Personalized Wooden Gift Tags

For this holiday month, I wanted to share a super simple craft. The best part is that it’s also an inexpensive one. Even though the holidays are a busy time, I like to try to add something crafty to everything I give to let the recipient know I care. Recently, while I was perusing Amazon, I came across a set of laser-cut ornaments for just under $15. I was looking for something to jazz up my gift bags this year, and I thought these shapes would make for great name tags.

The set came with twelve ornaments of different Christmas shapes, red & white string to hang them and jingle bells of different colors.  After deciding who in my family would get each shape, I went to my craft room for some acrylic paint.

Diamond Dotz and paint used:

White: Craft Smart paint in white and Diamond Dotz #8002

Green: DecoArt Americana in evergreen and Diamond Dotz #8230

Red: DecoArt Americana in Alizarin Crimson and Diamond Dotz #8042

Silver: DecoArt Americana in Silver Morning and Diamond Dotz #7005

Blue: Americana in Winter Blue and Diamond Dotz #8125

After painting two coats of paint onto the ornaments, I matched up the colors to Diamond Dotz. The Diamond Dotz would not only make the ornaments pop, but they would catch all the lights on the Christmas Tree and really dazzle.

To personalize some of the ornaments, I printed out the initials of my family using Word. For the smaller ones like the stocking, I drew freehand with a fine-tipped Sharpie marker. You can use stencils if you wish, but I simply used Word to pick the font I wanted and the size that would work. Then I cut out the letters and carefully traced them with a pencil onto the painted ornaments.

Next it was time to prepare the ornaments for the Diamond Dotz. I used Aleene’s tacky glue for this part. After applying a thick coat, I wanted until glue was completely translucent (about 1-2 hours). For the reindeer and stocking, I decided not to cover the ornament in Dotz and to instead add a touch of sparkle. When the glue was ready, I started adding Diamond Dotz to the monogram letters first. Then, starting at the edge and working my way in, I added the rest of the Dotz. Since the ornaments were small, it only took the length of a Hallmark movie to complete.

When I was done, I used the string provided by the craft kit to hang them onto each gift bag. The tags made it easy for me to see who got what. I even used the colorful jingle bells! Giving something thoughtful for the holidays doesn’t have to mean spending a ton of money. Most times making someone feel special only takes a little bit of time and creativity. That’s what makes crafting so great. Happy Holidays!