DIY Harry Potter Mail Holder

Learn how to transform a plain metal envelope into a Harry Potter Mail Holder! DIY wall decor and a fun housewarming gift!

Hello Crafty Friends! I’m back with another fun Harry Potter craft – this time it’s a DIY Harry Potter Mail Holder! I love a good Harry Potter craft and this one is great because it’s functional and a nice home decor item.

The wooden and copper letter I used as a base for this project was found at Joann Fabrics in the new Fall decor section. You can find similar galvanized letters at your local craft store or online (I’ve linked to a bunch under the Supplies Needed section).

I had so much fun giving this ordinary mail holder a Harry Potter spin to look like a letter a young witch or wizard may receive from Hogwarts. My Cricut Explore came in handy creating the intricate Hogwarts crest. I used metallic adhesive foil, which went well with the copper mail holder.

The best part of this craft was creating the red wax seal! I usually try to use what I have on hand for crafting, but I have wanted to try out this Hogwarts Wax Seal Kit I saw on Amazon for a while and this was the perfect opportunity. Creating wax seals was a new experience and a lot easier than I thought it would be. 

This craft is part of Raegun Rambling’s Happy Harry Potter series! I love participating in this series and seeing all of the creative projects the other bloggers come up with. You can also check out my Harry Potter Crafts Page for lots of fun ideas. 

How to Make a Harry Potter Mail Holder

Supplies Needed:

• • Galvanized metal envelope – I found mine at Joann Fabrics but here are a few similar styles:
    • Rustic Wood and Metal Envelope Wall Decor
    • Metal and Wood Envelope Wall Decor
    • White Galvanized Metal Envelope
  • Acrylic Paint – I used white, beige and gray.
  • Cutting machine
  • Hogwarts Crest
    • SVG Cut File: I purchased a cut file from the Etsy shop CutmeStudio which isn’t there anymore. There are lots of other options though available on Etsy!
    • Sticker: Use a Hogwarts Crest Sticker like this Zazzle sticker.
  • Cricut Adhesive Metallic Foil – I used the Copper and Silver from a sampler pack.
  • Cricut Vinyl Transfer Tape – I used Cricut Stencil Material since that is what I had on hand and it worked!
  • Hogwarts Wax Seal
    • I used a Hogwarts House Badge Wax Seal Stamp
  • Ribbon for hanging
  • Glue
  • Ruler and Pencil

Step by Step Tutorial

Step One: The first step is to paint the envelope. As I mentioned above, I found my metal envelope at Joann Fabrics. I painted over the letter part of it using white, beige and gray paint. It took about 4 coats of paint to cover the word “HOME”. I didn’t want the letter to be pure white so I mixed in some beige and gray paint and gave it a splotchy look so it would appear aged.

Below you can see the letter painted.

Step Two: Cut out the Hogwarts crest and wording “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry” using your cutting machine. I purchased the crest SVG cut file from Etsy and used the font Magic School One for the wording. Using my Cricut Explore, I cut out both using two colors from the Metallic Adhesive Foil sampler.  It did take me a few tries to get a good cut on the crest. I had just put a new blade in and had to experiment with the settings a bit.

Below you can see the crest cut from the adhesive foil and wording before I weeded it.

Weed both images using a weeding tool.

Once I liked the placement of everything, I adhered the crest and wording to the letter using Cricut Stencil Material. I had this on hand so I used it but normally I would use Cricut Stencil Material – which also has a grid but it is clear not blue.

To make sure the wording was straight, I drew a light pencil line on the letter with a ruler.

The first step is to lay a piece of Transfer Tape (stencil material in my case) over the vinyl wording you just cut. I take advantage of the grid that comes on the material and line it up with the wording. Use a Cricut scraper to make sure the material is pressed firmly onto the vinyl wording and then lift up the transfer tape. The wording will now be attached to the transfer tape.

Following my light pencil lines, I laid the stencil material onto the letter and again used my scraper to gently press down so the wording would adhere to the letter.

Slowly peal up the Transfer Tape (Stencil Material). If the letters stick to it, lay it back down and use the scraper to go back over the wording and then try to peel it up again.

Step Three: Time to add the Hogwarts seal! I found this Harry Potter Seal kit on Amazon. It came with everything I needed – the candle, a metal spoon to heat up the wax, the stamp with the Hogwarts crest on it and three sticks of wax in black, gold and red. They have a bunch of kits to choose from – some have each of the house crests in addition to the Hogwarts crest. You can also purchase just the stamp. I have seen these crests made with hot glue and then painted red, so that is another option. I had a lot of fun using this kit and will use it in the future.

There are great directions that come with the kit so I followed those. Below you can see some pictures of the process. I created my wax seals on wax paper instead of directly on the mail holder. The mail holder was slanted, so it wouldn’t have worked to pour the wax onto it.

Above you can see how the first seal I tried creating turned out too thin and flat – I didn’t use enough wax! After that first one, I got the hang of it and the rest turned out great. I made a few and then picked the best one to attach to my mail holder.

I glued the best wax seal onto the front of the mail holder.

Step Four: The last step is to add a hangin ribbon. I had removed the twine that was there when I bought this and used a pretty maroon and gold ribbon I found in my ribbon stash. I had to cut it down so it would fit through the hole.

The Harry Potter Hogwarts Mail Holder is finished! I love how it turned out! I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to keep this or gift it – it would make a great house-warming gift for a Harry Potter fan. For more Harry Potter-themed crafts, visit my Harry Potter Craft page!