Easy Valentine Tag Tutorials

 

I spent the afternoon crafting with my daughter Kara and her friend, Sydney. These are two talented girls who know their way around the studio already.  Before I made it home from work at noon, they had already been busy making brown paper bag books.  So, I asked them if they'd like to use the sewing machine.  Here's what you'll need to follow along:  shipping tag, book page, old lace/fabric, small Valentine image, ribbon and buttons.  

Measure and cut your book page (I used dictionary page) to cover almost entire shipping tag. If you cut it too large, just turn over and trim with scissors. Now is a good time to distress the edges with an ink pad or sponge if that's your plan. Use brown, red, black...whatever you like.

Next cut some lace trim about 1/4 to 1/2 wider on each side than the shipping tag. This will make it easier, in my opinion, to sew and allows for any shifting of the material. I like things perfectly "imperfect" so I am fine if my material shifts a bit and if my sewing lines are not straight.  When done machine or hand sewing, trim the edges. On these tags I flipped over and trimmed to the size of the tag. Sometimes a little extra lace hanging over the tag is fun too. I went ahead and added some crinkled seam binding to the top as well at this point.

Time to add layers. I cut a piece of plain batting with some pinking shears. I then found some red lace and machine sewed the layers together. Hand sewing or embroidery stitches would be fine too.  Notice I left the strings for a shabby feel.

The only thing left to do was to add some buttons and  this adorable piece of German paper scrap that I purchased from Julie Collings Etsy shop.  Julie is also responsible for the most adorable crinkled seam binding you've ever seen...

I know you can't take it and you are headed to her shop now. You probably won't even read the rest of this post. Note to self...don't give them links until the end next time. So, that is one tag down with easy instructions. Just takes a few minutes to make an assembly line of materials and create several.  But, we weren't done! The girls were having fun using the sewing machine and had requested to do some hand sewing too.  So, I came up with another tag for them to watch me make then copy -

This tag starts with the same base - a shipping tag (I distressed mine this time) with a vintage book page adhered with glue.  I picked red lace this time and machine sewed on, making two runs around the lace with black thread. Notice it is far from perfect. I like that!  We then cut a heart from cotton batting and sewed it to the tag using a red heart button and black embroidery thread.  A cotton hanky was torn into small pieces and stamped with "xoxo.". This small piece was sewn on by hand using black embroidery floss which is nice and thick. That's my tag above but wait until you see Kara and Sydney's with their own spin.

They both like things grungy and distressed. I wonder where they get that from? lol  Today though, they certainly did more distressing then me. I think theirs turned out even better than mine! I love how prim they look.  Here they are busy working in the studio.

It was nice to make a mess in there! It has looked way to neat and organized. I was long overdue for a project day. So, go make some tags for teachers, your hubby, your girlfriends and tie them on to a bag of favorite candy or homemade treats.  Thanks for stopping by during your busy day. Remember that I love your comments and follows.  I hope to see you again soon! Linking this post to:

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