in the spotlight :: the twinery

As papercrafters, we all have scraps. Scraps of patterned paper, scraps of cardstock, rub-on bits and pieces, and letter sticker remnants...the list goes on. It can be overwhelming and get a little out of hand, too!

No worries, though, I'm here today to spark your imagination and get you thinking about how to make those scraps into something cute and useful all while reducing your stash. If you're not a papercrafter, you could easily make tags similar to these by recycling your greeting cards, adding your baker's twine and writing the "to" and "from" info on the reverse side. And of course, you'll want to use your sampler pack from The Twinery, so you'll have a selection of every eco-luxe color imaginable!

You'll notice that the selection of shipping tags I have here are simply styled, leaving room to write a personal message to the gift recipient while also allowing me to further embellish them with other items once I know who the gift tag will be for. 

The stickers I've used were provided to me by the kind people at SRM Stickers. I love how these stickers make each and every tag like a mini piece of graphic art! I used these and these and these and these and these, and these, too, to create the cute tags below. The colors are fun, bright and vibrant...you won't be disappointed.

To make your own shipping tags, cut your cardstock scraps to 2.50" wide by 4.75" long. I used my corner tag punch {from Stampin' Up} and a hole punch from the office supply store to finish the tags off before embellishing them with baker's twine from The Twinery in Lemondrop, Charcoal and Peapod.

And if you have young kids at home, as you know I do, these tags make great lunchbox and backpack notes. Isabella adores having a note from Mommy wishing her a great day or good luck on her Math Master quizzes! How about tucking them between the sheets for your older kids as a surprise when they turn down their beds at night?

Did you happen to notice that cute tassel attached to the gift bag at the top of the post? Here's a close-up:

I made it by wrapping my Peapod twine around a 1.50" piece of scrap chipboard 30 times. Be sure to leave longish strands at the beginning and end of wrapping so that you can tie a knot through the twine to keep it secure. When you're finished wrapping, slide it off your template. Fold over the strands of twine {where you knotted it off} and take an additonal 10" piece of twine to wrap around the top of the twine to mimic the decorative top of a tassel. Knot again. Trim the ends of the tassel so that they're even. 

Ta Da, you have a fancy schmancy {as my kids say} tassel perfect for spicing up any gift bag and tag combination you can dream up! Wanting a larger, longer tassel? Just wrap your twine twice or three times as much as I did and perhaps use a 3.50" inch piece of chipboard as your template.

Now for the fun stuff:

I'm having a giveaway open through Thursday evening at 8pm EST for 11 of these pre-embellished gift tags, 8 blank gift tags to create your own, assorted goodies and a sampling of every color of baker's twine from The Twinery just to get you started...good luck!

I'm hosting the blog today over at The Twinery, if you'd like to stop by for a visit and check out the rest of the crafty and adorable projects my teammates have been posting!