Large Gingham Christmas Character Tags

Christmas Stash Busting ........

Following on from my humungous mini card making, made in the  hope of putting a dent in my overwhelming collection of unused bits and pieces, mostly bought many moons ago, I had another delve into the depths and a think ……….

……. these large “bubble”? stickers (Home Bargains/B M Bargains?) had been getting on my nerves as they were taking up far too much room in my sticker box.

I think I bought them mainly because they were cute, but really they are just too big and thick to put on a card etc. ……….

Then I remembered these giant dominoes, bought from a charity shop for pence, mainly because of the strength and quality of the card ………….  why not combine the two and make some giant tags? Woo hoo, I could feel I was on a roll!

Making a 15cm x 8cm template, I cut out the tag shape, covering one side with a gingham print paper with a strip of white glitter card along the bottom for snow and adding a little faux stitching around the edges using a fine tipped, black pen. 

I used a plain green or red paper on the back (saving on the  gingham) and them edged in the same way.  Punching the hole was tough, but I managed to get there in the end.

Then came the fun part, adding the large plastic stickers.  I didn’t trust their original stickability, so used E-7000 to stick them down more securely.

The wooden, sentiment toppers came from Hobbycraft (possibly two years ago, but I’m pretty sure they would have cost cost £1).  I coloured them using a gold, chrome marker and again stuck them down with E-7000.

That was the seven biggest stickers used, but what about the rest?

I decided the easiest thing to do to get them used up was to add a strip of gingham scraps along the bottom on the tag backs and add the corresponding head where I could (Santa to Santa) and then a Christmas tree where I couldn’t.  The final touch was a length of red snowflake ribbon, another charity shop buy.

The Sharpie pen indicates just how big the tags actually are. 

I am pretty chuffed with how these have turned out, they will be perfect to put on larger presents or tying round the tops of my legendary pillowcase “tut sacks”.

I feel pretty inspired now to try and work through some more of my stash in the months leading up to Christmas, into the New Year and beyond.  With the cost of living as it is, I now have a small monthly kitty I put into for crafty stuff I really need or run out of, however, when the Christmas craft stuff hits the cheaper, discount shops (Poundland, One Below etc.) I’m usually done as far making is concerned, but I think I will still allow myself to buy the few things that inspire me and know I will use, but not in bulk of years gone by. It’s hard to walk away, but I know I have to.  Charity shops also throw up the odd goodie, but as I always say, it’s not a bargain until it’s used ……. so, no normal sized wooden dominoes or large jigsaw pieces until what I already have is gone! Now there’s a programme to be made ……. Craft Hoarders!