Handmade As Gaeilge Christmas Tags

My blog is starting to get that sparse look as I frantically try to make Christmas stock. Don't worry I haven't forgotten you, I'm neglecting everything in my life at the moment, except my sewing room, that's getting lot's of 'me time'.

I've been making tonnes of felt Christmas decorations, I hope to post some hastily taken snaps of them later in the week. Today's post is about a project I started a year ago, last Christmas, and abandoned as I was really short for time. I ordered a bunch of blank wooden tags like these ones from MissDiycrafts, except mine had a kind of burnt effect around the edge. I remember thinking they were really good value until I calculated what I would be able to charge for them, so hence the abandoned project. Stupidly this calculation only occurred after I ordered them! 

I stumbled across a bag of half finished paper covered tags the other day and remembered that we'd had a request for handmade tags in the shop. So I decided I wouldn't waste good supplies and finish the batch. I covered the rest of them in paper, varnished them, and painted the backs of them gold. After that I printed out a bunch of  'Nollaig Shona Duit' text boxes in different colours and fonts. I then realised I needed a 'To/From' label for the back which I aged with some brown ink. I had gotten a box of Christmas embellishments from the Art and Hobby Shop the other day, filled with little Santa's, trees and snowmen, it was great to have enough that they all matched(although now I have to go buy more card making embellishments!). After that is was a case of picking out ribbon, and attaching a label for price and barcode. 

I did everything in batches so it really helped with production time, if I was to sit down and compose each one individually it would have taken me a week to make them. Luckily I had loads of the materials already, I have tonnes of ribbon, paper, stickers sheets, and adhesive dots already. I'm scarred to think of the price of making them from scratch if you had to buy all the materials, you'd need to charge a fortune for them. Having said all that my initial instincts were right; they are really time and material consuming and I'm not sure if people will see the work, at the end of the day it's just a gift tag. Because of this I'm keeping the price as low a possible in the hopes that I'll sell all 50 of them, they are €2.50 each. I can't see myself making them again next year even though I think they are really pretty(although if they sell like hot cakes then I might be swayed!). 

I only realised after finishing them they then turn into keepsake Christmas tree decorations when the presents have been opened. For example a husband buys his wife something special for Christmas, and buys one of these posh tags for it, then every year when she puts this on the tree she remembers the lovely gift she got. My mother has a story behind each of her decorations, of holidays taken, presents from family, or special craft shops she visited(always in Sligo or Kilkenny strangley!). It makes our family tree totally personal to us, when the grandkids call over she tells them the story behind each one, it's really lovely actually.

Feedback on the price would be really appreciated, for once I'm quite confused!

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The Easiest How-To Ever

It's official this is the simplest how-to ever made. I was going to do a post just showing the tags that I've been including in my orders lately, but I thought it would be fun to do this instead. God holding a camera and cutting something at the same time is hard. I have a new found respect for all those how-to blogs, or maybe they all have helpful boyfriends.

You will need these
-Dark patterned paper
-Light patterned paper
-Logo stamp, I got mine custom made from Jlmould-Ink pad
-Stickers, I got custom ones made from Moo
-Prit Stick
-Marker
-Scissors
-Crimped edge scissors, I got mine in Msigns
1. Cut the dark paper into rectangles large enough to fit your stamp, then in a smaller shape cut the light paper with the crimped edge scissors. Then glue on the light coloured paper.
2.Place your lovely sticker on the left hand side, sometimes I like to choose something that matches the product that they have bought. After that write in thanks, merry christmas, or whatever.
3. Load ink onto your stamp and place carefully, press down, and lift of in one smooth movement, et voila c'est fini! This is a really good way of using up scrap bits of paper, and a cheap replacement for business cards. It also adds a lovely personal touch to your orders, I've had lots of customers comment on them. I tend to sit down and make a load of them in bulk so that I'm not doing this everytime I make a sale.