DIY Gift Tags

 For many years I have made my own gift tags. I bought a paper punch many years ago that is a tag maker that has a punch that puts a hole in the top to hang it.

Fiskars Tag Maker

For years I would make about a hundred tags out of plain card stock in green, red and blue. Then I would use a holiday stamp to decorate the front of the tag and write the To and From on the back.  One year I decided to make tags that were stamped with pictures on the front, and instead of writing on the back I punched out ornament or circle shapes and stamped the kid's initial on the shape. I didn't need to write who it was from, because we all knew who the crazy woman was that made the tags, lol.  

Tags made with stamps and ink and punched shapes.

Different backs of the tags

The next few years I punched tags out of Christmas printed paper and then used a "To and From" stamp on the back. These were a lot less work, but I was back to writing the names again. The writing was the part I disliked the most.

Tags punched from one sided printed paper

Then a few years ago I had a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. I went back through my cell phone pictures and found great individual pictures of each one of my kids, grandkids, and couple pictures of my kids and their spouses. Next, I went to the Walgreens photo department online and downloaded the photos of the kids. I ordered sheets of wallet size photos of each of the pictures. I used the tag punch, centered it over the picture and made sure the hole was not in the forehead of the kids. I love these tags! All I have to do is attached the picture to the gift, no writing needed. I will only have to update them every few years.

Photo tags. I don't publish pictures of my family, hence the added flowers.

Last year for my grandkids I had a little fun with one of their gifts. I had their picture tags to put on the gift, but instead of just hanging them on the gift, I incorporated them into the wrapping paper. The kids had fun finding their pictures. 

It was hard to take a picture of this shiny paper without the glare. 

I am sure I will get tired of the picture tags one day, and I have no idea what I will come up with next. But right now they are still my favorite.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I have done a few blogs on my dog Edy. She is always sleeping and always in the weirdest positions. Her 15th Birthday was June 17th, so in honor of her Birthday, I am going to make not only fun of her, but all the dogs in our family.

A rare time when Edy is actually awake in her bed.

 

Edy's normal couch sleeping position.

While we are sitting in the family room watching TV, Edy is usually in her dog bed sleeping. Almost every night we will glace over at her and comment on her sleeping position. Most nights she is on her back with her legs straight up.

Edy's normal dog bed sleeping position

Every now and then she will be hanging over the side with her head on the floor. It does not look comfortable at all, yet she will stay like that for hours. A few weeks ago we took her picture and sent it to our kids and they sent the following pictures.

The weird head on the floor picture we sent to the kids.

This is Dakota our daughter's dog and Edy's half sister. She is 12 and 1/2 and smart enough to at least put her head on the blanket while she is hanging her head off the bed.

This is our older Son's dog Dahlia. She is 12 years old and has taken a different approach to the head on the floor position. This one is with her head forward and her front legs out front. I am not sure it looks any more comfortable. 

This is Nelly, our youngest Son's dog. She is 5 and 1/2 and the baby of our dog family. She is the funniest of the group, very awkward and uncoordinated. She looks the most uncomfortable to me. 

My husband and I loved how the kids instantly sent these picture in response to our text. I guess Edy isn't alone in her weirdness. 

Making a Ring Bearer Pillow and Flower Girl Basket Special

My Son got married last year to a wonderful woman that he has been with for over 10 years. I was so blessed to be able to help make some of the accessories for the wedding. Two of the accessories I was in charge of were the Flower Girl Basket and the Ring Bearer Pillow.

My Daughter In-law had a sister that was born a few years after her. Her sister Chelsea died of a genetic disorder when she was just under a year old. My Daughter In-law wanted to include the memory of her sister in the wedding, by including Chelsea's handkerchief bonnet into one of the wedding accessories. After throwing some ideas around I suggested we include it in the ring bearer pillow. 

First, I did some shopping online to order a simple satin pillow and basket with a bow. It took awhile to find the one I wanted, but it was worth the wait. My Daughter In-law's Mother brought the bonnet with her on a visit, and now I had everything I needed to create a special ring bearer pillow in memory of Chelsea.   

This is the ring bearer pillow before adding Chelsea's bonnet.

This is Chelsea's handkerchief bonnet. 

It was very important that I not cut or alter the bonnet in any way. Luckily handkerchief bonnets are held in shape by one thread in the back, so all I had to do was snip that thread and it now would lay flat. The next thread that needed to be snipped was the stitch attaching the bow to the pillow. The bow was attached to the ribbon across the pillow so when I snipped the stitch I could lift the ribbon away from the pillow without the bow coming off.

The edge that is folded up is where the thread was that was pulled and tied to make the back of the bonnet. I just snipped the thread where if was tied and when the wedding was over, I put a thread back in and it was a bonnet again.

The front side of the bonnet after the fabric is folded under.

I folded the plain fabric of the bonnet under the lace trim and hand basted it in place. I then folded both ends under to make it the correct length to lay smoothly under the ribbon. After putting the lace under the ribbon and tucking the ribbon ties from the bonnet under the lace, I tacked the lace to the pillow.

The sides were folded in and then pinned in place to be basted.

Front side before it was basted.

The end result was a beautiful tribute to Chelsea and a great way for her to be a part of this wonderful occasion.

The finished pillow. The bonnet was tacked to the pillow under the ribbon.

To jazz up the now plain flower girl basket, I had some pretty flower and pearl ribbon that I added on the top of each side of the basket between the two bows at the handle. I just used a bit of hot glue to tack the added ribbon in place. This was an easy change, but it made a huge change in the appearance.

The plain flower girl basket that has the bow that matches the ring bearer pillow.

The flower girl basket with the new ribbon.

My Grandson Victor the Ring Bearer with pillow!

My Granddaughter Mae the Flower Girl with her beautiful basket.

It sure didn't hurt that my granddaughter and grandson were the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer to make my creations even more beautiful.