Designing Gift Tags

I love to design handmade tags to coordinate with my packaging. It’s super easy, super fun, and way more interesting than a store bought stick-on tag. Here is a quick post for you this Monday morning as I get ready for company…

Here are some quick and easy steps to take when designing your tags~

• Decide on your colors. Wrapping paper will often have three prominent colors. My paper for this gift has blue/white/silver. Pull those colors from your cardstock stash. Our Blueberry Bushel was almost a perfect match for this wrapping paper.
• Decide on the shape of your tag. I like the 2″ x 4-1/2″ strip that I used on this tag, punched at one end with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch. Another favorite is the 3″ x 3″ folded mini card.
• Decide on the prominent feature. This paper has reindeer and Christmas trees on it, so I chose our Detailed Deer Thinlits to cut a deer from Sparkle Glimmer Paper. To make the deer stand out against the white cardstock, I punched a Silver Foil scalloped circle to go behind him. Here I used an old retired punch (gotta give those old products some love once in awhile!) but the Layering Circles Framelits would have been my second choice!
• Layer it all together, stand back and take a look. Does it need a little touch of something somewhere? I thought the bottom of mine looked a little plain, so I added a skinny strip of Glimmer Paper at the seam of the two cardstock pieces.
• Coordinate some beautiful ribbon to your project, stamp a message or simply a “To/From” and you are done!

Another tip is ~ Don’t be afraid to let your elements hang over the edges, like my deer does. It gives your tag some visual interest and “personality!”

Know when to quit! Sometimes stopping is hard. Don’t over-do or it will look too busy and confusing.

Kit Opportunity

I am in the process of planning a Tag Class. It is in my home, early in December. I know most of you can’t make it in person, but if you are interested in receiving the parts and pieces for eight different tags, I would be happy to make up some kits and mail them to you. Cost would be $15 plus shipping through PayPal to send them anywhere in the U.S. As per Stampin’ Up! policy, I cannot mail stamped pieces, so the stamping would be up to you. Let me know via email – karenshallam@gmail.com, with “Tag Kit” in the subject line. Kits will be mailed out as soon as December 5. Thank you!

Wishing you a crafty Monday and a Happy Thanksgiving week!