How-To: Birthday Gift Tag

On behalf of all of us who were almost born on Christmas Day, I'd like to say how much we all appreciate our birthday gifts, especially since we know you're so busy this time of year, not to mention broke. But (and that's a tiny little but), we love our gifts even more when the package doesn't look like a Christmas present. Maybe it's because we don't get a festive birthday break mid-year, or maybe it's because most December babies feel a little cheated in the birthday party department. In any case, take my word for it -- we really love, love, love it when that birthday gift isn't wrapped in red or green or holiday foil. (OK, I'm done whining, really!)

And think about it. Aren't you a little tired of holiday-themed projects and crafts? But if you still need to work on Christmas items, this tag can easily be adapted to any occasion.

First, stamp a greeting on a small piece of cardstock. Size is totally flexible, depending on what stamp(s) you're using. Layer that piece on a slightly larger piece of contrasting cardstock. Then, layer that onto a slightly wider piece that has some extra length for folding over.

Next, I used my scallop scissors to make a fancy edge. See that pencil line near the scallops? That's how I manage to cut a nice, straight decorative edge. The pencil line won't show once the tag is folded.

Score a fold line using a ruler and bone folder, and fold your decorative edge over the end of your stamped image. If you want, you can hold it in place with adhesive, but it's not absolutely necessary because now you'll add an eyelet.

Now punch a tiny hole and attach an eyelet, then add a pretty ribbon or two. You can tie your tag around a gift bag, or attach it to a wrapped gift.

How-To: Moo Card Gift Tag with Liquid Applique

I've already mentioned that I'm trying to use up some of the supplies I already have, and while rooting around in my cabinet I came across an unopened tube of Liquid Applique. I've had this for years, along with a pink tube (also unopened). I probably never used them because once I had them, I really couldn't come up with anything I'd want to use them for. But since the current challenge at make a moo or two is to try something new, I thought I'd give this stuff a go, and I made the little moo-sized gift tag pictured above.

Liquid Applique is really so easy I probably don't need to give you directions here, but since it might be helpful to see before and after photos, just in case you've never used it, here's a brief tutorial.

For my moo card, I first stamped some snow people onto white card stock. That tube of Liquid Applique in the photo below doesn't appear to be white, but I remembered buying white, so I went ahead and tried it anyway.

Next, I simply added the tiniest bit of Liquid Applique to the snowflakes and along the bottoms of the snow people.

Here's what it looks like (below) when it's still wet. Now, the package says you can heat set it right away to puff it up, or for best results you can let it dry overnight before heating it. I decided to let it dry overnight so I could move on to some other things.

The next day, I heated it with my heat embossing tool until it was puffy. You don't want to do this too long, because I've heard that it will scorch. I was pleased to see the Liquid Applique become much whiter after drying and heating.

To complete my gift tag, I added some color with Prismacolor pencils, and put some color into the background with a blender pen and blue ink. If you intend to do much coloring with pencils, you might want to do that before you add Liquid Applique, because it's hard to color around lumpy stuff.

To complete the tag/moo card, I trimmed the piece down and glued it to red card stock, then added a tiny eyelet and a silver cord, as pictured in the photo at the top of this blog post.

Gel Transfer on Formica Chip

Golden Gel Medium is one of my favorite products. I most frequently use it for image transfers. For the project pictured here, I transferred a free image from Dover Publications onto a formica sample from the local home improvement store. I then applied metal leaf (another favorite product), and finished the tag with several pieces of decorative cord.