Gift Tags from the Garden – Brief Article
Amber Cook
The best gifts reawaken delight, interest and wonder — and can be as simple as using feathery, delicate sprigs on a handcrafted gift tag. Walk along a garden path in the evening, picking foliage for your gift tags and cards — borage, cedar, sweet cicely, viola, santolina, tiny ferns or even grass heads. About a day of press drying will make the sprigs flat and free of moisture.
Mounting them on Bristol board gives you a chance to revisit your garden or the woodlands, which can be wonderfully exciting on a warm summer evening, or any time. Personalize each gift tag with pressed sprigs and blossoms, then write your message of love, friendship or happy birthday, sign your name and send — you’ll get rave reviews. Your friends will soon come to expect these little treasures, pleasant gift surprises that last all year long.
MATERIALS
heavy Bristol board paper hole reinforcers ruler, scissors, pencil, paper punch (A time-saving technique: prepackaged shipping tags.) pressed blossoms, sprigs, grass heads decoupage (glue gloss, such as Modge Podge) #2 and #8 brushes watercolors gold acrylic paint gold marking pen 8 inch string or raffia
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1. If you are not using shipping tags, trace a tag pattern onto Bristol board and draw punch holes. Trace and cut several tags.
Step 2. Punch a hole at the top of the tag, and place one reinforcement sticker over the hole.
Step 3. Take the #8 brush and paint the tags front and back with light brown watercolor and let them dry (lay ruler or other weight over top, allowing tags to dry flat).
Step 4. Using a gold marking pen and a ruler as your guide, draw a single line along all straight edges of each tag. Draw a line around the reinforcement sticker on each tag.
Step 5. Experiment with placement of the pressed flowers, laying the largest stem at the base — close to the reinforcement stickers.
Step 6. Remove the pressed material and brush it with glue gloss or another water-based sealer. Press the sprigs and blossoms into place on the card and let them dry.
Step 7. Pour a small amount of acrylic paint onto a small dish and brush paint gently but sparingly onto petals and stems with a #2 brush. Let them dry.
Step 8. Brush one coat of glue gloss over the entire tag front and back with a #8 brush. Let it dry.
Step 9. Cut an 8-inch length of string or raffia, fold in half and slip fold through the tag’s hole. Pull cut ends through loop and secure.
Amber Cook is a Garden Art writer/ photographer for magazines and newspapers.
COPYRIGHT 1999 KC Publishers, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group
