DIY Chalkboards Tags, Free Christmas Label Printable and Gift Wrapping Ideas

In the Philippines, Christmas season normally starts once the -ber months kick in. Call me a scrooge, but I get quite irritated when I hear Christmas carols play in stores come the first week of September because I think it's just a pathetic attempt to drive up sales by pressuring the shoppers that Christmas is fast approaching --- when in reality, it's not yet that near.

Based on my own personal timings, I start preparing for Christmas, right after Sofia's birthday (blog post to follow). Christmas shopping isn't stressful at all for me because I normally shop the whole year! Hahaha, especially when I am travelling, so normally, all I need to do is inventory my gift stash and match it with my updated Christmas Gift list.

Since I'm around 95% done with my Christmas shopping, I started surfing the web for "Gift wrapping ideas without box" and one of the cooler ideas I came across was using Chalkboard Tags as the gift tag. DIY instructions were a bit complicated though because it involved using chipboard and painting it with chalkboard paint so I got the brilliant idea of making it with illustration board.

I wasn't sure it would work, so I immediately went to the mall yesterday to buy the materials for the project. I was so happy with the result, I decided to blog about it so others can also use the idea for their presents this Christmas.


Super Easy DIY Chalkboard Tags

Materials Required:

Craft Twine or Jute String (available at DIY or Japan Home P66 for 4 rolls)

Illustration Board (P8.25 for 1/8 size from Office Warehouse makes 25)
Scissors, Puncher and Chalk (with Blackboard eraser)

Instructions:
1. Cut your illustration board into the desire tag size. I used the 10"x15" illustration board so I just cut the board into 25 tags that's 2"x3" in size.
2. Take the illustration board tag and punch a hole on one of the shorter sides.

The beauty of a DIY Craftsy Project is you don't
really need to be precise on the measurements.

Then just snip off the corners of the side with a hole,
to make it look like the shape of a tag.
Or course, you can also make different shapes.

5. Lastly, just cut off your desired length of twine, to hang the tag.

Voila!!!

Christmas Tags FREE PRINTABLE

I was thinking how to creatively use the Chalkboard tags for wrapping our Christmas presents, and I decided that I wanted to make stickers with our Christmas Greeting, so the tag would only have the recipients name on it. 

Here's what I came up with. A Christmas Tag with me and Sofia,
as well as tick boxes to indicate who the gift is from.

You can download and edit the labels I made here. Just use google images to search for stick people that look like you and your family, and edit the names accordingly.


Gift Wrapping Ideas

I normally choose a simple pattern for my gift wrapper. This year, I opted to go for red and shades of green dotted gift wrapper.

Simple Gift Wrapping Idea for Smaller gifts:

For smaller gifts, you can just stick on the tags using the
Christmas labels.

Here's a sample of how I tailored the gift tags.

The illustration board worked perfectly as a chalk board.
It's so easy to erase if you make a mistake, or if you change your mind
on who is getting what gift. No more throwaway tags or torn wrappers.

After erasing, the Chalkboard tag is as good as new!

This is the first batch of gifts I wrapped because I wanted to try out my idea.
Cha!!! I didn't forget you, iba lang gift mo!

Optional Step:

Since I'm not really sure how well the chalk will hold up, since the gifts will
still be stored and will be subjected to Under the Christmas Tree Chaos,
I labeled the gifts at the back of the tag, so I can figure out who owns what
if the chalk writing gets erased. Or you can write on the white part. Hahaha.

Another Gift Wrapping Idea:

You can also use the twine in the same way you
use a ribbon.

Another Gift Tag Idea:

I'm sure you can also decorate your tags with washi tape. I was just too lazy to do it.

Now I can't wait to wrap the rest of my gifts. just saying.