One of the things that really makes me happy is knowing that I don’t waste my crafting products. I don’t mean that I never mess up a project, because I do. Sometimes I can ‘save’ it with a little trimming, or cover up an inky mark with embellishments. Very occasionally I bin it and start again, although I never beat myself up about that. But what I’m talking about is making sure that I get the most out consumables like paper and card. For me it’s simple things like keeping small pieces in labelled pockets. When scraps are quick and easy to find I don’t need to cut into a new sheet so often. I also design projects specifically to use up my scraps so they don’t get out of hand. Today’s gift tag is a good example of that, using pieces of Hand-Penned and Hydrangea Hill Designer Series Paper (DSP).

FOLDED GIFT TAG

This gift tag kind of designed itself after I found a 2-3/4″ x 3-1/8″ scrap of a striped pattern in the Hydrangea Hill DSP pack. At 2-3/4″ wide it would fit nicely onto a 3″ x 3″ folded tag base so I started with that.

Using my Paper Trimmer I cut a 3″ x 6″ piece of Basic White Card and scored it at 3″. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

To turn the folded card into a tag I needed to add a hole. So I opened up the card and punched a hole to the left of the crease using the Detailed Trio Punch. Then I threaded some white twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack through the hole and tied it in a simple knot.

While the DSP was the right width for the front of the tag, it was slightly too long, so next I trimmed it to 2-3/4″ x 2-3/4″. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I stuck the DSP to the front of the tag. Now I was left with a 3/4″ x 2-3/4″ scrap of paper, and I didn’t going to waste that either. Instead I turned the strip over and stuck that on top of the first piece of DSP.

HAND-PENNED FLOWERS

I’d initially planned to stamp a sentiment onto a scrap of card, but at this point I changed my mind. Instead I chose the simple “happy birthday” from the Days To Remember Stamp Set and stamped it directly onto the DSP using Tuxedo Black ink. Admittedly it was a bit of a gamble, but if I messed up I’d have simply gone back to my original plan. Then I would have stamped it onto a strip of card and covered up the mistake. Fortunately though that wasn’t necessary.

So all I needed now was a little decoration and I found what I needed in my Hand-Penned DSP pack.

A couple of weeks ago I created a tag using a pretty floral image cut from one of the Hand-Penned sheets using Paper Snips. In fact, that day I fussy-cut two different images, one slightly larger than the other. On that occasion I only used the larger image. So what I did then was slip the extra piece into a clear envelope, and put the envelope in the pack with the rest of the DSP.

That meant that today all I had to do was put some Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals on the fussy-cut piece and attach it to the tag. Job done.

In the end my tag project took me less than 10 minutes from start to finish. So not only did I not waste scraps of DSP, I didn’t waste time either. That means I can carry on making other projects for a while longer. Result!

To see the other tag using fussy cut flowers from the Hand-Penned DSP check out my blog post A great day if you like gift tags.

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