Say goodbye to those ugly sticker present tags!!!

Every year I spend countless hours wrapping Christmas gifts. Most years I am still wrapping into the wee hours of Christmas morning. Wrapping gifts is an obsession of mine, the thought of putting a Christmas gift in a bag scares me! It may seem silly that I spend so much time on something that is just going to get ripped off, but in our house it wouldn't be Christmas if our gifts weren't wrapped to the nines under the tree.

(Obsessed? Just a bit. These were empty boxes I wrapped just to take pictures with!)

Christmas morning is more enjoyable when we literally unwrap each of our gifts. Only one person at a time unwraps, this way my husband and I enjoy each of our children's faces when they slowly or quickly (Tasmanian Devil style) reveal their gifts. Instead of a crazy free for all of bags and tissue paper flying finished in 10 seconds, we leisurely sip coffee or hot chocolate as one child opens a gift while the others look at their gifts until breakfast time. In years past I would purchase special licensed character paper for each child, that way they knew exactly what gifts were theirs. Not this year. This year I decided to spend my money on better things, and bought the cheapest paper I could find.

A HUGE roll of brown craft paper.

Everyone's gifts will be wrapped up in this stuff. No worries, I will stamp some of the paper, and all gifts will be decked out in ribbons and bows. The presents will still be just a beautiful as years past.

When I purchased the ribbons and bows I took a peek at tags. Are you kidding me, have you seen the options out there?!? The most affordable ones are stickers on a roll. Been there, done that, once our oldest son unwrapped his little sisters princess underwear because those stickers always come off the present, and "Santa" just slapped the sticker on the closest present. Thus the years of over priced individual wrapping paper. The other options are beautiful pre-made embellished tags, usually individual (not on roll), have good adhesive, and are .... absolutely not what I am going to spend my money on since I just gave up the pretty paper! There is no way I am going to pay a dollar a piece for them, especially when the gift they are attached to may not even cost a dollar!

So what is a paper-crafter like me to do??? Oh that's right, *Ü* I have an entire roomed filled with goodies to make some of my own. With a little inspiration from Close To My Heart, the Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Inks, Papers, Ribbon, and a bit of bling I will have plenty made just in time for Christmas. More personalized and beautiful than the store bought tags, at a fraction of the cost. Since I am using up my supplies do you think "Santa" will bring me some more? *Ü*

So if you are tired of cheap ugly sticker tags, and over priced pretty tags, just like I am, here is a bit of inspiration for you. Happy Crafting!

Supplies used are all Close To My Heart
Stamp Sets: December 25th
Cardstocks: Twilight & Heavenly Blue available in the Bright Blue Shade Pack, Pear available it the Summer Cardstock Collection*, and Kraft
Inks:Crystal Blue, Desert Sand, Heavenly Blue, Pear and Twilight
Embellishments: Bitty Sparkles, Colonial Waxy Flax, and Sweet Leaf Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Cricut Art Philosophy Collection

*Sweet Leaf Cardstock and Ink are great alternatives to Pear!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Holiday Season!