Go Make Something » Gift Packaging

CD Cards

Lisa Vollrath — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:29:04 +0000

This card uses three images: a card front, a pocket, and a CD label. Print out the card front and pocket on cardstock, and the label on plain paper or sticker paper. Cut out each piece on the solid lines.

The pocket has a long rectangular slot marked on it. Use a ruler and a craft knife to remove the slot.

Fold the card and the pocket in half. The printed sections will wrap around to the back sides a bit—that’s OK.

Apply glue to the inside top section of the pocket—just the top strip, and nowhere else. Press down to close the top.

Apply glue to the back side of the pocket piece. Position it inside the card so the bottom fold of the pocket lines up with the bottom edge of the card. Press in place.

If you’ve used plain paper for the CD label, apply glue to the back side of it, and press it onto the front of the CD. Leave it alone while it dries—don’t handle it with your gluey fingers!

Now your card and CD are ready to decorate if you wish, or you can just tuck the CD into the card pocket and call it a day.

To view a full-sized printable image, just click on a thumbnail above. The full-sized image will appear in a lighbox over this page.

To save full-sized images, just point your cursor at the full sized image when it’s in the lightbox, right click, and choose Save Picture As (IE) or Save Image As (Firefox). To close the lightbox, just left click anywhere while it’s open. If Firefox doesn’t let you save the image when you’re viewing it in the lightbox, try right clicking on the thumbnail, and choosing Save Link As.

All images are copyrighted, and bear this copyright notice, which will be printed with the image: “© Lisa Vollrath & Go Make Something. All rights reserved. Graphics are for personal use only. Not for sale or distribution. Do not reproduce or post without written permission from owner.”

Craft Stick Tags

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:16:50 +0000

I make a lot of my own gift wraps and packaging, because I have to accomodate lots of different holiday celebrations, and friends with interesting names and spellings: it’s almost impossible to find something suitable and personalized for a friend named Raven who celebrates winter solstice, or for my favorite little girl Alyssa. I decided to turn my overflowing collection of wood craft sticks from the dollar store into some personalized gift tags.

Yeah, I have a few craft sticks. I buy these at my local dollar store. Who can resist a big pack of them for a buck? These some in plain wood or colored popsicle sizes and plain tongue depressor size. I also have a little bag full of shaped sticks from my favorite low-carb ice cream bars.

First, I drilled a hole on either end of the sticks. The hole just needs to be big enough to squeeze some fibers, ribbon or twine through later. Stack up a bunch and drill all at once to save steps.

Wood colors nicely with Distress inkpads. The ink almost acts as a dye, letting the wood texture show through. Just drag the pads across the sticks, and rub in a circular motion anywhere that seems to resist the ink. Be sure to color the sides and ends of the sticks, too. Let the ink dry completely before stamping!

Wood also colors nicely with chalk inkpads. The color is a bit more opaque, and less vivid. With either ink, be sure to use light or bright colors rather than darks, unless you want to emboss your lettering to make it readable.

Once the ink was completely dry, I used letter stamps and some black ink to stamp my messages. I should have done some using embossing powders, to get gold metallic lettering!

To attach the tag to the package, slide ribbon, fibers or twine down through one hole, across the back of the tag, and up through the other hole, leaving a long tail.

Wrap the twine around the package, and tie in a bow or knot on one side.

Cardboard Tube Wrappers

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:21:57 +0000

These firecracker-shaped packages all hold small items like embellishments, fibers, and jewelry. I’ve tucked them into cardboard tubes like those inside paper towels or gift wrap rolls—but I’ve done these in even larger tubes like Pringle’s cans or round powdered drink cannisters. I like working with the cardboard tubes best, but in a pinch, tin cans will also work.

The trick to doing this type of packaging is to choose the tube based on the size of the largest gift that will be tucked into it. I also like to hide the tube as much as possible—so, the wrapping will be permanently attached to the tube, and won’t fall away during unwrapping to reveal your clever protective packaging.

Let’s find the right tube to start. I’m going to put a couple of rolls of fibers, some metal clips, a tin of brads, and a little bottlecap pin in the first tube. I’ve already checked to be sure the tin will slide into the tube, so all I have to do is line the items up to figure out how long the tube should be.

A quick slice with a craft knife is all it takes to adust the length of the tube. Don’t throw the extra away until all your gifts are wrapped. You never know when a little section will come in handy.

Next, I need some wrapping. I’ve used plain white packaging paper for two of the samples, and fabric for the third. I reccomend using paper that’s soft, but sturdy, or plain cotton quilting fabrics. Gift wrap is often too flimsy to be tied at the ends of the tube, and may end up tearing. Go to the dollar store and get a roll of plain white or brown paper—it’s the ideal weight and softness, and you can wrap a bazillion gifts with it.

I can’t really be bothered with measuring, so I usually just plop a tube onto a piece of paper, leaving 4 to 6 inches of excess on either end, and cut to size. Be sure the paper will wrap around the tube with a bit of an overlap—I usually leave about three inches extra for this, just so I won’t worry about it not fitting.

I wadded up the cut paper into a ball, then flattened it out and wiped some Distress inks all over it. So much for it being plain! I wiped the ink over the paper for the second tube without wadding it up. Use your favorite inky background technique here, as long as it doesn’t make the paper too stiff or crunchy.

Maybe the paper needs some designs or words on it. Stamp, draw, collage or paint away—again, as long as it doesn’t make the paper too stiff or crunchy. If you feel the need to emboss or do a lot of collage, do it in the area the tube will cover, rather than down at the ends where the paper will be cut and tied.

When the paper is dry, apply a line of glue stick along one edge, just as long as the tube. Place the tube on it, and it’s ready to roll.

Glue a little, roll a little, until you get to the other end of the paper. Apply glue along the edge, just as long as the tube, and press it in place.

When the glue has dried, clip the excess paper on the ends, from the edge to about an inch from the tube. Leave that inch intact so you’ll be able to tie easily.

Tie the bottom end of the tube. I used jute twine and ribbons for my samples, but anything soft will work. Try to avoid tying with anything like wire or stiff ribbon that might tear or cut into the paper.

Now it’s time to fill. I like to start with something soft, to protect the bottom from potential tears. How about a roll of fibers or trim? Or a little stuffed animal?

Next, the tin of brads. I opted for a tin rather than some other type of packaging for two reasons. First, the brads rattle nicely in the tin, so my tube will be noisy when it’s picked up. Second, I know my friend with like using the container as well as the contents in her artwork.

I use the eraser end of a pencil to persuade items all the way down to the bottom of the tube.

These metal clips need to be contained a little so they won’t scratch up the top of the tin, so they go into a little bit of tissue paper.

The tissue paper full of clips goes right into the tube. I also wrapped the pin in tissue, and added it to the tube.

Another ball of fibers goes into the top of the tube. Something soft to protect the top couldn’t hurt, right?

Just tie the top end, and the package is ready to go. Maybe yours needs some tags tied to either end, or more fibers. Decorate as much or as little as you wish.

One of my samples was done with a piece of quilting cotton. I just tore a piece larger than the tube, and treated it just like I would a piece of paper, gluing it in place, then tying with ribbon.

Surprise Balls

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:23:15 +0000

This article is also posted at Squidoo!

Inside this ball of yarn are all sorts of little goodies I chose for a friend. I wanted to send them to her in a way that’s entertaining, and since the gift will travel a long distance, I also had to come up with something that would take the abuse of going through the mail.

My solution? I turned a pile of ephemera and goodies into a surprise ball. Here’s how:

First, I chose the items I wanted to send, inlcuding a printer’s block, some buttons, rhineston brads in a small watchmaker tin, and a bunch of ATC backgrounds. I’ve seen all manner of things wrapped this way: small pieces of artwork, figurines, art dolls, fat quarters for quilting, little handwritten notes—you name it. I usually try to keep my largest item smaller than my hand, so the ball will end up about the size of a small melon, but if you have lots of ribbons and fibers for wrapping, and the strength to lift the finished ball, make it as large as you wish.

I usually choose to make the largest item in my pile of goodies the center of the ball, so here, I’m starting with the ATC backgrounds. One or two would probably buckle when wrapped, but a dozen wrapped together in a stack makes a very sturdy center.

Because this is going to a mixed media artist, I wanted to include lots of different fibers and trims. I’ll be changing the wrappings in each step—but if you’re senting to someone who knits, crochets or weaves, perhaps you’ll want to purchase one lovely skein of yarn, and wrap the whole thing with that instead. Think about the recipient, and what she’d like.

Next, I’ll add two shorter, thicker items, to pad the center out, and start turning this into more of a ball shape. Here, I’m using some lovely lace trim to wrap the printer’s block to the center of the ATC backgrounds.

On the other side, I wrapped the little tin of brads. I like including something in a tin close to the center of the ball, because when it’s finished, you can shake the ball and hear things rattling inside.

By the time I have these two items securely wrapped, the ball is already taking shape. It’s getting rounder.

The next layer was done with wide strips of lovely bright yellow silk. As I wrapped, I added groups of buttons, so three or four of them will fall out at a time when the ball is unwrapped.

After several layers of wide, bumpy wrapping, I needed something to tighten the ball up. I chose some narrower flat lace trim.

To hold the end of the trim in place, I attached this little bottle cap pin. Now I really have a nice ball shape going.

Now that the ball is larger, I can include some longer pieces. These are long bamboo beads, held in place with my favorite string from the hardware store. Maybe some nice handmade paper beads could go into this layer.

The next layer included some unmounted rubber stamps, since my friend is really into stamping. These small pieces of rubber wrapped around the ball easily, held into place by some jute twine.

For my last layer of wrapping, I chose some brightly colored yarn. I covered the entire ball with this, so it looks like just a big ball of yarn—but when you lift it, it’s heavy, and it rattles.

I always include a little note or tag that’s visible on the outside of the ball, telling the recipient that yes, they should unwind it to find their presents. I’ve added a sheet of tags to the free printables section of the site. I cut mine out, and edged it with a little chalk in to match the yarn.

Tie the tag around the ball, and it’s ready to go!

Decorated Glass Jars

Lisa Vollrath — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:28:24 +0000

I chose small glass jars simply because liquid walnut ink will eat through plastic or metal in short order—and nothing is quite as horrifying as seeing something that stains so quickly oozing out of its container!

I purchased some three for a dollar jars of baby food at my local grocery store, emptied them, removed their labels, and cleaned them up. That left me with bare glass, but green metal tops with printing on them. The first thing I did was paint the tops bright red with spray paint. I opted for this rather than my usual burning off the paint with a torch because these lids have a rubber gasket in them to create a really tight seal—and that seal would have been damaged by the heat of the torch. My desire was to have jars that sealed securely, but were also sort of fun.

Since walnut ink stains everything that comes close to it, I decided to fill the jars before decorating them. I figured that way, I wouldn’t dribble ink all over my paper labels. Yes, I’m a messy worker! Knowing that often dictates how I proceed with a project.

Once the jars were filled, and the painted lids were completely dry, I sealed each bottle firmly.

To create labels, I tore paper in one inch strips. These were slightly narrower than the flat section of the jars. I chose tearing rather than cutting because I wanted to do a little inking along the edges, and tearing creates a more absorbant area for the ink.

I used my current favorite letter stamp set to print the labels. I contemplated doing this on the computer, and putting storage and use instructions on the labels as well, but decided I liked the handmade approach better. I had to remind myself that these were gifts, and not products being offered for sale! Since I delivered these in person at our group’s monthly meeting, I could just tell the girls to store the ink in their refrigerators.

I edged the stamped labels with some chalk inks.

I applied a swipe of glue stick to the entire label, and wrapped it around the jar. I trimmed the ends with scissors, leaving a small overlap, and glued the heck out of the ends to hold them in place.

Each jar got a little bow made from twine around its neck, and a small tag stamped with a heart. I’m in a plain and simple phase, so I stopped there. Perhaps next time around, I’ll start with a printed paper, emboss the stamped message, and glue on some buttons or tiny rosebuds. These can be as plain or as embellished as you wish.

The jars took about an hour to put together once the spray painted lids were dry. I kept thinking they’d look cute filled with red jelly beans or red hots!

Edited to add: For those who are asking for the recipe for walnut ink, it’s available in the November 2005 issue of The Monthly Muse, available for purchase on CD here. Please DO NOT post any more comments asking for the recipe here. If you want the recipe, purchase the CD.