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Kraft gift tags with little drawn ornaments hanging off them, finished with a gem and a stamped greeting. They cost almost nothing, they go together in batches, and they make a plain brown paper parcel look deliberate.
This follows True Joy Home and Studio's method. She sells these by the hundred, so the process is built for repetition rather than a single showpiece. The trick that carries the design is drawing the ornament strings at different lengths. Level strings look like a diagram; uneven ones look like ornaments hanging.
No cutting machine needed despite what the first step might suggest. Scissors and a hole punch get you the same tag.
A classic luggage tag is 2 by 3.5 inches, big enough for a name and a short line. Go to 2.5 by 4.5 for bigger gifts or tags that double as a note. Use kraft cardstock of 80 to 110 lb cover weight. Anything thinner curls once the ink goes on and tears at the hole.
An 8.5 by 11 sheet gives you 12 small tags, or 8 of the larger size. Two sheets cover most families' gift piles.
A tag punch is fast and every tag matches, but you are stuck with one size. A cardstock template costs nothing: cut a rectangle, snip the two top corners at an angle, then trace around it. If you make tags every year, the punch pays for itself. If this is a one-off December project, the template is fine.
Gel pen sits on top of kraft and can smear when the tag rubs against wrapping paper. A fine pigment pen like a Micron soaks in and stays put. Write the names before you add the gems so your hand is not resting on glue. Do not stamp over wet distress ink either; give the edges a minute to dry.
Baker's twine is the classic look on kraft and ties off neatly. Plain jute is cheaper and rustic. Thin satin ribbon looks dressier on boxed gifts. Cut about 10 inches and use the larks head loop from the last step. It holds without a knot and slides onto a bow. Tie tags to a wrapping paper bow and the parcel is finished from scraps.
Making cards to go with them? Start with how to make a card by hand. Cutting your own tags also pairs well with paper snowflakes - same paper, same scissors.
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Make kraft Christmas gift tags with drawn ornaments, a stamped greeting and gem baubles. An easy project: about 45 minutes, plus 30 minutes to dry or set. Materials cost about $15 to $25. You need 11 things, including distress ink, walnut stain, black ink pad and Merry Christmas stamp. The 8 steps start with cut and Punch the Tag Bases, ink the Edges, stamp the Greeting, draw the Ornament Strings, draw the Ornament Caps, choose the Gems and glue the Gems On.
8 steps, about 7 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
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Start with plain kraft cardstock. Cut a rectangle, trim the two top corners off at an angle to get the classic luggage-tag shape, and punch a hole at the top.
A cutting machine gets through a batch fast, but scissors and a hole punch produce exactly the same tag. Nothing about this design needs a machine.
Kraft brown is doing real work here. The drawn lines and the gems both read better against brown than they do against white.
Rub distress ink around the edge of each tag with an old sponge, working from the outside inward so the colour fades as it moves toward the middle.
Walnut stain gives that aged border. This is the one step that stops the tags looking like plain brown card, and it takes a few seconds per tag.
Less ink than you think. Build it up in light passes - you can always add another, but you cannot lift it back off.
Stamp Merry Christmas along the bottom of each tag in black ink.
Press the stamp straight down and lift it straight up. Rocking it, which feels like it should give better coverage, is what blurs the edges of the letters.
Stamp the greeting before you draw anything. If a stamp goes down crooked you want to be throwing away a blank tag, not one you have already decorated.
With a fine gel pen, draw two or three long lines down from the top edge of the tag. These are the strings the ornaments hang from.
Stop each line at a different height - one short, one much lower, one in between. Lines that all end level look like a chart. Lines at different heights look like ornaments.
A 0.7mm gel pen gives a crisper line than a fine Sharpie, which bleeds slightly into kraft card.
At the bottom of each line, draw a small loop with two little curls coming off it, a bit like a tiny bow or a heart.
That shape is the cap of the bauble, and it is what makes the whole thing read as an ornament instead of a dot on the end of a string.
Keep the caps small. Oversized ones make the gem look like it is falling out of the bottom of them.
Pick three flat-back gems per tag in colours that work together, and lay them out before you glue anything.
Keeping them all roughly one size looks tidiest across a batch. Mixing a couple of larger ones in works too, as long as you do it deliberately rather than because you ran out.
Sequins, or circles punched from patterned Christmas paper, work just as well. Anything small and round will do the job.
Put one small dot of tacky glue at the end of each drawn string and press a gem into it.
A little squeeze-out around the edge is not a problem, because tacky glue dries clear. Store the bottle upside down with the lid on and the nozzle stops clogging between sessions.
Let the glue set properly before you handle the tags. A gem knocked sideways while half-dry leaves a smear you cannot clean off kraft card.
Once the glue is dry, cut about ten inches of string and fold it in half. Push the folded loop through the hole from the front, pull it round to the back, then open the loop and feed the two loose ends through it.
Pull it tight and the tag is finished and ready to tie onto a gift or a gift bag.
That fold-through-and-feed method is a lark's head knot. It sits flatter than a tied knot and it will not slip off the tag.
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How to Make Christmas Gift Tags
E6000
E6000 Craft Adhesive, Clear (3.7 oz)
The industrial-strength craft glue that bonds glass, wood, ceramic, metal, fabric, and concrete. The one adhesive most craft projects reach for.
Gorilla
Gorilla Dual-Temp Full-Size Hot Glue Gun
Dual-temp so it handles delicate florals and heavy materials alike. A precise nozzle and built-in stand make it the everyday craft-table gun.
OLFA
OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat
The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.
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Question 1 of 5
Why rub distress ink around the edge of a kraft tag?
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5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Why rub distress ink around the edge of a kraft tag?
Answer: It gives an aged border that lifts plain card
A few seconds of inked edge is what stops the tag reading as brown card.
2.How should you press a rubber stamp for crisp letters?
Answer: Press straight down and lift straight up
Rocking feels like better coverage but it is what blurs the letter edges.
3.Why end the drawn hanging strings at different heights?
Answer: Lines ending level read as a chart
Staggered lengths are what make the lines read as hanging ornaments.
4.What shape turns a dot on a string into a bauble?
Answer: A small loop with two curls off it
That little loop and curls is the cap, and it is what sells the ornament.
5.How is tacky glue stored so the nozzle stays clear?
Answer: Upside down with the lid on
Stored nozzle-down with the lid on, it stays ready between sessions.
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