Punch Art Heart Tag

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season. I can't believe how quickly it all came and went. now it's time to look forward. Today's project will give you a head start on Valentine's Day.

If you have a shape templates, or a tool like the Fiskars Shape Cutter, it's easy to cut shapes in bright colors and layer them to make interesting gift tags like this one, which would be perfect for Valentine's Day, or any romantic or loving occasion. For added interest we used a corner punch with a removable guard for the lacy punched edge.

You Will Need:

• paper scraps in 4 colors (we used neon green, dark green, red and pink)
• shape cutter tool and/or templates (I used Fiskars Shape Cutter with the square and heart templates)
• adhesives (I used a Xyron adhesive machine, you could also use spray adhesives or glue sticks or adhesive runners)
• decorative photo corner punch with removable guard (mine is by EK Success)
• round hole paper punch
• narrow strip of red paper

Step 1. I used the Fiskars Shape Cutter with the square and heart templates to cut the shape for this tag. You can make your tag any size you like. The tag in the photo measures 3 1/2 inches square. The inner dark green square measures 2 1/2 inches. I then cut two small hearts to layer inside the smaller square.

Step 2. Use the punch to punch the corners of the outer square. Remove the corner guard from the punch and punch once in the center of side of the square.

Step 3. Weave the small dark green square into the punches to old it in place.

Step 4. Spray the back of the hearts with spray adhesive or you can alternatively run the pieces through an adhesive machine like those made by Xyron.

Step 5. Glue the larger heart on the center of the inner square and glue the smaller heart on top of the larger heart.

Step 6. Use a round hole punch to punch a hole in the center top edge of the tag. Thread a narrow red paper strip through the hole in order to attach it to the gift.

Gift Wrapping Help and Happy Holidays!

I am doing some late night posting, just before leaving to visit family out of town for the holidays. So I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Yule or whatever other holiday you might be celebrating. I'll see you back here before the New Year.

In the meantime, here are some links that will help you gift wrap with style -- without spending much at all.

Gift Wrap Help from FabulousLiving.com

• How to gift Wrap a Box -- Here's the low down on how to get a perfect neatly gift wrapped box -- the perfect gift wrapper's blank canvas to adorn as you see fit.
• Rubber Stamping Gift Wrap Paper -- Simple rubber stamps and brown paper (like recycled grocery bags) make terrific wrapping.
• How to Make a Curling Ribbon Bow (pictured below right) -- Turn ordinary inexpensive curling ribbon into extraordinary bows for all your gift wrapping needs. Photo instructions show how.
• Elegant Gift Bags -- Hard to wrap gifts are perfect candidates for this simple sewing project.
• Candy Cane Gift Tags -- This cute gift tag is made from a rubber stamped image layered on top of various sized squares.
• Personalized Gift Wrap (pictured at top of this post)-- Chip board letters, ribbon and a glue gun are all you need.
• Elegant 3-D Stars Gift Wrap (pictured at bottom of this post) -- This design looks intricate, but is actually easy to accomplish.
• Quilling Strips Gift Ornaments -- These paper bows are unique, stylish, and whimsical, depending on the style, papers, and colors you choose.
  
  

Elegant Yet Easy Wallpaper Scrap Bows and Projects

These bows look so elegant and expensive, but they're actually made from paper strips! While you could use any kind of paper you like to cut your strips, we used embossed striped paper from wallpaper samples.

Go to most any paint or home improvement store and you'll find that they're usually thrilled to give away old sample books of wallpaper. That's right, give them away, as in for free, gratis, nada. This represents an incredible find for creative crafters -- free supplies! The sample books provide wonderful papers for all kinds of craft projects, and once you start flipping through the pages, you'll come up with all kinds of uses for the various designs.

For these bows, we went to samples of elegant papers in a striped design. Wallpaper sample books are usually filled with this popular style, and often the striped papers are conveniently in gold, silver, or other metallics, or even in satin finishes that really look like ribbon when cut.

The results are stunning, and once the paper strips are cut, this project is easy enough for kids to do.

Once we made our bows, we used them for elegant fits wraps and greeting cards. The links below will take you to step-by-step photo instructions that show how to make these easy, yet impressive projects.

• Elegant Wallpaper Sample Bow Greeting Cards (pictured at the top of this post)
• Elegant Wallpaper Sample Bow Gift Wrapped Packages (pictured at right)
  

Gift Wrapping -- How to Make Big Fluffy Round Bows

These big fluffy bows are great to use on packages, in centerpieces, or even as Christmas tree topper. You can make them as large or as small as you need by differing the length of the bow loops, and make it as full as you like by adding more loops. It's all up to you.

For a bow that really holds its shape, use wired edged ribbon (we did in the photo below). This bow will work with regular ribbon too, it will just give you a softer look.

You Will Need:

• ribbon -- the amount you need will depend on the size bow you want
• a wire tie like those used to close bread or produce bags
• a piece of cardstock, double the length of a single bow loop
• scissors

Gather your supplies. For a template, cut a length of cardstock that double the length you want a single loop on the bow to be.

Using your template, begin wrapping the ribbon around. The more times you wrap, the fuller your finished bow will be. For the bow in the photo at the top of this post, we wrapped about 8 times.

Holding the ends, carefully remove the wrapped ribbons from the cardstock template. Flatten out the wrapped ribbons, then take your scissors and cut a small notch in the middle of the ribbon, one notch cut from each side. This step is optional, you can often get away without it, but it will make finishing the bow a little easier.

Use the wire tie to cinch the ribbon together where you cut the notches.

Now it''s time to separate the loops. Grab the top loop and pull it away from the others, giving it a half-twist as you do so. Continue separating and twisting the loops until they're all separated.

Arrange and fluff out the loops to make a full bow like in the photo below.

More on this project -- Click here for our full feature on this bow, including how to use it for a Christmas Tree topper.