Thrifty Gifty #8, Gift tags recycled from old cards

Well, that time of year is almost here! The one where you have lots of gifts to give and have to remember who's gift is who's! A good way to set each person's gift apart is to create easy, recycled gift tags. I like to save all the beautiful cards I receive each year but then I wonder what to do with them. So I came up with the idea of using the cards and transforming them into beautiful gift tags. So here are my thoughts on making these nice and useful items.

Materials:

Old cards

Glitter

Scissors

Glue

Hole punch

String or thin ribbon

Directions:

1. Sort through your cards and pick ones that can be cut into smaller "tags" and still look well.

(Sometimes you can make more than one tag from a card.)

2. Cut Rectangular shapes (or any shape you really like) from the card with the artistic part of the card in a nice place on the tag.

3. You can cut the corners off of one side of the tag to make it in the shape of a "tag" if you wish.

4. Punch a hole in the top of the tag.

5. Cut a lenth of string or ribbon about 6 or 7 inches. Knot the two loose ends together.
6. Put the folded end of the ribbon or string through the hole and bring the knotted end through the loop and pull so the tag is secured to the ribbon.

7. Glitter small areas of the tags to make them really "pop."

8. Write your message on the back of the tag to the recipient.

You can use these tags as part of your gift or box up several of them to give as a gift to someone so they have some nice tags to use for their gifts.

Some other thoughts: You can also use copies of old photos, beautiful scrapbooking paper(heavier weight,) or copies of old postcards ( you can shrink the size at a copy store) for more tag ideas. The idea is to have fun and be creative! Please share any pictures of what you have made using some of these ideas or any new ideas you have!

Be inspired! Clare

Making a Candle Wrap-Thrifty Gifty #7

This little Thrifty-Gifty holiday project is super simple! If you can cut and paste, you can make it! I was able to put this gift together for under $3.00! Read on to find out more....

First you will need to find a beautiful candle. I found these unscented candles at the Christmas Tree Shop for $1.50 a piece. I had a coupon so it was well worth the buy! Use a candle that is dripless for safety reasons and never leave a candle unattended for fire hazard reasons.

 In terms of paper, I was looking for pieces with a holiday feel. The key to making these lovely candle wraps is layering papers. If you look at the image above, you will see a piece of corrugated paper (the one with the ridges) and I used it as my base layer. The fun, patterned pieces below I used to layer on top of the base and then chose to add detail with the glittery fun paper seen above.

Other materials you will need include a paper cutter, scissors and double-sided tape. Glue will not be a good choice for this project because it gets too stiff when it dries, whereas tape is flexible for when you wrap the layered papers around the candle. 

 I also found these cute little embellishments, which I have tied on with raffia around the base of the candle. See top of page for image using these embellishments.

Here is my layered wrap all set and ready to be put onto the candle. I measured the corrugated base layer at 3" high, the patterned holiday tree paper at 2" high, the green glittery paper at 3/4" high and the gold glittery paper at 1/4 of an inch high. All were cut to 10" long as this will vary depending on the width of your candle.

Use double-sided tape for applying all of your layers as well as for gluing your wrap to the candle.

Remember these wraps can be made for any season or birthday. Just simply switch out the theme papers to accommodate the celebration! These are wonderful table place markers for your holiday tablescape or can be given as gifts for teachers, babysitters, hairdressers and friends! They are super easy to make in mass quantity and will deliver a smile every time!

BE INSPIRED!