vintage wallpaper + layered parcel tags

Happy President's Day everyone! If you get a day off from work or school today, I hope you have fun! Today I wanted to share a project I made using some of my vintage wall paper, one of my on the shelf items.

I had questions as to where I got my vintage wall paper. You can find it various places like thrift stores and auctions if you're lucky. I had to search for mine online. Prints that date back before the 70's can be quite pricey though so be prepared to pay $20 for more recent patterns and up to $30, $50 or more for the earlier designs. They are sold by the roll or double roll. The texture of the paper is quite thick because these old rolls were sometimes pre-pasted, meaning the glue was already slathered on the back. I couldn't resist the fun colors and floral pattern on this roll.
So on to a fun little project. Tags are always a fun item to create because they're small and just fun to experiment with. Today I'm using a Medium Pink Parcel Tag, a snippet of old orange lace, a punched piece of ledger paper, a butterfly die cut with a Papertrey butterfly die (October Afternoon patterned paper) and a piece of the wall paper die cut with a Papertrey Fillable Frame die.

Next up I took some White Tags and misted them lightly with Studio Calico Mister Huey's Sunshine mist (which dries super fast). I ended up making about 10 sets of my project today so I misted a bunch of the tags. When using the misters, you'll need to hold them well over a foot away if you want a light coloring. I keep a large folded piece of cardboard in my craft room to catch the overflow spray.
Next it's time to assemble the tags. I gathered up all my little pieces and just layered them onto my tag. I'm not using adhesive at all today. Instead I've opted to sew all of the pieces down. By creatively layering all the pieces, I can secure each one to my tag easily. Notice how I doubled the string of the sprayed tag and placed it over my other layered pieces.
By stitching back and forth over the center of my pieces, I caught a little snippet of each element including the strings of the tag. Each piece is secured within the machine stitching. Since I wanted to bring out the orange of my lace, I used orange thread which was also an on the shelf item. My goal is to collect lots of thread colors and get teamed up with a matching bobbin full of the same color. Very easy to switch out thread colors just like you would inks, papers, etc. Another tip: When snipping threads, I like to leave them long sometimes to create a little whimsy...looks especially good with butterflies.
Next it was time to add a few accents to my stitched tags. I covered Small Clothespins with strips of 1/4" Scor-Tape and trimmed with my scissors. Peeled off the tape and dipped in orange glitter for some shimmery clips. I also used some Papertrey clear rhinestones and colored them with a Copic marker. Easy way to custom color the rhinestones to match your projects.
I finished up the accents for my tag and then pulled out some Brown Paper Sacks and Dainty Doilies. I now have some cute little gift sacks tucked away in stash. To use, I'll simply tuck the cards or goodies inside, fold over the top...and clip on the tag and doily with the glittered clothespin. I can stamp or write the recipient's name on the sprayed tag.
When ready to give the gift, I like to pop up the butterfly wings and other tag elements to create some dimension. I love having little gift bags like this on hand.
What can put in the embellished sacks? My favorite gifty item is hand stamped cards, of course. You can also tuck in crafty supplies, fat quarters of fabric for your sewing friends, candies or baked treats.....CD's or Itunes cards for teenagers....embellished notepads with markers....hair accessories or little cars for the kiddos.....small books.....you name it! I recently gave a sack similar to this one to my neighbor with small bottles of facial items and lotions. She loved that I hand stamped her name on the tag.

Hope you enjoy. I kept on making these so I think I'll have a few extra for the shop today too. :) Have a great day everyone!

P.S.....someone asked in a comment about my Project Life...I'll be sharing my most recent additions soon. In the meantime you can check out my other Project Life posts for 2011 here.