#Simply G45 Holiday Tags Tutorial

Hello, G45’ers!  How do you feel about challenges?  Love ’em?  Hate ’em?  Well, our friends at Graphic 45 challenged me to create as many holiday tags as I could. And make a tutorial for these tags. Oh, and one more thing….these tags had to be simple (minimal materials), affordable (minimal expense) and completed in under one hour.  Not one hour per tag…one hour total for ALL the tags.  How’s that for a challenge?  So I put on my thinking cap and came up with this #Simply G45 Holiday Tags Tutorial to share with you here today.

Every year at Christmas time, I bake.  And I bake.  And then I bake some more.  The house smells like Mrs. Claus’ kitchen as gingersnaps, snickerdoodles, shortbread cookies  and other assorted goodies fill the countertops and spill over onto the kitchen and dining room tables.  All these treats get  packaged into tins for our grown children.  I also love to make cookie plates to share with friends and neighbors. Topping these with a pretty handmade tag that can be re-purposed as a tree ornament really makes the gift special.

It’s a busy happy time of year for all of us, and I suspect that I am not the only one who finds herself long on lists and short on time.  So to help you get ready for the holidays, I thought I would share a “recipe” for a holiday tag series that is easy, affordable and can be done in under an hour.  That sound too good to be true?  Not when you have brilliant components from Graphic 45’s Saint Nicholas paper collection, some Staples Alphabet Banner tags and a video tutorial to guide you!

Saint Nicholas #Simply G45 Holiday Tags Tutorial: YouTube Video

Some Tips and Tricks

I actually had a great time making these tags.  They came together quickly once I figured out the “recipe” .  I actually timed myself with a stop watch to make sure that each tag took under 10 minutes to make.  Here are some simple tips and tricks that will help you as you make your tags.

1. Creating an assembly line for your project saves time!  Pre-cut all your paper layers, images, ribbons, fussy cut images and fibers.  Lay them out on your work table in the order in which they will be used.  Then just “go down the line” to create your tag.
2. Fussy cutting is easier if you cut around the image before doing detail cutting.  I call this “whacking out” the image from the paper.
3. To create a nice clean edge when you are fussy cutting, hold your scissors stationary and move the paper.  I demonstrate this technique in the YouTube video tutorial.
4. Use the printed letters on the Staples Alphabet tags to help you line up your matting layer.  The straight line is built into the tag pattern. Just follow it, and your matting layer will always be straight!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I hope you’ll give these sweet little tags a try!  I think they’d be loads of fun to make as a family activity during the holidays.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

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