April showers bring, well....moisture

Spring, it’s finally making it’s way here to Southern Ohio and along with that comes the rain. And our damp / wet basement where my studio is located. Last year, as I was crazy busy in wedding season I suddenly realized that I had a moisture problem and it was affecting the gum on the back of the envelopes. Everything was sticking together and I was panicking. Luckily nothing was ruined, but knew I had a problem that needed addressed.

I asked my hubby to get a de-humidifier to run in the basement. He nixed that idea because it would use too much electricity, almost like running an air conditioner all the time. He’s the one with the certificate in green energy, so I had to listen to him, although not happily.

So, I had to get creative. And here is what I’m doing. First, I am storing envelope jobs that I’m working on in Tupperware® type containers. Second, along with that I put in little packets of silica gel pellets.

You can buy them in the floral dept. of craft stores. I got this 1 1/2 lb. bag at Hobby Lobby for $5.99. (Use one of their 40% off coupons and get it for less, like I did) The pellets are used to dry flowers, and are clear, but they put colored ones in so you can see when they need refreshed. When they have soaked up all the moisture they turn pink. In their dry state they are blue. I put the pellets into pretty little organza bags, and check and change them as needed every day or two while I’m working on a job. 

This photo shows the fresh pellets in the organza bags and what they look like when they need refreshed. 


When they are all pink, I put them on a cookie sheet in a 250 degree oven for about 45 minutes. They turn blue again and are ready to use, after cooling, of course. 

This photo shows them fresh from my oven and this is almost the entire bag.

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, I skipped the entire month of March and almost all of April. Ooops. Anyway, gotta get back to work and finish more envelopes.


Evie antics: She is a real outdoor girl. These nice afternoons right after her nap and a cookie break we head outside to play. I try to pull weeds in the landscaping and she helps by giving me handfuls of our landscaping rocks.

Thanks for reading.


Jen