Years ago, I fell in love with tags…all sizes, shapes and colors.  I was so excited to find a new shade. But they were pricey. It only took me a few years to realize that I could make my own tags. I think it stemmed from the fact that if the tags already had string in them, nine times out of ten, I would remove the string!  I am kind of a hoarder to all sorts of scrapbook/office/hobby things, and when I actually decided to make my own, it made one less thing for me to collect since I already had the paper.

Basics first. Determine the size you want the tags to be.  I made two different sizes today: 3″ X 4 1/4″ and 3″ X 5″.  One makes better use of an 8 1/2″ X 11″ sheet of paper, the other was solely for the added height.  I’m always torn in the economical vs. preference department.

You will need two different sizes of circle punches. For these, I used the green Paper Shaper (I think its about 3/16″) and the 5/8″.  It isn’t critical which sizes you use, just depends on the look you like.

I used scraps of the cut paper to make the circles.  I inked them with Tim Holtz’s Antique Linen Distress Ink to make them just slightly darker than the tag, but you could use any color. I put a little repositionable Dotto on the back side of the circle to hold in on the tag.

You can measure in you are a perfectionist, but I just eyeball it.

Next, make a small pencil (not pen) mark in the center of the circle.

Next, take your smaller paper punch, hold it upside-down so you can see the mark, center the pencil mark in the punch (you will see the dot) and punch.

If you want more of the look of a traditional tag, you can trim the corners.

If you want to get the corners to measure the same, a quick, no-measure trick I use is to cut 2 tags at the same time.  Once you cut the first set of corners, just flip the top one sideways and you can use the already cut corner as a guide…just two flips and you’re done.

I found a cute idea in the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts issue.

This issue is full of projects I would like to try.  But the one on Page 85 caught my attention.  Here is my take on it.  If you have doilies and a jar of old shirt buttons, you should be just about set!

Step one: cut a triangle piece of the doily – I tried to keep some symetry with the scallops.  Put a little of the repositionable Dotto on the tag to hold the doily in place…don’t try to add the Dotto to the doily…they are too fragile!  Step 2: stitch a swag pattern across the doily; on the last swag, work some trunk into it if you like.  You can eyeball this, too.  Step 3: use some super tacky glue to attach buttons to the tree.  Add a little baker’s twine or ribbon and you are done!

How cute are these?  So many possibilities!