Creative Gift Wrapping

One of my favorite things about giving someone a gift is wrapping it.  There are so many fun and unique ways to dress up a gift.  The possibilities are endless, and when my brain is craving some creativity, it's the prefect way to let loose.  Lately, I've been obsessed with making my own cards and gift tags. (Something I think I caught from Etsy stalking)  This step-by-step will show you how to incorporate paper and fabric to create personalized gift tags.  Like I said before, the possibilities are endless, so hopefully by the end of this tutorial, ideas will be rolling.

For this gift tag, I created an image of a wrapped birthday present.  (I will load some other finished tags at the end.)

To get started, you will need a tag like the one pictured below, a pencil, and a ruler.  I purchased the tags at Joann Fabrics, but you could easily make your own.

The first step in creating this gift tag is to draw a 1" square in pencil on the tag.

Then, I used an exacto knife to cut out the square.  After the cutting is done, I made sure to erase any pencil marks that were still visible.  

Next, choose a fabric and cut two squares.  Make sure they are larger than the square cut on the tag, but not too big that they hang over the edges of the tag.

With the wrong sides of the fabric together, sew a straight line vertically and horizontally.  I left the ends of the thread long to tie knots to prevent any unstitching.  Only knot and cut three sides of the fabric square.

Next, align the tied end of the sewn line that still has one end uncut as close to the end of the tag as possible.

Find where the top of the cut square on the tag will fall on the fabric square.  Carefully unstitch as many stitches as needed to get to this point.  Then trim the extra fabric and tie the thread, but do not cut it.

Use a needle to poke a small hole in the top, center of the cut out square.

Next, feed the thread from the fabric square through this hole.

Carefully glue the fabric square to the tag around the edges on the side opposite of the thread.

Once the glue is dry, turn the tag over, pull the thread through a sequin, and tie a double-knotted bow.  Trim the ends of the bow, and I added just a touch of super glue on the knot of the bow to insure it stayed tied.

All that is left to do is to write a message and attach the tag to the gift.  

Here are some other examples of tags done in a similar way.