Laminated luggage tags

we are off on holiday soon and are faced with the age old problem of how to identify our luggage. 

You know how it is..........you wait patiently for the carousel to come round (slowly it seems) with everyone jostling for the space nearest to the black hole in the wall. Then the belt starts to move and, suddenly, there is a sea of arms reaching out for what they think is their luggage!

 You rush round only to find a sea of suitcases the same colour as yours.   It soon becomes clear that there does not seem to be a great choice of luggage tags available on the market and, for that reason, not only are there lots of cases similar to yours but also lots of tags.

so........ I decided to make personalised tags with a funny twist so that, hopefully, we will recognise our luggage the minute it snakes it's way around the carousel. I added our names to both sides of the tags but you could add a contact phone number or address to one side - of course your phone number would suffice as you don't want any baddies looking over your shoulder to know your house is empty lol

the images are from  The Graphics Fairy

I chose this  cute dog with sign for my tags and......

 this - vintage man with trunk  for my husband's

 this project would have been easy peasy if only printed on one side, but, of course, I wanted it on both sides. and that is where it got more difficult!   I had to play around reversing images and text until it all came together ie printed on both sides and placed so that when I cut the tags the front and back images were placed directly on top of each other

I found that it isn't enough just to reverse the image as that meant the script would face the wrong way round and this is what I found worked  out really well

1) Select the images and save in your pictures

2) import the images to a document (I rotated the images to make the next step easier)

Side 1

3) add the text  - you may  have to rotate the text box and/or  image and adjust the size to fit 

6) print

Side 2

5) open the document

4) Reverse the text only and drag in to place on the graphics (or delete the text and add your contact phone number on the reverse in case your luggage gets lost (hope it doesn't but the statistics aren't too good!)

5) insert the card in to your printer drawer with the side you have already printed face up

8) go in to printer settings and click on reverse image

9) print

Laminate & cut, leaving a small border

 Punch holes for ties - this can be quite difficult through laminate so it is best to practice on a blank section first. Don't place the holes too near the edge or the tag may tear with use 

 Add a tie (I used leather cord) and tie on to your luggage

Please feel free to contact me if there is anything I haven't explained properly and, if I can help, I will.

now all you need is the sun - enjoy your holiday!

just a thought....this would be a good option for adding labels to childrens' sports bags or other items. the laminate and leather cord are both strong


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