Matching Gift Tags

Gift tags made to match gift wrap are so cute, aren't they? (And pricey, IMHO!)

 But it you are like me, and most of your gift wrap is clearance stuff you put away last year, you probably don't have matching tags. Here is an easy solution!

You always have to trim off some of the 'wrinkled, ripped end' (after all, the paper's been sitting up in the attic for almost a year) to make the package look nice. What you do is to cut around the motifs on that 'throwaway' piece.

You aren't using the paper itself for the tags! It would be too flimsy. Instead, place them on the scanner bed of your printer. I'd cut as close to the motif as possible (unless the background is white) so you aren't wasting ink on something you're going to cut off later. I know you could cut around exactly, but who wants to do that fussy cutting twice? 

Load your printer with white cardstock and make copies! Then cut out, punch a whole, and string with ribbon. Done! Or really go to town and add some glitter! (How much would you pay for those?)

Oh, sorry there are no pictures. Obviously, gift wrap is copyrighted material. While I doubt anyone from Hallmark is looking at my blog, I don't want them to get mad that I didn't spend a few dollars on two cents worth of paper tags.

Handmade Coupon Storage

I change out my style of coupon keeping as my needs change. Until recently, I had such a good stockpile that I only used a very small binder for the few coupons I was using.
I'm back to restocking again and needed a better way to keep my coupons. I don't like accordian folders or big binders. (Although I did have a method where I kept the circulars intact in a binder. Now I take what I need and give the remaining circular pages to a friend.)
You could go out and buy baseball card holders that will pretty much achieve the same results as my little project here, but any time I can make a substitute I go for it.

So, basically, my pages are made with leftover cardstock and scrapbook paper. (Yes, that's Christmas paper in the first photo.) Sorry these are out of order, btw. I'm going 98% digital with my scrapbooking so won't be using up any of the paper I still have except in non-SB projects.

I cut 3 strips of paper 2.5" x 8.5 inches. I lined them up on the full paper, keeping the lowest one at the bottom edge. and the top one about 2 inches from the top edge. Then I sewed them up.

In the bottom picture, you might be able to see that I borrowed a quilter's trick and railroaded the papers together to sew one continuous line. Then you just clip the pages apart.

When you have the sides and bottom done (see middle photo), fold the paper in thirds. This will give you a guideline to sew between the pockets. BTW, if anyone knows a good way to fold in 3rds, LMK! I never get it just right!

Jot the category on each pocket. I did this as I went along until I'd finished resorting.

So...what do I do with the pages? I keep them in a leftover plastic envelope with a velcro closure. It's nice and flat so it isn't bulky, and it's clear so I can see what's in there! For my own purposes I ended up with 6 pages, or 36 pockets. I still have a few blank ones 'just in case.'

All-in-all a 'free' project!

Oh, and btw? Yesterday I got $50 worth of groceries for $24. My new method now is to search the supermarket's website using the coupons I have so I can match coupons to sales.