Christmas Project #1 - Gift Tags & A Giveaway!!!

First, I have a confession to make. 😞  Initially when I started this project I was in shock at the amount of paper in this house.  White cardstock, colored cardstock, colored copy paper, white copy paper, stationery and scrapbooking paper.  At first I thought I had a stack of stuff a foot tall, which is a lot, but by the time I collected it all together it was over two feet tall!  And this doesn't include what is in the school supply bin or my gift wrap supplies.  That is a lot of paper!  It is insane!!

What a freaking mess!!

Needless to say, there will be some papercrafting projects this year.  And I have to tell you, I had waaaaaaay too much fun with this one.  I really got my crafting groove on and I had a blast!

Gift tag bases cut from the backs of Christmas
cards and some cardstock I already had on hand.

You may not have a two foot tall stack of assorted papers and that is just fine because this project is super simple and you can pretty much use just about anything to make these.  I used all kinds of crap.

Glue the base and place it on some Christmasey paper.
Cut it out and then do the same thing on the back if you like.

I started off by making my gift tag bases (2 1/2" X 3" and snipped the corners) using cardstock because I have tons of the stuff.  You could use cereal or cracker boxes too.  Then I got out my Alene's Tacky Glue (I like this  because it doesn't make my paper bubble and you can get it pretty cheap at Walmart as well as Dollar Tree) and a bunch of scraps leftover from making my Christmas journal.

I used my laptop and printer too and a sheet of cardstock to make To:  and From:  pieces to add to the tags.  But you could totally handwrite this part.

I used those fancy shape cutting scissors to add a scalloped edge
and my hole punch to make the hole at the top.

There is literally no end to the different designs you can come up with.

Embellish with more scraps and add bakers twine to the punched hole.

And because I don't need as many gift tags as I ended up making (its addicting to make these) I'm going to give some away to one of my lucky readers.  Just leave a comment below to enter to win a packet of these super cute gift tags.  I'll draw a winner next week and then they'll be on their way.

How cute are these?!  See that gold foil?
It is the inside lining of an envelope we received with a Christmas card.

Here are the backs, or the fronts, however one decides.  So much fun!

So, what else have I been doing to prepare for Christmas in 2018?  Well... I went through all of my gift wrapping supplies and determined we are low on gift tags (well not anymore), gift bags and could use a couple more gift boxes.  I found 4 large gift boxes on clearance at Walmart, two packages of two each for 32¢ each!  Regular price was $3.24 per package.  Not complaining about that one bit.

I took an envelope and decorated it to safely hold the gift card inside my journal.

I made my Christmas journal as you all know, because I shared about that, and I set a budget for expenses and I funded it with a gift card I was given two years ago.  I hadn't spent it because I could never figure out what I wanted to use it for.  Now I have and it will be used for anything I need to buy for gifts.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you how good it feels to have Christmas already funded.

Here is a teaser!

I've also been doing some other Christmas related projects which I will be sharing with you as time goes on.  So in the meantime, get busy and get your gift tags done.  If you'll be ever so kind as to send me a picture of your finished work (gift tags or anything else for that matter) I'll be ever so kind as to show them in my next Christmas project post.  That will make it more fun, don't you think?  We can share and inspire each other.  Whoo hoo!

This past year's Christmas cards.  I did some recycling.

We only have 11 months left to go.  😜  Let's get crafting!