Handmade Holiday 2018 | Folded Critter Sweater Shaped Tags + GIVEAWAY

Welcome to Day 1 of my last minute Handmade Holiday 2018 Series!

I'm back with my fifth year of last minute handmade ideas! Five years, you guys. Wow. Thank you so much for your support of this series. I have been overwhelmed and almost considered not doing the series this year but I kept getting emails and comments asking for it so I sat down to make a list of projects I could do and I got really excited! So this series is for you, crafting friends. I appreciate each and every one of you and y'all make this possible. Much love to everyone. 

Even with the craziness of the season I like to be able to add handmade touches to gifts for our friends and family. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be sharing mostly quick (an hour or less) Handmade Holiday ideas for cards, tags and gift wrapping sure to add that handmade touch we all love. Most ideas will include multiples (today I created six folded critter sweater shaped tags)!

Each Handmade Holiday project blog post will feature a brand new, never before seen project(s) plus an incredible giveaway from a generous sponsor!

FOLDED CRITTER SWEATER SHAPED GIFT TAGS

Today's gift tags are inspired by these Woodland Critter Huggers Gift Card Holders I made a few weeks ago. They are probably my very favorite project this season. As much as I love them, though, they are time consuming with all the die cutting and assembling. If you have the time, go make some. They are FUN!  (Or plan to make some for next year!) If time is limited like mine is, and you're looking for something similar but much, much quicker, please keep reading!

V I D E O  T U T O R I A L

To watch the creation of these folded critter sweater shaped gift tags from start to finish, click HERE or watch below:

I started with the polar bear from the Critter Sweaters Stamp Set and dies and while I had the stamps out, my MISTIs loaded with stamps, I decided to make some sweet little kitties as well!

A little disclaimer: my gift packaging this year is all gray/red/white/black so I'm making tags, bags, etc. that matches my packaging and gift wrap. Any of the ideas I'm sharing with you in this series can be created with your favorite color combination. :)

For the tag bases I trimmed a strip of smooth white cardstock to 2 3/4" by 8 1/2", scored the strip in half and die cut along the scored line with a Critter Sweaters die. This creates the folded tag shape.

I also die cut the polar bear or cat Critter Sweaters die from more smooth white cardstock. This will be the front of each tag.

On the inside of each tag I stamped a larger greeting from the Critter Sweater Stamp Set with Lawn Fawn Lobster Red Ink. Underneath the greeting I stamped a phrase from the Tiny Words Christmas stamp set with black ink underneath. This gives the inside of each tag a beautiful finished look. It also keeps the front of each tag free from text making these usable after the gift giving. Use as an ornament or mantle decor, etc.!

For the tag fronts, I loaded up a MISTI with Critter Sweater borders and stamped each critter with Lawn Fawn Lobster Red Ink. Using a stamp positioner makes creating multiples fast, the easiest thing ever! I'm a big fan of making multiples whenever possible.

I stamped the faces on the top of each tag with black ink and cheeks with Cotton Candy Ink. Adhered the tag front to the folded tag base, added some pretty red/white baker's twine and then added finishing details like Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black and White Blizzard to finish each.

Finishing details are completely optional. If you have time to add pen detail to the eyes and noses and Nuvo Crystal Drops to the sweater design, go for it. If not, your tags are still amazing!

My hope is that these tags have inspired you to whip up some quick handmade tags for your gift packaging! Thank you for joining me for day one of Handmade Holiday 2018!

S U P P L I E S

Below you will find links to the supplies used to create this project. Click the icon for the store underneath the thumbnails to start shopping. Where available I use compensated affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Your support helps me to keep bringing you new projects and videos. Thank you! 

Simon Says Clear Stamps CRITTER... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp CRITTER SWEATERS... [ SSS ] Simon Says Clear Stamps TINY WORDS... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Lawn Fawn LOBSTER Premium Dye Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Hero Arts Ink Pad INTENSE BLACK AF345 [ SSS ] Tonic WHITE BLIZZARD Nuvo Glitter... [ SSS ] Tonic WOODLAND GREEN GLOSS Nuvo... [ SSS ] Tonic EBONY BLACK Nuvo Crystal Drops... [ SSS ] Sakura BLACK GLAZE GEL PENS Pen 2... [ SSS ] Sakura WHITE OPAQUE GLAZE GEL PENS 2... [ SSS ] Copic Sketch Marker R30 PALE... [ SSS ] Copic Sketch Marker R32 PEACH [ SSS ] Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH... [ SSS ] MINI MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping... [ SSS ] MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ]

G I V E A W A Y

I'm thrilled to be offering giveaways from Simon Says Stamp!

Please leave a comment on this post by December 9, 2018, 11:59 pm CST for a chance to win one of two $50 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp!

Winners for the 2018 series will all be notified via email and posted on the blog on Monday, December 10, 2017.

A huge thank you to Simon Says Stamp for sponsoring the giveaway(s) today!

Please click HERE for a list of all the winners!

M O R E  H A N D M A D E  H O L I D A Y  P R O J E C T S

• Click HERE for the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 projects.

Comments

[Mandy Gegoux]

These are adorable!!! What an awesome way to make a gift extra special!!

[Mel H]

What a lovely set of tags. I think anyone would love these on their packages!

[Ashley L]

Suck cute tags. I am excited to see all the projects you come up with for this series.

[joy meadows]

Your tags are incredibly awesome, Nichol! Love the kitties best.

[Marcia scantlin]

Loving that cute bear and sweater.

[Natalie Winterstein]

So cute! Thanks so much for sharing and for the chance to win! :)

[Erica Marroquin]

I love these, so glad I own this set. I'll use some smoke cardstock so my cat tags will resemble my cat Gracie. Thanks for sharing and for the chance to win.

[Stacey Kowbel]

Such adorable critter tags! And those sweaters are fabulous!!!!

[Sonya]

Super cute, esp. the polar bears. I just love that sweater borders stamp set!!

[Kim]

These cards are too cute for words! Adorable! Thank you!

[Linda M.]

These tags are so cute! I’ve got to put the polar bear set on my wishlist!

[susie sonnier]

Nichol, I love your style!!!! I'm also glad I'm not the only one that has color coordinated wrapped presents.

[Deb Selby]

Great looking tag cards and the assembly line process makes them easy to make.

[Sue D]

These are so cute. I like your color theme.

[Em]

I've been making tags with this adorable set for days and they are not nearly as nice as yours and quite time consuming. So I just love these and will use your designs for the rest of mine. Live and Learn. You're the pro and I appreciate your videos. What a great and useful set this has turned out to be.

[Karen Lacina]

These tags are absolutely adorable!! I love them!! I don't have this set but will search my stash to see what I can come up with to replicate these!! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!!! By the way, I thought I was the only one who made all of my wrappings, tags, and ribbons coordinate so it looks pretty under the tree!! The naysayers like to accuse me of having 'too much time on my hands' but nothing could be further from the truth. I just try to organize my time wisely!!!!!

[Linda]

I wasn't interested in this set until you made them into these cute gift tags! I guess I am going to have to order these so I can make them next year! They are just adorable and can use the faces to put on Chocolate bar covers and add a hat & scarf out of material. Thank you!

[Nichol Spohr LLC]

That makes me SO happy that this helped you! Happy crafting!

[Wendy C]

So creative and cute! Your tag creation has given me some much need inspiration to finish my homemade gift tags this year!

[Kate A]

This die and stamp set are on my Wish List! And now I want them even more after seeing your cute tags! Such a great idea to make them into shaped cards! Hope you have happy holidays! Thank you for sharing and SSS for sponsoring the giveaway!

[Susan McRae]

These are adorable...love the kitty! Great design to mass produce!

[DeNel]

Oh my goodness these are adorable!!!! I just got this stamp and die set and I can’t wait to use them! Thanks for the ideas!! You are very talented!❤️

[justMarie]

I love the color palette! So clean looking! Simply adorable!

[Elaine Dunton]

The Polar Bear tags are just so cute, I so enjoy watching your videos, I get so much out of them. Thank you for sharing.

[Darla S]

LOVE these adorable tags! Your projects are always so inspiring!