Sentimental tags and an Easy Handmade Book

Print free clip art like this from Karen's Whimsy online, and cut them out to paste on hand made tags. Making tags is a good way to use up those last small pieces of precious paper, and they are an enjoyable activity for children that require only scissors, paste and paper.

To get clip art easily, just clip any art you see from papers, wrappers, food boxes, cartons, magazines and catalogs.

Tags have become a very interesting art form these days. Some tags date back to the arts and crafts of the Victorian era, and are quite valuable. These are patterns for tag templates. Since they are drawn free-hand, they will not be accurate. To make your patterns accurate and even on both sides, just fold paper in half and cut, as shown below.

To make your own pattern, fold paper in half twice, and then draw an outline starting at one of the open edges. I use construction paper for these things because it is not expensive and I can afford to make a mistake. Children should be taught how to use paper economically, by cutting what they need from the outer edges, not from the middle.

Unfold the paper and you will see the tag you made. Use your own ideas for shapes.

Paste the shapes you made on cardboard from any kind of box in your food pantry. Cut out the shapes again. This gives a sturdy template to trace around on paper for tags.

Here are some ideas for tags. The larger tag in the middle is made by placing the cardboard template on a greeting card from the dollar store. The others are made by putting a sticker on each one. The round tag in the middle is made from a four-inch round hole punch.

More ideas for tags. The butterflies are made by using a special butterfly punch with glitter paper from a glitter stack. Scraps from patterned paper and construction paper are used as tags.



To make a very easy book, select some construction paper for the pages, and one special piece of scrapbook paper for the cover. Fold it all in half to find the middle.

Center the filler paper in the cover, and put the hole punch as far as it will go at each end.

Thread any kind of rope or ribbon through it to bind it. This is a shoelace-like rope from a used gift bag.

This is what the middle looks like when you tie the ribbon through it. For children, make the book small enough to fill it easily with a story or pictures or a lesson.

The outer cover of the book.