A nice touch at Christmas is to use handmade gift tags. These can be used on packages, hostess gifts (e.g., bottles of wine), baked goods and more. Or, you can make a set of gift tags to give as a gift.
Tags can be much easier to make than handmade holiday cards, as they don’t need to be as involved and detailed. In fact, in an evening watching two television shows, I made several dozen tags. This is also a fun project to do with your kids!
Materials & Tools:
- Your choice of Christmas papers (cardstock, scrapbooking papers)
- Punches and or rubber stamps (and ink pads, if using stamps)
- Scissors, Hole punch, paper cutters
- Scrapbooking tape and/or glue
- Embellishments — jewels, stickers, buttons
- Ribbons
Here are a few of my favorite holiday punches.
I love the 2 inch circle and scalloped circle paper punches by EK. I use them all year round. This season, I bought the Martha Stewart holly and snowflake punches.
Any time you purchase something at Michael’s Craft Store, they give you a 40% off 1-item coupon with your receipt. And, at our local fabric store, they often have the EK and Fiskar paper crafting products on sale at 30 or 40% off.
I went to a StampIn Up party several years ago and bought some of these Christmas rubber stamps.
I always browse the $1 bin at Michael’s. In fact, the Peace stamp (above) is from the $1 bin.
There are all kinds of embellishments available. I always check the 99 cent section of Target’s scrapbooking aisle, as well as the Target and Michael’s $1 bins. I stock up when I find great crafting supplies.
Directions:
1. The directions for making gift tags vary depending upon the type of tag you choose to make. The first step is to decide the shape and color scheme (by selecting the papers).
2. Cut out the background shape. If layering, cut out or punch each layer.
3. Using glue or scrapbook tape, assemble the tag.
4. Embellish with punch outs, inked rubber stamps, jewels and other desired items.
5. Punch hole 1/8 to 1/4 inch from edge of tag. Attach ribbon.
Note: I stamp many of my gift tags with a To: From: stamp. If the front of the tag doesn’t allow room, I use the To: From: stamp on the back. But, I also leave some blank, especially larger gift tags, as it allows the giver to include a handwritten note.
When I make a tag that I really like, I usually make several of the same right then. It seems to be more efficient since you have all the materials right there.
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When I was in Seattle, my sister and I went to the Impress store (rubber stamp and craft store) in University Village. They had so many beautiful cards and tags on display. The store manager told us about the “burnishing process” where you rub ink along the card edges to create an old look.
We’ve been having a great time using this new technique!
I’ll use sheer brown ribbon on these gift tags.
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A few weeks ago, I took over the family room coffee table with my Christmas papers, paper punches and ribbon. My husband grumbled when I left my “Christmas crafting stuff” out (for a couple of nights), but it was for a good cause! I was making Christmas gift cards and tags for a P.E.O. boutique. (P.E.O. is a philanthropic educational organization that raises scholarship money to help women further their education).
I used smaller cello bags for packaging and folded a piece of red or green craft paper to seal (staple) the cello bag closed. Very easy!
