Cherry Valley Designs: Comfort & Joy Day 4: Quick Gift Tags

I'd like to start this post first by saying how myself along with my family were just devastated by Friday's events. There truly are no words to comfort those affected by this senseless act of violence on our country's most innocent - our children. To think that it is less than ten days until Christmas and there are packages under trees that will never be opened simply breaks our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the community of Newtown, the families in grief, and to all those across our country that have been affected by gun violence.

"Beyond the door,

There's peace I'm sure,

And I know there'll be no more

Tears in heaven."

-Eric Clapton, "Tears in Heaven"

One of the things I cherish about quilts is the memories they evoke. They are more than just practical and decorative. They offer insight into the creativity and style of the person who made it - a little piece of who they are or were. Quilts can also remind us of who the quilts were made for and each time we wrap ourselves in them it is as though the person it belonged to and/or made it is giving us a big hug. In a word quilts can be therapeutic ... Just a thought.

During this time we could all use a little "Comfort and Joy" and today's projects are three fun, relatively easy gift tags. As you will see there are a variety of packages these can be used on and two of the three can be reused for decorative purposes.

Tree Ornament Gift Tag

First up, there is the tree ornament. What I love about this project is that in addition to its beauty, it is also "upcycled." You can reuse paper from a catalog or magazine - whatever you have on hand - to make it!

What you'll need:

Old catalogs/magazines
Scissors
Stapler (wide mouthed is preferable)
Spray paint
Hot glue and hot glue gun
Ribbon
Metallic cord

Step 1: Take out existing staples from the magazine, and cut the magazine in half so all pages are approximately 8.5" by 11".

Step 2: Cut pages in half horizontally and fold to form a "small" booklet. Staple in middle. You will want between 30 and 40 pages to create a full tree.

Step 3: Begin folding pages toward seam and fold over towards seam once more. Follow by folding the sharp edge pointing down up to create a straight edge along the bottom.

Step 4: Once you complete your tree it should look like this.

Step 5: Take your tree to a well ventilated area and spray with your chosen spray paint. Let dry completely (overnight is best).

Step 6: Tie a ribbon and loop a cord. Using a hot glue gun attach the cord and ribbon to the top of your tree. Your gift tag/ornament is complete!

Snowflake Gift Tag

This gift tag I'm really excited about, it is so, so cute! I could just see a bunch of these hanging from a ceiling ... Hmmmm ...

What you'll need:

(2) 6" squares of fabric
(1) 6" square of batting
Piece of paper
Fabric marking pen
Tiny rotary cutter
Sewing machine
Twine (for attaching it to package)

Step 1: Cut out a 6" square from the piece of paper. Fold over 3 times and cut out a snowflake. Remember to make relatively large holes as you will be cutting these out in the fabric!

Step 2: Make a sandwich of fabric - batting - fabric with the fabric's right sides facing out.

Step 3: Using a fabric marking pen, mark the fabric using your paper snowflake as the template.

Step 4: Sew along edges of the snowflake's design and cut out around sides and holes. Your snowflake is complete! Simply secure to package.

Scrapbook Gift Tag

For any of you scrapbookers out there, pull your goodies out because you're going to need them for these gift tags! These will easily slide over a bottle of wine or any kind of goody bag you may want to make filled with candy, cookies or whatever else you can dream up.