Hey-Ho-Ho....
Often wonder what to give as a small token of your appreciation ....and at this busy time of the holidays?

Look no further than the ever-useful GIFT TAGS!

They may be the 'small touches in life' but as hand-made gifts - they are perfect for saving your friend time and money!

Recently I had such an opportunity to give a lovely person a wee gift - a Mom - who gave a group of young teens a very nice afternoon of crafting and lunch.  To offer up a note of appreciation I used the following:

1. Stampin' Up! Tag and Curly Label Punches 
2. Stampin' Up! small size stamps - from A Cute Christmas {retired}
3. Stampin' Up! Real Red / Whisper White / Marina Mist Cardstock
4. Stampin' Up! Markers {various}
5. Stampin' Up! Espresso Bakers Twine
6. Stampin' Up! Dazzling Details 
7. and the ever useful sparkly shreds!  whoooo! 

  I thought a group of 6 tags was a nice set - but you stamp and colour away onto white cardstock  as many heart-warming scenes as your heart desires!  I love snowmen and the stack of gifts were real fun to colour - then its a glob of Dazzling Details on each - let dry then its time to package them together! 

Here they are getting their colours on!  

String em up together!

Let's bag them with good ol' sparkly shreds and a plain bag... 

and finally pop them in, staple a folded 'topper' on and voila...!

HOSTESS GIFT TAGS

 * So hope you have a special Hostess in mind! *

So what's this?

Welllllll........it starts like this...

A little bag of chocolate peanuts...all dressed up and tagged....and then you add this....

And now you have THIS! 

And now you have a lil somethin' to brighten up someone special's day!

And it looks good, no matter where you set it for them to find.....see...

....they'll just be comin' along, and they'll see it...and when they're up close - it'll be "oooh what's this?" 

And they'll be happy.

The end.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

XL Flower Punch

Large Oval Punch

Greeting stamps

'Voila' Stamp set

Soft Suede Cardstock

Bermuda Bay Cardstock

and project idea, pg 57 current Idea Book and Catalogue

Why not get off on the right foot with the teacher with a nice card and a little something to help him or her out? We know that teacher's often pay for supplies out of their own pocket and any contribution is a welcome one.

So I cooked up this idea ....a card and with it the simpliest little pocket pouches that can contain small office supplies - such as clips and push pins but it could easily be candy!

The card was a small labour of love I made not so long ago...I wanted to use up some scraps and this is one way of doing that.  I save scraps and sort them into brown bags that sit together in a large basket. So finding some strips, I laid them out over the paper layer  in one direction, alternating paper colours and patterns and secured one end of each to the card. Then I returned with strips to weave in the opposite direction. By securing the first layer's end, you can weave better. Saves endless grief re-working the positions!

Trim your ends and attach to card.

Then I decided to 'stitch' by hand.  I placed some holes in the cardstock in a pattern - could be any pattern, no rules :)  Then I used some cross-stitch thread in the green. I used more yarn to make a small home-spun looking doo-dad in the upper left corner.

A large red button is turned it into an apple simply by adding a stem/leaf which I made from more scrap paper.  To allow the apple to stand out, I separated it from the strips with 2 layers of paper underneath it.

Our Scalloped Square Punch came in handy as did my JUMBLE alphabet stamp set for the wording.....I left it at 'Best'....because you could make this card ahead and give it to your intended later on when an occasion arises, so it could be the 'best' teacher or mechanic or volunteer, etc.

I teach simple techniques for making the pouches you see here in my classes, so if you need instructions - just get in touch with me and I will share this one with you - a sort of "hello, here I am" sharing!  One could easily use these pouches for wedding favors or birthday party treats - or fill each one with chocolate - hmmm, maybe that will be another post for another day!

Here's some close-up pics - click on each to enlarge. Thanks for dropping by!

Cheers!

All supplies by Stampin' Up! except for office supplies, yarn and yellow sparkle paper.

How do you make someone's gift feel even more special? You add an authentic one-of-a-kind embellishment!

In my gift set, a perfume set, the packaging was quite plain. However, being plain means the embellishment can be very fanciful.

My decision was to go somewhere in the middle and create a belly band to circle the package, and decorate it to match the accompanying card. I even used the left-over pieces to create a small notecard in case I wanted to break up the perfume set into two smaller gifts - this is why I love stamping and crafting in general - it allows you so much! :)

Now - doesn't this tell someone that you took the time to make it "extra" special just for them!

SUPPLIES

Stamps: Wings of Friendship {Hostess Level 2};

Paper: Rich Razzleberry 115316; Dusty Durango 115321; Crushed Curry 115319 ($7.25);

Ink: Rich Razzleberry 115658; Dusty Durango 115654; Crushed Curry 115659;

Ribbon: 115609 Dusty Durango