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


oh and......boo hoo I lost all my followers recently when I had to make a new blog - please follow me and make my day!

a card for hope

it is so long since I started teaching card making,,,,about 12 years ago in fact. It was not a popular craft at that time and I think I was the only listing for workshops in Crafts Beautiful Magazine - at that time the most popular crafts magazine in the UK. I met so many fabulous girls and we had so much fun thinking up designs and creating our cards at a diverse range of locations from tiny church halls to the poshest hotels in town.  I even landed up showing how to make cards on Scottish Television and the BBC! 

Now of course card making and scrap booking are so popular and the range of products is immense.

It does take a lot longer but is, I think, a lot more enjoyable to design your own projects rather than simply sticking a topper on a piece of card. Some of the cards and scrap books that are being made now are beyond words and so beautiful. Also the internet allows us to share projects and source product from around the world. Tell me a crafter who doesn't love Pinterest?

....enough of my history and back to the present. I have been making a card for a very special friend who is about to go in to hospital. I don't want to post it online as it is obviously personal,  so have made a second, somewhat similar one

I printed off the background (from Karen at The Graphics Fairy) on to paper and attached it to the A5 card with double sided tape

Next I printed the beautiful ballerinas image (also from Karen's site) on to linen and gave it an aged effect by brushing coffee on and then spattering stronger coffee over it using an old toothbrush (my best tried and tested way) - just dip the brush in water and flick over with your thumb  (also works as snow if you use white paint).

I then added a little swag of twirled roses I had made with my hand dyed ribbon

and finally a little poem I wrote a couple of years ago - I hope  the words will do just that. Please feel free to use it

I have had a problem with my blog this week - I inadvertently asked Google to divert it to my website and it just didn't work out. Soooo I have had to start this new blog & paste and copy every posting. Hope this works and I make sure I press the right button in future