Friday, December 8, 2017

Holiday Gift Tags





Tags are a quick and easy way to add a personal touch to a package. I recently made several sets of holiday tags to spiff up the gifts that will be soon under the tree in the Wyatt living room. The three groups of tags that emerged were all quite different--from girly and romantic, to masculine/traditional, to black and white graphic patterns.

The first set was the girly/romantic group. The German and English scrap angels really called to my inner-frilly side. One of the techniques that I return to time and again is using printed teabags in my artwork. When I saw the German and English scrap angels on Gwen's website, I immediately knew that--combined with printed teabags--they would be perfect for some holiday tag-making.

Scrap angels, blank tags, and printed teabags
I gathered some dry, empty teabags and, with some white acrylic, used some of Gwen's beautiful wood blocks to print the bags. (For a step by step tutorial on my "faux lace" process using teabags, click here)

A standard-size blank tag, and an oversized chipboard tag
Gluesticks work well for adhering the teabags to the base paper
Various laces and ribbons from my stash were
auditioned to see what went best with the printed teabags
An English Scrap Angel was "auditioned" for a standard-size tag

Before being glued, a carefully trimmed German Scrap Angel,
printed teabag and lace scrap were "auditioned" for a large tag

For a more masculine look, I chose some festive red and gold marbled paper from Gwen's sample pack, and combined it with a scrap of commercial scrapbook paper, a bit of polka-dot ribbon and one of the gorgeous Dresden Medium Medallions for a simple, yet striking tag.

A Comet Medallion was "auditioned" for the tag
to see how it looked with the marble paper and ribbon
Since layers of paper covered the tag's hole, an awl was used to poke a new hole in the tag
The medium medallion was attached with a large brass brad, and black words,
printed on clear mailing labels, were added
This close-up shows the mini brads that were added for a decorative touch under the inspirational holiday words
The next weekend, I was tired of red and green and obvious holiday themes and decided to see how some of Gwen's stencils would work in black and white for a holiday look. I painted some tags with white gesso, and others with black gesso. Some black and white gingham ribbon set the designs off nicely. On the tags below, I used both Gwen's cardinal stencil and Ornamental Petal stencil/mask with white paint on a black background.
White stencils and white gel pen on black painted tags
On the tags below that were painted white, I used a wedge cosmetic sponge and small dabber tool with a black stamp pad to print the holly section of the cardinal and holly stencil. Although it is not officially a holiday stencil, the Decorative Medallion stencil reminded me of a snowflake so I used that also. I added a few words here and there with either a black or white gel pen. Since I am not always perfect at stenciling, I fixed the places that were too sketchy or light with either a black gel pen, white gel pen,  and white or black paint on a tiny brush.

Holiday words were added to the stenciled tags using a black gel pen
I usually write the recipient's name on the back of the tag to keep the front looking festive. Now all I need to do is finish my holiday shopping so I have some gifts to wrap up and tie the tags onto!

During the month of December, you can save on German Dresden Trim and German and English Scrap using the code on the coupon below. There's still plenty of time to order so that you can create your own gift tags, cards, wrapping paper or other festive gift items!



5 comments:

Jill McDowell said...

Linda, These tags are stunning. I love how you were able to get such completely different looks. I am very fond of you tea bags and they are a perfect fit fit the scrap and lace. I never would have thought of using that paper for a tag. And your black and white stenciling are elegant. The tags could be a present themselves. Great ideas. Hugs, Jill

SandeeNC said...

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!

Jackie PN said...

Linda.
Your tags are so beautiful! Each one so different than the next and each of your elements matching up perfectly! You have always had such creativeness when working with these small substrates!
I have to say I never would have thought to use just black and white, but WOW! You did and you rocked it! These are stunners!
Jackie xo

Lynda Shoup said...

Linda, I love these tags. The variety and way you put them together - stunning! You were really able to reimagine the holiday tag in fresh new ways. I love all of them. I agree with Jill, the tags are presents in themselves!

Gwen Lafleur said...

Love, love, love these tags Linda! They came out just gorgeous!