To round out our series of easy Christmas gift ideas we wanted to share some additional ideas. I love Anita's secret gift idea she includes in her tutorials for gift tags and ornaments.
Anita Gift Tag Tutorial
Cut shapes from card stock, a Manila folder, poster board, paste board, or a cereal box. You will need two for each gift tag.
Cut two pieces of card
Cut shapes from batting - one ever so slightly smaller than your card shape and a second about 1/2" smaller.
Two pieces of batting
Cut out your fabric at least 1/2" larger (all around) than your card shape. In this case, I used a fussy cut piece of fabric, but it could have been a small pieced block. Sparkly Christmas fabric works well too!
Cut fabric larger
Layer the batting and fabric with smaller piece of batting on the top.
Layer fabric and batting
Quilt to suit your fabric. I quilted around the cardinal, and then quilted up the tree branch.
Quilt the fabric
Cut notches in V shapes out around the edges of the fabric so it glues down neatly.
Clip notches out around the edges
Add a piece of card to the back and glue around the edges with your favorite fabric glue. Fold the edges over neatly around the card.
Glue the fabric to the card
Cut ribbon at least 8" long. Fold in half to make a loop and glue it down.
Add a ribbon hanger
Add the second piece of card to finish off your gift tag.
Add card to cover the raw edges of the fabric
The plain back makes it easy to write on or you may want to cover the back with fabric to create a Christmas ornament instead, but see the instructions below for further ideas.
Cardinal Gift Tag
Making an Ornament or Secret Gift
The same instructions above can be easily transformed into an ornament or secret gift. Simply make two identical pieces using the directions above, obmitting the backing card at the very end. Instead glue the two sections together for a solid two-sided ornament....
Make two pieces the same shape
....or you can make an opening ornament to hold money or gift card.
Secret gift container
To make the opening ornament cut two liners of card stock.
Add a small hinge for the bottom from some ribbon or a small piece of fabric (or you can stitch a short area together) before adding the backing card.
Add a hinge before adding backing card
I used very small pieces of self-adhesive Velcro to hold the two pieces together, but a button an loop could also be used, or ties could be added.
Tuck a gift of money, a gift certificate inside, or perhaps a gift card inside. Tip: Before starting check first that the circle you make will be large enough for a gift card.
If you like, you can add a tassel at the bottom, add sequins, beads, glitter, or other trims depending on your fabric choices. It would be simple to follow the same procedure used to make these ornaments to make squares or rectangles and decorate them like Christmas packages.
Here are some I've made.
Round Ornament
Square ornament
Star ornament - these have stitching around the outside and a tassle hanging from the bottom
Next week both Anita and I are going to share some ideas for gift bags you may like to make. Check back next week!
