• Playful Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial

    If you’re looking for a unique gift tag tutorial, this is it! Today’s gift tag doubles as a midcentury ornament for a recipient’s tree. You’ll love its quirky design motifs and aluminum foil cap!

    DIY Holiday Gift Tags Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    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.

    Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial
    This midcentury ornament gift tag has a cool vintage feel to it. I suspect your recipient will keep it to hang on the tree next year!

    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.

    Making a holiday gift tag

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

    Making a holiday gift tag

    Carefully cut out your shape.

    Making a holiday midcentury gift tag

    Then, finish up by erasing any pencil guidelines.

    Erasing pencil guidelines on a DIY gift tag

    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.

    Amy Style calligraphy draft on a DIY ornament
    A parallel glider makes easy work of this step!

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

    Writing calligraphy on a Midcentury Holiday Gift Tag
    I like to use Ziller Soot Black ink on this project because it’s a bit more viscous than other black inks. The ink’s thicker viscosity makes it less likely to feather on the cardstock.

    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.

    Making a DIY Midcentury Gift Tag

    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.

    Adding gouache to a DIY ornament

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

    Midcentury DIY ornament
    Don’t go overboard on the pops of yellow! They should be subtle. Too much yellow will overpower the motif.

    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.

    Gluing aluminum foil to an 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.

    Aluminum foil on a DIY ornament gift tag

    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.

    Making a DIY Midcentury Ornament
    There’s no need to glue the aluminum foil to the back of the ornament’s tab.

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

    Playful Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial

    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.

    Playful Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial

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

    Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial

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

    Midcentury Ornament Gift Tag Tutorial
    No matter how you choose to affix your midcentury gift tag to a gift, the presentation will benefit immensely! This little gift tag is a gift all by itself, and your recipient will love it.

    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,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock