Homemade Gift Tags

We had been married a couple years when my husband told me that his aunt used to make her own gift tags from last year's Christmas cards.

We spent the week between Christmas and New Years with his parents that year. And I hadn't brought anything with me to do. (I'm one of those people who like to keep my hands and my brain busy.)

I remembered what my husband said about his aunt and the gift tags; and got to womdering how she went about it.

My mother-in-law kept every card she ever received; but she did give me permission to play with some of the Christmas cards.

I studied different cards for ideas. The easiest ones were the cards that had a smaller framed picture as part of the card - and a lot of them are like that. I just cut out the small framed picture and birthed an instant tag.

Some had shapes that were easy to cut out which made beautiful tags.

I was Hooked!

Eventually I bought myself a paper cutter so I could cut straight lines and make tags from the beautiful words inside the card.

I write directly on the tag if it is light in color. If it is too dark or shiny to write on, I make a hole with a hole punch and put a colored piece of crochet cotton in the hole; then write on the back of the tag.

This hobby eventually spilled over to include all cards - not just Christmas cards.

You end up with the most unique gift tags. Even my son prefers to use the gift tags I make. Half the fun is choosing just the right gift tag for that particular person and that particular gift.

Now I usually make my gift tags in January. It is such a cold month - one where it is nice to hibernate with "fun" projects.

My husband always knew what I was up to even if he didn't see me haul out the cards and set up my workshop at the kitchen table. It wouldn't be long before one of the card-soon-to-be-tags would make me chuckle.

I can still hear his voice coming from the living room, "I bet I know what you are doing!"

Another heart-warming memory!