Tag and twine ornaments {with book pages}

Hi friends! I sure hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are enjoying this long weekend! :) Did you eat too much like I did? ;)

Well, now that Thanksgiving weekend is coming to a close, I thought I would show you these ornaments I made...

I first saw this picture from Country Living at Katie's blog, On the Banks of Squaw Creek, and was inspired!

{Do you see that amazing galvanized tub? I took one look at that, and decided our tree was going to sit inside one of those this Christmas!}

And those sweet tags hanging from the tree...I had card stock I'd purchased last year, intending to make tags similar to this to tie onto Christmas gifts, but never did.

{The story of my life.}

But seeing this picture, of course I had to make tag ornaments!

I used the pages of an old dictionary for some of them...

and the pages of an ordinary book for others...

These are so simple they almost don't need a tutorial, but I am going to do a little one anyway!

What you'll need:

card stock

a book

twine

school glue stick, such as Elmer's

hole punch

Optional:

eyelets

eyelet setter

stamp and stamp pad

glue gun and glue sticks

decorative jewels and buttons

miniature doilies {found at JoAnn's}

First, print the tag template, or you can make your own. The picture of the tag above is not pictured to scale, but if you save it to a file, and then print, it will print to size.

{if you have any problems with this, you can let me know, and I will do my best to help!}

Cut the template out onto either card stock or cardboard, and trace onto the card stock you've chosen for your tag.

Trace your template onto your book page, and glue the book page cut out onto the card stock one.

Use your hole punch and loop the twine through the hole. OR you can use eyelets with an eyelet setter, as used on the tag above. (I found a great tool at Michael's called "Crop-A-Dile", that will punch two different sized holes, and set eyelets and grommets as well.)

At this point, the possibilities are endless~You can stamp your tag, or add little jewels or buttons. You can even put a little black and white picture on it. {Or you can leave it plain.} Either way, you can't go wrong!

I have two other ways I am going to decorate some of my tags, and these little additions can also be used on gift tags! I will show you these soon! :)

{Well, that's all for me tonight! My husband is looking at his watch, wondering when we are going to start watching the movie we rented!}

I hope you all have a blessed night~

~Jenni

I am linking this to "Just Something I Whipped Up" at The Girl Creative.

Clothespins meet dictionary....

I love old books, but my absolute favorite are old dictionaries...I have a soft spot for dictionaries in the first place, but there is just something about the ones with those time worn pages that I cannot resist!

Combine that with tea dyed clothespins, my latest obsession...

And you get this:

{These were such a cinch to make, and a very inexpensive craft as well!}

And just in case you'd like to make these for yourself, I thought I'd include a little tutorial...

What you'll need:

Dictionary or other book~ if you do not have an old one, a new one will work too!

Mod Podge

Clothespins~ I used both large and small ones.

Black tea, such as Lipton.

Q-tips

Now I tea dyed my clothespins, an idea my sister {Belle} saw at Nancy's Tidbits...I thought this was such a wonderful idea! To dye mine, I soaked them in black tea in a bowl for about 24 hours. (You could always omit this though and just leave them as they are if you do not want them dyed.)

Once they are dry, tear a page out of your book and find where you want to trace your clothespin...I try to avoid choosing words such as "grease" or "prison", as those sort of words do not seem quite right! That is the only thing about using a dictionary! ;)

After tracing it, cut the narrow strip of paper and bring out your decoupage glue...

I used Q-tips to cover the clothespins with the glue because they were just the perfect size. I found it took only a thin coat of the glue to adhere the paper, because it was so thin.

Put the strip of paper onto the clothespin, carefully adjusting it if needed. Smooth out any creases, and repeat this process on the other side of the clothespin! OR leave it with just one side like this...I did it both ways, and think it's cute either way! :)

{ I am going to turn some of these into fun magnets for our refrigerator!}

What do you think?

I have more "dictionary crafts" on the way...I'm kind of on a roll here...

{I am linking this to Under the Table and Dreaming.}

I hope you all had a fun and relaxing weekend! I'm never ready for Monday! How about you?

Blessings,

Jenni

{Sparrow}