YOUR OWN CHIC INKY POPPIES MAIL ART

    9. Flourished Calligraphy Nib Envelope

    I love the look of the turquoise ink on this envelope motif! I don’t have a specific tutorial for this one, but if you love the look of flourishes, you can check out all the flourishing-related articles on the TPK blog.

    Scribblers Envelope

    GET TO FLOURISHING

    10. Floral Lace Mail Art

    This mail art takes a fair chunk of time, but the gorgeous results are worth it! (If you love the motif but don’t have an extra hour or two to draw the lace, you can download a pre-made illustrated lace mail art template here.)

    Floral Lace Illustration

    LEARN HOW TO MAKE IT


    I hope that this article inspires you to try your hand out at making mail art, even if you’ve never considered doing so before. I love decorating envelopes because they typically don’t take long to work on, and they are a fun little gift for any recipient! If you can’t think of anyone to receive your correspondence, consider making mail art and an encouraging note for a More Love Letters requestor. It’s a win-win: you get to make art and feel good about making something nice for someone, and the MLL requestor gets a treasure in return.

    Thanks so much for reading, and have a fabulous Fourth of July weekend!

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock
    • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Pinterest
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook
    • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)WhatsApp
    • Click to share on X (Opens in new window)X
    • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window)Bluesky
    • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window)Threads
    • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Reddit
    • Click to share on Mail (Opens in new window)Mail
Sketchbooking

About the author

Hi, I’m Lindsey Bugbee, the illustrator, calligrapher, and author behind The Postman’s Knock (TPK). Since 2012, the TPK Blog has been a vibrant creative space filled with tutorials and lessons on modern calligraphy, hand lettering, and illustration. After publishing The Calligraphy Book, I wanted to elevate the quality of content even further—so I launched TPK Premium. You can join here to receive access to some of the internet’s best creative inspiration and project tutorials.

Join TPK’s free mailing list

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow TPK on social media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • RSS Feed
  • Mail
Previous post: The Beginner’s Guide to Pencil Calligraphy
Next post: Summer Travels Sketchbook Page Tutorial

All-time favorite posts

  • The Beginner's Guide to Modern Calligraphy

    The Beginner’s Guide to Modern Calligraphy

    1.5m views
  • 8 Tips to Improve Your Handwriting (Plus a Free Worksheet) | The Postman's Knock

    8 Tips to Improve Your Handwriting (Plus a Free Worksheet)

    853.1k views
  • Painting with Watercolors for Beginners

    Painting with Watercolors for Beginners

    816.3k views
  • Free Brush Pen Calligraphy Worksheet

    Free Brush Pen Calligraphy Worksheet

    482.4k views
  • How to Write Faux Calligraphy (Video Tutorial + Free Worksheet)

    363.5k views
  • 11 Calming Calligraphy Drills Printable | The Postman's Knock

    Celebrating Six Years of the “11 Calming Calligraphy Drills” Worksheet (Free Download)

    290.9k views
  • Lovely Loose Watercolor Flowers Tutorial

    Lovely Loose Watercolor Flowers Tutorial

    204.5k views
  • The Ultimate DIY Modern Calligraphy Starter Kit

    The Ultimate DIY Modern Calligraphy Starter Kit

    186.2k views

Latest posts

  • Gorgeous Illustrated Autumn Pumpkin Tutorial
    Gorgeous Illustrated Autumn Pumpkin TutorialOctober 22, 2025
  • Spread from "Draw Your Adventures"
    October’s Coffee Date: Drawing Your Days with Samantha Dion BakerOctober 20, 2025
  • Envelope art with a skeleton
    Macabre Mail for the Edward Gorey HouseOctober 16, 2025
  • Color wheel created by Jess of Greenleaf & Blueberry
    September’s Coffee Date: Color Theory and ConfidenceSeptember 29, 2025

Browse by category

Browse by date

2 responses

  1. amaya.baptiste Avatar
    amaya.baptiste
    May 1, 2023

    I started sending more mail recently as a part of a letter-writing group and am using your blog to look into upping my letter game. Super excited to research and learn!

    Log in to Reply
    1. Lindsey Bugbee Avatar
      Lindsey Bugbee
      May 1, 2023

      What a great idea and thing that your group is doing! That sounds like so much fun! Best of luck! 😊

      Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Sorry! Only TPK Premium members can comment on articles and tutorials. You can become a member here. Already a member? Sign in.

✍️ Learn with us! Right now, TPK Premium membe ✍️ Learn with us! Right now, TPK Premium members are working their way through a new version of The Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course. It’s an *awesome* course that’s even more thorough than the original version (which is saying a lot because the original course has 281 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ reviews)! We just had the Lesson 3 class discussion this morning, ️and I’m so impressed with how much progress students are making — and I love their observations! One person compared using the Brause EF66 nib to driving a Lexus, which I got a kick out of. 🚘 

Premium membership ($5/month) grants you complimentary access to the course through January 6th; take it live with us! Once this course wraps up, we’ll be moving on to the new Intermediate Modern Calligraphy Online Course in February. 

Find details by visiting the link in my bio. I’d love to help you build those foundational skills that will allow you to create gorgeous envelopes, place cards, invitations, quotes, correspondence, and much more! The Lesson 4 class discussion is three weeks from now, so you’ve got plenty of time to catch up. 😊

#learncalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #writingcalligraphy #calligraphycourse #learningcalligraphy #writingcalligraphy #realtimecalligraphy
🍂 The newest tutorial on the TPK Blog walks you 🍂 The newest tutorial on the TPK Blog walks you through how to make this gorgeous illustration, step-by-step, with helpful instructional videos. To find the tutorial, visit the link in my profile, then navigate to the blog. ENJOY! 🤗

(PS - Loving the colors in the @greenleafblue Anthesis set ... I used French Orange Ochre, American Violet Hematite, Pyrrole Scarlet, and Italian Green Earth to make this pumpkin. All *fabulous* autumn tones!)
Loved chatting with @sdionbakerdesign and @greenle Loved chatting with @sdionbakerdesign and @greenleafblue last Friday! Samantha is exactly as thoughtful and creative as you’d imagine from her Draw Your… books — and this answer to Jennifer’s question says it all. ✨ Just have fun and make art!

☕ Want to watch/listen to the whole conversation? Head over to the TPK Blog to hit play on the recording! (Link in bio, then navigate to “Blog”.)

#artistchat #artist #samanthadionbaker #greenleafandblueberry #thepostmansknock #arttalk #creativity #sketchbooking #sketchbook #artadvice
My seven-year-old and I have officially entered th My seven-year-old and I have officially entered the @edward.gorey.house envelope art contest! 🎃 My design leans a bit more macabre, while my son’s is, well, gory. (Venus flytraps are apparently no joke.) Visit the TPK Blog to see my process — I love to start with a Procreate draft and take it from there. 

This is a great little contest, and, while it runs through December, it’s *especially* fun to work on this time of year. 👻 My kid and I both thoroughly enjoyed making our masterpieces! If you find yourself with some time in the next couple of months, make your own envelope ... there will be more than one winner! 🥇

#edwardgorey #envelopeart #mailart #kidsart #halloweenart #halloweenmail #envelope #snailmail #snailmailrevolution
Just added a new lesson to the Beginner’s Modern Just added a new lesson to the Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course! ✍️ In Lesson 3, you’ll find over three hours of instruction to get you extremely comfortable using the straight calligraphy pen. If you want to learn pointed pen calligraphy, *join us*! TPK Premium members have the exclusive and incredible opportunity to take this detailed course for $5/month. Link in bio for details!

#calligraphy #moderncalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #learncalligraphy #calligraphytips
Beautiful autumn leaves outside 🍂 inspire beaut Beautiful autumn leaves outside 🍂 inspire beautiful leaves inside ✨. You can find a tutorial over how to make this stunning bookmark in “The Calligraphy Book”. (Confession time: I don’t actually use this bookmark as a bookmark. It ended up being too pretty to be hiding inside a book! 🙈 Instead, I display it on my bulletin board.)

#bookmark #decoratedbookmark #autumnleaves #pointedpen #finetec #colirofinetec #metallicwatercolor
Which is your favorite? 👻 🍬 ✋ 🎃 Good Which is your favorite? 👻 🍬 ✋ 🎃 

Good news: whichever one you like best, you can learn how to create it in “Spellbound Strokes”, TPK’s Halloween 2025 worksheet set! The worksheet is available on the TPK site as of an hour ago. In it, you’ll learn how to create these fabulous Halloween-themed motifs ... and get plenty of calligraphy practice under your belt in the process. ✍️

For the worksheet link, see my stories today (10/9), or shoot me a DM. Happy Halloween, and enjoy!

#halloweencalligraphy #pointedpenpractice #pointedpen #dippen #halloweenart #macbeth
This is just as relaxing to watch as it is to wri This is just as relaxing to watch as it is to write. 🧘‍♀️ DM me for a link to a (free!) worksheet that teaches you how to write this loopy, modern quote. ✍️

#moderncalligraphy #learncalligraphy #calligraphy #handwritten #writingcalligraphy #pointedpencalligraphy #calligraphyvideo #tseliotquote
The Postman’s Knock

About

  • About Lindsey
  • Get to Know TPK
  • Behind the Scenes
  • How I Learned Calligraphy

Legalese

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Refunds & Return Policy
  • GDPR Data Erasure Request

Printable Worksheets

  • Pointed Pen Calligraphy Styles
  • Pointed Pen Calligraphy Drills
  • Brush Pen Calligraphy
  • Handwriting
  • Hand-Lettering

Courses

  • Beginner’s Pointed Pen Calligraphy
  • Intermediate Pointed Pen Calligraphy
  • Beginner’s Watercolors

Help

  • Contact Lindsey
  • Calligraphy FAQs
  • Calligraphy Troubleshooting

Subscribe to the Blog

Join over 125,000 creative minds who receive inspiring, value-packed emails from TPK each week. As a free subscriber, you’ll get helpful tutorials, free worksheets, and creative ideas delivered straight to your inbox—plus the occasional sneak peek or special offer.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow TPK on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • RSS Feed
  • Mail

© Copyright 2025 The Postman’s Knock – All rights reserved

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Writing Copperplate Calligraphy

Unlock Exclusive Perks with Premium Plus

Fuel your inspiration and creativity with TPK Premium Plus! Members enjoy three free worksheets or learning resources every month, unlimited video course access, member-exclusive tutorials, and a 10% discount on all Supplies Shop orders.

join today ($15)
All About the Brause Rose Nib

inspiration in your inbox

Let The Postman’s Knock Spark Your Creativity

TPK’s innovative newsletters are an artistic treat. Join the 125K+ subscribers who have already discovered The Postman’s Knock, and receive 10% off your first Digital Catalog order.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.