Playful Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial

We’ve got a week and a half until Christmas! If you’re anything like me, you’ve procured a few gifts (and give yourself a pat on the back for that) … but they still need to be wrapped. Today, I’ll show you how to make a fun gift presentation with a midcentury ornament gift tag tutorial.

1. Cut Out Your Ornament

First, start with a piece of gray cardstock. Use a pencil to trace around a fairly small circular object on that card stock. In the photo below, I’m using the lid to a bottle of ink that is 2″ (~5 cm) in diameter.

Then, use your pencil to free-hand draw a little tab at the top of the ornament.

Carefully cut out your shape.

Then, finish up by erasing any pencil guidelines.

2. Calligraph the Recipient’s Name

Now, draw three pencil guidelines, each about 3/8″ apart, in the middle of the ornament. Make a pencil draft of your recipient’s name using Amy Style calligraphy.

Use a Nikko G nib, a straight pen, and Ziller Soot Black ink to trace over the calligraphy.

3. Add Midcentury Doodles

Once the name is calligraphed, you get to have fun with some simple illustrations! Start by drawing a laurel branch in the upper right corner, as shown in the photo below. The leaves should just be outlines so as not to draw attention away from the calligraphy. Next, draw a simple lines-and-open-circles motif in the lower left corner.

Continue to draw variations of laurel branches. Then, use yellow gouache (or yellow acrylic paint) and a size 0 paintbrush to paint simple flowers on the end of a branch or two.

Feel free to draw/paint design elements just like the ones shown below on your own ornament!

4. Add Aluminum Foil

Aluminum is a very midcentury material, which is why we are adding it to this project! For this step, cut out a ~1.5″ x 0.5″ (~3.8 cm x 1.3 cm) rectangle of aluminum foil. Whatever you have in your kitchen will work great. Then, apply glue to the tab at the top of your ornament.

Place the aluminum foil rectangle on top of the tab, making sure the straight bottom of the foil extends to the round part of the ornament. Then, turn the ornament over, and trim the top and sides of the aluminum foil. The top of the aluminum foil should extend about 0.25″ (~0.7 cm) past the top of the ornament’s tab, while each side of the foil should only be slightly smaller in width than the tab.

Then, fold the top of the aluminum foil down (1). Fold the right tab over to the left (2), and fold the left tab over to the right (3). These folds ensure that the aluminum foil neatly hugs the tab.

Flip the ornament over, and this is what you’ll see:

5. Punch a Hole in Your Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag

Now, use a small hole puncher to make a hole in the middle of the tab at the top of the ornament.

Then, thread a ribbon through the hole to hang your midcentury gift tag on a gift bag …

… Or thread the tag directly through the ribbon on a gift.

Thanks very much for reading this gift tag tutorial; I hope that it inspires you to make some cool and playful gift tags this year. Happy holidays, and we’ll reconvene this weekend with another creative tutorial!

Warmly,