Tag Archives: gift tags

Garden Themed Party Favors

Events, Gardening, Holiday Crafts, Outdoor Fun, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Do you have a summer event coming up that could incorporate a garden theme? If so, here is an idea for combining my last two published projects, Make a Seed Packet Bouquet and Make Gift Tags Into Recycled Greeting Cards. Presented in a terra cotta plant pot, these “bouquets” could be a garden themed gift, party favor or table decoration. I made these samples because I needed Mother’s Day gifts in a hurry, but variations could be made for garden parties, weddings, tea parties, picnics and more.

In my project Make a Seed Packet Bouquet, I experimented with different embellishments for the corners of the seed packet holders. For this group I punched out a whole bunch of circles with a circle craft punch. Then I stamped a flower stamp on many pieces of colorful scrap paper. I cut the flowers out then glued each to a circle.

Flower stamp credt: 7Gypsies.

I then used the circles on the corners of the seed packet holders by punching a hole in the middle and attaching them with metal brads.

Stamp credits: Flower inside circle, realistic butterflies, bird egg, “Crazy Love” by7Gypsies. “Seeds”, brackets, “love” by CarolynHDesign. “Celebrate” by Making Memories. Scribble flowers and butterfly by Fiskars.

I selected two tags for each seed packet assembly, one smaller and decorative and the other larger and functional with “To” and “From” on the back.

I went to Schnarr’s Hardware to buy terra cotta plant pots and packets of lettuce seeds, then to JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts to buy a bag of natural moss. You can buy florists foam to stick the skewers into, but I had some chunks of scrap styrfoam on hand so I cut them apart with a hand miter saw and stuck a piece in each plant pot.

I wrapped each pot with tissue paper gift wrap that I had on hand, then placed some of the moss on top. I pushed each skewer in through the moss and tissue into the foam, then tied the tags around each “stem” with twine.

How did I decide which seeds to include? I chose a lettuce mix because it can be grown in a small container and harvested as micro greens. I bought two packets and divided the seeds up among the five smaller packets that I made. In order that the recipients would know what the seeds are and how to grow them, I scanned information from the back of the packet into the computer and used graphics software to make this graphic, which I then printed out.

These graphics came from the back of the Botanical Interests brand seed packets that I purchased.

After printing the above graphic I cut out the informational graphics out and glued one to the back of each homemade seed packet.

This project is adaptable to many varieties of seeds and many different themes. I hope you enjoy the ideas!

Make Gift Tags From Recycled Greeting Cards

Holiday Crafts, Paper Crafts, Tutorials, Upcycling, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Two ways of making gift tags from paper scraps and free downloadable files that I’ve prepared. Rubber stamp credits for left image: “Love” and tiny heart by CarolynHDesign, butterfly and notebook texture by 7Gypsies, “celebrate” by Making Memories. Right image: “You are loved”, flower and butterfly by Fiskars, decorative border by CarolynHDesign.

Here is another entry in a series of articles I’m working on about things you can make from old greeting cards and paper scraps. Tags are a useful thing to make and keep on hand for gift giving and gift presentation. Great presentation is one of the best parts of getting a gift – some thought and care makes a gift personal and special.

Instructions – Method 1

Gift Tags Set 1

Download and print out the template Gift Tags Set 1. Loosely cut out the tag shapes from the template and with the glue stick glue them down to the backs of parts of old greeting cards. Burnish well with a bone folder for a tight seal. To keep surfaces clean and to prevent ink and toner from getting onto surfaces, place the pieces you burnish between two pieces of clean scrap paper.

Trim around the outer edge of the tags to cut out. Now you have a tag with To: and From: printed on one side and a design or a plain color on the other, depending on what was on the recycled card.

After trimming. Some of the tags are interesting as they are. Most will need some more decoration.

Add strips of decorative paper to the sides of the the tags that need more decoration.

Give the edges of both sides of the tags a decorative treatment, with rubber stamps and/or paint markers.

Now they are done and you can write them out and tie them to the package with ribbon or twine.

Instructions – Method 2

Cut a bunch of tag shapes out of scrap cardstock and greeting card parts. If you think you will make a lot of tags, you might find it helpful to make yourself a set of templates for tracing tag shapes out of scrap chipboard or other thick paper scraps.

Here are tag templates I made for myself. Whenever I want to make tags, I trace around these onto scrap cardstock and old greeting cards. That gives me a supply of bases for adding embellishments.

Download and print out the To and From Labels onto nice paper.

Tear the To and From sections out, using a straight edge like a metal ruler as a guide.

Glue the To and From sections torn from the printed paper onto the backs of the tags.

Add decorative paper scraps around the To and From and trim with a scissors.

Decorate the other side of the tag if needed.

Stamping can be kind of time-consuming. A good shortcut to try when adding visual texture and interest is to stamp the edges of several tags at once by placing them next to each other on the work surface.
If either side of the tags looked too bare, I added rubber stamp markings where I thought they were needed.
Here are some tags with a Christmas theme.

Decorate Gift Packages with Stencils and Chalk

Holiday Crafts, Paper Crafts, Upcycling, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make your own stencils from recycled food container lids and use them to decorate personalized gift packages. Many of the stencil designs I used in my demo were traced from nostalgic Christmas cookie cutters that were passed down to me from parents and grandparents. They bring back a lot of happy memories of doing holiday crafts and baking with my Mom. Most of the time making things in preparation for the Holiday was more fun for me than the actual event!

Here is a selection of wrapped boxes and decorating materials to give you an idea of how you can combine markers, stickers, ribbon, twine and tags with your chalked designs.

I designed this project to be something you can do with kids, but I think anyone who enjoys being a little bit playful and making eco-friendly packaging would enjoy this – I know that I had a great time!

Read more on the Schnarr’s Hardware Blog:
Decorate Gift Packages with Stencils and Chalk